Ace of Hearts Ranch

I was reluctant at first about going to Ace of Hearts Ranch because of how I had perceived horse people. I thought they would be either know it alls or horse fanatics. Sandra and Ed were neither, however they were extremely knowledgeable concerning horses.  Ms Sandy (Sandra Vann) was a certified Parelli instructor and the most honest and caring lady that I have ever met. We were welcomed with open arms and treated like family. We were privileged and honored to be there to celebrate her birthday.

Her Mom, who is 85 years old,  became very special to me. We chewed the fat and killed a multitude of deer flies together. Here she is with Jeanne and Jadyn.

I was blessed to help out some on the ranch. My first project was to sharpen the blades on the finish deck of the tractor. Man I love to work on things. I removed the blades and put an edge on them with a bench grinder, then hung them on a nail to check balance.

Then it was off on a trail ride with Ms Sandy. She put me on a really cool horse named Arby.

The trails that we rode were beautiful dense Florida woods. Ms Sandy pointed out fauna and explained about it and we enjoyed blue berries along one of the trails. 

One evening we decided to have a wiener roast. Me and and Jadyn gathered firewood and used pine cones and pine needles as kindling. Soon we were roasting the wieners and I also roasted toast for Jadyn (she doesn’t like hot dogs).

 

The next day Ms sandy had a few ceiling fans that needed to be replaced. So I grabbed my tool bag and off to work I went.

The really pretty fan above was for a real pretty girl named Sadie. Sadie was a beautiful Belgian Draft horse pictured below with another beautiful girl, my daughter Jadyn.

The following day Ms Sandy had some trees that needed a trimming. I took the chainsaw and she lifted me up the tractor’s bucket so I could trim the trees. It was hot and muggy but who doesn’t love to run a chainsaw, huh? Here I am riding in the bucket seat.

While we were there they gave me an AC unit for the bus. I hacked out a hole and put that baby in. I made the mistake of putting to much of that spray foam under it and had to spent some time later to fix it. It runs great now!

  

I want to thank Ed and Sandy for their hospitality, kindness and generosity. Seldom in life do we find such great people of integrity. Off to another great adventure living free.

A Scene Out of X-files

It’s 1:30am and I am unable to sleep. It’s hot in this tin can when there is no breeze. So I am going to stay awake until I am so tired nothing will stop me from falling asleep. BTW- further down the page is the ‘scene out  of x-files.’

We spent the day at the beach again yesterday – from about 9am to almost 5pm. Jessie joined us too. I spent the morning cleaning the bus – sweeping, mopping, organizing, while Joe and Jadyn set up the shelter on the beach and played in the water/sand. By the time Jessie showed up I was just about done then we hung out under the shelter. Joe made lunch and after we ate it was low tide – our favorite time at the beach. The part of the beach we go to has a wonderful trough (which turns into a dangerous rip current at high tide) before the sand bar that is deep enough to come up to Jadyn’s chest. So we all just float around there while Jadyn runs circles around us. Sometimes a school of little bitty fish show up and “kiss” our legs and feet. We tell Jadyn they are kissing us so she doesn’t freak out and think the fish are eating us.

Here’s the picture of Joe’s latest beach shelter. This contraption is my favorite so far.

A couple nights ago we spent the night in Port Canaveral at Jetty Park. That was such an incredibly good time. It was cool because we were in the primitive camping area where there is only water and no hookups, but to me that was the best spot because it was 50ft away from the water at the canal where the big ships go by and submarines. After spending some time at the beach (which was just a short walk over the dunes) we came back to the bus where we saw the Navy getting a sub ready to go out to sea. It was a really neat site to watch the coast guard and the Navy people patrol the water with the machine guns on the boats – then they finally escorted the sub out past the shoreline. I enjoyed watching that very much. Another thing that was cool about our campsite was that it was directly across from the submarine turn-basin where Joe and I used to fish when I worked at the space center.

Oh, and something else happened that was just incredible! We were in bed almost asleep and I heard a low rumbling. I almost wasn’t going to look, but then I’m glad I decided to. I looked out the window and saw this HUGE HUGE freighter go almost silently by – the tug boats were helping him in. But it was so freaky to see this enormous ship sailing past us only 50 feet away! I was so excited I woke up Joe and he was amazed as well. It was so surreal – like a twilight zone moment or an X-files moment.

Here’s a picture of the bus at our campsite facing the turn-basin where the sub was.

The boats patrolling the water before escorting the sub out and then the sub going out.

Jadyn chasing seagulls.

Here are pictures of the next day. We walked down the pier and saw fish in the water and baby sea turtles. Then we went for a walk on the beach and had a banana breakfast out there.

 

View Full Album

 

Another thing that was great about this camping experience was being able to take showers in a nice clean shower stall!! If we are ever your way, the best thing you can offer us is a shower – especially if you smell us before we even get there! :o)