Sweet Sweet Strawberries

03/01/2022 – 03/05/2022

The Class-A Nomads are on the move again. We left Campers Holiday in Brooksville on Monday and made the short trip over to Lakeland to “moochdock” with cousins Alan and Tami. They have a fantastic piece of property and even put in a 50Amp circuit for us. How great are they! It was a nice little trip to get back in the saddle after being stationary for 3 months. The drive only took about an hour.

Theo Gets a Bath

Our stay in Lakeland allowed us to get Theo cleaned up. She’s been parked under an oak tree and her roof got very dirty with all the dropping leaves and sticky honeydew from the aphids and small insects that live in and on the trees. Bill had a time with it and had to use some elbow grease to get the roof sparkling again. Since the rest of the coach was ceramic coated, it was almost effortless to wash. The windows were washed inside and out as well. Theo is all shined up like a brand-new penny and ready for her long journey back to the Pacific Northwest.

Strawberry Festival

The Florida Strawberry Festival takes place every year in Plant City. It began in 1930 and now brings in over 500,000 visitors. It is a celebration of the strawberry harvest. The Florida strawberry season runs from November thru April. February and March are the peak months. In my opinion, the strawberries grown in Plant City are some of the best. I can remember coming over and picking strawberries with my Grandma & Grandpa Toole. Then we’d go home and either make jam or freeze them to enjoy all summer long.

Always being on the lookout for live music and concerts, I found that the Oak Ridge Boys and Lady Antebellum were playing at this year’s festival. Even better, they were playing on the same day! We were able to get 2^nd row seats for the Oak Ridge Boys but our Lady A tickets were a little further out. Still good seats though.

  Fair Food

Off to the fair we go. Opening day and Senior Citizen discount day. Not naming names, but certain members of our group were able to get that discount. LOL Hey, $4 is $4, right? That will almost get you a corndog. We got there around 2:30 and was able to park right across from the entrance. I was really surprised that there were not that many people there. Okay, there were a lot of people, but it wasn’t shoulder to shoulder crazy. It was very pleasant walking around looking at all the exhibits and not bumping into people.

First order of business was getting a corndog and fries. I guess inflation has hit the fair too. The food prices were outrageous. A corn dog was $5. A bucket of fries was $15 but if you brought the bucket back, it was refilled for $7. Lemonades were $8 and fried brownies and twinkies were $9 each!

The bargain though was the Make Your Own Strawberry Shortcake. For $5 a biscuit or dessert cup (your choice) was placed in a bowl and then you were able to add as much strawberries and whipped cream as you wanted. Surprise, the whipped cream was real! We saw them whipping it behind the scenes. The shortcake was a treat and something I have been looking forward to since January.

  Exhibits

There were several tents with many artisans and exhibitors peddling their crafts and goodies. One of the benefits of living in an RV… it is very easy to look and not buy.

My favorite exhibits to look at, though, are the entries for the crafts; like homemade jams, pies, sewing projects and quilts. I love to see other people’s craftsmanship and see what items won the Blue Ribbons and Grand Champions.

The first picture below are entries from junior participants. These are kids up to the age of 17. It is refreshing to see kids creating. The aqua blue crochet blanket and honeybee quilt were made by 16-year-olds. The Millennium Falcon quilt was made by a 12-year-old! Pretty impressive!!

Then of course all the beautiful quilts in the adult category. They were all winners in my humble opinion. Maybe one day when we settle back down, I will enter one of my creations in a local fair. How fun would that be?

  Music

The afternoon show and opening show to kick of the festival were the Oak Ridge Boys. I have always loved the Oak Ridge Boys. Their mixture of gospel, spirituals and good ole country music have always been a favorite. The show was great and filled with a lot of energy. As they were sharing some new songs from their latest album (do they still call it that since everything is purchased digitally these days?) “Front Porch Singing” each member became emotional talking about the song they were going to sing and what it meant to be back performing and being with their fans. The album contains some new music, some old gospels and traditional country songs. I hope they get to keep performing for many years to come.

Lady A (or Lady Antebellum, as we still call them) brought the party! The show was filled with all their hits. They last performed at the Strawberry Festival in 2011 and were just really coming onto the scene at that time. They rocked the stadium and everyone just had a great time.

We had a great afternoon and evening at the festival. Can’t wait to see who is playing next year!

The Chain of Lakes

There are two chain of lakes in Florida, the northern and southern chains. Alan and Tami took us out in their boat and we went around some on the southern chain, which is located entirely in the city of Winter Haven. The southern chain consists of 16 lakes connected by small canals. Most of the lakes are lined with houses, parks, a few tiki bars and restaurants. Legoland is even on one of the lakes. We arrived just in time to watch their water ski show. Does anyone remember Cypress Gardens? It is now Legoland. More of old Florida slipping away. After the show we continued to 7 other lakes. It was a GREAT way to spend a Saturday afternoon. The flop-over sandwiches were a bonus!

Are you wondering what a flop-over sandwich is? I did too when I heard it. It’s made with a piece of bread and a sandwich spread; such as tuna, chicken or egg salad. Place the bread in your hand, add the salad to one half and flop the other half of the bread over. Flop-over! LOL Easy peasy boat food.

Family Dinner and Games

For our last night in Lakeland, Bill and I made homemade lasagna for everyone and then we spent the night playing some fun card games.

By homemade, I mean homemade sauce using San Marzano tomatoes and Bill made homemade pasta for the noodles.

Our homemade lasagna recipe is here. I have to apologize though, we were past ready for dinner when the lasagna came out of the oven and I failed to get a picture of the pan of bubbling, cheese oozing lasagna. You’ll have to take my word, it was beautiful and very delicious. But here is Bill rolling out the homemade pasta dough and the gravy I made. Doesn’t it look good? Just imagine what the finished dish looked like.

More See You Laters

Our time in Lakeland has come to an end and we must say “see ya later” to our family here. We had a great time seeing and visiting with everyone. Tami & Alan, y’all were incredible hosts and we sincerely thank you for your gracious hospitality. Make a list of the stuff we want to do next year and we’ll see you in 9 months!