Scoped out a couple of other RV parks today in Fort Myers

Well I take back what I said about not being able to find a park as beautiful as the one we are in.  Today we visited an rv park on the other side of route 75 that is older than the park we are currently in but is very nice with plants and palm trees everywhere.  We need to go back and see how many of these lots might be available to rent next year.  We also visited a brand new park that is just now opening with the first lots having just recently been sold.  It actually is very close to the older park we visited.  We took a tour of the facilities at the new park which were much nicer than what we are currently in.  The park will have 480 lots when totally complete.  A couple of nice things about the park that we like include allowing 8 x 14 or 10 x12 "sheds" on the lots.  These sheds are all built by the same company but can include kitchens, bathrooms or bedrooms.  The new park has palm trees planted along the streets within the park but there is very little planted on the lots since they were just recently purchased.  The pool will just open up next week.  The older park we visited also allowed these "sheds".  Some people turn these into a kind of guest cottages with small kitchenettes, a bathroom, and hideabed couches with TV's on the wall etc.  It would give guests some privacy compared to sharing the already small rv space.  These parks also allow you to leave your rv on the lot when you go home in the spring if you want to.  These parks  allow park model rv's instead of just motorhomes or fifth wheels.  This gives you the option of putting a larger more permanent structure on the lot if you get tired of driving a motorhome or pulling a fifth wheel.  The park models must meet certain stipulations but they were very attractive.  We think we will scope out both of these parks in more detail and possibly rent a space at one of them for next year.

The prices to buy a lot in the brand new park is a lot less than the park we are staying in.  The lots start at $49k with the most expensive lot is $69k.  The hoa fees are a little more but the taxes are considerably less since they are outside of town.  We want to check into the projected rent per month since these may make financial sense to buy and rent out even if you don't want to stay on them every year.  One consideration is the location.  The park we are staying at now is only about three miles from Fort Myers Beach and the Gulf while these two other parks are on the other side of route 75.  This could actually be a benefit though based on what we have heard about the traffic trying to get to the beach after the first of the year.  To get to shopping areas the other two parks are actually closer than where we are now.

At least these give us some more options for next year if we want to come back to this area.

Were alone again at the RV Park on 12 27 2013

Today Chelsea left at around 2:00 pm to go back to Naples to work and we dropped Jason off at the Southwest Florida Airport at around 6:30 pm so he could catch his plane back to Warsaw.  They both seemed to enjoy their stay while they were here.  I thought I would show some pictures of the park to give you a better idea of what it looks like.  It is very tropical feeling due to the number of plants and palm trees that are in the park.  I especially like the entrance which is lined with palms down each side and a row down the middle of the road.

Here are some pictures of the park.  Tomorrow Huli and I are going to visit another park in Fort Myers to see if we want to go there next year.  I don't think we will find a more beautiful park than the one we are currently in but we are going to look.  Another nice thing about this park is that it is totally controlled by board of directors representing the 319 people who own the lots.  The manager of the park reports to this six member board.  This is why when they say the pool is heated it is truly heated to a consistently fantastic temperature day in and day out.  The owners don't want to cut corners on these kinds of things to save money and you can see this in many things as compared to other for profit parks we have been in.  One downside for us in this park is it is not the friendliest park we have been to for pet owners which is very important to us.  Since Tanner can't walk that far especially in the hot weather we have to go a fairly long way to reach an area that is for walking pets.  We have a golf cart for this and running around the park or that would be a real pain in the butt. 

Since being here we have learned that about 80 of the 319 lots are for sale by the owners.  Many were purchased in 2005 starting at a low of $75,000 for an unimproved lot and going up from there.  Today they seem to sell for any where from $85,000 to $200,000.  In addition to the lot you would also have to pay home owner association fees and taxes amounting to about $3500 per year.  Many people have lost money on the lots they purchased.  I was looking into the lots as an investment possibility but the numbers don't work out based on the rent you could earn.  In the Dec - Mar time frame you could almost be guaranteed to be able to rent your lot (we were told there is an 88 person waiting list this year) but the rest of the year would be up in the air.  Also the amount you could rent the lot for goes down considerably in the non peak months.  When I made the reservations earlier this year they kept going back and forth with me as to whether or not a lot would be available for January through March.  When I then said I would be also interested in December they immediately gave us a confirmation for the lot we are on.  One thing great about  being this far south is the weather.  So far this year we could be in the pool every day.

This is the entrance to the park.



 

At night there are three rows of palm trees lit up that make this a very nice place to walk the dogs. We walk them up one side of the road and then cross the median in front of the park and go down the other.  You get no hassle from anyone walking them up here.

 

 

 

The park is gated so you don't have to worry much about leaving things outside the motorhome.  

 

 

This is the office where you check in 

 

This is the building where the mail room, restrooms, showers, and laundry is located. 

 

 

This is the pool area with the Tiki Bar on the pool side and the club house on the other side. 

 

 

 

 

 

Another nice thing about this park is the space between our motorhome (seen below) and our neighbors.  In Florida things are usually pretty tight.



 

 

This is the front of our unit taken from the other side of the lake that is in front of the motorhome. 

 

 

This is Jason on our patio area getting ready to head down to the pool on his last day in Florida before flying out that evening.  The visor attached to the front of the awning helps hold down the awning in windy conditions and also gives us more privacy when sitting outside.

 

 

The red solo cup patio lights haven't gotten us tossed out yet.

 This is the road in front of our motorhome.  You have plenty of room for parking and still have a lot of room in front of the motorhome for lounging.  On the right side the motorhomes pull in forward like ours since we face the lake.  The ones on the left side back into those sites.

 

This is fairly typical of  what the sites around us look like.  Most have been "improved" by having paving bricks added to extend the hard space on the lot 

 

 

This is the area between the sites that aren't on the lake and back up to one another.   Again this is a real plus for Florida.  The part that sucks is you can't walk your dogs in that area because it is not a "common" area.  I believe the little white sign there tells you that.  We can let our dogs out directly in front of our motorhome but we can't walk them around the lake on adjacent properties.

 

 

 

Ten years ago this area was described as a wide open field.  The park planted plants and trees in the common areas and then the lots were sold and the lot owners planted the rest of the plants and trees.  It is very pretty. 

Another thing about the park is they don't let any permanent park model type mobile homes on the lots.  All of the units are either motorhomes or fifth wheels for the most part. There are a few travel trailers in the park however.  You can live here year round but you can't leave your unit on the lot unattended even if you own the lot.   There is also a large disparity between units.  On one lot you have a $1.5 million 45 foot Prevost motorhome with a trailer in the back that is painted to match the motorhome that carries a new Corvette, a 1955 Chevy station wagon, a golf cart, and a motorcycle (the trailer is double decker).  On the lot beside it there is an older very modest fifth wheel but everyone seems to get along.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Christmas 2013

As many of you know by now by reading Facebook our son Jason proposed to his beautiful girl friend Chelsea Clemens on December 24th which coincidentally was also my 61st birthday.  It was a very special day for Huli and I to be able to share in this life changing event.  The proposal occurred outside our motorhome at the lake in front of the fountain in the early evening.  After the proposal we celebrated having a champagne toast and by grilling out our dinner. 

On Christmas day we got up and opened our gifts and then relaxed until it was time to go out for dinner in the evening.  We went to Nervous Nellie's restaurant on Fort Myers Beach island which came highly recommended by some of our friends.  The atmosphere was very good and the food was excellent.  After dinner we took a walk down to the Gulf before returning home for the evening. 

Jason and Chelsea had a hotel booked for the 25th and 26th of December.  On Friday December 27th, Jason returns home and Chelsea goes back to work in Naples for a few more days before she returns home to Indiana.

We had a very special time celebrating Jason and Chelsea's engagement, Christmas, and my birthday, and have memories that will last a lifetime.  We missed not having our oldest son with us this Christmas but he knows how much we love him and wished he could have been here too.  We really appreciate the gift he sent us but wish he'd spent the money on himself.

Janet and I would like to take this time to wish our other family and friends a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.  We would also like to thank everyone for the messages congratulating us on the engagement of our son and his bride to be.  It's been a great Christmas for the Miller's.

Here are a few pictures of the last two days.



This is a picture of the pier at the beach that Jason and Chelsea took one early morning.

 

The newly engaged couple



The proud mother who just gained a daughter who is trying to video the event through the tears streaming down her face.

 

 The special couple at our Christmas dinner at Nervous Nellie's.

Proud parents

Our view looking out at the docks behind the restaurant

This is a picture of the restaurant looking back at it from the end of the pier.

 

 

Kind of a crazy name but the food and service was very good and there were a lot of people waiting to get in.  We made reservations weeks ago since finding places to eat on Christmas day can be a problem anywhere but especially here.  It took us about one half hour to get onto the island due to traffic.

This is a view of the side of the restaurant at some of the outdoor seating on the water behind it.

Walking to the beach

 At the beach celebrating their new engagement and Christmas at the same time.



Nothing New to Post

I have not posted anything new for a while because we haven't been doing many new things to report.  Jason and Chelsea have been here so today we went to Sanibel and Captiva Islands while Chelsea was working at her bosses Naples house.  Other than that every day we go to the pool and hot tub usually around 2-3 pm in the afternoon.  Some of the neighbors have gone home for Christmas so I am watering plants for Jim and Pat next door.  About one fourth of the park is still empty but those 80 sites are expected to be be full between now and the first of the year.  The park is having a New Year's Eve party but Huli and I are currently planning on going to the beach.  They set off fireworks and have a lot of things going on for New Years eve so that is our current plan.   I will have to post some more pictures of the rv park.  I really like the variety of palm trees that are in the park.  The entrance is a fairly long drive and it is lined with palm tress that is very attractive to those arriving at the park. 

No see ums

I should have mentioned this in my last post but forgot.  This is kind of like payback for when I was younger and Huli would kind of laugh at me.  Me and Huli would go camping with the boys and usually me and Jason would get tore up with mosquito bites while Gabe would get a bit less and Huli hardly would be touched.  I had my reasons as to why this happened but won't go into that here. Well today is a new day.  Welcome to Florida and the home of the no see ums.  I can honestly say I have not been bit one time but they have tore Huli's ass up.  She swears she is staying inside and reading books until the first of April.  She walks at night with Sydney so the only thing we can think of is that is when she is getting bit.  She uses the skeeter stick after the fact but it doesn't seem to help.  I told her she better use the Skin So Soft religiously but it hasn't sunk in yet. 

Here is a picture of Huli's leg.  This is after she used half a stick of that skeeter bite stuff which smells like Absorbine Junior. I am not sure you can see them but she probably has 10-20 bites just on this leg.



Checking out other parks for next year and our Mack Daddy Christmas Lights

Last night continuing into today it rained and was overcast so we decided to check out a couple of rv parks we have heard about.  We need to find a new place to go next year.  One park is about 45 miles away outside a little town called Labelle, Florida.  It was not our "cup of tea" as they used to say.  Small lots and a lot of permanent trailers and a pool that measured 10 by 20 feet.  We then visited an rv park next door and it was kind of like what we are currently staying in.  The lots were owned by the residents.  There were many one million plus motorhomes in this park which is kind of like where we are currently staying.  Our current home, Gulf Waters RV Park, is very nice and the people are nice but there is a noticeable difference between the people who own their lots and the other people, like us, who are renting.  The people who own are a little hoity toity.  I know that is not how you spell it but you know what I mean.  Huli and I are just common people and while we have done quite well for ourselves we still prefer to be around just common working type people. I went golfing with three other men the other day who were talking about how much their motorhomes cost and the fact that they have sold their Corvettes and their boats recently.  I told Janet if I go golfing with them again I am going to tell them I am about five cases of Bud away from being on food stamps so I hope they are paying their taxes on time.

After checking out the rv parks we decided to head back to Fort Myers Beach and hit a few bars and get something to eat.  We first stopped at Pete's where we shared an order of grouper bites which are Oh so good.  We then went to another bar down the street called Lola's.  I don't like Lola's because they give you a menu that doesn't tell you how much the drinks are.  We then went to the Tiki Hut which is almost under the bridge that leads to the beach.  We went for a walk on to the pier and along the beach and then headed home.
 
Tomorrow we are going to Costco and a couple of other stores to finish some shopping so we are ready for Jason and Chelsea who are coming next Friday.  They are flying in next Friday but Chelsea is only staying overnight and then we take her to Naples where her boss has a winter home.  We will then go and pick her up Christmas eve.  We are hoping Gabe will be able to come down next year before we leave but he may not want to if I am laid up in a cast.

Huli bought some laser Christmas lights today at one of the beach stores.  I thought she got took until I plugged them in and saw how cool they turned out to be.  They add a nice touch to the outside area of the motorhome.

Here are some pictures of the last day or so.

I always wondered what I should do with old minnow buckets.  Who would have thought that they could have made two lamp shades?  This is taken at our favorite hangout so far, Pete's.

It is hard to see but this tree is decorated in star fish.

Well, somebody has to hold down these bar stools and chairs. 

This is the master fisherman or fisher bird I guess would be more appropriate.  In about an hour he will start dive bombing the ocean to catch fish.

Huli after three beers.   That exercise is really paying off for her.

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The camera has a hard time capturing the effect of our laser Christmas lights.