2026

We actually got lucky this time. One of the mythical, rarely-spotted all-concrete pads. And the water spigot? Working. I know, I was shocked too. But balance had to be restored to the universe, so naturally, we got a bunch of random nighttime power outages.
How do I know they were nighttime? Because the microwave screamed BEEP! like a toddler demanding attention at 3 a.m., and the all-mighty tower of heat, our space heater, was sitting there cold and useless, probably judging me.
Weather-wise, Florida did the most Florida thing ever. Christmas felt like summer, and then around New Year’s, we suddenly woke up to 31°F and ice on the truck roof. Ice. On the truck. In Florida. Really?
Christmas Eve with friends was Filipino food and a round of Texas Hold’em, which absolutely none of us knew how to play. I’m pretty sure we invented our own rules. Christmas Day was family, fun, and making sure Mitchell wasn’t forgotten. He’s always part of our holidays.
Toby’s continues its streak as a friend-making machine. Once again, neighbors turned into friends, dinners magically multiplied, laughter became part of the nightly routine, and of course, Navajo Taco Tuesday. A sacred ritual at this point.
Overall? Another great stay. Weird power, weird weather, good people, and Navajo tacos. That’s RV life. Chaos wrapped in friendship with a side of “did that really just happen?”

My fix didn’t work. We still have misfires. We got to TTO at 12:30 to a short line, but it only took about 20 minutes to get through the process. We got our site in the new section, and soon after setting up, Jody and Phil came over for a quick visit. We had Taco Tuesday and Margaritas with them on Tuesday, but unfortunately, they left the day after. We are already looking forward to meeting up again in March and April for more Taco Tuesdays.
After they left, I went under the RV to check on the sparkplug wires. I found one that wasn’t seated at all. We shall find out if that was it, I might not be as much of a mechanic as I thought I was lol.
Florida winter is currently in “confused” mode. One minute you’re wearing shorts, and the next, the wind is trying to remind you that January actually exists. I spent way too much time playing around with AI and coding while we were here. I did manage to convert two Google Sheets into apps, so I am now tracking our camping expenses and water usage on my own custom setups.
We visited the Tampa RV Supershow twice, on 01/15 and 01/17. Thursday was terrible weather-wise. The wind was brutal and made it feel much colder than the thermometer claimed. Despite the chill, we met up with old friends and made a few new ones. The second day was much better. The sun came out, and the wind died down, which made a huge difference.
On our last day, Sunday, the weather turned wild. It started out sunny and warm, but at noon, the sky went dark, and the wind kicked up to over 30 mph. It shook the RV like a giant salt shaker. A little rain was thrown into the mix, too. It didn’t help that we were doing laundry, and the spin cycle added its own vibration to the shaking. Our friends Pete and Libby arrived right in the middle of that chaos. Fun times for a setup! We had dinner with them to end the trip. They brought the wine, I made Grandma’s meatballs, and we all shared stories. 🧡

Well, we made it. Not without a few misfires. Cylinder #3 is clearly asking for a new ignition coil, so that’s now officially on the to-do list.
On the win side, I changed the oil on the Ranger without any spills, which honestly feels like an accomplishment worth mentioning.
Char had her day on the 22nd. We were up early and on the road to Sarasota to get her hair done. Because yes, those are the things you do. 😄
We rolled out at 08:45 and got there just in time for her 11:30 appointment. While Char was in the salon, Jenny and I headed to North Port to pick up our mail and try to untangle the Form 1583 situation. Long story short, it looks like an address change is in our future.
Two hours later, I made it back to the salon. And Char still wasn’t done. 😂
She finally wrapped up around 14:20, and by the time we made it back to the RV, it was 17:30. One very long day.
Most evenings (and honestly, a good chunk of the days) were spent wrestling with Gemini and other LLM’s, sorting out our social media. This entire stay slowly turned into one long experiment with LLMs, and somewhere along the way, I realized that phase probably isn’t ending anytime soon.
We also survived Florida’s big freeze. It took sealing a few drafts and running an extra space heater, but we stayed comfortable. I was pleasantly surprised that the heat pump still put out heat even below freezing.
As for Clerbrook itself, it’s different. It’s an older park, and I don’t think a truly level site exists anywhere here. Hookups are in odd places, some sites are blocked by trees, or even road signs (yet somehow still in use), and the overall layout feels more improvised than intentional. While I met and interacted with some great people working there, there is also staff that tends to operate on a “do as I say, not as I do” philosophy. We stayed out of trouble, but I did witness one staff member ignoring basic traffic rules, then turning around and berating innocent visitors for breaking the same rules they had just ignored themselves.
That said, it wasn’t all bad. We met some genuinely nice people. Our neighbor was a rookie RV’er, and we were able to help her get settled and make the start of her traveling nurse journey a little easier. Those moments? They’re always the highlight.

We rolled into Encore Lake Magic for a short but productive stay, and sometimes those are the best kinds.
While we were still over at Clerbrook, I did a little more tinkering with the ignition situation. The reports look good. Everything is behaving. But if RV life has taught me anything, it’s this: when something might fail, it will wait for the worst possible moment. So I went ahead and ordered the replacement parts anyway. They’ll be waiting for us at Charlene’s sister’s place. Preventive maintenance beats roadside repairs every single time.
One dangerous feature of this campground? There’s an ALDI right at the entrance.
Convenient? Absolutely. Budget-friendly? Usually.
Quiet and relaxing? Not even close. That place is busy all the time. You’d think they were giving away free camping hookups. 😄
One thing I truly appreciated here was a rare campground rule: they actually allow you to wash your RV. That’s almost unheard of these days. So I took full advantage of it. Max is clean. Two days later, the rain rolled in.
I also changed out every water filter in the RV. The main filter had processed 5,773 gallons. Not bad at all. I can only recommend BluTech filters. They’ve treated us well. Before swapping the old one out, I used it one last time to wash the RV. It actually helped reduce water spots, which was a nice bonus before retirement for that filter.
Tuesday morning came early. Charlene was up at 6:00 a.m. By 7:00 a.m., we were rolling. Straight into Orlando traffic.
There is nothing peaceful about guiding 39 feet of motorhome (plus a toad) through morning commuters who all appear to be late for something very important. Lanes merge. People accelerate like they’re qualifying for Daytona. And you’re just trying to maintain your space bubble without losing a mirror.
Coffee? Necessary. Calm? Mandatory. Defensive driving? Absolutely.
Early departures in Florida don’t mean empty highways. They mean you get to choose which level of chaos you’d prefer.

Day 1:

We were greeted at the fairgrounds gate by a crew of cheerful volunteers. This time it was Char’s turn to check us in. She wasn’t prepared for that, but she loved it. The sites were tight. Real tight. Cuddle camping at its finest. I’m pretty sure our neighbor bumped his head on our slideout. I felt it inside. He’s okay. We got lucky parking next to old friends and quickly made new ones. And yes, the tiki bar was only two sites over. That may or may not have influenced morale. After the welcome get-together and dinner, the mobility scooter was required to get Char from the building back to the truck. She earned that massage. MS still sucks. She went straight to bed while I provided moral support next door at the tiki bar.

Day 2:

We split up. While Charlene made the rally unsafe, I stayed back and cooked for the potluck. Four loaves of sourdough. German potato salad. And Frikadellen. The original hamburger, long before anyone called it that. Seasoned ground beef patties with onions and spices, pan-fried to perfection. There were no leftovers except some bread. A good sign.

The theme was “dress as your favorite era.” Apparently, everyone’s favorite era was the 80s. I grew up in Germany in the 80s, and it was great, but did they really dress like that here? *Die spinnen, die Amis.* I wore an original ’80s shirt. Still fits. Still looks good. And I’m pretty sure I was the only one not wearing something from Amazon or a thrift store. The tiki bar was officially closed. Somehow it wasn’t. The crowd doubled. Char had a blast.

Day 3:

We slept in and recharged the batteries. Char scooted to a few seminars and kept making friends. We sat front row again for the closing session. We even won a hammock in the raffle. Char gave it away immediately. In return, she made more friends. That’s a win. We ended the rally at our neighbor’s tiki bar. Now it’s time to recover—and lose the five pounds we gained along the way.

Not much to report from this stop. We parked for a few days to recover from the rally and let the batteries recharge, human and machine.
We made a drive over to the Atlantic and paid tribute to Mitchell. The ocean has a way of holding space for moments like that.
Sunday turned cold again, but nothing we can’t handle. We’ve learned to roll with weather swings and whatever else the road throws at us.
Next up, we’re grabbing the ignition coils from Charlene’s sister and swapping out the old ones. The engine’s been having light misfires. Not enough to trigger a code, just enough to be annoying. Hopefully, fresh coils smooth it out.
That’s RV life. Fix a little. Feel a lot. Keep moving.

We scored!
We got one of the super sites in the new section. Huge concrete pad, tons of room, and right next to one of the K9 message boards. Happy to report we did not have to hand out bags. IYKYK.
First Taco Tuesday got moved to Monday because our friends already had plans. Wednesday was happy hour at Ford’s Garage with a twist. Their beer system was down, so bottles only. I don’t drink when I drive, so no problem for me, and Char confirmed the margaritas were still working just fine.
The first Saturday, we drove to Sarasota for a family get-together. Great seeing Aunt Mary. Char tried to keep up with the grandkids and is still paying for it. Her legs have been complaining for over a week now. MS does not accept overtime requests.
Now for the fun part. We had a reservation coming up at Riverside near Port Charlotte. I told Char not to call ahead and ask about switching sites. She called anyway. Jinx confirmed.
Turns out Thousand Trails and the park double-booked, and we were told we should never have had the reservation, even though it was confirmed and we already checked in online. Nobody called us, of course. We would have just shown up and been surprised.
After the usual wait for a Thousand Trails callback, I finally got a really helpful guy on the phone, and we rescheduled. One night at Peace River, then on to Toby’s in Arcadia. Problem solved, but I am still blaming Char for starting the whole chain reaction.
Overall, another great stay at TTO.
We’ll be back in April.