It's Sunday afternoon and we are hanging out on a rainy day.. whew it has been a marathon. There are seminars going on just about every minute of the day and when the ones you want to attend are running simultaneously it gets interesting. We did not get an early start Friday morning as we woke up to rain, and it was a bit chilly. Where did sunny Florida go? We had a good breakfast in the Doodle and did some planning for the day. I attended a seminar on RV electricity with Mike Sokol, while Carol went off to do some crafts.
We met again around 10:30 and attended a talk about RV living and solar power, hosted by the 'RV Geeks' and the 'Mortons on the Move' - celebrity YouTube RV folks. These seminars are really informative, but they all make me want to go buy more stuff..this is not necessarily good.
We came back to the Doodle and tended to poor little Harper who had been alone for a few hours and we found her sound asleep, all snuggled into her blanket. Later we attended a talk about the RVillage community and how to hold impromptu gatherings through their social network, pretty cool. RVillage is the organization holding this rally. We joined RVillage several months ago and this is our first experience with this group and have found it to be a very nice community to be involved with. We attended a 'Free Camping' seminar, found a few more great apps to help plan and then made our way to the vendor tents and made a few purchases, you gotta do that, there is just so much good RV stuff.
After another social gathering with the Boondocks Welcome folks we headed back to the Doodle. All day the temperature had dropped so we changed into long pants and a few more layers. At four RVers gathered in 'the big tent' to sell their junk. We didn't have any junk but I did have a stack of matted watercolor sketches so I thought I would give that a try. I had a great time chatting with so many folks, everyone with a story and well over half had a brother or sister who did watercolors and 'were really good'. I did sell a few and maybe got a couple of future commissions out of it, but most of all, it was just fun.
Back at the Doodle we made supper, walked the dog one more time and headed out for a concert. Tracey Grammar was the headliner. She is an amazing storyteller/folksinger and was on stage for a full two hours with her accompanist JimHenry - that's right all one word - JimHenry - like LMNOP - all one thing. We chatted a bit with Tracey after the concert and bought her CD. What a nice lady. Since we were both completely frozen at this point we headed back to the Firebirds and sat close in, right next to the flames wishing we had marshmallows. A good Bluegrass band (Remedy Tree) was playing and we had several good conversations with folks and finally ended up at the Music Hall listening to a heavy metal band called Wicked Truth - and they were wicked good. The lead singer had a very clear voice for screaming out Led Zeppelin and such..they were amazing. After a break they came back and started off with a slow song so I got to dance with my sweetie on Valentines Day...awwww.
By the time we finish up, it was late and cold so we made a beeline back to the Doodle where Harper is turning into a very patient little puppy. She and I went for a walk and she did all she needed to do. The Doodle was nice and toasty warm, as I had left the furnace on and the thermostat set at 70. It didn't take long for us to get into our pajamas and under the blankest with Harper the doodle dog snuggled right in-between the two big Doodles. When we woke up Saturday morning the temperatures were in the 30's IN FLORIDA!
More things to do. After a quick but filling breakfast, we went in different directions once again. Carol went to another crafting get-together to make getting cards and I went to learn more about electricity, power cords, inverters and chargers in particular.
Carol joined me later in the morning and we listened to Bob Wells, a well known free spirit living full time in a van. Bob spoke on the philosophy of the nomad life, very interesting guy, very interesting talk. After that The next seminar started right up and it was the Pot Headz once again, a live demo. They cooked bread, chili and hard boiled eggs. Pat and Debbie are great presenters and their demonstrations instill confidence.
After the long walk back to the Doodle we had lunch and just rested for most of the afternoon. All this fun is tiring. That evening we attended the final ceremonies hosted by Curtis, the guy who started all this RVillage stuff. What a caring, genuinely loving guy who is on a mission to connect like minded folks in the RV arena. Nice guy, thanks Curtis. After his closing remarks he introduced the producer and and cast of a TV show called 'The RVers' which aired on the Discovery Channel.
Since we don't have cable at home we have never seen it, but when we get home we will be able to find it as it also ran on PBS and many other networks. It was interesting to listen to them tell their stories and we are excited to watch them once we are back in sticks and bricks. We walked over to the food trucks, got pulled pork and pulled chicken sandwiches and fries and a soda. Carol and I sat back down in the festival field in amongst the Firebirds which provided some warmth against the gathering chill. Wicking Truth was playing on small stage and it seemed like everyone must be there. We got back to Harper and the Doodle around 10 pm, had an evening walk and turned in.
This morning, Sunday morning, is the final day and everything closes at noon. We decided to extend our stay in the Spirit of the Suwannee campground by a day and just hang out and hike and do a lot of nothing. Harper Carol and I hiked down through the woods and actually found the Suwannee River. The trees and vegetation here is far different from that of New England, and the ground here is fine sand. Harper got 'off leash' for a while and ran and ran...zoom zoom dog.
Just at the end of our hike the first raindrops began to fall, let up for a few minutes giving me time to roll up our outside carpets and put away the chairs. The rest of the afternoon has been spent hanging in the Doodle. We took a nice shower, I love the Doodles shower, and we began a lot of cooking (Carol began a lot of cooking) We are having our friends Wayne and Keith over tonight for a potluck. We are cooking Tuna steaks, made some cornbread in the convection oven and black beans in the Instant Pot.
You know we had to make something in the Instant Pot. The the wonderful cooking smells are filling the Doodle, the rain is pouring down outside and company is coming in twenty minutes.... I'll leave you here.
