Arcadia Day Trip

(Wauchula, FL) -- Hi 79 Lo 57 -  We were both up a little earlier than normal today because we planned a day trip to Arcadia, which is about 20 miles south of here.  A new town and a new direction for us.  We're finding out that no matter what direction you go there's nothing much around except citrus groves, cattle farms, or palmettos. It's boring scenery but the speed limit is 60 to 65, which is nice.

Arcadia is larger than Wauchula, similar in size to Sebring.  There are no scenic lakes like in Sebring, but it's a nice town.  One thing it has in common with Wauchula, the northbound and southbound routes are one-way streets a block apart. So if you're unfamiliar with the town and you pass a business you're looking for you can't just "do a u-ie," you have to go around the block to get back to your destination.  And if you're sort of familiar with the town and you're heading south, and you want to go to a store on the northbound side, you have to make sure you pick the correct street to turn on or you could just miss it and have to go around again (and again). Oh well, like Jim always says, "We're retired, we have time."  :)

We had lunch at Burger King then went to meet Bernie and Linda. Jim knows Bernie from reading his posts on the Carriage Yahoo Group forum.  They exchanged emails, and a quick phone call this morning confirmed that they'd be home today.  They're snowbirds from Pennsylvania and came to Florida for the warmth. Their Cameo is at the Arcadia Mobile Home Park, right across the street from the Arcadia rodeo arena.  We're hoping to go to the All-Florida Championship Rodeo in March. Bernie offered to let us park at his site, and we may take him up on that.  It was nice to talk with fellow Cameo owners and compare notes about our rigs. Thanks for meeting with us Bernie and Linda.

On the way back I happened to see the orange pickers at work. It's fascinating watching them. they put ladders to the trees and pick faster then you can see. I've always wondered if it's done by hand or by some sort of machine, but it's by hand. If I was younger I would do that. Right now I couldn't climb the ladder.

When we got home I was hoping to catch up with Gail and Dan, who we met and talked to yesterday, but they weren't around.  I did get a picture of their motorhome and how close they are to us.  We both will be here till end of March, so plenty of time to get pictures.

I have to share another picture. This bird is all over the park. He even posed for me.  He's become quite used to being around people, you can almost walk right up to him. Jim wants to train him to put water in our battery with that long bill. Not sure what he is... maybe an Ibis?




We got home at dinner time.  After that it was our normal evening of chat room and TV.  Our Carolina Hurricanes play the NY Rangers tonight.  We had season tickets to the Hurricanes a few years ago so we're big fans.  Jim left our local channels on the satellite set to Raleigh so we get to watch most of the Hurricanes' games just like we were back in Raleigh.  We get all of the local channels around here on our roof antenna so there was no need to change our locals on the satellite.  Just another day in paradise.