Enjoying life in Zephyrhills

Like everyone else, Tim and I have been following the news closely and monitoring the Corona virus situation and recommendations. We have decided for now to stay put where we are in Zephyrhills, FL. We were already booked to be here through April and even though many others are leaving early, we felt it was better to stay. Since the RV is our home, we can easily stock up on enough food for the next month and implement social distancing here. If we decided to leave, we would be on the road with many others and probably have more close exposures while traveling back north. Plus the fact that we would have to find a place up there to set up the RV and most parks in Pennsylvania don’t open until mid April or the beginning of May.

For the past week, like everyone else, we are limiting our trips out to what is necessary and stopped going to restaurants. Prior to that we were living our normal life so I have a few local activities that I can tell you about. We were out with our friends Brian and Sue at the local brewery a few weeks ago and noticed a sign for Paulie Palooza. It is a fundraiser for the local hospice held on the main street in town and was happening the next Saturday so we all decided to go. Two blocks in town were closed for the event and it was mostly food trucks and some local vendors and they had a stage set up with bands scheduled all day long. We grabbed some lunch and enjoyed the music for the afternoon. The weather was perfect and it is so nice to find local outdoor events that are free. Of course, since we were there to support hospice, we donated at the food booth and bought 50/50 tickets.

While we were at the fundraiser, Sue mentioned a local racetrack that held harness races on Sunday afternoon. After church on Sunday, Tim and I decided to take a ride and find the race track. On our way, we saw sky divers and were able to pull over and watch about 10 of them land. There is a local airport where they do this almost daily but we hadn’t made it there yet to see it. Pretty cool seeing the sky filled with their brightly colored parachutes. Then two planes flew quite low over us as they were landing. That was a great start to our Sunday afternoon adventures.

After that stop, we easily found the race track and even though we were an hour early for the races, they had burgers ready to buy. We picked up burgers and chips and sat on the deck watching the horses warm up while we ate. It is a small race track and stable at a campground. Most of the horses were smaller and I guess bred that way for these types of races. There were a few full size horses that they were training for the harness racing up north in the summer. Brian and Sue came as well with some friends of theirs so we all watched the races together. Sue even got to ride in the lead vehicle that acts as the starting gate so she got some great pictures of the action. Tim and I enjoyed it so much that we went back the next Sunday to watch again. The weather really cooperated both Sundays - it wasn’t too hot but the sun was shining and there was a nice breeze. Again, a local activity for no cost unless you buy their food and 50/50 raffle tickets. We did both to help support their horse racing club. Each Sunday, after the races we stopped at Commandoughs. It is a popular local bar and restaurant that has outdoor seating. Since the weather was good, we enjoyed a beer sitting outside and chatting with locals and a few of our RV resort neighbors.

Last Monday, we also traveled a little outside of Zephryhills to visit some friends from Zanesville, OH. Mary and Andy Newsad were down from Ohio to finalize the purchase on a home in the Crystal River area. Even though they were pretty busy getting organized in their new place, they found time to meet us for lunch. We wanted to meet half way and ended up deciding on a restaurant in The Villages. We had a relaxing visit over lunch and spent some time browsing the shops in the square. It was great to see them and we made plans to keep in touch. Next winter, we will be staying much closer to them so will be able to visit and check out their new home.

After leaving, we realized we were only 10 minutes from my cousin Janet and her husband Lou’s new home so we stopped in for a quick visit. While we were there, Lou asked about going to see the Pirate’s play. Their spring training is in Bradenton which is a little far to travel. We had heard about going to Lakeland, the spring training site for the Detroit Tigers was closer. So we checked out when they were playing the Pirate’s and much to our surprise, it was the very next day. On Tuesday, we all went to the ball game; even though the Pirate’s lost, we had a good time. It was good we went then or else we would not have been able to see a game. Two days later, all of the games were canceled.

I guess we probably should not have gone due to the virus and it was a fairly large crowd. We made sure that we washed our hands and used hand sanitizer frequently that day. We are always good about that anyways. On Friday, Sun Communities, the owner of this resort, decided to close all indoor activities at their resorts. Definitely bad timing for this resort; Saturday was to be the start of fun week which included many indoor and outdoor activities. Saturday breakfast, the St. Patrick’s Day dance, and Sunday night entertainment as well as Bingo, cards, and the pool tournament were canceled for the rest of this season. Tim is really going to miss those activities but we understand the reason for it and it will keep the residents safer. I am still able to go to the swimming pool and am very happy that it is still open but my aerobics classes were canceled. I have to walk more and do exercises in the RV instead.

Many others here are leaving early and starting their trip home so within another week, I think this place will be fairly quiet. There are a few like us who are staying through April and a few who live here year round. As it empties out, we will easily be able to isolate and hopefully not get exposed or potentially expose others to the virus. We have to do some work on the RV and need to still clean out a bit more. I am always trying to get rid of stuff we don’t need:)

We participated last weekend in the resort wide yard sale and did get rid of some stuff. I still have a few things that didn’t sell in the back of the truck to donate but we will wait a few weeks before doing that. The goal for the next two weeks is to stay put at the RV and then see what the CDC is recommending. I hope that everyone stays healthy and safe through this challenging time.

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