Well as we had hoped we were unable to secure our site in Jonathan Dickenson for another week but that was okay because Sharon was getting hitch itch after staying here for nine days. We made a few phone calls and finally located a site for a week stay in Fort Myers, Florida. We left the state park and made the three plus hour drive across the southern part of the state of Florida past Lake Okeechobee with little fanfare.
When driving across the flattened expanses in southern Florida there really isn’t a lot to see along the way unless you love agriculture and freshly plowed fields. It is interesting to note how much sugar cane must be grown in this part of Florida as there were fields and fields of it along the roadside. They were also burning a lot of the residue left behind in fields that had been harvested recently. Sugar cane appears to be one sweet cash crop…
As we made our way near Fort Myers there was a noticeable increase in wooded vegetation and as we neared the coastal area the lushness of the vegetation increased. Our destination was the Siesta Bay RV Resort where we were able to get a spot for a week. When we checked in they gave us a spot in their overflow area which is not in the best part of the park but it will do for a week. Next year we will need to remember to make sure we book something for Thanksgiving weekend well in advance…
This park is one of your typical over 55 retirement communities where a few of the scattered lots are also rented out to RV’s traveling through. There are a lot of nice amenities here including two pools, a fitness center and a tennis court. After settling in we went over to their laundry building and to do our laundry. While our laundry was going we went swimming in the adjacent pool.. now this is how we like doing laundry…
On Thanksgiving it appeared as if we would be on our own since the RV park had a Thanksgiving gathering but you had to have signed up by the 21st to participate. We had planned our own mini celebration anyhow so on thanksgiving day we cooked a 13 lb. turkey in our convection oven and it came out just perfect. At 325 degrees for 160 minutes the turkey was still moist and had a nice crisp skin. Alongside the turkey we made green beans almandine, baked yams, cornbread dressing, giblet gravy and some tasty devilled eggs.
Making a traditional Thanksgiving dinner in a motorhome can be quite challenging. Hopefully we won’t have to do this again next year if we plan better. After feasting we lounged around and watched some football on television and remembered all we were thankful for… we hope each of you enjoyed your Thanksgiving as much as we enjoyed ours…
Sounds like a wonderful day and delicious meal. We learned years ago to reserve in advance Thanksiving, Christmas, New years and Presidents day. Hard to do sometimes when we don't know where we will be.
ReplyDeleteGlad you were able to find a site over the holiday. To bad you had to leave the east coast though. Glad your RV thanksgivin' dinner was a winner.
ReplyDeleteWe know the challenge you two had. We made all that last year and it took forever. Just can't put everything in the oven like we did in our home oven.
ReplyDeleteSo glad you found a place to enjoy for the next week. Sounds like a wonderful place.
Just curious, is your convection oven a microwave combo? or a regular oven. I still haven't mastered the convection part of my combo, and it certainly wouldn't fit a 13 pounder! Glad to see you had a great meal and a good day with a place to park.
ReplyDeleteLook like you found a nice spot:)
ReplyDeleteHappy Thanksgiving! Sure miss you both and miss your deviled eggs!
ReplyDeleteGeorge and Suzie Yates - you can bet we will pay more attention to all the holidays
ReplyDeleteBarry and Linda - we had to leave the east coast by the 1st of December anyhow since we had a monthly stay booked in Bonita Springs.
FULL-TIMERS - Yes dinner was a challenge and the oven space was limiting but the good news is we have lots of yummy leftovers.
Sue Malone - Our convection oven is a microwave combo and sits above the stove. We are slowly learning to master the convection and use it regularly. The fit was tight for the 13 pounder!
Chuck and Anneke's - Yes this is a pretty nice spot with friendly people so far...
pk - Hey PK good to hear from you and really my deviled eggs are not that hard to make... hope your Thanksgiving break was great!
I am starting to get the hang of the convection oven. Pumpkin pies were perfect. Cherry not quite done enough. Thanks for the info on Turkey.
ReplyDeleteIt really is a problem having to decide way in advance where you are going to be over the holidays. We solved that this year and last by setting all of our medical appointments etc during late November and early December in Virginia. Then we can do the holidays there. But not sure we'll be able to do that next year since we may go out to the west coast.
ReplyDeleteOh such weighty problems we full timers have!
:-)