Jan 2014
Disney World / Patrick AFB
January 30, 2014 02:29 PM
In my last post, I said that after Dunedin, we’d “[...] move on to Disney World and then Key West.” Well, our plans changed—again! We visited Disney but failed to turn right toward Key West and ended up on the Atlantic coast at Patrick AFB instead. Why? Several reasons, one being an unplanned trip for Ann. Read on.
We arrived at the campground at Fort Wilderness at Disney World on December 16 for a one-week stay. The campground is “on the property” which makes it simple to get around Disney World and Epcot Center. I won’t say much about our actual visit to Disney except to say that we enjoyed it, particularly Epcot. The campground itself is something to be seen, as many of the visitors festoon their sites with huge inflatable Disney characters, animated displays, and music. Our one string of white lights around our patio made us look like country cousins. Anyway, it’s a sight to be seen.
While at Disney, we made the decision to not make the trip to Key Largo and Key West. It’s a long drive through crazy traffic, our stay at Key Largo was going to be ridiculously expensive, and we’ve “been there, done that” several years ago and, while Key West is an interesting place to visit, it’s not a place we feel drawn back to. So, we punted and headed east to Patrick AFB.
Patrick is on the Atlantic coast of Florida just south of Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Center. I deployed to Patrick for a military exercise in the early 1980’s when I was flying F-4C’s for the Flying Razorbacks. At that time, it was a beehive of activity. Now, it’s quiet, noticeably lacking airplanes. The aircraft stationed on this huge airbase consists of 3-4 C-130’s and about a half-dozen helicopter, all belonging to the Air Force Reserve units based here, and a mixed bag of about another half-dozen airplanes belonging to “other” US government agencies. There are no active duty airplanes here! I’d be happy to see the military in decline if it meant that the world was at peace, but I’m afraid that’s not the case. Time will tell if we’re making wise decisions or not.
The FamCamp at Patrick is located in a remote area of the base on the bank of the Banana River, about a half-mile from the Atlantic coast. We arrived and were put into the overflow area, which has electricity but no water or sewer. Luckily, we were soon able to move to the best full hookup site in the park, right next to the water, where we’ve remained. How we keep getting assigned to the best site in parks we visit is beyond me—our luck is amazing! The park is a little rundown and doesn’t get the attention it deserves, but it’s a nice place to stay anyway. (For all you taxpayers out there, I should mention again that FamCamps actually turn a profit, which goes to the local Moral, Welfare, and Recreation fund that supports activities and facilities for our troops. Your tax dollars are safe!)
But the big news is that a couple of days after we arrived, Ann made the decision to go to South Africa for a visit that coincided with the marriage of our niece, Lisa. Ann left on December 30 and returned home on January 14. During her trip over, she spent a day with her sister and family in London. She then had a full two weeks with the rest of the family in Cape Town. I’m really glad she decided to go over, as it had been seven years since her last visit. My only regret is that I couldn’t make the trip with her. Someone had to stay with Muffin.
Luckily, my loneliness during her absence was reduced by some great friends who live near here. We met Dan and Sherry during our stay in Asheville and have remained in touch. Dan is a retired Air Force Brigadier General, giving us a lot in common. They’ve opened their home to us during our stay here and have shown us around the area in hopes we might fall in love with it and decide to move here. Whether they’ve succeeded remains to be seen. We like the area but we aren’t through looking. It’s definitely high on our list, partly because of such great friends.
The weather has been a bit odd. Unlike the rest of the country, the Florida peninsula has stayed warm. We’ve had high temperatures of 84º and our lowest nighttime temperature has been about 41º. Nice! We’ve had a few rainy days, including today, but it’s been mostly sunny and warm. I’m really liking Florida!
We move to Saint Augustine this Saturday with the plan to stay nine days. Our friends Bob and Teri visit there regularly and rave about what a great place it is, se we have to stop and see for ourselves. After our stay there, we go to the Navy base at Mayport, near Jacksonville, for two weeks and then back to the Naval Air Station at Pensacola. That’s assuming we don’t change our minds.
Alan
We arrived at the campground at Fort Wilderness at Disney World on December 16 for a one-week stay. The campground is “on the property” which makes it simple to get around Disney World and Epcot Center. I won’t say much about our actual visit to Disney except to say that we enjoyed it, particularly Epcot. The campground itself is something to be seen, as many of the visitors festoon their sites with huge inflatable Disney characters, animated displays, and music. Our one string of white lights around our patio made us look like country cousins. Anyway, it’s a sight to be seen.
While at Disney, we made the decision to not make the trip to Key Largo and Key West. It’s a long drive through crazy traffic, our stay at Key Largo was going to be ridiculously expensive, and we’ve “been there, done that” several years ago and, while Key West is an interesting place to visit, it’s not a place we feel drawn back to. So, we punted and headed east to Patrick AFB.
Patrick is on the Atlantic coast of Florida just south of Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Center. I deployed to Patrick for a military exercise in the early 1980’s when I was flying F-4C’s for the Flying Razorbacks. At that time, it was a beehive of activity. Now, it’s quiet, noticeably lacking airplanes. The aircraft stationed on this huge airbase consists of 3-4 C-130’s and about a half-dozen helicopter, all belonging to the Air Force Reserve units based here, and a mixed bag of about another half-dozen airplanes belonging to “other” US government agencies. There are no active duty airplanes here! I’d be happy to see the military in decline if it meant that the world was at peace, but I’m afraid that’s not the case. Time will tell if we’re making wise decisions or not.
The FamCamp at Patrick is located in a remote area of the base on the bank of the Banana River, about a half-mile from the Atlantic coast. We arrived and were put into the overflow area, which has electricity but no water or sewer. Luckily, we were soon able to move to the best full hookup site in the park, right next to the water, where we’ve remained. How we keep getting assigned to the best site in parks we visit is beyond me—our luck is amazing! The park is a little rundown and doesn’t get the attention it deserves, but it’s a nice place to stay anyway. (For all you taxpayers out there, I should mention again that FamCamps actually turn a profit, which goes to the local Moral, Welfare, and Recreation fund that supports activities and facilities for our troops. Your tax dollars are safe!)
But the big news is that a couple of days after we arrived, Ann made the decision to go to South Africa for a visit that coincided with the marriage of our niece, Lisa. Ann left on December 30 and returned home on January 14. During her trip over, she spent a day with her sister and family in London. She then had a full two weeks with the rest of the family in Cape Town. I’m really glad she decided to go over, as it had been seven years since her last visit. My only regret is that I couldn’t make the trip with her. Someone had to stay with Muffin.
Luckily, my loneliness during her absence was reduced by some great friends who live near here. We met Dan and Sherry during our stay in Asheville and have remained in touch. Dan is a retired Air Force Brigadier General, giving us a lot in common. They’ve opened their home to us during our stay here and have shown us around the area in hopes we might fall in love with it and decide to move here. Whether they’ve succeeded remains to be seen. We like the area but we aren’t through looking. It’s definitely high on our list, partly because of such great friends.
The weather has been a bit odd. Unlike the rest of the country, the Florida peninsula has stayed warm. We’ve had high temperatures of 84º and our lowest nighttime temperature has been about 41º. Nice! We’ve had a few rainy days, including today, but it’s been mostly sunny and warm. I’m really liking Florida!
We move to Saint Augustine this Saturday with the plan to stay nine days. Our friends Bob and Teri visit there regularly and rave about what a great place it is, se we have to stop and see for ourselves. After our stay there, we go to the Navy base at Mayport, near Jacksonville, for two weeks and then back to the Naval Air Station at Pensacola. That’s assuming we don’t change our minds.
Alan
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