Winter visitors begin southern migration

While the great migration of snow birds hasn't started yet, a small flock of early birds has already landed in parts of Central Florida.

Park managers at Reflections On Silver Lake prepared Monday for their arrival.

"I do the reservations for the park," said Brenda Ellis on Monday at the Reflections office. "So we've got a lot of them coming in this week and next week. It was in the 20s in Michigan."

Actually it was 28 degrees in Escanaba, but it was 49 degrees farther south, in Flint Mich., according to WeatherMichigan.com.

People coming in send us a card ahead of time to let us know when they're coming so we get their lots cleaned up for them," said Ellis.

Speaking of notification cards Jerry Hurni, of Jackson, Mich., drove down in 19 hours and hand-delivered his card when he walked into the office Monday morning.

It was 37 degrees in Jackson on Monday afternoon.

He left his wife, Pat, at home and brought down a pickup load of clothing and things in advance of their return in December.

"We'll be back by Dec. 9," he said. "We'll do Thanksgiving and then Christmas early with the kids and grandkids."

He retired about six years ago from the graphic arts business. They have five grandchildren living in Michigan.

They'll return home in April.

"If I had my way I'd be down here six months," he said.

Nov. 1 is the "magic day," said Ellis. That's when the winter visitor season kicks off.

"We call those people coming in now 'our early birds,'" joked Brenda Richards, the office manager at Reflections. Since Oct. 1, they've had about 20 new "households" arrive.

Do they have an early bird special?

"No, no early bird special," said Richards. "We just 'treat' our early birds special."

Married just five months, newlyweds David and Chris Huber arrived at Reflections on Friday from Plymouth, Ind. They were in the office Monday filling out some paperwork.

It was a cool 47 degrees in Plymouth.

"I was down at the Avon Park Holiness Camp last year, but there wasn't as much to do there," said David Huber. "Here they have a swimming pool, a hot tub, shuffleboard and miniature golf."

How long are they staying?

"Six months or maybe forever," he said.

He used to drive tractor-trailers for 14 years, but said he retired on disability.

"The cold weather chased us out," he said. "She had a chance to get a job down here."

Charlie and Barb Ackerman, who live about 10 miles south of Kalamazoo, Mich., came down early this year because they were downsizing from a two-bedroom doublewide unit to a one-bedroom singlewide model for economic reasons.

Kalamazoo checked in at 48 degrees.

"We normally get here right after Christmas, except when we get down here everyone else will be playing," he said.

"We're just down here four months so it worked out better," she said.

This was the couple's third home in the park since 1997. He retired from Ackerman Oil Co. in 1996.

"He's been playing ever since," said Brenda Richards.

It was in the 50s when they left Michigan. They were heading back to spend Thanksgiving and Christmas with their family up north. They have four sons and 10 grandchildren.

"We'll return after Christmas," he said.

Robert Sowles, of Fort Wayne, Ind., stood outside of his Mountain Aire fifth-wheel trailer, pressure washing the dirt and mildew from his cement driveway. His brown T-shirt was soaked from working outside during this oppressive October heat wave.

"We came down about a week ago Thursday," said Sowles, looking up from his pressure washer.

His wife, Sandra, was inside in the air conditioning tidying up.

They drove about 1,200 miles pulling their portable motel room, but stopped along the way, she said.

"We take our time coming down," she said. "If we get tired we stop."

Ron and Chris Bingham, from Keene, N.H., will stay until April in their Sun Voyager motor home.

"We're trying to get things cleaned up, but it's too warm right now," Ron Bingham said.

"We haven't had a chance to do anything around here yet," said Chris Bingham.

Ron Bingham is a retired letter carrier.

"I was tired yesterday and retired today," he joked.

They plan on leaving the motor coach behind when they return. Last year it cost them nearly $1,000 to drive home.

They just arrived Sunday afternoon after driving 1,500 miles with their dog.

"And all to go to Homer's," he said, with a grin.

Mary Cassidy, manager of Whispering Pines Village, said she's had only two "RV-ers" arrive in the last couple of weeks but more will be arriving next week.

But, she said they plan to stay longer.

"The two that came in normally stay four months but they'll be staying six months this year," she said. "They dwindle in during the months of October and November. In the mobile homes so far we've had three families arrive."

The main wave comes after Nov. 1, she agreed.

"By the end of the month they'll all be back," she said.