A Day Cruise on Lake Monroe

St. Johns Rivership Co.
433 N Palmetto Ave, Sanford, FL 32771
GPS: 28.815429^o, -081.265673^o

Sanford, Florida lies on the I-4 corridor between Orlando and Daytona Beach. Sanford occupies the southern shore of Lake Monroe. Lake Monroe is a major body of water on the St Johns River.

Lake Monroe and Sanford, FL

Today we enjoyed a lunch cruise on Lake Monroe in the paddle-wheel riverboat "Barbara-Lee." One of Michelle's social clubs (The Mad Hatters) sponsors day trips to interesting locations in central Florida and today was the event for March.

The Barbara-Lee

Sunny and cool with a stiff breeze was our weather today. Perfect for a riverboat cruise. Intended as a day of sociability, I had two other goals for my day.

First was to get some material to kick this blog back to life. Not traveling for over a year has caused 'Follow The Cougar' to languish. Michelle, I, and the Cougar have all spent too much time in the sick bay. With our summer 2017 'Great River Road' trip approaching, it's time to reclaim my little corner of cyberspace and breathe life back into this blog. What better source of material than a riverboat cruise?

Second, again motivated by our planned 2017 summer adventure, I recently purchased a new camera. Today would be a good practice session. Reluctant to get back into photography, I have been using the camera on my smartphone for the past few years. Postprocessing those pictures for use in my blog, magazine articles, and short stories, revealed many shortcomings. So I bit the bullet and bought a Canon Powershot G9X. Now I have to learn to use it. The User Manual is 261 pages. Camera technology certainly has changed. The picture possibilities are awesome, but the learning curve is steep.

The Barbara-Lee is a paddle-wheel riverboat berthed at the foot of Palmetto Ave in Sanford, FL. It belongs to St. Johns Rivership Co., a family owned business providing lunch, dinner, and evening cruises on Lake Monroe.

The paddle-wheel is real, not just for show, and actually drives the boat.

After boarding and getting situated, we went through the obligatory life jacket drill. No lifeboats, however. If this boat sinks, the instructions are to get out and walk. The Barbara-Lee draws three feet of water, and Lake Monroe is five feet deep. We couldn't even tell if the boat sank.

Our cruise was a lunch cruise, but it started with a snack. I guess it was supposed to be 'Brunch' and Barbara- Lee is famous for her sticky buns. The reputation is well-deserved.

Barbara- Lee's Famous Sticky Buns

Before and during Brunch was social time.

Then they hustled us out onto the deck so they could set up for lunch. Just in time to witness our passing under Interstate Route 4.

Everyone enjoyed the fresh air and sunshine.

Time to enjoy fresh air, sociability, and picture taking.

When they called us in for lunch, I noticed this little trinket which I'm sure is intended for the raucus crowd on the dinner cruise, not for a sedate group like us.

I don't know how they can afford to sponsor such a good deal.

I didn't take pictures during lunch. First, because I didn't want to interrupt my eating, and second I didn't think it polite to show all our friends stuffing their faces. So I'll just show you the menu and let you imagine the aromas and tastes that we enjoyed.

During lunch, we turned around and headed home. Downstream and downwind made this part of the trip much faster, but we did have time for more sightseeing from the top deck.

I have been on many boats – different sizes in different waters. I am always impressed with the skill shown by a captain when parking a boat. He/she has a very high and hard curb to work against, usually wind to contend with, and maybe a current or tide complicating his life. In this case, the boat was propelled by a paddle-wheel, not a propeller, making steering in close quarters nigh impossible. He successfully executed without breaking a sweat. Well done, Captain.

Thank you for an enjoyable afternoon. We'll have to do this again sometime.

Our Cougar Is Back

Titusville, FL

The Cougar has been gone for quite a while, having the damage from our accident last November repaired. Recall our adventure where we went from this ...

... to this

While it was gone we had the garage floor redone so the parking space would befit the new face to be parked there.

Refinished Garage Floor

Welcome Home

Eagle's Pride did a beautiful job repairing our mess – both outside and inside. Eagle's Pride is our own RV Sales, Parts, and Service facility here in The Great Outdoors RV Resort

Outside looks brand new

Inside too

The front cap had been showing its age and wear and tear, so we had it repainted and new decals put on. The original decals were unavailable, so they went to other available decals and it looks just fine.

I'm happy to have the Cougar back. I think I hear her purring. Oh no, that's me.

We are excited to get summer 2017 underway – The Great River Road. My "Hitch Itch" needs scratchin'

Love Those Amusement Parks

Location:

Lake Louisa State Park (Pavilion), Clermont, FL
GPS Coordinates (in three formats):
N 28.438837^o, W 081.736382^o
N 28^o 26.33022', W 081^o 44.18292'
N 28^o 26' 19.8132", W 081^o 44' 10.9752"

Summer Bay Resort, 17805 US Hwy 192, Clermont, FL 34711
GPS Coordinates (in three formats):
N 28.351958^o, W 081.659647^o
N 28^o 21.11748', W 081^o 39.57882'
N 28^o 21' 07.0488", W 081^o 39' 34.7292"

Sr Tequila Mexican Grill, 16745 Cagan Crossing Blvd #101, Clermont, FL 34714
GPS Coordinates (in three formats):
N 28.355208^o, W 081.677782^o
N 28^o 21.31248', W 081^o 40.66692'
N 28^o 21' 18.7488", W 081^o 40' 40.0152"

Letterboxing Event: "Love Those Amusement Parks" (AQ #3498)
Letterboxing Event: "Love Those Amusement Parks Mexican Dinner" (AQ #3811)

Where to begin? "Follow The Cougar" has been quiet for a long time. Through all of 2016, Michelle and I were both recuperating from heart problems. That kept us off the road and left me with very little to blog about.

We were looking forward to this event as our first adventure of 2017. Our Cougar has been in the shop for some time. When we learned that repairs would not be completed in time, we decided to attend the event anyway – staying in a hotel instead of a campground.

Clermont, Florida is a community close to Disney World, so the word 'hotel' sent my wallet screaming for cover. The deluge of TV commercials for Trivago got to me, so I gave them a try. Good choice. In a sea of $250 per night hotel rooms, Trivago turned up a $100 per night room at Summer Bay Resort. Impressed but skeptical, we bit the bullet and took the deal. It turned out great. We had a beautiful two bedroom condo with resort amenities. I'll sure use Trivago again.

So What Is Letterboxing?

We discovered letterboxing several years ago as an activity closely akin to geocaching.

Letterboxing is an intriguing “treasure hunt” style outdoor activity. Letterboxers hide small, weatherproof boxes in publicly-accessible places (like parks) and post clues to finding the box online on one of several Web sites. However, clues to finding some of the most highly-sought boxes are passed around by word of mouth.

There are about 90,000 active letterboxes hidden in North America alone. Individual letterboxes usually contain a log book, an often hand-carved rubber stamp and occasionally contain an ink pad. Finders make an imprint of the letterbox’s stamp on their personal log book, and leave an imprint of their personal stamp on the letterbox’s logbook.

Letterboxing activities are hosted on two websites: Atlas Quest (AQ) and Letterboxing North America (LbNA).

You can also learn more HERE and HERE

First Meet Our Hostesses

Cindyellen (tiggermama) and Lynda (eeyoremama)

We met them two years ago when they hosted another great event Love Those Movies in St Augustine, FL. That was a spectacular event and so was this one.

Thursday, 09 Feb 2017

We kicked off this weekend on Thursday evening with a dinner and 'Stamp In' (of course) at Sr Tequila Mexican Grill.

When Michelle and I arrived, this classic rig was parked across the street. It has nothing to do with us but I couldn't pass up getting a picture.

In the restaurant, were two people. Fifteen minutes later, there were at least thirty, engaged in a stamping frenzy. What must the staff have thought?

Aside from individual stamps to swap there was a set of sixteen stamps titled "Fair Foods" (Box # 278520) that served as the event stamp for the evening.

After dinner, the party continued with entertainment by a Mariachi Band. They were good. They were loud, and so were we.

Friday, 10 Feb 2017

Friday morning we started with breakfast at Denny's right by our hotel. Then we took off for Lake Louisa State Park to get serious about searching for letterboxes. While a letterbox is a container holding a stamp and a log book, stamps on a trail at an event are usually hidden in a small plastic envelope covered with camo tape.

Rubber stamps hidden in envelopes like this are the object of the search

For this event, our hostesses laid out eight trails (wow!) to challenge us – each capturing the theme of a local amusement park (now I get it)

Magic Kingdom	Hollywood Studios	Epcot and World Showcase	Animal Kingdom
Seaworld Orlando	Universal Orlando	Universal's Island of Adventure	Busch Gardens

Michelle and I chose "Magic Kingdom" as our first trail. Beginning and ending at the Wilderness Point Trailhead, this trail was a loop around a primitive camping area and covered about six miles.

Along the trail were seventeen stamps:

1. Jungle Cruise	7. It's A Small World	13. Monsters Inc Laugh Floor
2. Pirates of the Caribbean	8. Under The Sea with Ariel	14. Stitch's Great escape
3. Splash Mountain	9. Dumbo	15. Space Mountain
4. Thunder Mountain	10. The Mad Tea Party	16. Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin
5. Haunted Mansion	11. Winnie the Pooh	17. The Castle
6. Peter Pan's Flight	12. Seven Dwarfs Mine Train

The day was beautiful – sunny and cool – a great day to be outside. Since this was a primitive camping area, markings were colored blazes on trees, campsite marking posts, and a few directional arrows. Our directions relied heavily on them, but to avoid being dull, our hostesses spiced them up with some fantasy. I tried to capture some of it in pictures. Here is a sample:

"through the sands of time"

"past the ghost ship on the left"

"into the bayou of pines and palmettos"

"a sister oak with a palmetto"

"Splash Mountain at its base"

"Dead Center of the Haunted Mansion"

"turn the corner to head for #33"

"look right to a gnarly opossum tree"

"just after the double arrow sign"

You get the idea. Too old and too slow, we got eleven of the seventeen before we pooped out. It was all fun though.

Saturday, 11 Feb 2017

We spent Saturday morning at the pavilion swapping stamps and visiting with folks. Lunch was a 'pot luck' which always means enough great food for an army and this meal lived up to the title.

We finished lunch with a raffle. Lots of prizes. I won an envelope of LTCs (Letterbox Trading Cards). There turned out to be fifty-three of them.

I have no experience with LTCs so this will be something new. The majority of LTCs are 3 1/2" X 2 1/2" card stock with artwork on the front and information on the back. The artwork is creative and I would guess took a lot of work. I'm not sure what to do with them. I suspect I will distribute them into future letterboxes for others to enjoy.

For our afternoon activity, we went with Desiree and Cecilia57 on the Universal Orlando (#278638) and Universal Island of Adventure (#278639) trail. We succeeded in capturing all of those stamps (minus one missing stamp). It was a pleasant hunt.

Universal Orlando (#278638) and Universal Island of Adventure (#278639) stamps

Who came to this big event?

Letterboxers everywhere, and I certainly didn't get to meet everyone. I tried to piece together a list of attendees using several sources. If I missed you or someone you know, let me know by a comment on this blog and I will put you on the list.

airstream dreams	Angel Kisses	Bicycle Dave
Boujiemama	BoxEngineer17	Cavallino
Cecilia57	Country Duo	Desiree
dixie darlin	DM Scuba Brat	dogismycopirate
DS	eeyoremama	fiveknobs
FloridaFour	flyfishercacher	FROG Grandma
GA Candy Girl	geogirl	gsmalzoo
HayMitchells	idlemoon	idlesun
Janila	KatieKat	KawaiiAkuma3
Krayt	Ladymouse	LCAB
legomomma	MacNus	MamaShip
Mini Dragonfly	Mosaic Butterfly	Mouse Nanny
MrsBoots	musicpals	Night0wl
NotMyCircus	Papa Bear	Pugs and Bee
R gang	Red Swan	River Sol
RiverKat	Sits N Knits	Southern Oracle
Sudoku Crazy	Super Rod	The Gamecock
the pink dragon	Three Flamigo's	tigerlilly
tiggermama	Transient Toadstool	Trekkie Gal
twanda70	WetToes	Windchaser Woman

I have another reason for doing this list. I enjoy reading these trail names. They are clever and I'm sure there is a story behind each one. That could be a very interesting blog post. If you care to share the story behind your trail name, put it in a comment at the end of this post.

Our thanks to Cindyellen (tiggermama) and Lynda (eeyoremama) for another great event. I can imagine all the work and money you put into it.

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