My First Week at Elite

A very spacious and well kept site 97. My home for the next week.

  

I entered into the 13-page rental agreement in April of last year and was able to split my time. A week here followed by a week at Fort Wilderness in Disney and finishing back here at Elite for the second week before heading south to the Everglades. It took very little time to become acclimated to life in Florida. 
A large complex, Elite Resorts at Citrus Valley is a Condominium Ownership Community located in southern Lake County, Florida. There are 305 privately owned lots within the resort, restricted to park model units and RVs.  Within the gated community are numerous amenities, including a clubhouse, large pool, laundry, two bathhouses and a recreation building. I've stayed here several times in the past allowing me to visit with fellow retirees, Ray/Kathy and George/Vicki. This year in addition to these two local residents who are also Hudson Islanders members, Walter/Fran, are also residents here. Other fellow Hudson Islanders who will also be here include Jack/Noreen, Roberta, and Tony/Doreen. Their extended stays will see them through these winter months.  

Walter & Fran

l. to r. Jack, Fran, Ray, Kathy, Walter
At wine o'clock, they stopped by
for a Welcome to Florida drink

Nettie, the resident/agent that made the arrangements for my stay came by with husband, Chuck and their pets, Clara and Finn.

l. to r. Clara & Finn
Yes. They received their complimentary Milk Bone

 

Along the rear perimeter of the property lies a dried
up stream bed. View is looking south.

Looking north, the bed is more of a marshy wetland
suitable for my late afternoon visitors...

...a pair of Sand Hill Cranes.

These birds spent a good hour foraging in
the marsh like shallows of the stream bed. 

If you'd like to learn more about the Sandhill Crane, including their distinctive call, click on the link I've provided in red. Hit the back button to return to the blog.

The other friends I'll soon be together with include Tony/Doreen, Roberta who are currently in Ft. Wilderness over at Disney, eleven miles away. My cousin, Cheri and husband, David will be joined by Cheri's mother, Norma. They're from Boynton Beach and Boca Raton, respectively. My next blog will be about my week there. Meanwhile, I've had a busy, very pleasant first week. My frig is stocked and my meals have been delicious. Preparing for the trip, I had to keep reminding myself that there will be supermarkets to resupply my grocery needs. Yet I packed my freezer to the max.

 

Doing my best to maintain my weight loss diet, each container
holds premeasured portions for one meal. Some frozen delights
(like the two A&S's eggplant parmigiana will serve for two meals each)

I even brought along two of neighbor, Jack's frozen tubs of soup. As there was no room to store, they were meals enjoyed early in the trip as they thawed in the frig. The first was beef vegetable from which I enjoyed two meals and the second was labeled a "Multi-Bean/Multi-Veg Bisque." Here's his list of the pureed ingredients:

Yellow split peas            Shallots            Celery                    Cannelloni Beans         Carrots

Green split peas            Onion                Turnips                  Parsnips                       Kidney beans

Great Northern             Roman              Pinto                      Pink                              Navy

Barley                             Bay Leaf           Peppercorn           Smoked Turkey Wings   Cumin

Thyme                            Sage                    Fresh Ginger       Garlic                           Oregano

Basil                               Paprika               Turmeric              Chicken Stock             Water

Personally, I think he left out the kitchen sink.      

Once again, morning coffee with Ray started each he was able to make over to Elite. He live a short distance away, so either by bike or by car, he'd take the time to join me to discuss the important things of life and we'd solve most of the problems that exist in the world today...our way, of course. He's been instrumental in being the recipient of all my mail orders that I was unable to receive at home. These included:

2 cases (8 gallons) of DEF (diesel emission fluid) 

My new bank card which he was good enough not to activate and use

My new Dell XPS 17 Laptop

A battery for an Inspiron 15 5000 series laptop I'm rejuvenating.

An adaptor for my air compressor to simplify the winterization process for the RV; and

A trickle charger for the chassis battery of the RV

Each of these items, including working on three laptops, has given me nighttime activities to keep me busy after enjoying my friends and "near perfect" Florida weather. Near perfect = daytime temps in mid 70's, night time temps in the 40-50's range. Heat has been triggered each evening assuring a very comfy sleep.

Thursday morning, I enjoyed breakfast at Jack's site 834 steps away. (Yup, I walked.) 

Slow sizzled bacon strips...

...turned frequently produced perfect strips
(for me: they shatter when dropped)

Pancakes also done to perfection.
Thank you, Jack. Your Guinness awaits.

That night Jack and wife, Noreen drove me to Miller's Ale House in Winter Garden. Miller's is a very popular restaurant with 96 locations across the country. There we met Tony/Doreen and Roberta to make our cozy group of six. Of course, my go-to meal was a filet mignon and baked potato. What could go wrong? To quote Jack, "That was the worst restaurant experience I've ever had in all my life." Whew, what does that say? Well, we were seated and ordered by 6:45 pm. Our dinners were served at 8:05 pm and all were cold...except my fillet. It still wasn't ready. The manager was accommodating and provided some plausible explanations but long story short, we were each comped to varying degrees. Me? 100%. We boxed what we didn't finish and bid Miller's adieu.

My bill tells the story.

A very chilly Friday night was spent at Walt & Fran's site for a fire...in a low smoke firepit. See details at Amazon.

Available in a range of diameters, Ray has a smaller version
I'll be borrowing for the week at Ft. Wilderness. I'll be getting one if
it's small enough to be stowed away easily in my small RV.

With free time, I finalized plans for next week at Disney by updating my account and itinerary where I'll join Tony/Doreen and Roberta. Cousins Cheri/David/Norma will arrive Monday. More next week. Till then stay well. I'll see you at Fort Wilderness. And to my Northern readers be careful. Here's what's coming which I think you already know. By the time you read this, let me know in the comments below how you're doing.