Sight Seeing Close to Our FLORIDA Home

Another week has gone by and we spent much of our time at home getting settled. And you say, "What is there to getting settled in a motorhome?" Let me tell you that the Jeep and car top carrier held a lot of STUFF on the trip south. Getting it all put away was a lot tougher. I know that I need to be throwing away, but I have a hard time doing that. We can't do without our hobbies, but we really should cut down on the clothes, I suppose!! It is so tough!! Ha-ha. After doing laundry on Monday, we spent Tuesday running around. We set out to see the Florida National Cemetery which is here near Bushnell. I can't believe that we did not see it last year when it was so close to us. Since I have never been to Arlington, this was very interesting!! The first appearance was impressive to know that there are so many buried there and that the grounds are extensive . There are directories on the grounds so that you can look up any name that you wish. This view was interesting and all I could guess was that it might be above ground tombs over a rise . I wasn't far off in my thinking, but we were looking at it from the back. After driving around, this is the view from the front . We looked over many of the names and markers. Many of the crosses, and church emblems we recognized. However, these were unknown to us . Do any of you know what they are? Give us a shout and let us know. We had heard that there is usually an interment every twenty minutes. And I believe that is probably correct. We saw a couple services and heard taps being played for others. Then when leaving, one was coming up the road toward us also . We also found upon leaving that this area is surrounded by State Forest . Gary also went to a podiatrist for his foot, but no immediate solution to his pain. He has exercises to do and it all sounded reasonable. So we will see if it is effective!! While out on that excursion, we stopped at a Thrift Store and checked it out. I found another stove top grill, unused and still in it's original box. That is the second one that I found that way. I sure like using it when we can not grill outside because of the dry grass, but others must not use them. I have worn one out already! Today we checked out the Annual Kumquat Festival at Dade City. The rain held off just long enough for us to see what we wanted and for Gary to get his Kumquat Jelly. It rained most of the way home. The rest of the festival was just the usual craft booths except for a couple booths selling some unusual plants and flowers , and the Epcot display advertising their Flowers and Garden Festival March through May . Notice the Kumquat tree (or bush) in the center of the display. Mickey, the pirate's, coat was a ground cover that I had in my perennial garden back home. I do miss the flowers! I haven't decided that I want to bother with flowers or plants though, as I think that it would be too much trouble when we go to move!! A silk spider plant is enough for now. I do have one live plant that Gary's sister is taking care of for us until we get north in March. Before leaving Ohio, I had a discussion with a friend about so much of Florida land being farm land . I also told her that I thought there is an awful lot of poverty. And there is that, but there is also so much brown to the ground cover that it looks quite bleak if the property owner does not plant greenery and work hard to keep it green. So I took a few pictures to show you the contrast.

Have a great week and we will be back!