FMCA Perry Rally 2016

We are new to the FMCA (Family Motor Coach Association). After joining recently, Dad signed Mom up for a RV drivers course in Perry, Georgia. Mom has been looking forward to learning to drive the motorhome. We headed up after our time at the Florida Caverns. It was a long drive and we passed the time reading and playing on our iPads.

We got parked in the fairgrounds lot and had full hook-ups. We found out later we could stay in this lot so were pleased as we were expecting only 30amp electric for the week. E and I grabbed our scooters and got he lay of the land. The fairgrounds was 1.5 square miles. We covered a lot of turf on the scooters over the week.

We immediately made new friends and hung out and sucked down the data-plan playing minecraft! We were next to a horse barn that was beyond compare. We played hide and seek and all sorts of running around games. Our new friends were very kind and they live only a few hours away so we will see them again someday!

 

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The pear trees were in full blossom. They smelled like fish! Weird!

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The drivers school was Sunday to Tuesday but Mom finished up on Monday. So Tuesday we took one of our new friends to see Zootopia with us. Mom knocked out some laundry in town and we had a nice calm day.

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Wednesday things started to open up at the event. The event technically was Friday through Sunday. We enjoyed some welcome seminars for newbies. We checked out the seminar lists and activities. We found somethings that suited our needs and desires. Mom signed us up for some crafts.

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We did some school work in the mornings. I know we are officially done for the year but homeschoolers can go year round. We are working on vocabulary, writing and a few other things. I am studying for the 4H Forest Ecology Contest in a few weeks.

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We scootered around a LOT! Mom and Dad came along on many rides. The scooters made great transportation. We found a giant 4-H clover at the ag center.

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Mom and I went and played “card bingo”. It was fun!

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We were some of the youngest there. We have to keep telling ourselves that most kids are still in school. There were about 4 other homeschooling families at the event.

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On St Patty’s day we decorated out scooters for a parade.

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We passed out golden candy and had a fun time being part of the parade. We won honorable mention and each got a $20 prize!

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Mom MADE us attend a free safety class. we fussed and whined but in the end were really glad we went. We learned how to use fire extinguishers and how to keep our motorhome safe.

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There was also a giant scavenger hunt. We found 12 of the 13 clues and then found out that the location of the next clue was on the reverse of each sign! OOPS!

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We took a 2 minute walk from the campsite to Go Fish. It is a fishing education center on the fairgrounds. We had a neat time learning about the fish of Georgia.

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They even had lots of games to play. You could feel how hard some big fish tugged on the line.

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Inside was a fish hatchery. We saw all the fish eggs and the process they follow to stock the rivers and lakes.

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Out back was a stocked pond and free fishing and bait.

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I caught about 4 fish and then it started to rain.

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We went back inside to play some more games.

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That afternoon Mom went to some seminars of Alaska and Canada. Dad took us to make our wind spinner crafts. We really enjoyed the Dad time and making our cool crafts.

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We came back to the campsite for lunch and saw that there was a motorcoach a few sites away on FIRE! It was quickly extinguished when the fire department arrived and thankfully didn’t spread to other coaches. It was scary.

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We willingly went after lunch to a class on how to escape your motorhome in a fire.

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We learned all the steps to take to safely get out ALIVE. You only have 20 seconds in such a small vehicle. It was scary but we felt better after crawling out the window to safety.

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Dad was a volunteer to help people crawl out. Some adults had a very hard time since their bodies are bigger and not as limber. One lady was crying because she had no idea how hard it would be. It was VERY educational!

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Overall the rally was fantastic. We had  a lot of fun and look forward to another rally.

Florida Caverns

We loaded up the motorhome, we call her Luna now, and headed to the panhandle northwest of Tallahassee to visit the Florida Caverns.

We had a great campsite right on a cypress swamp. There were lots of critters to be seen. We had a barred owl hunting behind the campsite and had a fun time watching it swoop down to catch things on the ground or near the waters edge.

We even found this cool southern toad hopping around. He really camouflages in!

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E and I were obsessed with all the bugs near the lights by the bathhouse.

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We signed up for a morning cave tour and an evening flashlight cave tour. If I were to pick one, I would highly recommend the flashlight cave tour. We had a very small group and it was a lot less busy.

We goofed around while waiting for the tours to start.

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The Florida Caverns are the only open air cave system in the state. Most of the caves we have in Florida are water caves.

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It was amazing to see some of the familiar cave formations like: soda straws, flows, curtains, cave bacon and of course stalactites and stalagmites.

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I called this one the mouth of the dragon.

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After the first cave tour we hiked some trails. This one had a tunnel you could go through. We could hear bats up int he cracks but never found them.

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The terrain is so different then the part of Florida we call home.

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We found lots of other tiny cave entrances, all have been closed off to safety of the caves.

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There were fields upon fields of a wild daffodil. They were very pretty.

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Singing to the flowers.

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On the evening cave tour, flashlights only, we saw LOTS of bats! IMG_6349

The next day we drove over to Tallahassee to visit the Tallahassee Museum and with high hopes of Emmerson getting to see his first wild white squirrel. We had great success. I remembered coming here when I was 6 years old.

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They have upgraded the boardwalks and added a zip-line course as well.

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The Florida panthers were adorable as they wrestled and played just like our house cats.

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I don’t recall there being so much “swamp” last time we visited. This was a field of grass 4 years ago!

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I suckered Mom into doing the tree-top course with me.

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We got harnessed up and learned all the rules.

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Then up we went.

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There were about 15 obstacles you had to get through anywhere from 20 to 50 feet up in the air.

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There were also 4 zip-lines in the course.

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I had a GREAT time. I wanted to do the advanced course but we figured we would save that for another day!

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Mom and Dad are always amazing with me. For a kid who is usually scared of his own shadow, I really enjoy things like this. Now if only I felt this way about roller coasters!

 

Geode Fun

Uncle Matt sent us each a few geodes to crack open. We had a lot of fun seeing what was inside. The first one was solid but some of the others were spectacular considering they were so tiny! The one BIG geode was fairly solid as well. It was interesting to see how they all formed differently.

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