2018 here we come

Where are the Wheelers?

Well !still at home knowing that soon they will be on the road again. This year, the camper is ahead of us. It left in October. Tim is ready to go and take it out of storage.

With these frigid temperatures up here it is not difficult to feel the call of the South. In the meantime, celebrating the holidays and doing projects around the house keeps us/me busy. It is too cold to ski or take walks outside. Working out is inside with the help of the internet.

So starting January 1st the count down before the DDay (=Day of Departure) will start.

Happy New Year every one!

What else do we do?

Cook, go out with friends and naturally eat local if possible or at least with a southern touch.

On cuisine, sort avec des amis et naturellement commandons des plats locaux si possible ou au moins avec une touche locale.

 Shrimp and Grits and eat.
Crevettes aux gruaux et on mange

 Bike and eat.
Velo et on mange!

 Invite family members and eat.
Visite de membres de la famille et on mange!

 Cook for ourselves and eat.
Cuisine maison et on mange!

 Bake cookies, French espresso and Chartreuse; drink and eat!.
Cuisine de petits biscuits, cafe français accompagné d'un fond de chartreuse: on boit et on mange!

 Bring cookies from Jo to Jeff and eat.
Emporte les biscuits de Jo pour Jeff et on mange!

 Hunt for a King's cake to celebrate Mardi Gras as it is done in New Orleans and eat it all in a day!! aye!
Recherche d'un Gateau du Roi pour célébrer Mardi Gras comme on le fait a la Nouvelle Orleans et on le mange en un jour!!

 Home cooked Shrimp and grits and eat.
Cuisson maison de crevettes et gruaux et on mange!
On a different subject:
These below were taken the last day of our stay in Ocala.
Sujet totalement hors sujet:
Photos ci-dessous prises le dernier jour passe a Ocala.

Night life!

As March went on at Wilderness Campground we found gorgeous Train-to-Trails  where we biked and had picnics. We ended up either on the golf of Mexico out of nowhere, or in a state park or in small towns like Inverness where we got our strength back in some bistro as you can see on the picture below. In fact Tim is working the phone during the pause.
Pendant notre sejour au camping Wilderness, nous avons recherche et trouve des Train-to-Trails (pistes cyclables sur anciennes voies ferrées) où nous avons fait du vélo et pique niqué. On arrive soit au Golf du Mexique loin de tout, ou dans un parc ou bien encore dans une petite ville comme Inverness où nous reprenions des forces dans un bistro comme vous le voyez ci-dessous. En fait Tim "travaille" pendant cette pause. 

This year we met many new friends. Some were owners of dogs (most were). "Will see you guys again next year for sure. Mike, don't forget your tv games; I'll bring a badminton net and rackets and the boules game "(bocci in metal- the real thing)
Cette année fut la rencontre de nouveaux amis. Certains avaient des chiens (presque tous en fait). " On vous reverra l'hiver prochain pour sûr. Mike, n'oublie pas tes jeux videos. J'apporterai le materiel pour jouer au badminton et des boules. Ok?" 

See you next winter Oliver, Mike and Maryline.
On vous reverra l'hiver prochain: Mike, Maryline et Oliver.

Some were just camping next to us. Some taught us how to play Mexican Dominoes. Some quilted with me. We talked to them  (in French with a Quebec group)at the pool or around a bonfire; played shuffle board with some others; went out to restaurants; listened to Karaoke at the camp ground and at a pub 4 miles down the road with the Harley friends.
D'autres nouveaux amis campaient tout prêts de notre site. Les uns nous ont appris a jouer aux Dominos Mexicains, d'autres faisaient du quilt avec moi. J'ai parlé français avec des Quebecois a la piscine ou autour d'un feu de bois; appris a jouer au "shuffle board" avec d'autres; sortis au restaurant ou assiste a des soirees karaoké dans une salle du camping ou dans un pub a 2km avec nos motards (Harley)

 Our Quebec acquaintances neighbors' s mr. and mrs bikes.
Les motos de Messieurs et mesdames les motards.

 At the pub down the streets, our group's bikes. Love to listen to them all getting started....
Au pub a 2km de notre site. Le groupe d'amis les motards. J'adore entendre les motos partir en groupe...

 Special of the pub: fish Fry.
Specialite du pub: poisson fri et frites

Wilderness Campground: quilt group

Wilderness camping: groupe de couture (patchwork)

 Gail's winter quilt project  / Projet d'hiver de Gail

 Linda's version of winter quilt project /meme projet fait par Linda

/

 Giving a hand to a friend to finish her quilt version. Notre groupe aide a la finition d'une autre version du patchwork-projet de cet hiver

 Working on my project with my new small traveling sewing machine. Moi et ma nouvelle petite machine a coudre.

Ste Augustine &....

Drove to Ste Augustine, a cute city on the Atlantic North of Florida where we visited with some friends met last year at the Wilderness RV resort. Had a splendid day, not too warm, just breezy enough. After a short prayer, found a terrific parking lot at the fort next to downtown. Thanks Paul.
Toured the fort dating from 1650's, build with local stones made of shells (great history lesson from the Ranger); walked the narrow streets of Ste Augustine; ate lunch at a cafe/restaurant on a terrasse. Great food. Drove 10mn to the lighthouse. 30miles/hour wind found me sticking to the wall at the top of the tower. (at 40m/h they close the light house).  Made it easily up and down the stairs. Thank goodness for working out. Keeps you in shape for all these retirement adventures we have...
Then to top it all saw a big black bear crossing the road in the National Forest we had to drive through to get back "home". (sorry Orlin, not sure how big the bears' eyes were; I was trying to get my camera but not able to get a picture- so u just have to trust us that it was a "big" black bear).
Here are all the pictures:

 Catholic Church, different from what I am used to it. Very colorful and well restored.

 On top of the lighthouse/ En haut du phare avec Mary.

 Paul, Mary, Tim and I.

 Delicious tacos for lunch. Tacos delicieux pour notre dejeuner. 

Le ca

What the Heck!!

People take their dog very seriously around here. Seriously? Maybe not. They just like us to pay attention to them and Deb and I did. That little guy even drives a small dog car....seriously! We watched the video so we know it is true... Ah ah

Camping among crocodiles.

 Across the way from our site a little friend is resting quietly in peace. Around 10ft we were told. Let him sleep and move along to the next picture.

These folks just by our friend...Not sure we will buy an inflated kayak which is Tim's suggestion but not mine...

 Look why bother buying one of these Wanabago when you just need a place to sleep.
Next picture, we are back to civilisation. We have left the State Park to camp in an RV resort. No more swimming among crocodiles and snakes, a clean pool is more attractive.