Holidays in the Trailer
When we first bought the trailer, we made a little pact that we'd do everything we could to get away at least once a month. In November, we had to put our monthly trip on the back burner so we could fly to Ohio to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with my family. It also happened to be my 20th high school reunion, so I was a little nervous about the whole week-long gig. People kind of half-smiled when we told them about our adventures in trailering, and we just kind of half-smiled back. We knew how good we had it, as we watched them brush the snow off their headlights and mumble about needing a scraper for their windshields too.
If Ohio wasn't some 900 miles away from Florida, we might consider doing some travel in and around the Buckeye state. I have a lot of friends who love the outdoors so they're always telling me about their trips to Salt Fork Lodge, hiking in the Metroparks, or doing a quick outing down in the valley. Look for a future links page, but in the meantime, check out this page on backpacking in Ohio.
Christmas in Florida
I remember the first few Christmases I spent in Florida. It seemed a little odd to be baking Christmas turkey and watching the NFL playoffs in shorts when it was 80 degrees outside. But once the memories of snow shovels and jumper cables quickly faded, I realized that Christmas in Florida wasn't all that bad.
Since we had a week off between Christmas and New Year's, we thought we would start with Ft. DeSoto, then check out a couple of different spots. This would be our first stop on a trio of trailer rides, and since Rich's daughter lives 10 minutes from the park, that assured us we would see her come Christmas morn.
We made sure we had a spot right on the Gulf, and as we drove down the dirt road to our site, we were excited to see how many people had taken the time to string Christmas lights and celebrate with fanfare. We played some Christmas music and strung up our hot chili pepper lights and decided to ring in Christmas 2000 the RV way.
After a short hike and bike ride near the beach, it was time to get ready for Rich's Christmas party. We were just 25 minutes from a restaurant off Indian Shores beach where his company was having its annual party. It promised to be a great spread -- as always.
No grilling or spaghetti on the stove for us tonight. Instead, we opted for seared tuna, fresh shrimp, and dozens of other appetizers, plus all the liquor we cared to drink. We finished the night off with a good cigar on the deck.
The following day, Rich's friend Bagel boated over to the site, after navigating his way through the channel. Later, we had some friends over to watch the Bucs play, so everyone was in a festive Christmas spirit.
On Christmas Day, we woke up to a beautiful sunrise before heading off to church. The weather was perfect, and alas, no snow in the forecast. We picked up Rich's daughter, then it was off to Bradenton for a get together with his family. Making side trips in the truck was great - which was part of the reason we chose a trailer over a motorhome. We knew we were the type of folks who loved to get around, so we outweighed the good with the bad.
After returning on Christmas night, we started planning for our next adventure in the trailer. In the morning, we were planning to head north to Ocala for some hiking in the Ocala National Forest.
Coming Up: Looking Forward to the New Year
