Davenport, FL - Dec. 1, 2009 - Jan. 8, 2010

We arrived in Davenport, southwest of Orlando, the afternoon of December 1st, eager to meet up with Jeanne and Ralph, and to settle into an extended stay in one location.  Jeanne stopped by as we were parking and Denise, our landlady, came over to welcome us to the resort, show us around and collect the rent. 

We were delighted with our site in the Regal Pointe section of the park.  Since this is a deeded resort, the RV sites vary in size and level of development.  Ours was quite large, with brick pavers and bordered in tropical plants.  Ralph and Jeanne were located directly behind us, and Bonnie and Bennie, a couple we met through Ralph and Jeanne in New York, were three sites away.  As we met our many, friendly neighbors, we decided we were in the exact right spot.

Our first evening we visited with Ralph and Jeanne in their recently completed home.  Like several other residents, they had built a one-bedroom home with an attached motorcoach port, lanai and patio.  During our five-week stay at Deer Creek we were invited into several homes and concluded this was a very gracious and spacious lifestyle. 

We did very little touring while staying at Deer Creek.  Since we had been traveling so fast we had a lot of tasks to accomplish including the self-maintenance stuff like dentists.  Susan spent much too much time visiting the chiropractor, with negligible improvement.  Additionally, our neighbor, Ernie, helped Bill install the engine fire suppression system we purchased while in Albuquerque - eight months earlier.  Thank you so much, Ernie.

Deer Park is a very social resort and most of our time was spent socializing.  When the weather was warm there was always at least one gathering and anybody passing by was welcome to join.  There were also more formal events such as the annual Christmas Party at Al and Pat, the Chicken Wing Cook-Off at Barb and Don's place, the Community Cocktail Party, the New Year's Party and many more.

The RV park surrounds an 18-hole executive golf course, of which Bill took full advantage.  Additionally, Ralph invited him to play at the very upscale Champions Gate Course several times.  So Bill was one happy golfer.

While Bill was swinging clubs, Susan was visiting a few museums in the area, including the Morse Museum and the Polasek Museum and Sculpture Gardens in the beautiful town of Winter Park just north of Orlando.

The Morse Museum is a 'do not miss' attraction if in the area.  It contains the world's most comprehensive collection of Louis Comfort Tiffany's works, including the chapel interior Tiffany designed for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago.  The chapel is comprised of intricate, glass mosaic surfaces that reflects light filtered through colored stained-glass windows.   This museum surpassed all of Susan's expectations.

The Polasek Museum situated in Albin Polasek's home is quite small, but the surrounding sculpture garden located on Lake Osceola is lovely.  The museum was hosting a very interesting exhibit of original graphic art that adorned the covers of early science fiction paperbacks. 

Susan enticed Bill away from the golf links long enough to visit the Bok Tower Gardens in Lake Wales.  The 205-foot neo-gothic and art deco tower with its 60 carillon bells is located on the highest point south of the Florida panhandle - elevation 292 feet.  Roaming the beautiful tropical gardens with its reflecting pools and swans, and listening to the carillon concert made for a very relaxing afternoon.

Our winter friends at Deer Park said we would be sorry we bought a home in Arizona rather than Regal Pointe.  After spending five weeks among these wonderfully welcoming people we were nearly convinced they were right.  And, if it weren't for the humidity of the east coast and the lure of our West Coast friends and family we would have been fully convinced.  We were sad to go, but leave we must.  On a very chilly morning we cranked up the motorhome and headed back to the Alliance RV Service in Wildwood for repairs on our living-room slide (yet another slide issue) and refrigerator.  Ahhh... the joys of our "rolling" home ownership.