Myakka River – Quick Drop Off

So we wanted to get back down to our place at the Myakka River Motorcoach Resort (MRMR) to drop off the treasured junk from our storage location in Chicago. Things like cookware and beer making utensils. Looks like next season should be a lot of fun! The construction on the front part of our casita, the pergola, has not started yet. We plan on adding screens and a bar. New construction at some other sites were well underway.

Looks like MRMR will be about 30% done with casitas this season.

The first night we drove up to Venice and ate at Sharky’s to meet a couple on their last day of vacation in the area. We met up with Vere Hill and Kate Saari there, a couple that we met during our last trip to St. Martin.

Vere is a singer and it was his 41st birthday. We were glad that we were able to help him celebrate the big day. It was great seeing them, if only for a short time. The next morning they were flying back home to New Hampshire.

The following day Katrina unpacked the Busse Bus and truck and started to get casita organized. I got the oil changed on the truck and stopped by Ace to get some needed supplies. Bear loved his early birthday gift of the Jeep golf cart.

We went to the Big Bamboo for dinner with some other owners at MRMR.

The next day found us catching up with appointments and starting to look for outdoor furniture. We need to do it because of the long lead times needed now with the current recovery process. We also started to look for a trailer where we can keep the outside furniture during the summer months (hurricane season) when we will be traveling. It was nice not having a place (bricks and sticks) for three years and dealing with all the costs associated with owning property.

The next day we purchased a trailer. An Anvil 8.5×16 footer with a ramp in the back where we could keep the golf cart if necessary.

Great, now we can add more stuff to our treasure junk pile! Actually, we will only be able to keep things that can withstand the Florida heat in the summer in the trailer. Afterwards Katrina drove down to stay with her mother, Rita, who was recuperating from eye surgery. The surgery went well, now just the healing.

The following day Katrina was still with Rita so I used the time to wash the Busse Bus. By one’s self it takes hours to get the whole coach. I was also able to get other work done around the casita as well.

On Saturday, with Rita well on the mend, Katrina returned in time for us to grab a drink with our neighbors, Sam and LeeAnn and their friends, Troy and Leanne. We stayed up way to late laughing and talking.

On Father’s Day we worked around the coach and casita getting it ready for the summer. About 3pm we headed to the pool to cool off. There we met Manny and Ana who were staying at Myakka for a long weekend from Miami. They actually came earlier in the year and we had met them at one of the Meet & Greets in April. After three + hours in the pool, we all decided to grab a bite to eat so we went to Ken & Barb’s restaurant.

Wonderful meal and a very enjoyable time getting to know them a lot better. After dinner they took us out to a place for homemade ice cream called Sweet Scoops. Outstanding ice cream! We will return there in the future.

The following day Katrina took Bear to the vet to get an Echogram as he has been showing signs of a weak heart. We received good news as Bear’s heart is pretty good, but we still don’t know why he gets so weary after playing. We will still need to figure it out. Once they returned, Katrina and I went out furniture shopping for our new outdoor spaces. We decided to augment existing furniture and we still need to find a fire pit, furniture for the pergola and furniture for the lanai. We want to get it in order as it is currently taking months for furniture to arrive and we want it in time for our planned return to MRMR in November. That night we were able to see friends of ours, Traci and Gary Daines who sold their house in the state of Washington and purchased one nearby MRMR. We visited their new beautiful house and then went to the Twisted Fork for dinner.

We had a nice dinner and it was great catching up with them! Welcome to Florida!

The following day, the Hausauer’s (Barry, Rhody and their Aussie, Ruger) came to visit. They rented a RV so that they could travel with us for a week. We planned on spending a few days at MRMR and then head up to Florida panhandle. Here we are parked at MRMR:

We were doing this trip to celebrate Barry’s and mine 60th birthdays. After helping them get set up, we headed over to Farlow’s for dinner. Other owners met us there for a pre-dinner drink.

Wonderful meal!

The following day we were supposed to go out on our neighbor’s boat, but the weather did not look like it was going to cooperate. It ended up being a good thing as we had a lot to do around the casita before we needed to close it up for the season.

We decided to put the Jeep golf cart in the lanai. It was a difficult task that needed all of us to accomplish. Good thing that the Hausauer’s were available, although not the RVing experience that we wanted for them. We were getting close to finishing when this happened:

Apparently, I pulled (tore) some ligaments stepping down the two steps out of the casita! 60 and I’m falling apart! I guess that there is no more two-stepping in my near future!

Since it took me 2 1/2 hours at the urgent care, we didn’t have time to go out for dinner. Katrina and I stopped at the Big Bamboo and picked up sushi that we all ate in the casita.

The next morning Katrina was a trouper as she had to get us ready to travel all by herself. Barry came over and packed up our utilities so that we could get a move on. We did manage to leave by 8:45am as we knew we had a long drive. Off to the Florida panhandle!