Places Visited:

Florida: Melbourne, Cape Canaveral, Kissimmee

Saturday, February 9, 2002
Land Yacht Harbor RV-Park: Melbourne Florida

Our daily walk around the park is special because of the lush green
grass, royal palms on every lot and the pairs of sand hill cranes
feeding in the small yards. Since no pets are allowed in the park I
suppose the sand hill cranes feel almost protected. These large very
wild birds that stand 3 to 4 feet high are exciting to see just a few
feet away as we walk down the street.

Joyce and I spent the day entertaining Pop's then danced the night
away at County Line Saloon. What a blast. The dancing crowd was a
bunch of 40s/50s/60s until around 10:30 when the 20 something's
started arriving. At that time the band started playing slightly
different music. The 20s crowd responded by filling the dance floor.
All of us older folks watched from the sidelines for a while then
slowly headed home.

Sunday, February 10, 2002
Land Yacht Harbor RV-Park: Melbourne Florida

We took Pop's to lunch at his favorite place then went back to the
RV-Park to enjoy a group of park residents playing country/bluegrass
music in the park recreation room. It was a good old jam session with
11 very good musicians playing a variety of mostly string instruments.
Thirty or more were in the audience clapping along. The musicians
took turns selecting the song the group would play next. Usually,
whoever's turn it was either sang the lead or their instrument was
featured. The group was really good. We enjoyed listening until it
was time to go to Joyce's sister's house for dinner.

Monday, February 11, 2002
Land Yacht Harbor RV-Park: Melbourne Florida

We took Pop's to lunch at his favorite place then took a sightseeing
ride. Joyce had an afternoon hair appointment. I stayed at the RV
with Pops and started some repairs. We ate dinner at Joyce's sister's
house with Pop's.

Land Yacht Harbor (LYH) RV-Park is drastically different from other
RV-Parks we normally stay in. The majority of the parks 700-plus
residents are stockholders in the corporation. Stockholder's pay $650
per-year to leave their RV on their assigned pad year round and live
in it about 4-months per-year, non-stockholder's pay $1,000 per- year
for the same privilege. Whenever, a pad is vacant (when someone that
has reserved and paid for a spot for the year takes their RV back home
for the summer) the corporation can rent out the spot. We are on a
spot that someone has already paid for. Residents pay for their own
electricity but the park handles water and sewage. A board of
directors, elected from shareholders, makes the park rules. The
rates, ($650/$1,000 per-year) are structured so that the corporation
makes about $50,000 per-year. Anything above the $50K is paid as
dividends to the shareholders. The place is spotless, 100% of the
spots are taken for the year, they have a magnificent clubhouse, a
woodworking shop, library, sewing room, you name it they have it.
Residents return year after year. Everyone was having a ball.
Volunteer residents do much of the work of the park. After spending
around 4-months in the park most of the residents return to their
homes north of here or take their RV's on the road.

Tuesday, February 12, 2002
Land Yacht Harbor RV-Park: Melbourne Florida

Pop's has two dentist appointments today and I had to stay around the
motorhome waiting for a repairman to return a major part of our entry
mechanism that he had carried off with him yesterday to be welded.
When the mechanism broke springs, handles, rods, cams and numerous
other unnamed parts including the broken shaft settled into hollow
part of the door. Between me and the mechanic and a generous portion
of time we got the entire mechanism back together and the door
operating again. It is wonderful for that door to be operating
properly once again.

Wednesday, February 13, 2002
Land Yacht Harbor RV-Park: Melbourne Florida

We took Pop's to lunch then went for a ride. We headed north on
US-1until arriving in Coco where we took 582 east over the Banana
River to Merritt Island home of Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral
and Port Canaveral. Since Pop's was with us actually getting out of
the car and touring anything at Kennedy Space Center was out of the
question. Our sight seeing was limited to viewing from the
automobile. The best thing we discovered was Jetty Park Campground at
Port Canaveral. Besides being a nice campground it is an awesome spot
to watch rocket launches from Cape Canaveral. RV's can enter the park
for $7.00 per-day, cars for $3.00 for one of the premier spots to view
a rocket launch. Several hundred full hook-up RV sites are also
available for $26 or less. For any RV'er not familiar with the area
and wanting to view a rocket launch Jetty Park 400 East Jetty Road
Cape Canaveral, Florida would be one of the best places. The best way
to find Jetty Park is to head for Port Canaveral where the cruise ship
terminals are. Jetty Park is located at the end of the road next to
the very last Cruise Ship terminal.

Our return to Melbourne was down US-A1A. Joyce and I are
learning to
recognize the different varieties of palm trees and other tropical
plants.

We stopped to purchase fresh fruit from a roadside stand. Temple
oranges were 10 for a $1.00 while pink; seedless grapefruit was 7 for
$1.00. The price sure changes from here to Pensacola, AMEN!

This was our last day in Melbourne. Tomorrow we head to the
Kissimmee/Orlando area where we are going to visit with an old
Navy
buddy before heading back to Homosassa Springs for the Saturday
night
concert of the Drifters and Coasters.

Thursday, February 14, 2002
Oak Grove RV-Park: Kissimmee Florida (this park is not
recommended)

I picked Oak Grove RV-Park out of Trailer Life and made
reservations
yesterday. That was a bad decision. Upon looking at our spot we
would have changed RV-Parks were it not for the nonrefundable
reservations. They had assigned us to a spot in the park with a group
of locals living out of some filthy & junky RV's. We decide to make
do for two days but will remember not to return. Another part of the
park several rows over was catering to snow birds and was more
desirable.

Joyce and I drove to "Old-Town" near Disney World until our friend got
off work and joined us. Dale showed up around 4:30 in a gold
convertible. His wife Cheryl was in Ft. Lauderdale where their
daughter has just presented them with a granddaughter. Dale took us
to the brand new Gaylord convention center. We spent some time
wandering around the premises of this gigantic hotel/convention
center, gawking at the opulence, before heading for dinner. After
dinner Dale drove us around Disney's Celebration community before
heading back to our RV where we compared pictures.

It is so good to visit with old friends. Dale and I were both
Aviation Electronics Technicians in the Navy stationed at Glynco Naval
Air Station, Brunswick, Georgia back in the late 60's. Both of us got
married while stationed there and the families have stayed in touch
ever since.

Friday, February 15, 2002
Oak Grove RV-Park: Kissimmee Florida (this park is not
recommended)

With no plans for the day Joyce decided we would go back to the
planned Disney town of Celebration with small town charm. We
walked
the shopping district of designer boutiques and gourmet shops
before
deciding to dine at "Columbia" overlooking a picturesque lake.
Columbia is a super dining experience. A Cuban immigrant started the
original Columbia restaurant at the turn of the century in Tampa's
Ybor City. That Columbia restaurant in Ybor City is now in its fourth
and fifth generation of family ownership and operation. It is the
oldest restaurant in Florida and the largest Spanish restaurant in the
world. In addition to the 1,600-seat restaurant in Ybor City there
are five other locations throughout Florida. We are dining at the
Columbia in Celebration, Florida. Spanish food is not something that
Joyce and I are familiar with. As is our custom we tried some new
dishes. The best new dish was plantain. Dumb me had never heard of
much less eaten plantain before. As it turns out plantain is a type
of banana. It may not be available in all grocery stores but should
be in produce departments catering to Spanish communities. Even
though our plantain was presented as a vegetable it appeared to be
fried and tasted sweet enough to be a desert. Our waiter told us that
sometimes plantain is cooked with onions, peppers and garlic for a
totally different taste sensation. Our waiter also told us that
people do not eat plantain raw like normal bananas. According to him
plantain is always cooked.

Tomorrow we head back to Rock Crusher RV-Park in Homosassa
Springs
where we have tickets to see the Coasters and Drifters perform in a
large amphitheatre.

Mike & Joyce Hendrix