Florida Grande Motor Coach Resort - Webster, FL

Tuesday November 7^th, we took the day off as we needed haircuts and flu shots. We drove to Gainesville since it’s an actual city and had the major pharmacies. We have been to Gainesville before and it’s where we bought our Bengal cat Congo many years ago. 

Tomorrow, we are moving on to our next stop which is Florida Grande Motor Coach Resort in Webster, FL. Hopefully, it will have internet and phone service as it has been terrible here. (most of the area around here as well, not just the RV park. Other than that it was a great place to stay.

Wednesday, November 8^th we moved to Florida Grande Motor Coach Resort in Webster, FL. Just a couple of hour’s drive from here. It's a huge resort and they have oversized spaces and roads. Rick, are you guys close to here?

 Clubhouse

 we face the lake

 many of the spaces have cabanas (1 bedroom guest houses)

 our space

There are quite a few ducks in the pond here. 3 are new for us! The Redhead and the American Black Duck and the Gadwall.

 American Black Duck

 Redhead Duck

 Pied-billed Grebe

 Gadwall

 Blue-winged Teal

 Blue-winged Teal

 Redhead

 Redhead

American Black Duck

Gadwall

Many of the RV Resorts sell spaces. The one in Port St. Lucie did and so does this one. Some people have homes up north and leave their RVs plugged in when they are home during the summer months and then winter in Florida. Some leave their vehicles as well. 

Rick asked a question on pricing of some of these places and I thought I'd repeat that info here for others that may be wondering. As you can tell we have stayed in a wide variety of RV parks. (we haven't stayed in any real low-end places) All of the places have pros and cons. The last park we had little to no cell service/internet. Some have terrible water quality. Some are dirt or grass or gravel. Some have a lot of amenities and others none.

Rates depend on several factors. High Season vs Low Season. How many nights you stay and of course resorts vs parks. There are also RV "clubs" that you can join for discounts. You may have noticed "the Good Sam" discount signs. There are several others as well. Usually, one use pays for the membership. You pay a higher rate for only a 1 or 2 night stay vs staying a week. Staying a full month saves even more. Some places limit how long you can stay and others let people live there. 

The Cecil Bay RV park(zero amenities unless you count all the free pecans just laying around) was around $28 per night (less than $180 for a week). $40 to $50 per night for ones with amenities. In season, resorts can be $100 or more per night.  

We haven't stayed in any State Parks yet, but they can be as low as $5 to $15 per night. We also have not done any "boondocking" on Public Lands where you can dry camp for free. Over time, I imagine we will try out various options.

Thursday, November 9^th we both had dental appointments in Port St Lucie. Not a short drive from here, but we got up at 6:00 to make the 11:00 appt. We were early, so we stopped at our storage unit to start pulling things together for the W. Caribbean Cruise for Jennifer’s birthday that  departs on Thanksgiving day.

After our dental appointments we went for a late lunch and then I did some “power shopping” for a couple of new tops and then we went back to the storage unit to finishing finding and putting things in one spot to grab on our next visit the week before the cruise.

We headed for home and stopped for dinner and to call in to set up my new insurance. We had the call set up quite a long time ago for 7:00 at night and figured we would be home. Instead we are in the parking lot of the rest station off the FL Turnpike. It was supposed to take 45 minutes to an hour. 

I have a milestone birthday next month and I have already received my Medicare card. (who me????) So, we needed to talk to One Exchange to set up my Prescription plan and a gap plan. 

The call was a fiasco. It ended up taking over 2 hours and we had already chosen the plans we wanted and just wanted to set up payment. If only it was that easy. The first guy we talked to was very nice and we discussed our needs and he approved of our choices so he transferred us to the department to set up the payment. Oddly, the new guy had to ask all the same questions that the other one did. The first one saw all of our information and just verified it was all good. The next guy said he had to ask all the same things since none of it was in the system. We set up to have Greg as my power of attorney so they could share all information with him. Despite doing that with the first guy we had to do it all again. I know we repeated our address and phone number 4 times Then, they have to read you everything even though we had the printed paper in front of us. OK, that took care of the prescription plan. Then, the guy goes to hang up. We said wait, we still need to pay for the gap plan. He said I don’t see that. Then says his screen went blank and we mysteriously got cut off.

We call back and get transferred to a lady who did not want to listen when we told her we had already answered all of the questions and just wanted to pay for it. She just kept saying if you want this finished you need to answer all my questions. She said none of the information was in the computer. We demanded a supervisor. Who listened and said she would connect us with a different representative. While she listened, she said we had to repeat all the same information we told the first guy and the second guy. So, at least 4 more times we give our names, address, phone numbers, emails and answered medical questions. Then, she proceeds to read several pages of text to us. We said we had it all in front of us (we had it all printed off), but she said I have to record that I read it to you and you confirm you understand. So, she slowly and tonelessly reads it. Then she comes on and says there is a recording we have to listen to and again agree on record. It’s a disclaimer and it played twice. (the exact same disclaimer) Finally, she comes back on the line and is ready to take payment. We were told they take credit cards, but she says they only can do a transfer from our bank account. Great, we’re in a parking lot and we have no check with us. (who still uses those?) She says, then we will have to call back tomorrow and go through the process again since it will auto cancel overnight. What? She puts us on hold to talk to a supervisor to see if there is anything that can be done. Greg double checks his backpack and finds a checkbook. Phew! So, we get both plans taken care of. By now it’s 9:00 and we still need to drive another hour home. That was a painful process! 

Now that I’m officially old and once I have my new insurance cards I can choose a new doctor and get my meds switched over to the new pharmacy plan.

We took the next two days off. We had lots of stuff to catch up on and one of the days was cool, windy and rainy. 

Sunday, we will do some birding.