Something to smile about

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

DUNEDIN, FL – We have arrived at our first destination! Our booking at Dunedin RV Resort is for one month, and we are in Site #1 of about 250 sites. It’s good to be here, and no sooner did we pull into our site and start hooking up the water and electricity but Fawn, our sister-in-law, pulled up in the truck and jumped out to give us a big welcoming hug! Plus an invitation to drop by their trailer when we were settled for a visit and out to supper afterward.
The trip today from Daytona Beach was less than three hours long, and pretty well a straight line across the width of the state along Interstate 4. The sky looked a bit threatening this morning, but it soon cleared and we had lovely sunshine and a temperature of around 25 degrees to start our journey. We passed through Orlando, with all its billboards inviting us to visit Disney World and Universal Studios and even Cape Canaveral, and on to a more rural setting once we got through the metropolitan area.
It was mild enough for us to actually eat a picnic lunch at the rest stop we found not long after getting out of Orlando – quite a novelty in mid-January! But as we continued the journey westward, the clouds rolled in, and when we were approaching Tampa, and Dunedin just past it, the skies opened and it poured. We looked on the bright side: the carwash we figured we’d need in the next day or so would no longer be necessary! Mother Nature provided it, no charge.
As we were getting set up at our site, a large white crane flew past with a wing span that must have been four or five feet wide. There is a creek along the side of the RV park, and as we walked toward John and Fawn’s site, we spotted another crane wading in the water. John regaled us with stories of venomous snakes in the campground just to get Val going. They do populate the area so we will definitely be keeping an eye out. And where there’s water in Florida, are there not also alligators? We’ll let you know. So far, the only evidence of their presence was at the gas station we stopped at yesterday, as shown in today’s photo.
It was great to get caught up with family news on both sides after not seeing John and Fawn since October (although the wonders of modern technology filled the gap quite well in the meantime). Algarve, their Portuguese water dog, nearly jumped out of his skin with excitement when we got to their trailer! There is a mutual soft spot of some proportion between him and Val, and he gave me an affectionate lick or two as well.
We are going to have fun getting to know Dunedin and its surroundings in the coming days.