Page 41 - Commentator_Apr2018

ROAD RUNNERS RV CLUB Ellen Say, President, 941-505-9605, bruce2el@yahoo.com

Why do Road Runners enjoy taking short trips (three to four days) to various locations in Florida?
Besides the camaraderie with fellow Road Runners, they find many interesting things to see and do.
The following are recaps of two recent trips to very different destinations, one a large city on the east
coast and the other a small town in central Florida. These trips always involve morning coffee to
plan the day's activities and usually afternoon happy hour.

The first trip was to Ft. Lauderdale, where the RVers stayed at
Easterlin County Park for four nights. The Ft. Lauderdale area
offers many activities and sightseeing opportunities as well as excellent restaurants
for dining. In addition to seeing the Broadway play Wicked, the members took a
tour of the Bonnet House Museum and Gardens which is an historic artist's estate
on Ft. Lauderdale Beach created in 1920 and which can be described as unique,
colorful, artistic, whimsical and tranquil.

Just for fun activities included a visit to an Escape Room
and a cycle party. Though the group worked very hard to
solve the clues and puzzles, they were unable to figure
out how to get out of the room and finally had to be let
out! They had a blast at the cycle party. This is a 14 to 15
person pedal party on a four-wheel cycle and traveled
down Los Olas Drive mostly under the pedaling power of
the riders.

The second trip was to Pioneer Park Days in Zolfo
Springs. The RVers stayed across the street from
Pioneer Park at Lazy Acres Campground, so it was an
easy walk over to the events. It allowed us to do the
festival all three days. It was huge - a couple hundred flea market vendors, other Ft. Lauderdale Theater
vendors and clubs showing off their vintage tractors, steam engines, the ingenuity
of yesteryear's conveniences
(motorized washing machines,
pencil sharpeners, pumps, ice
cream tumblers) anything that
made life easier was displayed.
And don't forget the tractor parade
every day at 2 p.m.

There were permanent buildings in
the park to wander through - old Ft. Lauderdale Happy Hour
post office, pioneer museum which
had an extensive display of everything old Florida, a restored locomotive,
blacksmith shop. Out back there was more - samples of swamp cabbage cut from Florida's state palm tree, cracker
history with whip demos, covered wagons, leather works, decoy carver, weavers, etc.

There was a wonderful wildlife refuge in the park with elevated walkways through the woods to look into the ostrich,
bear, raccoon, lynx, bobcat enclosures and a stage with free entertainment in the evening. There was a lot to do to keep
busy.

We did find an awesome restaurant in Wauchula called the Wauchula Family Restaurant. The food was delicious and so
inexpensive (a fisherman's platter at $13.95 - grouper, crab cake, shrimp, scallops with a salad and two sides). We went
back a second time! Besides touring and eating, we even got to do a little
camping. Yup, there was plenty to do in this little town of Zolfo Springs.

In mid-March a group of Road Runners traveled out of Florida to Savannah,
Georgia for St. Patrick's Day. Watch for pictures and a recap of this trip in next
month's Commentator article.

Last events for this year will be our annual picnic on April 7 at the PGI Civic
Association pavilion and a trip to Miami in mid-April. Then many of us will start
heading out for our summer travels. We'll be back for first meeting of next season
on October 11. If you would like to learn more about the Road Runners before our
next meeting, you can phone or email Ellen Say. Dart Night Winners
41 www.pgica.org