There’s nothing like a beautiful boat parade to put south Floridians into the Christmas spirit. It just so happens that Hobe Sound is fairly equal distance to boat parade in Martin County to the north, and Palm Beach County to the south.
Christmas fun waterside
North Boat Parade – Martin County
The Annual Martin County Boat Parade is Saturday, December 8, beginning at the Jensen Beach Causeway at 6:00 PM. The Parade route will proceed by Sandsprit Park, into the Manatee Pocket, and ending at the Twisted Tuna Restaurant around 8:00 PM where the winners will be announced.
South Boat Parade – Palm Beach County
The 25th Annual Palm Beach Holiday Boat Parade is December 7, led by a Zambelli traveling fireworks display that navigates up the Intracoastal Waterway from North Palm Beach to the Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse. Sit and see the parade from Juno Park, Burt Reynolds Park, Waterway Park, Sawfish Bay Park, Jupiter Riverwalk, Harbourside Place and Lighthouse Park.
Even if you’re a seasoned veteran of the RV lifestyle, there’s always room for improvement when it comes to the American tradition of celebrating Thanksgiving — or some say, Turkey Day. So we’re providing the ultimate guide to how to make Thanksgiving dinner in your RV.
.Photo courtesy of Full-time Families (it makes our mouth water)
Have a wonderful holiday, and before you begin planning how you’ll celebrate, we recommend reading an article by Melanie Kirkpatrick, author of the book Thanksgiving: The Holiday at the Heart of the American Experience. It’s a good reminder of not how we celebrate, but why.
When we think of the idiom “happy camper” we can’t help but connect it with the RV lifestyle. But first, for those who are scratching their head over the word “idiom”, allow us to explain. An idiomatic expression —an idiom— is a type of informal language that has meaning for those who use it. And with repetition of the idiom over time, that meaning often changes!
If someone told you to “hold your tongue” you would not open your mouth and wrap your fingers the best you could around it. Nope. Instead, you’d not say what you were about to say or wanted to say. We hold our tongue when we want to say something but know better.
One story about the origination of the idiom “happy camper” suggests that it started somewhere in the 1800s when kids started to go off to summer camps. Kids that were miserable and unable to separate themselves from their parents, hung on to anything stationary to prevent themselves from being dragged into the buggy for the short ride to the campsite where they would sleep under the stars and cook over an open fire. The camp counselors referred to these kids as “not a happy camper.” We couldn’t agree that kids living in the 1800s needed to get away from the TV during summer break, so we moved on to a more probable explanation.
According to another source, the phrase “happy camper” originates from the quote, “not a happy camper” used in the resort industry and National Park Service around 1986 in Yosemite National Park by employees of the Yosemite Park and Curry Company.
Dan Quayle, former Vice President of the United States is reported to have once said, “You all look like happy campers to me. Happy campers you are, happy campers you have been, and, as far as I am concerned, happy campers you will always be.”
According to the Dictionary of American Slang the phrase originated in California with movie and show business folks referring to kids hating to go to summer camp while their parents worked.
Regardless of its source, the expression today is widely used to describe a happy and contented person whether he is on a camping trip or not. We hope that all our guests at Floridays RV Park are happy campers, and we work diligently to assure that the expression “I’m a happy camper” can be heard loud and clear.
If you are interested in helping to save the planet, or just save some money, the writers of the “Living the RV Lifestyle eBook” have come out with a new detailed and updated guide on “how to save fuel when driving an RV.”
According to the authors, you start saving fuel when you choose a fuel-efficient RV in the first place. Uh, okay. Makes sense. But most of us are way past that moment even though we can surely agree that no one wants to pay for “more” fuel or encourage some big oil company to lay pipeline across pristine wilderness.
The article is not a list of cheap gas stations, but is a list of creative ideas to save on fuel. For example, stay for longer periods of time at your destination. A parked RV uses less fuel than one on the road. And if we stay a whole season, we can go-green by growing our own food.
Next, plan your route. Getting lost or taking those winding back roads burns too much fuel. However, those winding backroads could help avoid freeway stop-and-go traffic. Bottom line, if you love the spontaneity of the RV Lifestyle and the scenic route, you will not save fuel. Nor will you save fuel if you go up winding mountain roads. So come to Florida where we have that topography thing under control. No elevation except on freeway overpasses.
Don’t get lost. But if you do, have your Sat Nav handy. Getting lost wastes fuel. Whether you use a Sat Nav, a TomTom, Magellan, Google Maps, homing pigeon, or those completely impossible-to-refold AAA roadmaps, go green by not getting lost because getting found takes extra fuel.
Don’t have breakdowns or flat tires. RVs that are in good repair burn fuel more efficiently. Tires that are properly inflated roll down the road easier using less fuel. Plus, if you do break down, the AAA rescue unit that drives to your location (and back again) uses even more gasoline!
Travel light. All that extra weight equals more fuel. We will not discuss what constitutes “extra weight”—so figure this one out for yourself. But we digress…
The next advice is to turn off heating and AC when not absolutely necessary. We’re in Florida. Turning off the AC is not an option during summer months, and tricky at best during winter months. But we get the idea.
Don’t idle excessively when you are stopped on the road or in campsites. Years ago, it took more gas to restart an engine than to idle an engine, but modern engines are less fuel-heavy on startup. Battery drain could be an issue. In a campsite, the issues go beyond green — it’s just rude to make neighbors listen to your engine noise and breath the pollution.
The last tip is to drive under 60 mph and don’t speed up or slow down too suddenly or too often. We hope our friends at Your RV Lifestyle will forgive our humor, because who doesn’t want to live a cleaner, greener, more sustainable way of life — every bit helps.
By the way, did you know we have a No-Waste store just a few miles from Floridays at 3876 SE Dixie Hwy, Stuart. JAR, the zero-waste shop, has been featured by Martha Stewart Living and takes going-green to a whole new level.
You may have never visited the RV DailyReport online or read the articles posted by its Editor Greg Gerber, but we’ve watched it for you. They aggregate articles about the RV industry, and that saves us time. The RV Daily Report’s goal was to become THE trusted independent public forum for the RV industry. With some controversy, they did that. But tomorrow, on Thursday, June 21, 2019, they close their doors. As their illustrious editor puts it, they will “fade into the sunset to be remembered only in the annals of RV industry history.”
In their honor, we are reposting one of their most read articles. Originally posted on July 3, 2014, here’s: Transform a sofa into bunks in a few seconds.
Sofa, or bunk beds? Or both?
LARISA, Greece — Papaioannou Furniture introduces an innovative, easy and reliable solution that saves space and time by turning a sofa into a bunk bed in a few seconds, quick and easy.
The Coupé sofa comes with an Italian made mechanism that offers a 2-year factory warranty, as well as a variety of textures, that are easily removed for cleaning.
It features an orthopedic slatted base and orthopedic mattresses measuring 80-by-190 cm (31.5-by-74.75 inches), and includes a built-in ladder plus embedded guard rail protection. Not just for children, it can accommodate adult weights as well.
Greg Gerber’s farewell blog ends with a quote from his all-time favorite TV character, Star Fleet Captain Jean-Luc Picard,
“It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose.”
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