After leaving the Keys I set up camp for a few nights at a county park in Pembroke Pines. Some family friends of ours, the Weisenbergers, now live there along with two of their daughters, Jean (David), and Peggy (Evancho). I haven’t seen any of them in a number of years, and they gave me grief for not stopping by last year so I made it a point to see them this year. I actually went out to dinner with them two nights, though not everyone could make it both nights. During the day, besides walking Abbey, I went to the library to work of all things. Intravation, the name of my brother’s company, was putting out a new release and Michael thought it would be a good idea for me to do the testing so I could learn the software. I have to say that first week I had a real hard time getting motivated to work more than an hour or two at a time. It’s been a while! But I managed to get my act together and get the testing done in time, though I had to work one weekend to do it. Needless to say, I had to take several days off after all that work in order to recuperate.
Luckily, I had a great spot to recuperate. One of Mary Beth’s cousins, Veronica, and her husband, Harold, bought a house on a lake in Paisley, about an hour north of Orlando, last year and spent a good part of the time since fixing and cleaning it up. It’s hard to believe this place is in Florida. Veronica likes to call it Stillpoint. I like to think of it as an oasis in the desert of Florida. It is so peaceful and quiet. The wildlife is amazing. You never know when sandhill cranes or red-tailed hawks will land in the yard. Deer walk around like they own the place, but then again, so did Abbey. The yard is fenced in so I could let her roam and she usually found a way to get into trouble. There’s a little inlet of the lake which juts into the yard, and unfortunately it was a bit muddy. Of course Abbey found that right away and I think I had to hose her down a dozen times in the first 3 days. She finally stopped going in so much. It was either because cooler weather moved in, or she figured out that if she went in the mud she would get hosed down, which she dreaded more and more each time it happened. They had a place for me to park the RV out front so Abbey and I had our own little place there where we wouldn’t bother anybody. However, I’m not one to turn down a dinner invitation and occasionally Abbey and I joined Veronica and Harold on one of their early morning walks so we got to spend plenty of time with them. Veronica, Abbey and I even managed to get in a 7 mile hike the first Sunday. I was surprised Abbey had enough energy. She was ahead of us the whole way.
Veronica’s father, Mary Beth’s Uncle Louis, lives in his trailer on the property. I didn’t get to see him as much this year, though, because Aunt Anni had some health issues while I was there. We still made it out to dinner a number of times. Abbey remembered his trailer and barked like crazy when she saw it. I opened the door and she ran in. She only wasted a minute or two wondering where he was before she started “cleaning” the floor. Uncle Louis’ knees aren’t holding up too well these days so he gets around the property on an old golf cart. He uses it to feed their lone chicken, Matilda, and the crazy fish in the lake. I went one day and the fish started jumping out of the water as soon as we got close to the dock. Talk about Pavlov’s dog.
Veronica’s brother, Andy (you may remember him from my trip to San Diego last July), showed up for a few days though he spent most of the time with Aunt Anni. He tends to fly in and out at a moment’s notice since his work tends to keep him traveling about 90% of the time. Another cousin, Pat, came down the second weekend I was there. I had never met Pat, nor had Mary Beth, so it was interesting to get to know her a little. With everyone coming and going, it didn’t exactly live up to its name, but it was still hard to leave in the end. I didn’t want to overstay my welcome, though, and I was ready to start heading west. After all, when I went into Mt. Dora the traffic reminded me I was still in Florida.
On my way “up north” from the Keys I also managed to stop at my Aunt Jean’s in Sebring. She lost her husband, David, last year so it was nice to spend some time with her and take her out to dinner. I stayed the night and the next morning my cousin Kim came down. I hadn’t seen her in over 20 years, and I had only seen her twice in my life, so it was nice to catch up. She and her husband live in a fifth-wheel (another type of RV), so we at least had that in common.