Curries, Horse & Lavender Farms

Harpal, Jeannie and Scott outside their home.

After our visit with Jim & Renate in Sarasota we returned to Harpal & Jeannie in Winter Park for one night. They had kept our RV, Baby, for us while we tooled around Florida. Harpal made a wonderful Indian meal for us that night and gave us all the leftovers, which fed us for 2 more nights! Yum! 

Our next two nights were at Harvest Host locations. We've been a member for several years and enjoyed weeks of visits to their hosts. They have wineries, farms, historic homes, distilleries, etc. that invite RVs to spend one night free at their businesses. In return you buy some wine, drink some beer, tour the mansion or just donate at least $10. Our first night was at the Ride Baby Ranch in Live Oak, FL. They have rescue animals and we certainly got to know them - most are free range and friendly. They were even friendlier after Scott fed them apples (I warned him!). We had to retreat inside!

Our second night was a repeat from two years ago to the Southern Grace Lavender Farm in Southport, FL. The couple that run it are so nice. It didn't look as pretty this time as they had harvested all the lavender but we enjoyed their gift shop stocked with their homemade products. They keep quite a few chickens and invite you to help yourself to some fresh eggs. (no photos as the weather was not great) That night though was scary. There was a severe thunderstorm. It was a revelation on why people stay in trailers that are torn up by tornados so often. We got emergency warnings on the phone that a tornado was possible - seek shelter immediately. This was at 10 PM. Our hosts live in a double wide and we were in a group of four RVs of various sizes. There was nothing solid in sight. No where to go. Our solace was that it rarely actually happens. We listened to the violent thunder storm pass over us and it ended in blessed quiet. My heart goes out to so many people that are faced with those odds. Don't worry about us as generally we are in places where there is a good solid toilet facility that we can get into. But it was a lesson.

It was lovely afternoon at the Ride Baby Ranch
 and we sat outside for a while, until it got too crowded.

The horses had their noses right up against our's

And there was a donkey. Our host warmed us to
be careful opening the gate into the Ranch as he
and his horse buddy were "escape artists"!

We had a lovely view of their pond.