Great Loop Blog

	Dave & Joyce's Great Loop Adventure .... and other Bucket List trips!
	Welcome to Dave and Joyce’s blog. This blog was initially created to capture our Great Loop adventure. However, it has now transformed into our “Bucket List adventures” blog. Many people followed our Great Loop blog and have told us how much they enjoyed it. That somewhat surprised us … and totally pleased us. So we decided to continue the blog with post Great Loop trips … i.e. “Bucket List”. We hope you enjoy our new adventures! A note about navigating the blog: Since the beginning, the blog was an active journal, updated daily whenever Internet service was available. The latest information is always posted at the top of the blog page to make it easier for viewers to see our daily/weekly progress. However, when viewing it later, the format is a little awkward. For example, to see the pre- Great Loop blog, scroll down to the archive section and click on the last link July 2010 . After the page is displayed scroll down to the bottom and begin viewing by scrolling back to the top. This will give you a better sense of the trip since it is the true time sequence of our travels … we hope this makes sense … Enjoy!
	Cell: 317-403-0128 Email: davejoyceajohnson@gmail.com
03-07-2015	In the low 70's today but back to the 80's tomorrow. The birds are back but so are the insects called blind mosquitoes. They don't bite but are a nuisance. The photographer took the picture at right with his new I-phone, so this is a test to transfer, size and publish. May be using this rather than lugging around larger camera, especially when we go to the rodeo later this month. Stay warm .... snow is melting!!!
03-05-2015	Today we drove to Arcadia, FL an easy 30 mile drive from our cottage. They have a big time rodeo mid-March so we purchased tickets ... never been to a rodeo so it should be fun.	Acadia is a town full of shops ... mostly antiques. So, of course we had to do the shopping thing. Then we had lunch at a restaurant recommended by Joe and Alice. It is rated in the top 30 of all restaurant in Florida. Talk about really good fresh food! Most of the veggies are local and the meat and seafood is brought in daily never frozen. Hey Rob and Angie, a place we need to go for dinner when you are here. Its a real treat.
03-04-2015		Sharon Walters visited us yesterday. The girls shopped while Dave golfed ... don't ask about his game. He was also late for Happy Hour, but caught up:-) Chicken on the grill, dirty rice, asparagus, salad and bread ... a great meal with great company. All in all a very good day. Today more golf and more sunshine ... very boring .... not!!!
02-20-2015	We survived the cold spell the last couple of days. Yesterday evening we were invited to our neighbors for ribs ... oh so good! Alice really knows how to do ribs ... and Dave is determined to learn how to duplicate them. Might be hard to do at home because she uses a Weber charcoal grill ... but he is going to try with his gas grill and smoker box. Yesterday, we met up with RV friends Tom and Sue. After drinks and snacks at our cottage we had a wonderful Mexican dinner at a restaurant nearby. Pictured right are; Joe, Alice, Dave, Joyce, Sue and Tom. Tomorrow we are expecting weather in the 70's .... weather to enjoy ... maybe a fishing day?
02-17-2015		Mostly sunny today with a high in the low 80's. The clouds started rolling in so Dave wanted a "beach day" picture before the cold front hits. The next 3 days are going to be 20 degrees colder than today. Not good, but it will warm up by the weekend. In the mean time, no more reading on the beach. Probably no fishing ... Dave has become a fair weather fisherman:-( ... but golf is still in. Tomorrow a high of 60 with 17 -18 mph winds. Tee time at 12:17 ... hey, it can't hurt the game any worse than it is.
02-15-2015	This morning we went to breakfast with John and Judy Flaherty. Then home to change cloths and take a small hike in a place down the road called Lake Wales Ridge Wildlife and Environmental Area. This was to be a small walk, so of course we didn't need any water. After walking around for 1 1/2 hours completely lost we prayed for a clue to our location. Dave spotted telephone poles and immediately knew that the road running next to them was the road to the entrance. We just had to get to it. In between us and the road was barbed-wire fencing and a thicket of vegetation. We found a spot where we could crawl under (Dave let Joyce go first of course .... wanted to be sure she could make it:-) Once to the road we discovered it was not the road we thought it was, but instead a State Hwy miles from our starting point. Now you would think people would be willing to pick up two old people thumbing a ride. It certainly didn't happen right away, but finally a guy pulling a bass boat pulled over and gave us a lift to our car. He was originally from Goshen, IN and was Amish ... was Amish, now a beer drinking good old boy! Said he didn't have any water just beer ... thought better to pass on that. Alls well that ends well, but no more walking around in soft sand for us!
02-14-2015		Happy Valentines day to all! We hope you all gave your sweetie a nice gift ... cause Dave and Joyce received none:-( Thats okay, because they have each other and thats enough (how about that "Steve with the roses to Linda" ... think this will salvage the day?). Joyce's cousin John England and wife Sharon paid us a visit. We went to lunch downtown Lake Placid, viewed some murals then back to the lake for a nice visit. It was a little breezy so we didn't stay on the dock very long. We are waiting for some warmer weather ... hopefully beginning tomorrow.
02-13-2015	Friday the 13th proved out to be a great day for Joyce and Dave. Sister Janie and Bud came over yesterday and we toured the town of Lake Placid taking in as many murals as possible. Today brother Jerry and Sue showed up early for the Schwier mini-reunion and we had a great time talking about the old days.	Kathy, Rosie, Patty and Becky showed up later for a great cook-out with all the trimmings. We all had a wonderful time and decided for a repeat mini-reunion here on the lake next year. Note: Sue had a great time also. We think she is bowing her head either in prayer or meditation:-)
02-11-2015	Joyce and Alice went to lunch and some "girly" show/thing. Dave went fishing and in just a little over an hour caught two nice bass. First was a 15 1/2 in. and the second was a nice 19 1/2 in. He was fishing not far from a big ole bass boat with two guy in it. Dave thought they were snubbing him in his little porta boat ... until he pulled in two fish ... they left shortly and Dave heard one guy say "God that was a really nice fish" ... of course Dave was just loving it! Come on back boys and I'll show you how its done:-)
02-07-2015		We had a good time with the Flahertys' this evening at our lakeside cottage rental. John and Dave went to grade school and high school together and were in each others wedding ... so they go way back. Drinks, dinner and a lot of laughs. We look forward to spending more time with John and Judy.

02-01-2015	Photographer Dave never got a close picture of the eagles, but neighbor Joe had many. It was hard to pick which ones to publish. Above it looks like the eagle in the air is about to land on the one on the dock.	This guy (or gal) appears to be fishing. What beautiful birds!
01-31-2015	Our old neighbors Daryl and Janet visited us on Saturday. We went into the town of Lake Placid and looked at several murals finding hidden figures within the pictures ... Daryl gets a gold star for finding the most. After breakfast on Sunday they headed to Anna Maria Island. We plan on catching up with them in March, hoping to follow Chad Collins in a PGA golf tournament. Yesterday morning Dave went fishing with Joe and his brother Elston ... and got skunked. Fishing with live minnows produced one fish. Joe caught a small bluegill. It was fun anyway. Fishing is suppose to improve early this week. We will see!
01-28-2015		Sandhill Crane keeps knocking on our window ... dumb bird ... go away ... enough is enough. You are becoming a nuisance, pretty or not. Not a good fishing day ... got skunked after 2 1/2 hours of fishing. Maybe tomorrow, although the solunar calendar says tomorrow is not a very good day for fishing ... if you believe in that kind of thing.