Ortona South

What a trip!  Tom is pooped and says he needs another vacation.  He is right.   Our backup camera quit working outside Meridian, MS so he did without it the rest of the trip.  We spoke with Tiffin and checked for loose wires before we pulled out of Topsail - but they seem fine.  Tiffin says take it in to a service center.  We need to get this taken care of before our next big trip — it’s too stressful to drive without this safety feature.  We also have 2 windows that need to be replaced.  The window in the door & passenger window both lost their seals so they fog up.  Tiffin shipped us the replacements so we’ll have Land Yachts take care of all of this soon.   I think we are past the motorhome honeymoon phase.  We’ve been sooo lucky — hardly any problems. 

 

The drive from Lake City to home was getting really long and we had a windshield full of lovebugs (they come in Sept too - ugh).  Unloading and cleaning the Bus after 7 or 8 hours on the road is tiring  and prone to arguments so we added 1 more night to the trip.  As a result we both got a good nights rest on the site above  — yep we are still married and speaking to each other.  smiles. 

 

This is Ortona South COE - about 1 hour from our house.  Tom loves it here and so do i - so we plan to return for some getaway weekends.  It’s just a 1.5 miles off the main road and 10 miles west of LaBelle.  Although there is really nothing to do in the area  - we don’t care.  It is very peaceful — just the type of place we love.   All paved roads and parking pads.  Water on one side of the CG and farm land on the other  — with lots of cows roaming around.  You’d think we were in Illinois looking out over the farm land - except the palm trees bring it back to reality.

 

This CG is located on the Caloosahatchee River section of the Okeechobee Waterway.  Not a drop dead gorgeous waterfront due to all the fences and cement structures, but it does have its attractive features.   The grounds are impeccable — no weeds in the gravel patio area — none - zero - zippo.  And they mow the grass in and around the perimeter of the CG so it has a very manicured look.  Sites are large, nice permanent grills,  big fire pits and as you can see roofs over the picnic table.  They have some new landscaping between the sites — beautiful grasses or shrubs and they have even added mulch - amazing.   In a few years there will be good privacy.  And get this the CG website says we could see manatees traveling thru the waterway… cool eh?

Here’s Tom standing on my favorite site.  No water to look at here but there is a small waterfall down behind it so the sound is heavenly.  It has some big trees nearby and in front of it — so we’d probably have to use the portable satellite.  And here is another  favorite — with a nice water view. 

 

Tom is looking forward to some campfire weekends here…..me too.  Once November rolls around - we should have lots of cool crisp mornings and evenings and i suppose i might like Florida after all. 

 

Comments

[pat]

what a pretty campground. This is my favorite time of year to camping. I hope the weather is cooler in Florida too.

[Nita]

Looks like you and Tom have found a great weekend get-a-way. Now you need to get the reservations set up on your favorite site. Eric's sister and friend are here from Michigan for a few days. Having a nice visit with family. I will send you an email soon.

[Lucy]

Yea -- a real gem. I need to get Tom to commit to some dates before the dang recreation gov site closes for that shutdown period!