galeckiadventure.com

Steve and Vicki’s Excellent Travel Adventures

  • Feb 9 and 10 2025: Bradenton on a Sunday and Monday

    Steve went to Our Lady of the Angels for Mass. Our neighbors from across the street (Tim and Andrea) go there regularly and took Steve with them. The church was packed! There was a line of cars coming in and going out both before the 9am Mass and afterwards. And there were three levels of greeters! My neighbors described this as a vibrant church, at it certainly was filled with people that wanted to be there. (The people prominently in the picture are innocent passer-bys and were erased from the picture..}

    Our Lady of the Angels Church

    Vicki watched her Rockside church service remotely. We took turns staying at the RV so we could be with Lexie, who is recovering from the sutures nicely.

    In the evening I visited Greg, Barb and Nick to watch the Superbowl. Sorry, no pictures. 🙁 Vicki stayed with Lexie because of the sutures. I told that to Greg, sort of. But the text read that Vicki had been bitten, and I was letting Lexie take care of her while I went to the superbowl party.

    Monday Steve took Lexie for a 2.5 mile walk at Lake Manatee State Park. Lexie was tired near the end and really wanted to rest. But she got the message to continue. It was a great walk along sandy trails. There were signs explaining that controlled burns were performed every few years, and there was evidence along the way of controlled burns. Lake Manatee was visible on the return leg of the walk.

    Lake Manatee State Park dog walk
    Lake Manatee State Park controlled burn area
    Lake Manatee State Park w Lexie
    Lake Manatee State Park

    Alan and Patty Watson visited us for lunch. We talked awhile in the RV, though I don’t think we convinced the Watson’s to buy an RV and travel. We then went for lunch at a local cafe: Peaches. The lunch was more of a breakfast with three eggs benedicts ordered.

    Watsons inside RV
    Peaches Cafe w Watsons

    In the evening we went to Restaurant Edelweiss in Bradenton to have dinner with Dan and Andrea. We shared an order of potato pancakes followed by four schnitzel dinners. Dan and Steve had Hunter’s Schnitzel with a mushroom gravy. Vicki had a schnitzel with a mango and peach topping. Andrea had Schnitzel Cordon Bleu. Somehow we had room for dessert: apple strudel and Black Forest Chocolate cake.

    Restaurant Edelweiss entrance in Bradenton
    cheers with Dan and Andrea at Restaurant Edelweiss

    V-great German meal! So glad to have one last chance to visit with Dan before his weekly work trip.

  • Feb 8 2025: Bradenton and not so fun doggie adventures

    The day started well with Steve taking a 17.5 mile bike ride. And I think the 254′ change in elevation was due to the roughness of the road. Steve biked to Rye Preserve, drank in some of the water at the park, and returned to the RV. The route was along the Manatee river, which was very narrow at this point.

    Rye Preserve bike ride map
    Biking to rye preserve
    rye preserve nature center
    inside rye preserve
    upper manatee river outside rye preserve

    After the bike ride, Steve, Vicki and Lexie went back to Dandrea’s place for another dog walk. The walk was uneventul and we saw some turtles and bottom heavy ducks at a nearby pond.

    ducks and turtles at Dan and Andrea – notice the 3 turtles in a row on the concrete culvert

    The afternoon took a nasty turn when Thor thought Lexie was too close to him when the dogs were going through a door into the pool zone. Thor snapped at Lexie but this growling/snapping lasted less than a second. Steven was guiding both dogs into the pool zone and pulled Lexie quickly away. About a half hour later Andrea found some blood on Lexie’s throat, and the blood was from a puncture wound. Lexie didn’t notice anything, but Vicki and Steve packed her up to get her stitched up. Lexie was a great dog, declining the anesthesia. She has been quiet today (Sunday), it probably helps that we have given her some drugs to keep her calm.

    V-Lexie was a great patient. The vet techs said she was well-behaved and they had no issues cleaning out the wound and checking surrounding areas and then getting 3 small staples in to close the wound. The price was so reasonable. If you’ve ever needed services of an emergency vet (hopefully not) they can easily run into the thousands. Better yet was the sweet care they showed her and us. Beacon Emergency Vet Hospital in St. Petersburg  2909 4th Street North St. Petersburg, FL 727-888-2191. The primary tech on our case was Hunter and he reminded me of my Connor, so compassionate and thorough in all the details of aftercare.

    It was so quick and over immediately when Thor got her, just a quick snap to remind her of who is King at South Pole. The dogs were not freaking out at all. We checked her over and didn’t appear to be any problem. I did say it was karma – Lexie got Little Dog’s ear about 6 months ago.

  • Feb 7 2025: Bradenton and St. Pete (still 0 miles road travel)

    Another morning walk with Lexie at Tom Bennet Park. Our morning route is shown below.

    Steve and Lexie morning walk in Tom Bennet park

    Today we got Vicki’s bike out and we took a short bike ride around the local neighborhood. While only seven miles, Vicki’s wrists still became numb from the vibration.

    Vicki preparing for her first Floridian bike ride
    Steve and Vicki first bike ride together

    Dan and Andrea treated us to dinner at Beau’s and Moe’s Italian restaurant. The food was fantastic! Dan ordered a chopped lobster tail for us to share as an appetizer, which was smothered in butter and delicious.Vicki and I shared a Chateaubriand, a baked filet that was very tasty.

    Afterwards the four of us returned to Dandrea’s place and Vicki and Dan jammed on the guitars. Steve played a tambourine, at his own beat. Andrea was on a beat box…

    dan jamming
    Vicki jamming
    Dan and Vicki jamming

    V – what an absolute joy this evening was. From great food to a really FUN jam session. Dan’s Taylor guitar is really SWEET, first time I ever played it. I haven’t had so much fun playing guitar in a while, especially great playing with this very talented guitarist while he was playing on his newest guitar, I believe this was his electric Fender. We be jamming. LOVED this night.

  • Feb 6 2025: Bradenton and St. Pete adventures

    Another walk in the morning for Steve and Lexie at Tom Bennet Park.

    Vicki enjoyed another water aerobics workout in the morning.

    Our lunch was grilled steak sandwiches with steak from two nights ago. The sandwich was steak, tomato, provolone between two pieces of garlic bread.

    Steve, Vicki and Lexie visited Dan, Andrea, Thor and Luna at their house near Treasure Island. All went for a walk, the dogs got along nicely. Thor remembered Lexie, and vice versa. A friendly remembrance. Luna barked at Lexie at first sight, but that was her only reaction. Most of the time the dogs ignored each other. Or overpeed on the grass. We kept Luna separated from Lexie when we were back at Dan and Andrea’s house. Thor and Lexie were fine, but the toys and food were kept away from them.

    Steve accepted Dan’s challenge of 10 minutes in a steam sauna followed by a 2 minute dip into chilled water. The chilled water was only 48F, not the normal 40F that Dan likes. Steve only lasted for one minute in the dip. But there was no whimpering, release of magic words, or other reaction to show how cold the water was!

    Relaxing with Dan and Andrea

    Steve had an IEEE Executive Committee meeting in the evening. Chris Weber, the vice chair, did a great job of leading the meeting.

    We closed the evening out with a game of Cities and Knights. Vicki one by a point, I wasn’t able to steal the longest road from her! In spite of the barbarians hammering her!

    City and Knights winner

    After the game we watched another episode of Eli Stone on the DVD. I think we have enough episodes to last the rest of the trip.

    V- the table in the RV can seat 4 and it is JUST large enough for most of our games – for longer trips or games like Terraforming Mars, we will have to be creative with an additional table. We’ll figure it out. This trip is about figuring out how to best use our living space and the different things we’d like to do with it as much as getting that natural Vitamin D.

  • Feb 5 2025: Winter Quarters fun

    This morning Steve took Lexie for a walk at Tom Bennet Park. The park is less than half a mile from the campground, but we took the car to keep Lexie off the busy road. While the park is close to I-75, Lexie was enjoying the connection with nature. The park has several ponds, and a large disc golf course. We walked about 2 miles this morning. Sorry, Lexie didn’t make the pictures.

    Steve w Lexie at Tom Bennet Park
    Steve w Lexie at Tom Bennet Park, 180 spin

    Vicki and Steve made it to a golf course today (after Vicki’s water aerobic class). The course is a flat and fast 1600 yards. But we enjoyed the fresh air and swinging the golf clubs. Vicki scored better than Steve, again. But at least on this course Steve’s score was at six or less for all the holes.

    Vicki teeing off at River Isles Golf Club
    Golfing at hole 7

    In the evening Steve and Vicki made went to Billy’s Loft (at Billy’s Stone Crab) in Tierra Verde to listen to Pete Merrigan. We met Greg and Barb there and spent the evening talking about travels. We did listen a little to Pete. And Vicki was able to join him near the end of the evening for a couple of songs. On Wednesday the Loft empties around 6:30, so there was ample opportunity for Vicki to join Pete (and his bass player Pat)

    Greg and Barb looking great for having just returned from New Zealand
    Greg Barb Steve and Vicki at the Loft
    Pete Merrigan
    Vicki singing Me and Bobby McGee
    Vicki singing Shame and Scandal

    V – What a great day! First round of golf in 2025, it was rough but not pitiful. As always the most important part is the FUN, being outdoors, getting some great shots and some not so great shots is just part of the game. Always good to see Pete, wonderful to catch up with Greg and Barb and meet some new folks – Pansy and Pat, the bass player. Amazing grouper piccata for dinner. Back to Bradenton, Lexie was chillin’ on the couch.

  • Feb 4 2025: Winter Quarters, day 5

    We are still working out our routine. Vicki attended her BSF Bible Study this morning on zoom. I relaxed.

    We took a ride to Anna Marie Island and went to Manatee Beach. Lexie was with us, and I found out that dogs are not welcome on Florida beaches. But Vicki got her feet into the ocean.

    Manatee Beach Ocean view
    Manatee Beach Ocean view with Vicki
    Manatee Beach: NO dogs
    Manatee Beach Ocean beach welcome sign
    Manatee Beach Ocean beach with Vickis toes

    The grill was turned on and we cooked a steak. Overcooked a steak. Another item I forgot at home was the meat thermometer. And the grill was hotter than I wanted, so the meat cooked faster.

    grilling station
    first cook out dinner
    first cook out before the bugs won

    The bugs have won the war! The fan I bought helps, the REPEL helps, but the bugs still come. Lexie doesn’t want to go outside. Neither do the humans. The bugs appear to be in the area our site is at, the community center doesn’t appear to have this problem. Neither did the beach…

    V-the bugs appear at the pool as well, but not the hot tub! One overcast morning we were getting bombed during aerobics. I see why FL residents all have screened in pools, porches, patios and even yards. Wild to be zooming with the Bible Study group and they are all in heavy sweaters, gray skies where you can see windows and it’s sunny, warm and delightful here. So thankful to be doing this trip and having the convenience of taking “home” with us.

  • Feb 3 2025: Winter Quarters (3rd 0 mile day, liking this not moving)

    The morning started with a short walk with Lexie and Steve. The traffic outside our campground is busy, especially early in the morning. And it freaks out Lexie. As an alternative Steve took Lexie to a dog park to let her run around without a leash. Lexie mostly walked around.

    Lexie in the dog park not running

    But Lexie is getting good at relaxing:

    Lexie not using her outside bed

    Vicki joined a water aerobics groups this morning and will be going regularly.

    Steven took a longer bike ride, same route:

    feb 3 2025 bike ride

    We bought a fan for outdoor use with the intent of blowing away the no seeums.

    And the shower pan has been sealed to the shower walls so we can use the shower. But I think the bath house shower will still be the preferred location.

    V-I am loving the water aerobics class every morning at 10 am. Really good exercise (I’m feeling it) and a great start time – I can still have time to relax in the morning before going to exercise, hot tub, swim. Steven is enjoying the daily Lexie walks, bike rides and we both are enjoying the really nice people we are meeting. Now it is feeling like camping/glamping, being in one place for 3 days and really relaxed. Great view. Cooking in this RV is so easy, I love all the storage spots, sleeping good, bed is comfy. Love this vacation.

  • Feb 2 2025: More Winter Quarters (and another 0 mile day)

    Not a lot of exciting things happened today. Which is good. I got my first bike ride in:

    feb 2 2025 bike ride

    Vicki went to a local church and felt spiritually recharged. The sermon was on loving your brother, and that we know we belong to God when we love each other. Steven watched a Cleveland TV Mass. But next week he will go to a local church with our neighbors across the road.

    In the evening, we went to the Bradenton River Walk (off the Manatee River). We only walked a short while on the river walk, there were parks, large signs touting postcards from Bradenton, and access to the river. The first park we went to had children playing soccer, with many Spanish phrases filling the air.

    Bradenton River Walk RR drawbridge view
    Bradenton River Walk decoration (see the manatee)
    Bradenton River Walk with Lexie
    Bradenton River Walk entrance
    Bradenton River Walk with Lexie overlooking Manatee River

    For dinner we grabbed barbecue brisket sandwiches from Sonny’s, a southern barbecue chain. We always try to stop at Sonny’s on our travels. Sonny’s is close to our campground (as is a Cracker Barrel)

    After the sandwiches we joined the (Galecki) Cousin’s Zoom call. Ken Galecki did a great job organizing it, and Cynthia kept everyone involved in the process. There were 15 cousins on line as well as the two surviving uncles: Joe and Ervin. We had five minutes to talk about ourselves and what has happened in the past 40 years. Some did better than others. We also shared a cousin memory, and there were two common themes. One was how Mark Galecki’s shenanigans were remembered. The other was how my siblings couldn’t keep track of Ervin’s kids and their names. In our defense, Uncle Ervin had six boys that we saw only once a year, if we were lucky.

    V- Lexie is doing better at this spot. She’s got her outdoor bed that keeps her off the ground. We are making more use of the outdoor kitchen and outdoor radio speakers. We haven’t opened the outdoor TV yet. Playing board games and then watching a DVD are the things we usually do at home in the evenings and we’re doing them here as well. Absolutely LOVING the sunshine and warm weather.

    We noticed dead fish along the shoreline on Saturday. Today nature’s solution showed up. These buzzards/vultures are HUGE, They swarmed the sky and the shorelines. At one point, there were about fifteen of these huge birds right behind our RV. These pictures don’t do justice but give you an idea.

  • Feb 1 2025: Encore Winter Quarters Manatee (0 miles)

    Steve tried to take Lexie on a walk at our RV park. Lexie refused to go further than 0.75 miles out before we turned around. She is very jittery about the highway noise.

    Steve washed the winter weather grime off the RV at the campsite. This took about 40 minutes but the RV now looks much better.

    Steve picked up a rental car: a Ford Edge. It looks like a nice car and the large screen is great for directions. Much better than the smaller screen I have in the 2015 Prius. I took an Uber to get the rental, the Uber was a Tesla. I can understand why people love the Tesla, the display showed all the surrounding traffic.

    Next came the draining of the gray and black water tanks. This was uneventful. Thankfully. One eventful draining is enough for a lifetime.

    The site looks good and it is easy to relax in. Lexi definitely thinks so, she is reclining outside on her outside doggie bed. One downside: no wifi, so we are using our phones as local hot spots.

    Winter Quarters campsite setup

    And Vicki has spent a lot of time finding good homes for all our stuff.

    Dan and Andrea came to visit in the afternoon. We had cheese and crackers while enjoying a visit. I have yet to ask him how our site compares to ‘Trailer Park Boys’.

    We were supposed to go to Dan and Andrea’s place, but Steve had problems activating the SunPass we picked up. He spent an hour trying to figure out how to activate the SunPass through the internet. The obvious method, create an account and register the device, didn’t work. This method would send you a SunPass by mail in 7-10 days. But after clicking many buttons on the app, there was a button that said “Register Device”. In that flow you could create an account before registering the Sunpass.

    We could have used the EZ Pass, if we had brought it. But the SunPass was $15, cheaper than paying for the tolls through the rental car company. So instead of visiting Dan and Andrea, we had another night of ravioli (we are running out of Cleveland food!)

    Ravioli for dinner

    V-We also discovered the no-see-ums, or they discovered us. Nasty little critters that bite and buzz and itch – we’ve tried a few things suggested by the locals. They chase us indoors when they are swarming. Unfortunately, these guys aren’t sticking to the schedule of dusk, overcast and cloudy. Our camping areas here are pretty and we’re right on the lake. They live in the grass near still or slow waters – yep, that’s us. We’re doing what we can, spraying, using a fan outdoors to blow them away, Thermacell bug chaser and my citronella bracelets. Stevens’s been slathering on the aloe vera gel for the itching.

  • Jan 30 2025: Devil’s Den (0 miles)

    Today our Winnie didn’t move. It felt great not having to get onto the road and driving for hours. We took our time and spent a lot of that time talking to our neighbors.

    One neighbor (two sites down) has a 1999 Dutch Star Newmar. He was a fount of knowledge, and I felt better about after talking to him. He had some interesting stories and advice, especially regarding tire pressure monitors. Vicki and I are very worried about getting a flat tire, so we bought a tire pressure monitor system. And while I am driving I am getting real time information about the tires. I just didn’t know what it meant, especially after the tire pressures increased by 10 to 15 pounds while driving. Was that good or bad? What was bad? But the advice I got was that I didn’t need to be too concerned unless the air pressure started to drop quickly.

    Our neighbor next to us also has a Newmar. 42 feet long (compared to my 30 feet). I thought he had been using it since August. That was partially true, they have had the Newmar since August of 2023. Newmar is a very respected, premium motorhome and we got to see the inside of their motorhome. It is also a very luxurious RV. While I am still happy with mine, I like hearing about different features and modifications that can be done to the RV. Like solar panels.

    We made up for not moving the RV by having some local adventures. This morning Lexie and I took a 2.5 mile walk around the Devil’s Den grounds and to the ‘botanical gardens’ next door. We walked around a large pond area in the campgrounds that was surrounded by tropical flora. After that we walked to the ‘botanical gardens’ next door to check it out. At 8am we were very early and the gardens weren’t open.

    morning hike around Devils Den

    Breakfast was scrambled eggs. It is very nice to be able to cook a breakfast and clean up properly with running water afterwards.

    Around noon, Vicki and I walked over to Devil’s Den proper. Devil’s Den is the name of an underground spring that is set up for snorkeling and scuba. The cavern itself isn’t very large but I wanted to go snorkeling in it. The water was 72 F, and I didn’t mind getting wet. I didn’t stay in very long, but while there I did see some fish.

    going into the sinkhole area
    Devils Den sinkhole
    Devils Den sinkhole with Vicki
    down to the sinkhole
    Getting ready for the plunge
    Looking for the fishes
    inside sinkhole showing the sunlight
    Steven swimming from the sunlight
    souvenir shirt

    The grounds are really geared for scuba diving, there is a large ‘fish pond’ next to the underground spring that has lots of picnic tables and a walking trail. The grounds are easy on the eyes. But it appears that the ‘fish pond’ will be used for scuba lessons.

    The rest of the afternoon was spent talking to neighbors (see first paragraphs) and finding better homes for our cargo.

    Vicki- it’s pretty interesting to have all these nooks and crannies and storage areas, both inside and outside this RV. Still trying to get better organized. We bought a bunch of storage baskets before we left but you don’t know what you don’t know until you’re living it. Staying 2 days felt like a treat. First time I really relaxed. I’m usually a water baby, but 72 degree water held me back. I’m still trying to warm up from when we left home at -7 degrees and OH at 29 degrees, Tennessee at 21 degrees, etc. Still wearing long sleeves. Picture below captured the southern beauty (and Spanish moss) in this park. The pictures of the ‘pond’ just don’t capture the immensity of it.