Sunday, Jan 20 - Here we are in beautiful out-of-town Arcadia, a generally unknown part of Central Florida. Some call it 'Cracker' country, because of the ranches in the area (cracker coming from the sound a whip makes when cowboys are herding their cattle). This is indeed ranch country, as well as orange groves aplenty. And r.v. parks. Even though Arcadia is not well known as a Florida tourist destination, there are at least a half-dozen large r.v. parks in the area. People come here because it's cheap and generally warmer than north of here.

I listened to one of our neighbours, who told me he moved here a few years ago, sold his house in the north, and can live here for $350 a month, in his own place, including electricity. "Couldn't pay my taxes back home for that." He, his wife and son, plus one other person, do gospel music all over Florida, and have performed in many mid-western states. I got a detailed enumeration of his equipment, his wife's allergies, his handling of summer heat, all in 10 minutes. Like I said, I listened.

Turns out there is a very nice quiet series of roads starting adjacent to the property, so I did a 25 km round trip ride yesterday, which got me to the edge of the city and back (it is a city, with everything you associate with American life...Walmart, the whole shebang). So there should be some good riding for the few days we're here. We found all of the stores upon arrival, because our site in the park and all of the nearby sites were set up for only 50 amp. We are 30 amp, and hadn't the needed converter. The office was closed for the week-end (including tomorrow, which is MLK Day and a holiday), so we had to hit all of the stores that might have the necessary hardware. Finally found what we needed at Walmart. Go figure! All the fast food shops and chain stores you ever heard of are in town. Downtown America.

It was a lovely day yesterday (hence the nice ride) but a cold front came in over night, with tons of rain and wind. It's only going to 18C today, with lots of wind, so not nice enough to sit outside. It's football day, so we'll go to the Back Street Bar across the road to see part of the NO - Rams game. We checked out the place yesterday, and met some of the locals, as only they go to this bar. We met Randy, a nice guy, rough around the edges in speech, but talkative and friendly.

Randy told us his life history, starting as a service station manager (youngest in the country at 19) in northern New York State. After 5 good years, he got fed up with the company for exorbitant rental increases, and moved south. Hates winter. Got on as a heavy equipment guy, then bought into trucking, eventually with 8 rigs. Sold them, went back to equipment maintenance,  and now works for a local tree grow company. This outfit grows oak trees, palm trees, all sorts of trees used in landscaping. The owner begged his father years ago for 100 acres to start this tree farm, which was dubiously granted him. He is now a multi-millionaire, with 60 employees, and ships treed all over the country. Randy also told us the local fruit groves are in decline, because they just don' t produce the sweet produce that Mexico does. So most of these large orange groves are producing juicers. Still hand-picked by Mexican labor. Confirmed out observation that local oranges weren't great for eating.

Randy also described a game that's popular in the area, called RoadKill. It's sort of like bingo. You get a sheet with three different cards printed on it, 5 bucks a card, and hope your three cards are drawn before anyone else. If you're first to 'cover' your three cards, you're the Roadkill winner. The prize! You go to the front and draw a card, which could have a picture on it of an armadillo or a raccoon or a skunk (hence the name of the game). Flip the card over and see your prize. Meat! Could be rib-eye steaks, maybe fish, maybe even alligator. There's a game on at the bar on Wednesday, so we'll go try our luck.

Conversation also got around to local issues. so I braved the question and asked Randy what he thought of Trump. He's supportive for most of what he's doing. A big guy down from us grumbled, "He's okay if they could just take his f'n phone away from him". They see Trump as a bit of an ass, but approve of the direction he's going. So there's the local view. This bar, by the way, is not fancy, mostly men sitting at the bar, three pool tables, that sort of thing. We asked where there might be a bar in town showing the football games. One was suggested, but the big guy beside Gail said, "Wouldn't recommend it...it's a bit rough". Okay!

That's it for Arcadia, reporting from Little Willie's R.V. Park. Sorry the weather back home is so dreadful. Sincerely! More later. Stay tuned.