Florida Visit

To jumpstart the items on the Smitanic repair list a Thursday PM check-in at Alliance with a Friday AM meeting with the service manager was scheduled.

The list included some minor repair and maintenance plus some estimates for future possible upgrades. See the line of folks waiting for service by watching the video. 

The early arrival also left time over the weekend to explore a nearby park with a walking trail, hunt down a public Pickleball court, and even layout a make shift Pickleball court in an unused loading dock area next to the repair facility.

Early in the week, a trip into Tampa allowed for a nice lunchtime visit with Theresa's cousin Lynn as well as more RV envy at Lazy Daze RV sales center.

While repairs were being done Kevin and Theresa would make the daily trek into The Villages to visit with Kevin's mom, Glorianna, and sister, Torreen.

The repairs went quicker than normal 1 week vs the normal 3 weeks. So for the second week of the stay the Smitanic would move to the Grand Oaks RV resort, touted as "pastoral equestrian-themed retreat".

The Resort was situated in the rolling hillside with large sites with cement pads for RVs and paddocks for visiting horses. It really had the feel of a Kentucky horse farm. (See flyover )


It did indeed match and exceed it's description!

It's main attraction was a Carriage museum as well as a Bistro with live entertainment.   Horse drawn carriages would circle the grounds in parade style including this interesting breed pictured called a Gypsy Vanner.

Early morning strolls allowed Zin to meet several friendly horses nose to nose.


Kevin and Theresa were able to enjoy the Bistro on Saturday night for a wonderful meal and awesome entertainment by Joe Hand. This will definitely be the first choice for the next stay in this area hopefully in November.

The Ladies

Glo and Torr have now been in the Harbor Chase Assisted living facility for 1 year.

They introduced Kevin and Theresa to some of the residents. One man, Al is 95 and plays piano as his his wife of 60 years visits daily and sings with him as he plays. And then there was Betty and Sunshine her dog, who hang out in the bar area for Happy Hour.

Introductions to the Staff were also made. They seemed to know the preferences of each resident and were very hardworking and patient with the very high maintenance and demanding clientele.

The facility allowed dogs and pets and even had a place to walk them in the back! So Zin visited on a few days and all the residents seemed to want to give her some lovin'. She seemed to know that the folks just wanted to pet her and not jump or play. She did very well around everyone.

Theresa helped Torreen go thru boxes of artwork and supplies to consolidate into what would fit into the very small space in the closet. After a few trips to Goodwill, success was proclaimed!

Kevin helped his mom organizing what seemed to be an unending amount of paperwork as well as eliminating a few unneeded items.

During the visit Kevin and his mom both celebrated their mutual March 15th birthday with a dinner out and a surprise celebration back at the Facility.

Glorianna, as expected, is the socialite and pretty-much knows everyone! She has even accepted the position as president of the residents association! Torreen motors around on her scooter to all the facility activities like Bingo, Wii Bowling and weekly entertainment.

The facility seems very comfortable and accommodating for Glo and Torreen and they seem to be enjoying the people, food and activities.

Much was accomplished in the 2 week visit but it was time to turn north for the finale of this 9 month journey.