I was sure by setting up camp at a "55 and older" RV park, it would bring some calm, quiet, stillness, and rest for us after being on the road and moving at a blustering pace for over two months of RV living. Don't tell my husband but, sometimes, I can be so very wrong.
Much of our stay was quite tranquil indeed. Our fellow RV'ers at Breezy Oaks RV Resort have been
the nicest of all our neighbors on our travels. I felt like we were living in a quaint neighborhood full of the sweetest grandparents a girl could ask for. Every time we ventured out, there was a silver-haired lady or gent saying hello, asking how our stay was, or hassling our boys in ways only an ornery grandpa could. We became known as the "young family" amongst the long-term residents that keep the gossip mill humming with the latest scuttlebutt on the newest arrivals. On separate occasions while at the pool, folks came up and asked if our family had moved camp sites. Apparently, the directions their friends had told them where to find the “young family” that had set-up for the week weren’t accurate and they were worried they didn’t get a chance to see us before we left. Jason and I had the pleasure of meeting with, what appeared to be, a LONG-time resident of the park named Bon. Now sweet, lil Bon knows what’s going on in Breezy Oaks. If you ever want the 4-1-1 on who’s who, what the latest upgrades are, or the future plans for Breezy Oaks, then Bon is your gal. Unfortunately, all my faith in Bon faded a bit when she questioned Jason and I after we told her we were actually too young to stay there, but the office staff had agreed to let us camp for the week anyway. “Oh.” She said. “What? So, you guys are still young then?” Umm, yes, by a solid decade plus we are too young. Oh, silly Bon, despite your delusions, I adore you.
I think the big highlights of our stay at Breezy Oaks for the boys were all the animal sightings. Just
outside the front driveway there was a stretch of land called “Tammy’s Farm” that I passed multiple times on my daily walks. With every pass-by, there was a new animal to spy. After I started coming back from my walks with a report of yet another animal I saw, the boys started going with me to check it out. Jason and I deemed the farm to be a real-life ‘Charlotte’s Webb’ scenario. Wilbur was a MASSIVE pig, then there was Daisy Mae the Donkey, several goats of all shapes and sizes, turkeys, ducks, geese, cows with their calves, and way too many
chickens to count. The goats and Daisy Mae started to recognize us as we walked by and came jogging over to the fence to get hand-fed by the boys.
Tammy’s Farm was awesome, but my favorite animal encounter of the week has to be Tina the Turtle that came sauntering through the RV park just outside our windows. If you can believe it, that Tina dug out a hole and laid her eggs about 15 feet from our living room window! It was VERY cool to see. I wanted to go dig up and see the
eggs, but Barrett, ever the animal activist, forbid anyone from disturbing the nest. But how cool is that? No big deal, just a turtle crawling through, dropping some eggs, and moving along. Incredible.
Now let us not forget about BINGO NIGHT! The much-anticipated Bingo night was one for the memory books. All of the who’s who of Breezy Oaks was at Bingo. Jason and I walked in with our boys in tow and were met with a couple gals at the registration desk shaking their heads looking at the boys. Apparently, Bingo is for 18 years and up. Nothing they could do. State law, they said. Then the peanut gallery filled with rambunctious grandmas and grandpas all started chiming in, “Let them play!” “We won’t tell anyone.” “Just add them together and they’re over 18!” It was awesome. So, needless to say, the boys played Bingo, too. The agreement was that the money was to exchange hands with adults, but otherwise, boys could play. We settled in at the table with Darlene and her friend. Darlene was a winner. She told us that she always wins, and we were hoping that perhaps her luck would rub off on us. Low and behold, it did! Barrett and Jason’s cards they were playing on won on
the second game of the night – we won a whoppin’ $14! It cost us $10 to play, so we were already in the black for the night. Then, I Always Win Darlene had to step out for a smoke, so she slid all her cards across the table for Cord to play while she was gone. And wouldn’t you know it, Darlene does win at Bingo! Her card won and Cord got to yell “Bingo!” for her. Darlene won $5 on that card… that she proceeded to slide right across the table to Cord and said, “I hope you buy lots of candy and ice cream with it!” Cord’s night was made. See what I mean? This community we had the absolute delight of being a part of was full of the kindest folks. Grandparents are the best.
We had the chance to meet up with a couple from our home church last week as well. Scott and Sue Smith are on a whirlwind road trip of the U.S. They were circling back up through Florida on their
way back to Oregon and reached out to Jason. Scott was the photographer that took Jason’s high school senior pictures once upon a time, so they have known each other for.... a while. We were able to rendezvous with them at the Historic Dade Battlefield State Park. Walking around the park and learning the history of the Dade Massacre, we also swapped travel stories and gave each other tips for our travels as we continue down the same road but in opposite directions. The Smith’s are moving VERY quickly on their travels – they have circled the whole U.S. in 30 days in a Jeep, pulling a 10’ trailer behind them. They aren’t anywhere for more than a day, it seems. We’re also cruising from place to place in a bit of a haste as we get closer to the areas of Florida where we can easily walk on boats to buy. To have two families clicking along on two completely separate road trips with very different motives, find themselves in the same area long enough to meet up and chat, while also being a full nation away from their home state is all so serendipitous.
As we were wrapping up our time at Breezy Oaks, and Jason was looking to reserve our next week’s stay, we started discussing the options of taking our boys to a theme park. Jason found a great KOA
RV park just outside of Orlando. This puts us at a great advantage for zipping in and out of the chaos that is Disney World, Universal Orlando Resort, etc. Then we set out on finding deals on tickets. Yikes. I haven’t looked up ticket prices for these places in probably 20 years. Ouch. I could feel the pain of my pocketbook just by reading through the package “deals” for a family of five. Sure, we can afford it. But is that where the money should be spent? Our boys love a simple swim in the RV park’s swimming pool – and that doesn’t cost a thing beyond our camp fee. However, this is a prime opportunity for us to hit one of these parks and spoil the boys with something that will blow their minds. Also, I wanted to go. Universal Studios is my favorite. I went in high school and it was amazing – I can only imagine how tremendous it would be now. Jason and I continued to scour the internet for any sort of deal. I entered my email into all the blanks, all the deals, all the coupons, and still couldn’t find a price point that I felt we could justify pulling the trigger for. On a whim, I posted an inquiry in an “RV For Newbies” group on Facebook asking if there were any deals on tickets for Universal if we stayed at a particular RV park. No one had any leads, but several wanted to know the answer as well. Then an angel straight from Jesus himself sent me a private message. This Godsend of a human, Casey, works at Universal Studios as a technician, and he has complimentary passes that he could give us, if we simply told him what days
we were planning on going. DAYS?! As in plural?! Jason and I were thinking we could maybe get to the point where we can justify going for ONE day to ONE park, and now superhero Casey is saying he has passes for us for multiple days!! To say I was blindsided, awestruck, dumbfounded, beside myself, shocked still doesn’t begin to describe my emotions. I gave Casey my first and last name, phone number, and email address – in return, he sent me FIVE 3-day passes for Island of Adventure, Universal Studios, and Volcano Bay. Because I couldn’t believe that such no-strings-attached generosity existed on the internet without some sort of scam being attached to it, I entered the ticket numbers in the Universal’s website to verify the authenticity, and sure enough, they’re legit tickets. How is this possible?? This man didn’t even hesitate to offer a total stranger the gift of a lifetime. These tickets are worth a staggering $2,000 and Casey just gave them away. I’m still reeling from the kindness. I can’t wait for the day when I get to knock the socks off a complete stranger with my own dose of generosity they won't see coming.
The boys completed their school over the weekend in preparation of being stunned by the shock and awe of Universal’s theme parks. We’re hitting one park a day for the next three days. Today is Day One of Operation Stimulation Overload.
So here’s to animals on parade, quality time with surrogate grandparents, and astounding gestures from a stranger.
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