To Quail's Run - #51-11

February 16, 2005 (Fri)
Highlands Hammock State park #17 w/e $19.60 B

Lake Wales, FL to Sebring, FL (57 miles) Q010964

We woke at first light and lounged around until 7:15 or so watching the news on TV - there was nothing world shattering, thankfully. We took bath-house showers before breakfast, prepared Q for travel after and were pulling out of the campground at 8:40 - 59°. The cell signal at the campground was too weak for data transmission - though probably OK for voice - so we stopped in a Publix (supermarket) parking lot in Lake Wales so we could upload/download email. Joy took the opportunity to do some grocery shopping. The trip to Highlands Hammock State Park was short and uneventful. We arrived at about 12:30 so after lunch we had time to explore the park on our bicycles. The one "bicycle trail" is about 8 miles long - it seemed more like 20. Calling it a bicycle trail was a real stretch in many places - the sand was so fine and so deep that riding a bicycle was impossible. We did ride more than we walked though and it was pleasant being out there by ourselves. There wasn't much in the way of wildlife but the pine forest wilderness was wonderful to experience. Just hearing the wind in the trees was soothing and emotionally restful.

We are a little disappointed with the campground after hearing such good things about it. The atmosphere is "State Park" but we are crammed in like many private parks. One reason for our disillusionment may be that we probably have the smallest site in the campground (not our choice). Q's bicycle rack is just far enough off the road to avoid being hit and our back door is maybe 5 feet from the site limit (The campground utility post keeps us from going back any further.) There is a tree about 6 inches outside our living room window and a tree on the other side allows just barely enough room for the awning to be deployed. The ground under the awning is so rough and uneven that sitting in our chairs is an adventure.
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February 17, 2005 (Thu)
Highlands Hammock State park (day 2)

Many campgrounds seem to have a character or theme. It might be boating, hiking, partying (unfortunately), birding, or hiking. In this park it's bicycling. It is a good park for that - and it seems as if everyone has one - although there are many sandy areas. We went out this morning and did the Park Loop Road (4 miles) - a beautiful ride through a palm and pine forest (called a hammock here abouts) with the underbrush being fan shaped palm and palmetto fronds! Most of the hiking trails are off this road and we stopped along the way to hike three of them - each just under a mile long. The Ancient Hammock Trail was loaded with huge Live Oak trees and, surprisingly, many wild Orange trees. Just as surprisingly, the Wild Orange Grove Trail had very few Orange trees. The Fern Garden Trail had lots of fern as did the other trails.

We spent the rest of the day acting like retired folks, sitting around under our awning reading and watching life go on around us. Three folks with a fifth wheel a few sites away provided entertainment for a couple of hours by playing bluegrass music on banjo, mandolin, guitar, and fiddle. One of the fellows even sang a bit too. They sounded very professional and it was really quite pleasant to listen to.
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February 18, 2005 (Fri)
Highlands Hammock State park (day 3)

We bicycled the Park Loop Road again this morning and hiked the Young Hammock, Cypress Swamp, Alexander Blair Big Oak, and Hickory Trails. On the Cypress Swamp Trail we ran into a school bus load of 1st or 2nd graders on a field trip. They were so cute. Their reactions to what they were seeing was priceless. The featured attraction on the Alexander Blair Big Oak Trail was - well - a big oak tree. The sign there said it was 1000 years old. Its trunk measures 36 feet around. Amazing.

And the locusts descendeth! About mid afternoon the camping sites that had been vacated this morning and the in last few days as well as those empty since we got here, began to fill up. And they kept coming and coming - and coming! By 5:00, when we went to dinner, most of the spaces around us were full to overflowing with 1, 2, and 3 family units - with as many vehicles plus tents, trailers and camping vans. A couple of times the Park Ranger had to encourage squatters to move their vehicles so rightful renters would have access to their sites. Our reaction: Good Grief!

Our dinner was All-You-Can-Eat fish fry at the in-park restaurant - not bad. The cars were still piling in when we got back to Q. There were even two car's worth of campers squeezed into the space between our site and the next - on the other guy's site. And they kept coming well after it was too dark for us to watch them. Good Grief!
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February 19, 2005 (Sat)
Quail's Run Condominium Parked in SunTrust Bank parking lot

Sebring, FL to Englewood, FL (94 miles) Q011058

We had been worried that it would be noisy last night - there were hundreds of kids - but by 10:00 or 10:15 all was quiet. The kids around us must have been a church youth group. Earlier in the evening they had been gathered in a site nearby singing, accompanied by guitar and violin. While we couldn't hear well enough to understand the words, the sound (tune, beat, harmony, etc) was distinctively "religious". It, too, was pleasant to listen to as we played our nightly game of RummiKube.

We were very curious to look out this morning. When we did it was like looking outside in the morning after a big snow storm. There were tents, cars and campers everywhere - squeezed into every available piece of bare ground. The poor armadillos we'd seen rooting around the last couple of nights had no place left to dig for their bugs.

We couldn't turn left toward the campground exit when we pulled out of our campsite at 7:00am (49.6°) because there wasn't room enough for Q to get between the parked cars. Turning right wasn't much better but we got through. We wondered how the folks in a large Airstream trailer, getting ready to leave for Key West, were going to make out.

Our drive across the state to Englewood was uneventful. We got here at about 9:45.