Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show

Yesterday we drove 250 miles down to Fort Lauderdale, FL to attend the 48th Annual International Boat Show. The weather and traffic was great until we got into West Palm Beach where we encountered a lot of road construction and heavy traffic. We arrived at the Motel 6 in Fort Lauderdale and luckily got a room on the first floor. I was excited, the a/c and TV worked great. Today you would have thought Florida had never received a rain. It rained so hard, you could almost swim in the motel parking lot. After about 15 minutes, the rain died down, and off we went to the boat show. The convention center had two floors with lots and lots of vendors. We looked at a few boats, and did so much walking, Kenny may have to carry me home ha ha. We took the water taxi up the inter-coastal waterway, and saw so many yachts and beautiful homes, it made the rain tolerable. Again many buildings with lots of vendors, but the rain was coming down hard, and it was impossible to enjoy the show, wet and tired with not too many places to sit down, we decided to come back to the hotel around 6pm and ordered Chinese food. Kenny and I enjoyed a couple of drinks, and watched some TV. Saturday we will return to Brandon, where it is supposed to rain again. Oh well, we will live to go another day I suppose. Our spirits are doing better and we are over the Windjammer cruise drama. It is a shame that we can't take the cruise, but we will do something else, life is a bit strange at times, and I suppose we wern't meant to take this cruise. Sucks, but could be worse I guess.

Windjammer Barefoot Cruise Canceled

Barbie and I have been saving for the last couple of years to take a Caribbean cruise. I've never had any desire to cruise on one of those huge floating hotels so I found a romantic cruise on a 196' sailing yacht out of Grenada with Windjammer Barefoot Cruises.

We paid for our cruise in full in June for a cruise leaving right after Thanksgiving. We searched and found some low cost air fare tickets leaving from Tampa, FL to St. George's, Grenada. The bad thing was the tickets are non-refundable. We bought trip insurance just in case. We also bought trip insurance for the cruise.

We received an email today from Windjammer Barefoot Cruises stating that our cruise had been canceled in Grenada but that they could rearrange our cruise to leave from Costa Rica. We didn't want to buy more tickets to fly to Costa Rica so we asked for a refund.

Come to find out Windjammer Barefoot Cruises has been in financial difficulties for the last several years and none of their ships has even sailed in the last couple of months leaving passengers and crews high and dry in the ports where their ships were. Groups were taking up donations to fly the crews left with no pay home.

When we asked for a refund they told us in so many words if we didn't rearrange to cruise out of Costa Rica it would be next April at the earliest before we will see a refund. Well they are still taking people's money telling everyone that their next cruise is set for Nov 3rd from Costa Rica but scuttlebutt has it they still don't have clearances to leave port. We are still going to fly to Grenada in November but we have found and made other arrangements while there.

I don't think we will ever see a refund from Windjammer Barefoot Cruises. As for the cruise trip insurance that we purchased through Windjammer Barefoot Cruises does not cover us if the cruise line goes out of business.

Windjammer Barefoot Cruises Ltd is still taking bookings and processing credit cards through PayPal, not letting buyers know that their ships have all been arrested and cannot leave the ports they are in until they pay their debts.

(Please read the attached comment regarding trip insurance.)

Brandon, Florida

We finely made it to our daughter's house in Brandon, FL today. It's been a long trip and we are both wore out. We plan on staying here until the end of the year with the exception of a couple of excursions planned. Today we travelled 162 miles giving us a total of 2382 miles since we left Cascade, WI a month ago. We burned approximately 300 gallons of diesel giving us an average of 7.9 miles per gallon costing us a total of $901.41 in fuel and $270.64 in camping fees.

Next Thursday we plan on heading down to Fort Lauderdale for 4 days and 3 nights to attend the Ft Lauderdale International Boat Show. This boat show is the world's largest boat show featuring over 2 billion dollars ($2,000,000,000.00) worth of boats, yachts, super yachts and boating accessories from just about every manufacture in the world.

Worthington Springs, Florida

Well today started off with rain... lots of rain. We started off with breakfast at the resort restaurant then getting on the road around 9 am after getting wet while hooking up. The first couple of hours we drove in the rain then it started to clear up around Tallahassee. We fueled up at the Midway Flying J at $3.059 a gallon. Tonight's stay is at the Palm RV Park in Worthington Springs, FL. This is a small RV park that I found in the PassportAmerica Directory. There are only 10 sites on grass but they have full 50 amp hookups. If the highway was a little narrower or our rig a little longer we wouldn't have been able to turn into the RV park driveway because it was so narrow. It's a clean little park though where pets and young kids are not welcome which was ok with us. The owner told us that she found that most of the people that came in with pets did not clean up after them and those with young children didn't watch them. There is a small pond with steep banks full of catfish big enough to eat a small child in front of the RVs where people can gather and a busy narrow highway where unwatched children could get hurt. Most of the sites are filled by long term tenants. We travelled 258 miles today with 163 miles to travel tomorrow.

DeFuniak Springs, Florida

We got an early start today leaving Hattiesburg around 8:00 this morning on our way to Florida. We stopped at the Oasis Travel Center in Robertsdale, AL for fuel and breakfast. I only put in 25 gallons of diesel at $3.099 a gallon thinking it would be cheaper in Florida. I should have went ahead and filled up because diesel in Florida was $3.169 a gallon. We checked into the Sunset King Resort in DeFuniak Springs, FL just after 2 this afternoon. We travelled 226 miles today with 421 miles to go until we get to Brandon, FL.

Hattiesburg, Mississippi

We left Minden around 9:00 this morning heading today to Hattiesburg, MS where we checked into the Shady Grove RV Park. We drove 273 miles today. The weather was good all the way and only 1 slowdown due to an accident on I-20 and a construction slowdown when we turned off of I-20 in Jackson, MS to US-49.

Minden, Louisiana

When we got up this morning it was pouring rain so we got a late start on todays journey. When the rain lightened up I tore down the satellite systems and got everything packed. We got on the road around 10am and the traffic going towards Dallas was still bad. I think people in Dallas only see one thing in front of them when they drive and that's their nose. We had a close call a couple of times before we got out of the Dallas area. Our first stop was for fuel at the TA in Terrell, TX. The pumps in the truck stop would not take my fuel card and the line at the fuel desk was so long the we left before getting fuel and went down the road to the next truck stop where we fueled up and got a late breakfast. By that time it was already noon. After breakfast we continued on until we got to our overnight stop at the Interstate RV Park west of Minden, LA. The computer map showed the RV park 1 mile north of the Interstate but when we turned off a sign said it was a mile south. We headed south but the road "T"ed at US-79 about a half mile down the road. We made a U-turn and headed back to go north of the Interstate when we spotted it behind a trailer sales just before the Interstate but we missed it. The road wasn't wide enough to make another U-turn so I got back on the Interstate to go to the next exit 5 miles away to make a U-turn and try it again. The RV park had 50 amp full hookups for $20 a night. The office was unmanned so registration was by honor box. Right across the street is a small fuel stop with a full service diner. Tomorrow morning we head to Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

Log Cabin Village, Forth Worth, Texas

Today we went on a day trip with our friends Linda & Larry Muncy to the Log Cabin Village in Forth Worth. The Log Cabin Village is a living history museum that preserves and interprets the aspects and culture of everyday life in nineteenth century North Texas. The log structures display different architectural styles as well as craftsmanship. They were all built between 1845 and 1860 in North and Central Texas.

The Foster Home

The Foster home was considered one of the "finest log houses tn Texas." It belonged to wealthy cotton plantation owners, Harry and Martha Foster. Slaves built the cabin in the early 1850s from massive oak and cedar trees. After the Civil War, in which the Foster sons fought for the Confederacy, many of the freed slaves stayed on as share croppers. Today, the parlor contains artifacts and portraits belonging to the Foster family.

The Pickard Cabin

In 1856, Malissa and William Pickard, a young married couple from Tennessee, headed for Texas with William's family and slaves. In 1863, after serving for the Confederacy, William purchased this story-and-a-half log home and ninety acres from the Patilo family who built it in the 1850s. The continued to add rooms to their home, where they raised their eight children. The cabin displays a children's loft as well as some artifacts that date back to the 1700s.

The Seela Cabin

There is a family tale of how Isaac Seela chose the site for this cabin. In the 1850s, an old Indian, known as "Caddo Tom," warned the Seelas not to build close to the creek which had been known to flood during times of heavy rain. Isaac paid no heed to this warning. That cabin was washed away by a spring flood. Therefore, Seela had to build this, his second cabin.

The Parker Cabin

The Parker cabin consists of two rooms separated by a "dogtrot," or breezeway. This cabin, built in 1848, is the oldest building built in Tarrant County. Isaac Parker, the owner, had a neighboring county named after him. Sam Houston, the first president of the Republic of Texas, visited the Parkers often at this house. Cynthia Ann Parker, Isaac's niece, was returned to this cabin by Texas Rangers after being taken from her Comanche family.

The Howard Cabin

The Howard cabin is a two story log house built in 1858. Its owner, Hartsford Howard, was a professional land surveyor who invested heavily in Texas land. His homestead was a site for many confrontations with Native Americans, who saw their ancestral lands being taken and sold to investors like Howard.

The Marine SchoolhouseThe Marine schoolhouse is the oldest schoolhouse in Fort Worth. This board and batten structure was originally located in North Fort Worth where it served as a one-room schoolhouse beginning in 1872. Throughout the late 1800s and early 20th century, it served as a school, a church, and a community center. It then served as a house from 1906 to the late 1980s. In 2003, it was moved to Log Cabin Village for restoration.

The Blacksmith Shop

The blacksmith shop was built at the village in the 1980s. It contains many of the original tools that were used in the nineteenth century. Coal was burned in the foege to heat the iron. Once the iron was literally "red hot," it was placed on the anvil and bent and shaped with a hammer and other tools.

The Shaw Gristmill

The Shaw gristmill is one of the best constructed log structures at the Village. Master builder, Thomas Shaw, built it as his family home. He helped many of his neighbors with theirs as well. This cabin was turned into a gristmill at Log Cabin Village. It contains 1860s milling equipment which is still used to grind corn into fresh cornmeal, a very important staple for noneteeth century Texans.

The Tompkins Cabin

The Tompkins cabin is a one room cabin with a hidden loft. The simple house setting displays artifacts that would have been found in the 1850s, the same decade that this cabin was built. John and Sarah Tompkins raised nine children in this cabin, to which they added pens (rooms) as their familty grew.

Lake Lewisville, Texas

We left Denison this morning for our 80 mile trip to Lewisville, Texas where we are staying at the Lewisville Lake Park Campground. This campground is owned by the city of Lewisville. The Golden Age/Access Passport is accepted here for a 50% discount. We will be here until Monday Oct 15th.

Denison, Texas

This morning we left Seminole and headed to Denison, Texas where we wanted to look at a 1960 Chris-Craft Roamer just like ours. Well it wasn't quite like the Shangri-La but it was close. The main thing we wanted to look at was how they had built the shower in it. On this boat the shower pan folded down in front of the toilet and the shower curtain went around it to keep the rest of the head dry. We stayed at the Grandpappy Point Marina and RV Park on Lake Texoma. Tomorrow we head to Lewisville, Texas just north of Dallas for the weekend.

Seminole, Oklahoma

We left Grand Lake this morning and headed 150 miles to Seminole, OK to visit the grand kids in Norman and to visit my sister Lovina in Seminole. We parked the motorhome at the Catfish Roundup RV Park north of town then drove into Oklahoma City for lunch and to pickup our oldest grandchild Kristella from school. We set at our prearranged meeting point for almost an hour when we learned that she didn't go to school today. We then headed to Norman and picked up the other grandchild McKenzie from daycare and took her back to her house where we visited for about an hour before we had to leave. We then went back to Seminole where we visited my sister for a couple of hours and had dinner with her. On to Texas tomorrow.

Oklahoma Ghost Towns

We drove through several of the small towns on the west side of Grand Lake and compared to the small towns of Wisconsin, these towns are very depressing. The downtown areas of Afton, Langley, Disney and Fairland, Oklahoma looked on the verge of being ghost towns even with as much activity there is in the area. Most of the old downtown buildings looked too far gone to do anything with and because of these conditions there is nothing to draw any other business or tourists into the downtown area. This is a shame being how beautiful the Grand Lake O' the Cherokees area is. In contrasts most of the downtown areas of the small towns of Wisconsin were thriving with business and most of those towns are much older than the Oklahoma towns.

Ketchum, Oklahoma

We had to move today. Our time was up at the Bear's Den and we're not ready to leave the area yet so we moved 18 miles to the Pelican Landing Resort & Campground in Ketchum, OK. This is a Coast To Coast Resorts affiliated resort so our daily charge here is only $8 a day. We'll be here 4 nights and leave out on Tuesday OCT 9th heading next to Seminole, OK.

Back to School

We have extended our stay here in Grove to attend the local United States Power Squadron's boat safety course "Boat Smart". The classes run for 3 nights starting last night, Thursday night, and the last class on next Monday night. This is a good first boating safety class for Barbie and a good refresher course for me. We'll have to leave Bear's Den on Friday because our 2 weeks will be up and we will move over to Pelican Landing Vacation Resort over in Ketchum, some 20 miles from Grove.