11/22-11/24

Our next stop was in Orlando, FL. We have a very dear friend who lives there and we wanted to visit and spend some time. We stopped in a parking lot in Orlando in front of a Planet Fitness. We planned to go int the gym to shower, but I decided to get some groceries first because they would be closing soon and the gym is open 24 hours.

When I came back from the grocery store, a security guard approached us and said we couldn’t stay there overnight and we said that we weren’t, but that we were going to the gym. She didn’t buy it and told us to move it. So we turned the bus back on and let it warm up. Within 30 minutes a police patrol car showed up to tell us to leave. We explained that we were complying, but that the bus needs time to warm up. They understood and recommended that we drive down to the Walmart to park the bus.

We parked at the Walmart and it was a really busy parking lot. We were uneasy about parking here, so we planned to come back and move after our visit with our friend. We went to his house and hung out for a while, then he came back to the bus with us to have some food and hang out at our place for a while.

Afterwards, we drove the bus down to the Walmart near SeaWorld. At 9pm the Disney Fireworks were within earshot which was a nice added bonus. We stayed there overnight with no issues.

The next day, we met with Jake’s parents at Disney Springs. There was a designated Disney parking lot for RVs and it’s free to use while you visit Disney Springs. We had dinner at Splitsville and had a great time catching up and telling them about our travels so far. We watched some live music at the House of Blues and then headed back to the bus. We stayed at the Walmart near SeaWorld again, but planned to stay at Jake’s mom’s house for the next few days.

We drove down to Sebring to stay with Jake’s parents. We spent the first night in, having dinner at their house and watching Harry Potter on TV. A few days out from Thanksgiving, we caught the marathon at the Goblet of Fire. The next dayJake spent some time creating two more cabinet doors while we were there and I painted the window frames black, some projects that had been on our to do list for a while.

We had dinner at one of their favorite restaurants with Jake’s brother and enjoyed a night of fajitas, margaritas, and mojitos. We had a blast and had a funny sing along experience in the car on the way back to the house.

Jake’s grandmother also came by to see us and check out the bus. Eventually, we made our way down to Ft. Lauderdale where we would see my family and spend Thanksgiving.