Happy 2020! Out with the old and in with the NEW! We have had some pretty amazing experiences in 2019 and most recently here in Florida. We look forward to many new places and faces in 2020. We’ll tell you a little about our 2020 vision but first, here are some of our most recent NEW experiences on Avon Park AFR…
We helped paint the office at the Outdoor Rec building. Their OLD bright lime green wall has now been scraped, spackeled, sanded and repainted a NEW nuetral off-white.
Next, you may have seen (if you follow us on Facebook) a little video footage of our newest adventure- the “Racoon Rescue.”
These little guys have been living in the dumpster at the Volunteer Village for a while. One of them managed to get his head wedged in a can and another one had his paw stuck in a coke can. Normally we would just let them be and not encourage their trash-picking ways -they always find their way back to the dumpster. But, after noticing their predicament and seeing that they weren’t able to set themselves free, Mark used a couple of “grabber/reacher” tools from the office and he was able to free the raccoon’s head from the can. Mark was NOT able to help the little fella with the coke can on his paw though. “Peg Leg” wanted NO help so we left him to figure that out for himself.
One NEW thing we enjoy seeing on the range are the new calves. Parts of Avon Park AFR are leased to cattle ranchers and so we see their herds roaming from time to time.
We have found a NEW coffee place in Sebring. Mango’s is a little shop that serves Cuban food and Cuban coffee! We stopped by and tried it and will certainly be returning soon.
Another NEW experience on Avon Park AFR was helping Patrick (the volunteer coordinator) remove some deer stands from the range. Hunters are allowed to use deer stands but they must be labelled with their permit number and name and they must be at least 200 feet from fence lines and the road. Hunters are required to remove their stands at the end of the season. We found and removed 4 illegal deer stands and brought them back to the outdoor rec office.
successful mission 
The view from my deer stand : )
The deer stand removal would have been easier if it were not for all the rain we recently received. Rutty, unpaved roads had turned into small lakes and then getting to the stands from the road was a soggy experience. Here are a few things you might have heard us say as we traveled to remove these stands: “oh this is not a good idea…,” “wet boots! wet boots!” and the ominous, “I think I heard a bubbling noise coming from the muffler.”
Mark had promised to take me on a NEW adventure to see some manatees on New Year’s Day so we ventured to Tampa Electric CO manatee viewing center. This is a free manatee observatory owned and operated by Tampa Electric. The clean warm water that the electric company returns to the bay attracts hoards of manatees in the winter. TECO has set up an observation deck so folks can easily see the large number of manatees and they also have a touch tank to experience the feel of passing sting rays.
So those are our NEW experiences so far leading up to and beginning 2020. We look forward to yet another exciting year of RV living, working and traveling. Part of our 2020 VISION plan includes:
- traveling to Key West, FL for a few days
- returning to Moonshine Creek in NC to workamp through mid-July
- visiting the Syracuse Ballards this summer
- celebrating our 35th anniversary on Prince Edward Island
- camping in Maine
We want to see the Johnson clan at some point as well but we aren’t sure when or where that will happen. We do plan to workamp again next winter.
Next time we will be posting about some RV updates, mods and repairs to Old Glory. Thanks for following along…we hope YOU have an exciting 2020 VISION – comment below, we’d love to hear about it!