The Florida Carriage Museum -- Very Nice

We have been meaning to visit the Florida Carriage Museum in the Lady Lake area of Florida for several months and finally decided to take a look. We were amazed at the quality of this museum and the wonderful displays of all sorts of beautiful carriages. Not surprisingly, horses play a major role in the museum, so it is fitting that a sculpture of a horse ready to pull a carriage meets us as we enter.

Carriages were the main form of travel for thousands of years and the museum shows all kinds that are fully restored and in period display. It was easy to imagine living 150 years ago and climbing into this beautiful carriage for a trip to town.

Carriages were used in all phases of life, just as cars and trucks are today. This collection of commercial wagons was very interesting and showed how life was lived -- and indeed, these were the pickup trucks of the day.

Rick really liked this one -- the peanut wagon that was used in the Barnum Circus. It would have been fun to see these carts rolling down the street and smelling the wonderful oder of popcorn and peanuts.

This carriage was used in England as a stagecoach and was the mass transit of the era. The expensive seats were inside while the low dollar transportation was out on top!

Carriages all kinds of accessories, just as our cars have available today. This one, however, was unique. Called the "Urchin Guard", it is mounted on the back rail of this carriage as pointed out by Orinda. It consists of a number of gold-painted spikes to discourage kids (urchins) from hopping on the back of the carriage while underway. I have not seen one of those for our Buick!

This is everything the well dressed socialite might need. The classy dress, the formal carriage and no doubt, a spirited team of horses outside with the stable hands.

Rick liked this carriage. In the seat in front, and in several compartments on the coach, are golf clubs! Called the golf carriage, this transported the golfers to the course for a great round of play. Wow -- golf carts have sure changed!

We would certainly recommend the Florida Carriage Museum for a great trip back to the past. Who knows, as gasoline gets ever more expensive, maybe we will be using these carriages again someday!

A New Coach for Rick and Orinda

A couple of weeks ago, Orinda and Rick found a 42' long Winnebago Tour that offered a number of great enhancements over our 40' coach that we have enjoyed for over 3 years. We were fortunate enough to receive a great offer and decided to get it!

The new coach uses a "tag" axle in the back to support to extra length which makes for a great ride as well as much greater room in the coach.

One of Orinda's real desires was to get a "real" washer dryer, which you can see here. Enclosed in this closet area next to the bath, this does a great job of whittling laundry down to size.

She also loves the 32" TV located in the bedroom which features two slideouts providing quite a bit more room than we had before.

In fact, the bedroom is big enough to have a full king bed which we love. It is amazing how much bigger the kind is versus the queen bed we had before.

The rest of the coach also offered many other features such as a large, well appointed kitchen, a very nice living area and a full tile floor.

The cabinetry is one of Rick's favorite features and is made of solid cherry. We are both impressed with the craftsmanship the coach exhibits and the comfort it provides. We think we will enjoy continuing to live fulltime in this great coach for the foreseeable future.

A sad day for us -- Cody has passed and a Remembrance

It is with great sadness that we report that our wonderful Golden Retriever, Cody, has passed away. He was over 12 years old and just a wonderful companion -- just the best dog anyone could ever want. He was our full travel partner for the last three years and loved being on the road.

Cody arrived at our house in the spring of 1998. He was a large ball of fur, full of love and adventure. Orinda thought he was going to be big -- look at those legs -- like stovepipes here at 8 weeks old when he already weighed close to 20 pounds.

Cody and Rick did quite a bit of pheasant hunting in South Dakota and he excelled at this. He loved to run through the fields using his excellent nose to find birds. Here, Cody is about 1 year old and very athletic.

Cody was also full of fun and enjoyed being together with all of us. Here, he models his festive Christmas antlers, which I think he actually enjoyed. Cody is almost 3 as Christmas approaches.

Here, he shows his support of FMCA in 2009 where he helped out with security (he was really in charge of tail wagging and greeting).

Even as he grew old, he was still ready for a great game of fetch. Although he was hurting quite a bit toward the end, he never complained and was always eager to greet us or take a ride in the car. This shot was from 2008.

Cody traveled through most states in the country and I think probably visited over 45 in all. He was always eager to go, as long as we were with him. Cody is 10 years old here.

We loved to take him on our travels and he always behaved like a true gentleman. Never mean or impatient, he was delighted to meet new folks.

Here, Cody meets some new friends at a Rally. He loved rallies since he could greet LOTS of new folks. A real rally dog at heart at age 10.

The well traveled Golden! Here, Cody is in northern Colorado.

Cody enjoyed pleasing folks and was always ready to pose for a picture or greet new folks.

This picture was taken recently and shows the old Golden Retriever with the very grey face. He was having a hard time standing for long, but was still eager to go with us. We will miss him greatly and he will accompany us on our future travels in our hearts. What a great dog!

The 2011 Tavares Classic Boat Show

Last weekend the Tavares boat landing was the site of the annual Antique and Classic Boat show which is spectacular to say the least. There were many (over 100?) magnificent classic boats of almost every description on land, and as you can see, in the water!

This boat is the Miss America IX -- built in 1930 and raced by the famous Gar Wood.

The Miss America IX was the first boat to exceed 100 mph and was highly successful in unlimited racing. It was amazing to see this fabulous craft up close. I could only imagine the effort it takes to restore this boat and to bring it to shows.

Here is another Gar Wood classic - dating from around the 1930 era, this was a fast boat, but obviously smaller -- and less costly -- than the Miss America.

It was remarkable to see boat after boat in the water that are fully restored and in use. Several of these boats were touring around throughout the day. While a number of these were true classics, many more were recent recreations of the classic boat concepts.

You can buy boats like this ready to go, or build one from a kit. I can only imagine what is involved from a wood working perspective to build a beautiful boat like this. The finish is mirror smooth and looks like a work or art.

This is the Au Revoir, K12, a 1929 Hacker 24’ Gentlemen's Race Boat that has been fully restored. This was just beautiful and is a great example of a true classic. I would have loved to have been the "gentleman" who went out on this.

Of course, not every classic boat is a wooden hulled beauty. This is more Rick's speed and is similar to boats he had as a kid. Actually, this is a reasonable cost approach to boating in general and still allows you to join the classic boat set. Pretty cool!

Here is one of my favorites -- the aquacar! There were several of these at the meet and occasionally, one would start up, drive down the ramp and swim into the water. Look closely and you can just see the two props under the rear of the car. Not fast, but pretty slick!

The Classic Race Boat meet in Tavares -- VERY cool

The Classic Race Boat Association held their annual meet at the Tavares, FL boat ramp facility and we took the pontoon boat over to see what we could see. Of course, Photo Dog, Cody, was planning to lead this operation!

We traveled through the Dora Canal to get to Lake Dora and on the way, saw this great STEAM powered launch traveling through the canal. The canal is a beautiful waterway and full of wildlife -- and on this day, other boats.

We reached Lake Dora and found a race course laid out in the water with spectator areas also designated by buoys. This photo shows the Tavares ramp facility which was using a large crane to place these classic boats in the water. The ramp also services seaplanes, so it is a great place to come watch the action.

And the action was fast and furious! There were several classes of antique boats racing flat out. These boats could really move! This was an inboard powered class with a driver and mechanic aboard and as you can see, racing was a serious business.

There was a wide variety of boats and this sleek entry was perhaps one of the fastest. It almost flew around the course -- and in the background, you can see a seaplane that had just landed. This was a great chance to see some very unique craft.

I was not surprised to see these classic hydroplanes racing, but was amazed at the fast speeds they attained. These are inboard powered boats and there were about 5 in this race.

This was a great shot of a more modern outboard powered hydro that cruised past and was also watching the races.

We had a great time at the races and look forward to the upcoming Classic boat show that will feature even more old boats. Rick thinks this is just great!

Antique Motorcycle meet here at the RV Park

We were surprised to find a number of RVs towing motorcycles entering the Southern Palms RV park where we are spending the winter. Rick looked again and said these are not normal bikes -- they are REALLY old! Naturally, Rick wanted to check these out! It turned out that the Antique Motorcycle Club of America was having a meet in the Eustis area and several competitors were staying in our area of the RV Park.

This was an interesting group-- led by a vintage BMW motorcycle. Makes quite a comparison with the cute little red Honda light motorcycle!

Around the corner was a rig with 3 old bikes. We got to speak with the guys working on these and were amazed at the condition of the motorcycles. This one is a Rudge Multi and we could tell it was old -- we guessed about 1925 and were high! This is actually a 1913 motorcycle -- 98 years old! Unbelievable! What was really remarkable was that these all ran flawlessly. It was very cool to see the guys riding around the park on a 1913 motorcycle.

This is a 1939 BSA bike that apparently is very rare and was immaculate. Notice the difference between these bikes - the 26 year gap provided a real maturing effect on the technology. These machines are a real effort to keep running and shining as new - imagine trying to find a part for a 1913 machine!

You can readily see the concept of the early motorcycle as a powered bicycle which this rig really is. Power was transferred by a rubber belt that was stapled together -- just like it was 98 years ago. It was very quiet when running and started by pedaling much like a moped.

Lots of fun to see these cycles and talk with the collectors who keep them running.

Surprises in Leesburg, FL

Rick has been playing golf a couple times a week and last week, as he and his group approached the first green, found a group of sandhill cranes on the green.

It was pretty clear that these guys thought they were in charge and were not shy at all. In fact, they did not want to move so that we could putt the ball toward the hole! Slowly, they decided to ease along, making very load squawks to show their displeasure! We enjoyed seeing these large, beautiful birds.

We were shopping the other day and as we went out to the car, Rick heard a great sound as a four engined plane cruised overhead. Wow -- a B-24 on approach to the local Leesburg airport. We quickly traveled to the nearby airport and found that the Collins Foundation was in town with their flying collection of WWII aircraft! This B-24 was perfect and really was incredible to see.

Collins brought three aircraft, including this perfect P-51 Mustang fighter. This plane was a remarkable sound in the air and can exceed 400 mph. This plane protected bombers as they flew from England to Berlin and back -- imagine sitting in this small cockpit for hours -- and then having air to air combat with German fighters. Gives us pause to consider that.

Here is Rick's favorite -- the B-17. Imagine seeing these great aircraft on approach to the airport. Collins keeps these aircraft in perfect condition and tours the country to acquaint folks with the history of aviation in WWII.

While these planes were huge in the WWII era, they are very cramped and small inside. Rick has toured inside them and was amazed at how tight they are; of course, they were designed to carry a heavy bomb load and not provide luxury accommodations!