Belle is all well!

Live Oak Landing
Freeport, FL
November 14, 2013










Site #58 never looked so good...after 3 long days and nights, we arrived home Thursday morning!  The stop engine light was a result of a part that filters particulates from the diesel that needed to be replaced. First attempt was to clean up the old part which we were told was standard operating procedure. That didn't work, so a new part was ordered.
A 34 point check-up was done...belts replaced, oils and fluids changed, and who knows what else.  Well, after a good check-up, Belle is running better than ever.  We plan to go back next week for new tires.

God does send messages...

Joe and I had planned all along to have our MH serviced in Tucson in January. It was a blessing the stop engine light came on because the serpentine belt was worn. Whew...wouldn't want to be stranded!

 We left LOL bright and early last Monday morning...Pam close your eyes...6:30am. Well, the roads were already busy. We had traffic backed up for a couple miles on Hwy 331. Officer Day with the South Walton Sheriff's Dept. pulled us over. He was very nice and was given the OK to escort us to Hwy 98...a four lane.
Belle went all the way to Fort Walton, about 39 miles, in second gear and 24 MPH. Can you believe only one person blew the horn and one other gentleman found it necessary to use "sign language".


While Joe was explaining our situation to Officer Day, I noticed the white line in the bay. It was a row of birds.

It was pretty chilly while we were "camped out" at the service center. The days did warm up to the whopping mid 50s. We ventured out to the park with the pups.  There is a new dog park in Fort Walton...just opened  this past October.

 Liza Jackson Park is an open air waterfront park with picnic pavilions, walking paths, boat dock, located right off Hwy 98 on the Inter-coastal waterway.

It's a great facility if you are ever in the area...even if you don't have pups!

A bird at the Liza Jackson Park

Thursday afternoon and today were spent cleaning inside and outside, catching up on laundry, and a trip to the grocery store and Lowes. 

 

Hope you have a great week-end.

Until next time...

 

take care...

 

and enjoy your view!

Live Oak Landing and Topsail Hill Preserve

Freeport,FL
Live Oak Landing RVC Outdoor Destinations
November 10, 2013

Live Oak Landing (LOL), an RVC Outdoor Destination, is located in Freeport, FL on Black Creek just off the Choctawhatchee Bay. It's another one of our favorite places to stay...like a state park surrounded by beautiful nature and a resort with huge concrete pull-thrus or back-in sites all in one.







We are all settled in on site #58...not the site we had last year, but with the same neighbors! The squirrels have really been busy!

The creek and bay offer great fishing, canoeing, and kayaking. If you want to go canoeing, take a tour or a fishing expedition...a "skipper" is on hand. LOL has partnered with Mark McDuffie (a wounded warrior), founder of Wounded Warrior  Fishing, to provide guests with professional and fun fishing




It's peaceful and quiet, friendly, close to the beach, outlet malls, and seafood!

AND...has the most awesome bark park ever! It's huge, grassy, shaded and sunny, and did I say HUGE and GRASSY?


Run, Dover run!




Run, Jack run!



Run, Wrecks run!

Run, Sally run!

The doggie park is just behind our site. Very convenient for playing 3 to 4 times a day.

Yesterday, Joe and I stopped by the South Walton Visitor Center. What a terrific resource for everything you might want to know about the area. I was surprised to learn that South Walton has 16 beaches and...

  40 percent of it's land area is preserved for nature and includes 5 state-owned parks of "pristine coastal wilderness".






Explore, coastal wilderness, beautiful weather...our kind of day! We were up bright and early...destination Topsail Hill Preserve State Park.


It was just great to be outdoors!

This preserve features 1,600 acres of gulf-front pine forest. We took the green loop today...one of 6 different trails.

Dragonflies were zooming...the biggest dragonflies we have ever seen.








The trail took us to Campbell Lake...one of 2 freshwater lakes on the preserve.

The ocean is just on the other side of the dunes.

The only birds I got pictures of today were these black ducks, umm, I mean American coots (Thanks Judy!). We did see a woodpecker, but I was eating my apple and wasn't fast enough.

The highlight of the day was photographing the water lilies...

 It was a perfect day!

Tomorrow might be a bit of a challenge. Short story...about 15 miles from LOL, the check engine light came on in Belle, then the stop engine light came on. We literally crawled into our site here. Joe thinks its the DPF and the exhaust needs to be regenerated. We will be taking Belle to Fort Walton for a check-up...fingers are crossed we won't need to be towed. Yikes! 

Hope you have had a great week-end and are looking forward to a new week. Until next time...

take care and...

enjoy your view!

P.S. Happy Veteran's Day