Winter at the Myakka River Motorcoach Resort

It’s always difficult for me to write about our winter home as there is so much going on and I don’t want to bore you with things like: We played pickleball today, we went out for dinner with so-and-so today, we had a party and drank today, or we went for a bike ride today. Boring, right? I’ll try to hit some of the highlights:

Our family celebrated the holidays (Thanksgiving and Christmas) by having everyone come to the Myakka River Motorcoach Resort (MRMR). By everyone; I mean our daughter Ariana, her husband Matt, their son Rylan, our son Keenan, his fiancée Sarah, and Katrina’s mom, Rita. Obviously, our little casita and our coach cannot accommodate that many people sleeping so we relied on our good neighbors, Mike and Jeanine Serrino and Steve and Laurie Chubb for usage of their casitas. Thank you so much! We had a lovely time soaking up the sun (beach and pool), going kayaking, cooking, and going out to eat. As you age, family means everything and we were so happy that all of them were able to get together with us!

We traded in the Busse Bus for a new 2024 Newmar Dutch Star model 4325. I guess we will dub it the Busse Bus II or Busse Bus 2. Original, I know!

Same manufacturer, but different floor plan and color scheme. The Busse Bus II has a lot of updated amenities including solar panels, on-board StarLink, Lithium batteries, and advanced monitoring whilst driving (adaptive cruise, lane departure). It will take me some time to learn all the new functions!

We took our annual trip to St. Martin with Ariana, Matt and Rylan. Had a blast with the grand!

Updates to the resort continue through a number of different committees. I’m heading up the Amenities Committee and Katrina is heading up the Decorating Committee. My committee is just getting started, while Katrina’s is in full swing. Over the past couple of years her committee has completely updated the main room in the clubhouse and the sunset deck. It looks beautiful! She is now working on repainting the outside (lots of drama regarding the paint color choice) and the lobby. I’m sure it will all work out in the end and we will have a clubhouse to be proud of!

Here are some random pictures throughout the season (see captions for information):

Katrina has definitely caught the pickleball bug and played in many tournaments throughout the season. The highlight was the Pickleball US Open had in Naples. She played well! Her female partner was Bev Smith from Libertyville, IL and the two of them used to be tennis partners! Now both playing pickleball. Her male partner Javier, is a local that she just started playing with and the hope is that they will continue to improve as they play more together.

In between the US Open and us leaving for the season, Katrina had her knee replaced. That made packing up interesting as Katrina wanted desperately to help but couldn’t and the bulk was left to me. Oh well, we made it out with a little help from our friends! Thank you Joe & Stacey, Rick & Gail, Tom & Mary Jean, John, Mike & Jan, and Mike! We really appreciate it!

Wish us luck as Katrina cannot drive yet and we are heading up to Nappanee, IN to have Newmar fix some warranty items that we found that need attention. You’ll be hearing more from me now that we are back on the road. As Willie Nelson sang: “On the road again”.