{"id":1238,"date":"2016-03-30T22:43:50","date_gmt":"2016-03-30T22:43:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/?p=1238"},"modified":"2016-04-08T02:01:19","modified_gmt":"2016-04-08T02:01:19","slug":"larry-and-penny-save-the-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/2016\/03\/30\/larry-and-penny-save-the-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Larry and Penny save the day"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Steph already told you about <a href=\"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/2016\/03\/23\/3rd-times-a-charm\/\">our search for a place to stay<\/a> near the everglades. \u00a0But I have a few things to say about it too so I&#8217;ll share them with you now. \u00a0On the drive from the Keys, Steph took a short video of me giving my 2 month roadaversary update. \u00a0In there I stated &#8220;my hope going forward is that we meet more people and engage in more conversations&#8221;. \u00a0So keep that in the back of your mind as you read this.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>After not fitting in one RV park and leaving another because it felt like Jankityville with cousin Eddie as the mayor we landed in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.miamidade.gov\/parks\/larry-penny.asp\">Larry and Penny Thompson park<\/a>. \u00a0This is a Miami-Dade county park situated right at the edge of the Miami Zoo.<br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: 0;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/maps\/embed?pb=!1m18!1m12!1m3!1d28783.681927535323!2d-80.41091593638592!3d25.606237383590788!2m3!1f0!2f0!3f0!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!3m3!1m2!1s0x88d9c3b786549bb9%3A0xbc4e10fe948049e1!2sLarry+and+Penny+Thompson+Park!5e0!3m2!1sen!2sus!4v1459566613625\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>When we pulled in it felt like the perfect place. \u00a0See, there are really two classes of places we stay: \u00a0<em>RV parks<\/em> and <em>campgrounds<\/em>. \u00a0All of the campgrounds we have been to are state or\u00a0county parks while the RV parks are privately owned. \u00a0And by a huge margin our favorite is the campground style. \u00a0They usually have lots of trees, plenty of space between sites, shower houses with multiple showers, protected\u00a0from road noise, and very affordable (we&#8217;ve had as low as $13 in NM to $40 in Ft Lauderdale but typically in the $25-$30 range). \u00a0Often they only come with water and electric (no sewer) but sometimes they come with full hookups and such was the case with our good buddies Larry and Penny Thompson. \u00a0Since it felt right we just paid for a week to get the discount and to relax for a bit.<\/p>\n<p>We got into our site no problem and I noticed a family across the way from us that had lots of kids so I went over to say hi. \u00a0On my way over the guy hollers to me &#8220;Ok&#8230;.whatdya want&#8230;.a beer? \u00a0Some chips? \u00a0Come on over man and take a seat!&#8221; \u00a0Doug is from the Keys but is camping here for awhile to be near his mom who is in the hospital. \u00a0His kids and grandkids are\u00a0visiting him\u00a0at the campground. \u00a0He is a boisterous fella and telling me where the best grocery store is and restaurants etc. \u00a0and he makes a couple weed and pot comments when he finds out I&#8217;m from CO. \u00a0Later in the evening our\u00a0kids start playing with his grandkids and we all end up chatting for awhile. \u00a0During the conversation Doug tells me he is an author and written several books on dieting and healthy eating. \u00a0He&#8217;s also got 30 or so rental properties strung from the Keys up to North Carolina and when he finds out I&#8217;m a landlord he says, &#8220;The secret is simple Huck. \u00a0One: year long leases only. \u00a0Two: first and last months rent up front. \u00a0And three: check references&#8221;. \u00a0The way he said it I felt like Benjamin in that\u00a0scene in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0061722\/\">The Graduate<\/a> when Mr McGuire says &#8220;I just want to say one word to you. Just one word. [&#8230;] Plastics&#8221;. \u00a0Doug and his wife are big into hunting and fishing&#8230;&#8221;got all kinds of wild game in a freezer in my rig&#8221;. \u00a0Our kids loved his three tiny dogs: Pebbles, BamBam and Dino and he seemed to really love our kids and said they could come over and visit\u00a0the dogs anytime they were outside.<\/p>\n<p>My sister-in-law\/super-sleuth, Janae, would be proud of me. \u00a0As soon as I got back home I googled Doug and diet books and I found him! \u00a0His original book is called <a href=\"http:\/\/www.fattoskinny.com\/\">Fat to Skinny<\/a> and the next day he gave a signed copy to Dacen! \u00a0Now I had his last name so I googled that which landed me on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/us-usa-florida-gunranges-idUSBREA251JV20140306\">this gem<\/a>\u00a0about Doug setting up a gun range in his back yard!<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The only state restriction on recreational shooting on private residential property is that the bullets cannot fly over a paved public road or an occupied dwelling, and that shots cannot be &#8220;reckless or negligent.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Jeepers&#8230;wear\u00a0Kevlar if you are on a dirt road in Florida, never know when a bullet will come flying at you. \u00a0I did not know that Florida is nicknamed the <em>Gunshine state <\/em>since the gun laws are so loose. \u00a0I&#8217;m not a gun owner or a gun user but neither do I have a problem with people owning guns legally and using them safely. \u00a0The gun laws of Florida do seem a bit strange and had I read the article without knowing Doug I might have thought he was a wack job. \u00a0But Doug , whos grandkids called Papa Bear, was a really kind man at his core. \u00a0He showed kindness to me before even shaking my hand. \u00a0I liked the guy.<\/p>\n<p>The next day I&#8217;m outside at my office working and the next door neighbor comes over to say hi. \u00a0Hal Shepro is his name and he is super friendly. \u00a0When I tell him about our trip he tells about how he took his wife, 7 kids and a dog on an RV trip! \u00a0We chatted for quite awhile before I had to take a call. \u00a0That evening his wife came over to meet us after dinner. \u00a0We invited her to sit and we chatted until it was dark. \u00a0During our week stay there we crossed paths with them several times and always learned something new. \u00a0 When they saw us packing up to leave they came over to say goodbye and they asked where we were going. \u00a0When we told them Cape Canaveral Hal gets a twinkle in his eye and starts telling about his days working on the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs. \u00a0He was responsible for systems testing and had all sorts of stories about the space program and the astronauts.<\/p>\n<p>On another day I was at my pool side office while the kids swam and this fella next to me starts asking me questions about what I&#8217;m doing. \u00a0We end up talking for quite awhile and Barry tells me all about the area, the campground, and he is the one that recommended we visit Robert Is Here on our way to the <a href=\"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/2016\/03\/25\/ever-been-to-the-everglades\/\">Everglades<\/a>. \u00a0When he found out we were heading up the east coast he had a recommendation for a campground near DC but he couldn&#8217;t remember the name. \u00a0The next day I found Barry&#8217;s card in our door with the name of the campground written on the back. \u00a0Barry just had cataract surgery and takes several walks a day around the park using his walker.<\/p>\n<p>Doug came over to say goodbye when he saw us packing up. \u00a0Our visit that evening was cut short when he got a call from his dad that the doctor said he better come to the hospital&#8230;.it did not sounds good for Doug&#8217;s mom. \u00a0We made Doug a card thanking him for being a good &#8220;nabor&#8221; as Brielle wrote. \u00a0We prayed for Doug and his family that night like we had every night of our stay.<\/p>\n<p>So there you go&#8230;.my hope of meeting people and engaging in more conversations was definitely fulfilled at that campground and it was not even the campground where we\u00a0planned to go.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>In their hearts humans plan their course,\u00a0but the Lord establishes their steps. \u00a0Proverbs 16:9<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Steph already told you about our search for a place to stay near the everglades. \u00a0But I have a few things to say about it too so I&#8217;ll share them with you now. \u00a0On the drive from the Keys, Steph took a short video of me giving my 2 month roadaversary update. \u00a0In there I [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[13,32],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1238"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1238"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1238\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1309,"href":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1238\/revisions\/1309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}