March 6-8, 2009
Thursday when I got off from work we headed north to High Springs, FL (just a few miles north of Gainesville) for Cowboy Campmeeting at Camp Kulaqua. Rudy and Elani got everything ready to roll and we hit the road around 5:45 arriving at a little past 8:00 p.m. We set up with the 9-10 other RVer's in our little circle and got ready for a quiet, peaceful rest in the woods.
We woke up early on Friday and had a great breakfast before heading to the Horse Barn. Elani was anxious to see the horses and hopefully get a ride. We waited around awhile and then one of the wranglers gave her a ride around the paddock on Big Boy (Elani's favorite white horse). After her little ride, we took a nice long walk around the grounds, finding a playground, the Springs where we watched turtles and tadpoles and other water animals play. By this time it was lunch time so we made our way back to the RV site and got some lunch and relaxed in the sun for the afternoon while other campers arrived.
The first meeting was at 7:00 p.m. and it was very good. Lots of southern gospel music and a wonderful message by the guest speaker, Dan Smith from La Sierra University church. at 9:30 p.m. we were all exhausted and ready for bed. The sunshine and fresh air was refreshing and it helped us all sleep so well.
Saturday morning we got up and had a great breakfast of blueberry pancakes and then Elani rode her bicycle to Sabbath School where she sang songs, made new friends and made craft projects. Church was in the King Chapel where again we received a wonderful message of hope and love and were blessed with great music.
The featured guest speaker joined our group for Sabbath potluck as he had an aunt and uncle among us. There were two more programs that afternoon and evening. Rudy and Elani made it to the Zoo, too.
Sunday we again went to the horse barn to see if Elani could get another ride on a horse. This time her favorite horse was Sassy, a pretty little bay that was so gentle and sweet. Elani told the wrangler that was leading her around the open field that she "loved riding horses". Makes me wish we were still in Michigan and had some horses of our own. She would have a blast with them. After Elani's ride we pulled out of the camp for our trip home. It was such a great weekend with sunny blue skies and temps in the lower 80's. I think that Spring has finally arrived here in central Florida.
We will be heading to Bristol, TN on our next adventure to the spring NASCAR race there on Wednesday, March 18th, where we will meet our good friends and racing buddies, GJ and Cully for another weekend of Racing Fun!
See ya on the road!
Monday, March 9, 2009
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Daytona Bike Week (end) - Feb. 26-29, 2009
When I arrived home on Thursday, Rudy had the RV packed, Bike loaded and we were ready to roll. We arrived at Crazy Horse Campground, unloaded the bike and settled in for the evening around 9 p.m. after Rudy fixed a great dinner.
Friday, Feb 27 - We were up and ready to roll and see the sites by 9:30 a.m., so off we went with our first stop on the outside of Daytona International Speedway to visit all the Bike vendors, leather sale tents and all the other miscellaneous items that Bikers just have to acquire. We then headed towards to The Loop and ended up at Flagler Beach for lunch at Joseph's Italian Restaurant across from the Flagler Beach pier. They have the best italian food around! We then rode back along the beach to Daytona, explored some on Beach Street, walking through Daytona Harley Davidson. Later we drove out to Destination Daytona for more sights, and window shopping. Rudy did find some new handle bar grips and some "Sharks Gills" that he will be adding to our bike this week. (more chrome)....
We couldn't ask for better weather with sunny, blue skies and just a light breeze.
Saturday, again we got up and hit the road early cruising again down Beach street making our way across the bridge to Main Street - just for the experience - There are bikes everywhere and there are all kinds of bikes, pretty bikes, not-so-pretty bikes and all kinds of riders too!
It is always a good experience to come and be here for a couple of days, enjoying the sights, sounds and watching people. After a ride to Ponce Inlet to the Light House and a stop along the beach, we drove down 1A to New Smyrna and discovered a Gold Wing Rally so we visited for awhile and then headed back to the RV.
The weather wasn't looking too good for riding on Sunday, so we decided to load up the bike and get things ready to roll in the morning bright and early.
We arrived home and totally unloaded and everything put away by 11:30 a.m. (just a little rain on the way home). Rudy fixed a great dinner and now we are ready to watch the NASCAR race.
It was a great weekend get-away and time together.
See ya on the road!
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Venice, FL Beach Weekend
My mom has a house on Venice Beach in Florida so when we want a relaxing weekend away from it all, we go and visit. She loves to cook and she cooks up a storm, making all of our favorite dishes, including lemon meringue pie (which we found out that Elani likes just as much as I do). So we eat, relax, stroll on the beach and relax some more while there.
Elani found a new best friend when we arrived on Friday, a baby turtle. Elani and mom made it a little bed in a shoe box, Elani fed it grass and they covered it up for the night time to keep in warm. Elani checked on the little turtle every day and would get it out to soak up some sun. Saturday afternoon the turtle decided to find its way back home. Elani was sad for a little while.
We visited a playground park nearby on the intercoastal and watched the sunset from the South Jetty. Elani quickly made friends with fishermen when they caught a fish!
Even though the air and water temperatures were not warm enough to be at the beach and in the water for a long time, we did make a visit before having dinner on Sunday at Sharkey's.
We dropped a tired Elani off at home on Sunday after a fun-filled, relaxing weekend with Great-Grandma and Grandpa Higel.
Pics from Daytona 500 Weekend
Jeff Wins 1st Gator Duel on Thursday, Feb. 12, 2009+of+race+fans+at+rv.jpg)
Cully, me and Rudy at our Campsite in Crazy Horse Campground
Cully and me along the fence on Race Day
Rudy & me in our seats on Race Day
JGN friends, Corrine and Anne.Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Daytona 500 Weekend - Feb. 12-16, 2009
After picking Cully up at the airport at 6 pm on Wednesday evening, we headed to the CrazyHorse Campground in Daytona Beach, FL for the 51st running of the Daytona 500 and other events we had scheduled for the weekend. Rudy went ahead and got the RV set up and was waiting for us when we arrived with a light supper.
We had tickets for the Gator Duels so we headed to the Track around Noon to find our seats. We had a special parking pass because we had accepted an invitation to the "Dega Bash" that was being held in the Hospitality Tents after the Duels. We are ticket holders for Talladega and they were having an event to start the celebration for their 40th Anniversary.
Jeff Gordon won the first Duel after a very exciting, wreck-filled race. It was good to see these drivers pushing for position and racing side-by-side. Jeff will start third in the 500. Kyle Busch won the 2nd Duel race and he will start 4th in the 500.
When we arrived at the Hospitality Village, we were greeted with a welcome bag and name badge and there was food and drinks being served in the tent. Larry McReynolds, Donnie Allison, Mike Helton, Eli Gold and Barney from MRN were there along with the President of Talladega SuperSpeedway for a question and answer session, autographs and pictures. Before everyone left they had a door prize drawing. I won 4 can koozies and Rudy won a wind-breaker jacket.
Friday, was the day to visit the Flea Market and see if we could find some bargains on Driver merchandise and collectibles. I then volunteered a couple of hours with the NASCAR Foundation and sold NASCAR Day pins on the mid-way. We then met at the SPEED stage and watched the taping of NASCAR Performance and met up with a couple of friends from the Jeff Gordon Network before going to Our Deck Down Under for dinner.
We were invited by Janine and Heidi to come to their condo on the beach for Saturday, which is where you found us basking in the sun along side the pool and walking on the beach taking in the sounds of the surf.
It's finally Race Day in Daytona and we woke up to cloudy, gloomy and windy skies that didn't look very promising for a Race to happen. We took our shuttle to the Track and found our seats and dropped off some gear, before Cully & I headed to the Infield with ONMC for Driver Intros. There was a large crowd in the infield and we had to push our way through them all to get to the place where we were to stand as the Drivers of the 51st Daytona 500 came off the stage and walked past us. What an experience! I got a picture or two of each of the Drivers as they paraded by except for one (Dale Earnhardt, Jr.) because he ran past everyone with his head down. Sad :-(
The Race was eventually rain-shortened to only 154 of the 200 laps to complete and when they took the Red Flag, # 17 Matt Kenseth was in the lead to take home the Trophy and all the glory!
Monday morning as Rudy headed home in the RV, Cully & I did our traditional thing and went to the 500 Experience to get our dog-tags made to commemorate the winner before heading to airport for Cully to fly home.
The time always goes by so fast, but we always have a great time! Our next Racing adventure will be to Bristol, TN for the March 22 weekend racing excitement! Hope to see you there.
See ya on the Road!
We had tickets for the Gator Duels so we headed to the Track around Noon to find our seats. We had a special parking pass because we had accepted an invitation to the "Dega Bash" that was being held in the Hospitality Tents after the Duels. We are ticket holders for Talladega and they were having an event to start the celebration for their 40th Anniversary.
Jeff Gordon won the first Duel after a very exciting, wreck-filled race. It was good to see these drivers pushing for position and racing side-by-side. Jeff will start third in the 500. Kyle Busch won the 2nd Duel race and he will start 4th in the 500.
When we arrived at the Hospitality Village, we were greeted with a welcome bag and name badge and there was food and drinks being served in the tent. Larry McReynolds, Donnie Allison, Mike Helton, Eli Gold and Barney from MRN were there along with the President of Talladega SuperSpeedway for a question and answer session, autographs and pictures. Before everyone left they had a door prize drawing. I won 4 can koozies and Rudy won a wind-breaker jacket.
Friday, was the day to visit the Flea Market and see if we could find some bargains on Driver merchandise and collectibles. I then volunteered a couple of hours with the NASCAR Foundation and sold NASCAR Day pins on the mid-way. We then met at the SPEED stage and watched the taping of NASCAR Performance and met up with a couple of friends from the Jeff Gordon Network before going to Our Deck Down Under for dinner.
We were invited by Janine and Heidi to come to their condo on the beach for Saturday, which is where you found us basking in the sun along side the pool and walking on the beach taking in the sounds of the surf.
It's finally Race Day in Daytona and we woke up to cloudy, gloomy and windy skies that didn't look very promising for a Race to happen. We took our shuttle to the Track and found our seats and dropped off some gear, before Cully & I headed to the Infield with ONMC for Driver Intros. There was a large crowd in the infield and we had to push our way through them all to get to the place where we were to stand as the Drivers of the 51st Daytona 500 came off the stage and walked past us. What an experience! I got a picture or two of each of the Drivers as they paraded by except for one (Dale Earnhardt, Jr.) because he ran past everyone with his head down. Sad :-(
The Race was eventually rain-shortened to only 154 of the 200 laps to complete and when they took the Red Flag, # 17 Matt Kenseth was in the lead to take home the Trophy and all the glory!
Monday morning as Rudy headed home in the RV, Cully & I did our traditional thing and went to the 500 Experience to get our dog-tags made to commemorate the winner before heading to airport for Cully to fly home.
The time always goes by so fast, but we always have a great time! Our next Racing adventure will be to Bristol, TN for the March 22 weekend racing excitement! Hope to see you there.
See ya on the Road!
Monday, February 9, 2009
February 7, 2009
Blue Springs State Park - Manatee Watching
It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon and we had some friends visiting from Michigan that had never seen the Manatee in the wild at Blue Spring State Park, so we picked them up and took them for a ride. There were more Manatee in the Springs than I have ever seen, which is due to the cold temperatures that we've been experiencing here in Florida. We ever saw some with their calves. Of course, Elani had to have some time at the playground before we came home. She made some new friends there (which isn't hard for her at all). We should take lessons from this little one in the art of friend-making.
We will be leaving for Daytona Beach for the Daytona 500 and Gator Duels on Wednesday, Feb. 11, with the coach and we will be camping behind the Flea Market in Crazy Horse Campground (where we've been for the past 5 years). I'll have pictures and stories to tell, I am sure. I even have infield passes for the 500 to be down next to the Stage for Driver Intros. Can't wait.
Let's go Racin', Boys!!
See ya on the road. . . . .
It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon and we had some friends visiting from Michigan that had never seen the Manatee in the wild at Blue Spring State Park, so we picked them up and took them for a ride. There were more Manatee in the Springs than I have ever seen, which is due to the cold temperatures that we've been experiencing here in Florida. We ever saw some with their calves. Of course, Elani had to have some time at the playground before we came home. She made some new friends there (which isn't hard for her at all). We should take lessons from this little one in the art of friend-making.
We will be leaving for Daytona Beach for the Daytona 500 and Gator Duels on Wednesday, Feb. 11, with the coach and we will be camping behind the Flea Market in Crazy Horse Campground (where we've been for the past 5 years). I'll have pictures and stories to tell, I am sure. I even have infield passes for the 500 to be down next to the Stage for Driver Intros. Can't wait.
Let's go Racin', Boys!!
See ya on the road. . . . .
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Happy New Year - January - 2009
January 4, 2009
Rolex Testing in Daytona - just a little racing action to feed our need for SPEED. Even if they aren't NASCAR-type cars, they go fast and make noise, so we took a drive on a beautiful January Sunday to Daytona to visit the Track and watch the cars go around for a while.
Elani was with us and she was very excited. She talked to a driver (we are not sure who he is) and checked out the tires and the insides of the car (while in the Pits). A crew member gave her a lug nut, too. But, what she wanted to see most was the Start/Finish Line - so we took her up on the FanDeck and Rudy pointed out all the high points of the track to her. We watched the cars go around and past us, going in and out of the pit garages and then found seats on the hair pin turn in the infield and sat for an hour or so as they practiced. There was a nice breeze and the sun was hot. Elani got bored so she found a spot in the dirt to dig and play. Soon it was time for lunch so off we went to Rudy's favorite restaurant - Ruby Tuesday and then home for the rest of the afternoon.
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