1/21/16 thru 1/24/16 Everglades Isle Resort

Wow, what a place this is! This is an upscale RV resort that also has a marina. The clubhouse is fabulous, with just about any amenity you can imagine. Pool, golf carts, spa, salon, laundry, pool table, full bar, tv's, reading areas, wheelchair lift, espresso machine, showers, etc. And all inclusive. Restaurants within walking distance; although we only ate at one of them, twice! They also have planned activities; meet n greet, wine tastings, karaoke, etc. We missed the Karaoke night!

Camellia's Street Grill

Pat n I on Airboat ride

Joe Neal

Sonny

Red Mangrove

Alligator

Larry, Audrey n Donnie

Airboat path....

Young Mangrove's

Now; what could make this even better? Our Ky farmers are driving down for the day! They let us share in all of their fun..................We did an airboat ride, Wooten's alligator farm, historical trading post, then Rod n Gun Club. This was the best day, had a blast!

1/20/16 Heading to Everglades City

We traveled 8 hours and 70 miles today. It was a good ride though; started out cool but ended up very nice weather. Came by Naples and Marco Island; would like to have stopped at either one, but not enough time. We came through 10,000 islands and came into Indian Pass. Passed the Rod & Gun Club where past presidents and stars visited. We will come back to tour once we are settled in.

Marco Island

Island

Egret

Rod n Gun Club

Boat in Harbor

1/17/16 thru 1/19/16 Pink Shell Marina

This marina and resort is in the heart of Ft. Myers Beach. We have other friends here also; Larry n Linda Thompson, Joe Neal n Pat Ballance and Donnie n Audrey Edwards. All Kentucky farmers! I went to school with Larry n Joe Neal; although I am MUCH younger than them. lol They came to visit us, then we went out to dinner at Nervous Nellie's. We had the best time!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks guys, enjoyed our time with you all so much. Storms again and this time was rougher for us. High winds made it very rocky..............Anyhow; we survived. This has been a good stop for us; getting to visit with old friends is very special

Pink Shell Resort

Sonny n Marena

Audrey n Linda

The whole clan.....

 Audrey n Pat

 Donnie n Larry

 Us Girls

1/16/16 On to Ft. Myers

 We left @ 9:00 this morning and enjoyed a wonderful ride across Charlotte Harbor then down the ICW. Of course, this is Saturday, and all the weekend boaters are out. Its like a traffic jam! lol        But we wanted to get as far down the coast as possible before this next storm hits. And it did........60 mph winds again. We put on extra lines to tie us as secure as possible. We rocked around some through the night, but had no problems.
This place is awesome, Pink Shell Resort and Marina. We are about 100 yds from the beach. Walk across the street, through the hotel and there you are! We walked over last night to watch the sunset. On Monday 18th, Doug n Sherry Gentry took us to lunch @ Doc Ford's. Great food and great company. They are good friends of ours from Cedar Creek Yacht Club. They also took us to Publix; a much needed stop! lol  Thanks Doug n Sherry!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We enjoyed seeing you so much. After they dropped us off @ the marina, I realized that I had not taken a pic of us; so When I asked Sonny if he thought they would drive back over for a selfie with us, he said Probably Not!!! You all know that pics are not my strong suit while doing this blog............It is not simple. I do not have all the knowledge to do it the right way. (I'm learning bits at a time, plus I'm cleaning up the photos on all these devices too). It takes time. So, sometimes I get a little behind on blogging!!!  Right now; I'm doing the best I can.....................

1/13/16 thru 1/15/16 Punta Gorda

On the night before we left, I made sausage pinwheels so that we could have them for breakfast. I love those things, don't really like sausage though. Weird.............Anyhow; right before we pulled out, Sonny tried to start the generator so I could cook while riding along. Dead. So, no pinwheels today. Muffins and oatmeal instead. So we need a battery. When we arrived here @ Punta Gorda, Sonny got in touch with someone to replace it for us. The only other thing that has happened lately was a fuel shut-off solenoid on the port engine. The problem was diagnosed in Dunedin, part ordered and shipped to St. Pete, and Sonny put it on before we left there. You landlubbers may not know this, but, b o a t stands for break out another thousand.
When we pulled into the Fishermen Village Yacht Basin, there were these cute multi colored structures that are right beside the marina. It's an open air mall..........boutiques, restaurants, olive oil store, candy store, coffee shop, doggie store, etc. Happy. They have wonderful facilities, 3 washers, 4 dryers, restroom and showers, common room where people meet for games, karaoke, etc. An all of it is very, very clean.
We walked downtown Thursday, on a bike/walk trail, along the waterfront. A long walk, but it was so nice.......
The day we left, we had some nasty storms come through, but all is well.
There are lots of live-a-boards here, and are very nice people. Tomorrow, 16th we are headed to Ft. Myers.
pics to follow; haven't been able to backup to the cloud, but when it completes I will post them.

1/12/16 Venice

We left St. Petersburg and headed down the coast to Venice. We stayed at the Crows Nest Marina, only here for the night so we just stayed close. We did walk out on the jetty watching fishermen and boats come n go from the gulf. We ate at the Crows Nest Restaurant, it was very good AND super busy! When we pulled in we saw a yacht that we had seen twice before but had never met the owners and crew. Finally met John n Reba and their captain Jay. Nice people from Tullahoma, Tn. We had seen their yacht (Andiamo) at Ft Loudon and St. Pete. Huge UT fans; they fly the orange flag and have a big "T" on the bow!!!
We leave out tomorrow for Punta Gorda.

1/6/16 thru 1/11/16 St. Petersburg

 We left this morning headed toward St. Pete. It took us 4 hours of easy riding. We tied to the transient dock so that Brad could bring a dinghy we had picked out at his shop (Suncoast Inflatables)  in Clearwater. We walked to town which is only a block away. We ate at 400 Beach Seafood which was very good. The next day (thursday) we walked to the Dali Museum, which was very interesting. I, personally was not familiar with this artist, but I learned his work was very unique. Strange, actually. I walked to town several times, to coffee shops, shopping, restaurants, local market, post office and farmers market. We went to dinner Saturday night with old friend Walt Timmons and his friend Kay at the St. Pete Yacht Club. A huge club and very nice.........
We walked to the Vinoy Hotel; super nice...... really enjoyed our time in St. Pete.
Marena's birthday is the 9th. 16mos old..............

Happy Birthday, Marena!

400 Beach Seafood

Wine Madonna wine bar

Starbucks in St. Pete

Dali Museum

Fresco's by the Marina

Selfie

Tryst Restaurant 

Walt, Kay Sonny n I at St. Pete Yacht Club

St Pete Farmers Mkt  (huge)

Artist playing Didgeridoo

St Pete Municipal Marina as we left the harbor....

1/1/16 thru 1/5/16 Last days @ Dunedin

These last few days have been very quiet for us. We have ridden our bikes a lot. Went to the downtown area of Dunedin, then a couple days later rode in another direction. They have bike trails that make riding your bike so easy. It goes from Tarpon Springs down to St. Petersburg. That's at least 35 miles. Anyway; lots of us older folks on bikes!!! Tomorrow we are leaving for St. Pete.
I didn't take any pics during this time!!! Yikes..................

12/30 and 12/31/15

We got back to Dunedin last night @ 1:00 am. Left everything in the car till tomorrow and we crashed! Our New Years Eve was very laid back; we had "docktails" with one couple. Everyone else is still gone for the holidays, so we're sorta alone.........
However; we stayed in for the night and managed to stay awake till midnight!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!
No pics ..................

12/23/15 thru 12/29/15 Christmas break

Spending time with all my family was great, but seeing Eric and Courtney and granddaughters was wonderful. I can't say enough about it......................................plus enjoying my daughter's cooking. She is a great cook! Chicken enchiladas, homemade chicken noodle soup, her own version of sausage balls; then on Christmas Day Buddy deep fried a turkey. Yum................
We also spent some time with Alan, Karen and Sonny's grandchildren. We hated to miss seeing John, Emily and Knox. I wish it would have worked out.............
We left Courtney's on Monday, went to Nashville and had lunch with friends, ran lots of errands, then on to Jack n Sara's for dinner with friends. Stayed the night and left the next morning for the long ride to Dunedin.

Kassandra, Raya, Dawson n Knox (glad they sent us this pic)

At Courtney n Buddy house

Savannah

At Jack n Sara house

Marena with her bully stick!

12/22/15 Marcum Christmas

After running around Nashville, we finally made it to Courtney, Buddy, & Savannah's in Franklin, Ky. We are so glad they are letting us stay with them. First we head to my brother Steve and Alecia's house tonight to celebrate with my Mom, brothers and their families. They had just moved into a new home within the last month, but it was completely decorated for Christmas! It was good to see everyone.......................
Pics to follow; check back...................

My silly Mother

Eric, Nicole, Jeff n Steve

Buddy n Courtney 

Steve n Alecia 

Adam n Natalie 

Mom n David 

Courtney, Savannah, Me, Nicole n Eric

Joe 

12/21/15 Briley Christmas

After a 10 hour drive, we arrived in Decatur to celebrate the Briley Christmas with the ones who could make it this year. This year had probably the fewest that I can remember. That's not saying a lot; my memory is not as good either! lol  I'm sure I've said this before, but we Briley women sure are lucky. Our men know their way around the kitchen. We are thankful; to say the least. We got there late that Sunday afternoon. We spent two nights with them and enjoyed every minute! Monday night was our celebration, and we left the next morning (Tuesday). Sonny & I had doctor appts the next day in Nashville before we went to Courtney's, then on to Bowling Green for the Marcum Christmas on that Tuesday night. A full day.....................
Pics to follow; check back later.

Dave n Glenda

Lynn with  Briley, Brennan and Kendall Barron 

Saleta with Marena

Jonathon and Noelle Barron (parents of 3 gorgeous kids)

Crystal