The full-time RV lifestyle is wonderful and we enjoy it immensely. However, living “on the road” also means we don’t see family and friends as often, in some cases almost daily, as we did when we owned a stick house. Perhaps the hardest thing for me to adjust to was filling that void that had been occupied by family and friends.
We had heard of and read about the phenomenon of meeting RVers and then running into those people over and over again as we travel around the country. Over the four plus years we have been full-time RVers, we have added a number of friends to our base of “Nashville friends”. These new friendships are one of the great blessings of this lifestyle.
Today, we had lunch with JW, a very fine fellow who was parked next to us during the months of November and December while we were in Nashville. Ocala is JW’s hometown and he is here now visiting with his family and hometown friends. For us, he is the local expert on the places to eat in Ocala. He suggested Murphy’s Oyster Bar for our lunch to satisfy our craving for seafood. It was a great choice and our fried shrimp were very good. Gene also order gator tail. I had to try a bite. No, it doesn’t taste exactly like chicken. It can’t hold a light to shrimp, but it wasn’t bad.
JW also invited one of his good friends to join us. It was great to meet Mike as well as to visit with JW again. Hopefully, we’ll have another chance to spend some time with JW. Since he is a native of Ocala, he is a great source for information about the local area. As we drove to the restaurant, he pointed out several places that we would not otherwise have noticed. Thanks JW for the personal tour of town and a wonderful lunch.
While we were waiting for JW to come by this morning, Helen called to invite us to their place. About mid-afternoon we drove over to their campground, Wilderness RV Park Estates. It is hard to say when we first became acquainted with Bill and Helen. They are Montana owners and are very active in the Montana Owners Club. Since we were also Montana owners, Gene had come across Bill and Helen on the forums. We started reading Helen’s trip journal, Here We Go Again, long before we actually met them. But, as happens in this lifestyle, our paths finally crossed and we got our first Escapees hugs from Bill and Helen when they were in Nashville a couple years ago. We last saw Bill and Helen in Albuquerque last spring.
We got the grand tour of their relatively new Big Sky and let me just say, it is beautiful and Helen has done a marvelous job of decorating. We visited over a light snack and wine for the remainder of the afternoon.
Besides being anxious to see Bill and Helen again, we were also excited to see Wilderness RV Park Estates. This is one of the campgrounds we are interested in for a snowbird roost. Helen gave us a quick tour of the park. It is a very nice place and ranks right up there in our top three.
We look forward to attending the Montana Owners Club luncheon next week with Bill and Helen. Thanks, guys, for a great afternoon.
Aren’t friends wonderful!!
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