To Lakeland, FL - #71-04

January 21, 2007 (Sun) Juniper Springs Recreation Area, Ocala NF - We
have the campground to ourselves again. Most everyone around us has
left, the cleaning crew has come around and raked up the sites, and it
is quiet. We spent the afternoon sitting out on our patio in the sun.
What a wonderful day it has been.

On one of the passes by the visitor's center, Mark took another look at
the pay phone thinking there must be some way to tell the phone to send
a dial tone to the computer jack. There was. And the instructions for
how to use the data connection were displayed as a banner scrolling
across a small window on the phone. We'd missed it because it also
displayed other stuff - like "Welcome to Juniper Springs Recreation
Area, Ocala National Forest." We'd never waited to see if there was
anything else!

January 22, 2007 (Mon) Juniper Springs Recreation Area, Ocala NF - Today
was our day on the 7 1/2 mile Juniper Creek run. We rented a canoe,
signed all the releases (Juniper Springs et al is not responsible for
anything that may happen to us or our belongings, etc.) and set out down
the very narrow water way. It didn't take as long to get the hang of
negotiating the twisting, obstacle-laden stream as it did last year so
we didn't run into nearly as many banks or overhanging vegetation. The
two lowest obstacles - trees so low over the water that we needed to
actually lie down in the canoe to get through - have been removed. Even
so we got into trouble a couple of times and nearly went over once. We
made it though without getting wet - well almost. The storm due this
afternoon gave us a sampling in the form of light sprinkles now and
then. The 14 foot alligator we saw last year wasn't out this year - no
sun to bask in - but we saw lots of birds, including the largest white
heron we've ever seen, deer and turtles of all sizes. It was a
beautiful, though exhausting, way to spend a morning with nature.

Q035167 Juniper Springs Recreation Area, Ocala NF #21 dry $8.50g B (x2)

January 23, 2007 (Tue) Juniper Springs Recreation Area, Ocala NF to
Titusville, FL (95/1539 miles) - We were up early this morning for no
other reason than we woke early. We took our time eating breakfast and
getting ready to go. We got off at 8:00 (60°) and headed south on US-19.
Our first stop was to do laundry in Umatilla (where our flat was fixed
last week). Then we stopped at a Publix market in Eustis and the Costco
in Altamonte Springs. With our closets and cupboards refreshed we made
our way to The Great Outdoors RV Resort. The adventure in this leg of
our trip was driving on city streets in the outskirts of Orlando, FL to
avoid the outrageous fees on Florida's toll roads. It's hard to say
which is more aggravating.

January 24, 2007 (Wed) The Great Outdoors RV Resort - It was sprinkling
and threatening to get worse when we got up so decided not to do our
walk this morning. We are parked 2 spaces from Dorcas (Mark's sister)
and Mike's pad, so getting to their place was no trouble (or exercise)
at all. (The same can be said about the rest rooms which are the same
distance in the other direction.) We spent the day with them visiting
and catching up. In the afternoon we went out and walked some of the
roads of this interesting RV park.

Mark make an appointment with a service facility in Sarasota to have the
problem with our refrigerator looked into. It probably needs no more
than a circuit board replaced but they will do a thorough check of the
system. We will stop on our way to Englewood

Q035403 The Great Outdoors RV Resort #436 Oak Cove Rd $30 e/w/s A (x2)

January 25, 2007 (Thu) Titusville, FL to Lakeland, FL (115/1654 miles) -
It rained off and on all night and was raining when we woke up - a good
day to stay in bed. It was still raining when we got off at 10:45 (49°).
The most direct route to Lakeland would have been the Bee Line
Expressway (toll) west to I-4 but that be through Orlando, FL, on one of
the busiest roads in the country. And traffic reports were particularly
dire. So we charted a route through Cocoa, St Cloud, and Kissimmee -
mostly back roads but wonderfully free of traffic and straight.

The temperature was up to 56° when we stopped for lunch in a Publix
parking lot. We overheard people in the complaining about the cold. We
arrived at Ed and Kathy's at about 2:00.

January 26, 2007 (Fri) Lakeland, FL - Jim and Donna (friends of Ed and
Kathy whom we met in Homer, Alaska) have been staying in Lazy Days (RV
dealer) near Tampa where they took delivery of and moved into their new
class "A" motorhome. Today they moved their home - they are full timers
- into Ed and kathy's yard for a couple of days on their way to Vero
Beach, FL.

January 27, 2007 (Sat) Lakeland, FL - It's hard to be with Ed and Kathy
any length of time without going to Chinese Buffet. Today was the day.
Before we went though, we all went to the Book Bazaar, a used paperback
book store, to replenish our book supplies.

January 28, 2007 (Sun) Lakeland, FL - Before dawn we heard a big class
"A" diesel start up. Jim and Donna were getting ready to leave. A short
time later they did. What an interesting couple they are and their
lifestyle, with no permanent house to return to or worry about,
stimulates some envy - though not enough for us to consider moving into
Q as our only home.

The bishop of Honduras was guest preacher in Ed and Kathy's church this
morning. A very interesting man and a terrific speaker. It is a large
church with a terrific choir and the liturgy was mostly sung. We enjoyed
the service.

January 29, 2007 (Mon) Lakeland, Fl - Big day today! We were up bright
and early, for us these days, at about 6:30 (39°) and, after breakfast,
joined the commuters and tourists headed east toward Orlando on I-4 with
Ed and Kathy. We pulled into a relatively empty parking lot at Disney
World at about 9:00 were we met Ken and Kathy - friends of Ed and Kathy
whom we first met in the Black hills on our way to Alaska. Epcot was
only a gleam in Walt Disney's eye when we last visited Disney World last
in 1973. Soarin' is a theater "ride" that simulates soaring in an
ultra-light aircraft - feet hanging free - over cities, canyons, and
other similar landscapes. It was almost as thrilling and scary as
actually doing it. A trip to Mars in a space capsule simulator was an
equally exciting experience. Joy "rode" the version that subjected her
to substantial "G" forces, especially during launch, but Mark, because
of his back, took the more gentle, senior citizens, version. But even
with this ride he gained plenty of insight into what astronauts must go
through - except for the crash landing on Mars! These were only two of
the many things we did - all well done as only Disney can do. We ended
the day by taking the monorail to Magic Kingdom then boarding the steam
"sight seeing" train around the perimeter. We would liked to have stayed
to see the fireworks display but we were all tired and cold, and home
took priority.

Q035518 Ed and Kathy's yard (x5)

To Juniper Springs RA - #71-03

January 15, 2007 (Monday) Alexander Springs RA, Ocala NF To Juniper Springs RA, Ocala NF (47 miles Today 1350 total) - 47 miles to go 14 miles, and enough adventure to hold us for the seven days we'll be here. We got off at 8:45 (55°) and headed south to Umatilla, FL to the laundromat. Not much adventure there - Mark did email while Joy did laundry. The Publix Supermarket a few miles south yielded another week's worth of supplies. As we pulled out of the Publix parking lot we heard a strange noise that seemed to be associated with the turning of the wheels. (Truth be known, Mark had heard it earlier and thought it was because the parking brake hadn't been fully released.) Joy went into the back and reported that it seemed to be coming from the right rear wheel area. We pulled into the same parking lot where we'd been earlier to do our laundry and email to check it out. The inside rear dual tire was flat! Well not exactly flat as the outside tire was holding things up but it was soft. FMCA emergency road service kindly put on the spare for us and a tire repair facility down the road pulled a 3/8 inch dia bolt out of the tire, plugged the hole and put the reassembled wheel back on the motorhome. 4 1/2 hours after leaving the Publix market we were on the road again headed north for Juniper Springs Recreation Area.

We are in a campsite across the road from one of the sites we were in last year.

January 16, 2007 (Tue) Juniper Springs Recreation Area, Ocala NF - We have a fairly strong non-Verizon wireless phone signal but the data (email) signal wouldn't go through. Verizon has definitely cut off accepting data calls from outside its network. There is a jack on the pay phone at the visitors center but Mark couldn't get it to transmit a dial tone to the computer. The clerk at the counter in the center seemed to be computer literate but didn't know anything about the phone jack on the pay phone. After several attempts she said we could use "her" phone inside. Mark did and sent the newsletter he'd forgotten to send when we had a connection yesterday.

January 17, 2007 (Wed) Juniper Springs Recreation Area, Ocala NF - It's overcast and chilly (61°) today. We had thought we'd do the 7 1/2 mile canoe trip down Juniper Creek but decided not to. If we went overboard - a distinct possibility on that challenging run - we would be thoroughly chilled through before we could change into dry clothes.

Last year when we were here the boardwalk along part of the creek was under construction. It's finished now and is an interesting and beautiful walk. We made it the beginning of a 2 1/2 mile walk through the campground. There are very few campers here. It will probably fill for the weekend.

January 18, 2007 (Thu) Juniper Springs Recreation Area, Ocala NF - We got off to the big city of Ocala, FL at 8:18 (56° and dreary). The first order of business was a stop at Sears to have the house batteries checked. We'd replaced one battery before we'd left home but the folks at Middletown, NJ Sears said the other one was OK. But we suspected there was a problem with its ability to hold a charge. There was. We got a new one. We wanted to have the refrigerator checked out too (since it stopped again during the night) but the FMCA recommended RV repair facility didn't work on refrigerators. In fact we suspect they didn't work on much other than diesel engines since the words "Cummins and "Power" were in their name. We decided to wait and see what effect the new battery has on the problem. We did some grocery shopping in a Wal-Mart (since it was handy), ate lunch in a Chinese buffet restaurant, did a small laundry and were back in our site in Juniper Springs Recreation Area at 3:40. The thermometer only got up to 66° so it was a good day to be gone.

January 19, 2007 (Fri) Juniper Springs Recreation Area, Ocala NF - Our site here is large, open and sunny most of the day - yet quite private. Our chairs and small folding picnic table sit on the rug outside the main cabin door. From there we can see clearly only one other rig - a trailer. The owners have been away most all day every day so it's as if we are alone. The morning started out chilly, low 50s, but steadily warmed to about 70° in the afternoon. The morning we spent reading in the sun and after lunch we hiked a bit of the Florida National Scenic Trail that passes nearby. We also made some needed adjustments to our "egg crate" bed pad. (Q's bed is just under queen size. The queen size pad we'd bought last summer needed to be cut down for a better fit.) Working on the picnic table was no picnic, there were hundreds of small black flies floating around, not doing anything special, just being annoying!! -J

January 20, 2007 (Sat) Juniper Springs Recreation Area, Ocala NF - Just after dark last night six South American men (tourists we think) took up residence in three tents in the site next door and two young families, (with pre teenagers) set up tents across the way. Our walk through the campground this morning revealed that almost all the sites are now occupied - even those in the tenting area which has been all but empty at other times. Weekends are busy and noisy but all was quiet, in our area of the campground at least, by 10:00 (quiet hour).

There is an observation deck, of sorts, across the creek from the canoe launching area. We spent some time there watching people start their adventures. It was easy to guess which of them would finish their day wet. There was a baby, between 1 and 2 years old, with parents and sister, in one canoe - a fool-hardy thing to do on this challenging run - but dad seemed to know how to handle a canoe. We sure hope they made it without turning over. None of them, even a pre teen girl who was sitting up on a thwart rather than down in the canoe, were wearing life jackets! Next to leave in three canoes were our neighbors the tourists. They were obviously not experienced canoeists, but seemed to be enjoying the adventure. Within the first 20 feet one of them had already gone in the drink, along with an open bag of potato chips, which floated merrily away. When they returned to their campsite late this afternoon they were very wet and cold. They've strung a clothesline for wet clothes and have a roaring fire going. Makes us cold just to look at them!!

The sky, when clear at night, is magnificent. Millions of stars that can't be seen in the northeast, at least around the NY area. This morning early, I was watching the stars and saw a huge meteor streak across the sky. Wonderful!! - J

Q035167 Juniper Springs Recreation Area, Ocala NF #21 dry $8.50g B (x6)

To Alexander Springs RA - #71-02

January 9, 2007 (Tuesday) Mars Hill, NC to Savannah, GA (341 miles Today 1030 total) - It's rained off and on the whole time we've been in Mars Hill but the temperature has been reasonable - cool but reasonable. Last night ended that! It got down to 25°. Sleeping wasn't bad with our electric heater going but breaking camp was a different story. The electric cord was stiff and coated with frozen mud, from the construction and all the rain, and the leveling boards were hard to pull up. To top it off our NJ flag was frozen in its holder and had to be coaxed out with a bit of force. We finally got off at 8:45. Thanks Bob and Pat for your friendship and generous hospitality. We'll see you on down the road.

The Blue Ridge Mountains were crystal clear against a nearly cloudless ahead of us as we drive south down I-26. Heavy snow was predicted for this area later in the day, one of the reasons we were anxious to get off today, but there was no sign of it. As we came out of the mountains to rolling hills about 11:00 we were hearing that it was snowing heavily along the North Carolina Tennessee border (West of Asheville and Mars Hill) and that schools were letting out early. The thermometer read in the 40s where we were.

The price of gas was $1.97/gal as we crossed the border into South Carolina but we didn't need it. By the time we did the price was $2.29/gal. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.

When Mark asked at the Savannah Walmart Customer Service counter if it was OK to spend the night in the parking lot, the response was, "Sure. It's only $50" His shocked response brought a broad smile to the young woman's face. "Just kidding," she said, and reviewed the minimal rules about where to park. When we reviewed our notes from last year we found that we were here, in this same parking lot, on January 9th last year too.

Q034894 Camp Walmart Savannah, GA

January 10, 2007 (Wed) Savannah, GA, to Altoona, FL (273/1303 miles) - It wasn't as cold last night - only 36° at the lowest - but then we are further south and out of the mountains. It was up to 42° as we got back onto I-95 at 7:50. We pulled into the first rest stop, just below Darien, Ga, to fix a late breakfast. On the way back to the highway we notice that there is a sanitary dump station there. We'll make note of that in case we need one at another time.

As we approached Jacksonville, FL we took a detour to Penney Farms. It's been 3 1/2 years since we've been there visiting Mark's mother and wanted to see what changes have been made. They have a new "community center" building - The Commons - and a few newly constructed homes but all in all it looked pretty much the same.

We were here in Alexander Springs Recreation Area (Ocala National Forest) twice last year. In our search for a campsite we saw that Dora, the older woman we'd met during our first stay last year, was here again this year but Bill and Margaret, our neighbors at that time, were not. (We learned later that they'd been here but were away for a week.)

There seems to be no way to connect to the internet here (we're out of the Verizon network) so no email for a few days.

January 11, 2007 (Thur) Alexander Springs Recreation Area, Ocala NF - This has been a day to relax. We tried to sleep late but couldn't make it past 7:00. Showers after three days really felt good even though the facilities aren't heated. The temperature didn't get below 46° overnight and warmed up to 68° during the day. The sun was warm enough to sit out in shorts and T-shirt but the breeze, when it came up, made it a little chilly. Even so it's good to be here.

January 12, 2007 (Fri) Alexander Springs Recreation Area, Ocala NF - There haven't been very many campsites occupied - it's make us wonder why we were given so few to choose from when we came in. Keeping us from choosing reserveable sites is understandable, they might be reserved out from under us, but there are many first-come-first-served sites open that weren't still open that weren't indicated as available. Not that it really matters. We like the site we have. It's at the end of the loop and very big. There is an older couple, maybe a bit older than we are, some distance away on our port side, no one across the way and, of course no one on our starboard side. Palmetto and rhododendron(?) dominate the view out our dining room window and main cabin door. It's been very quiet - until... About 4:00 traffic past our site began to pick up. Two pickup trucks, one with a trailer load of kayaks, now occupy the site across the way and we can see several tents along the road out our living room window. The noise level has picked up too. Over on loop C, where we were last year, there is a huge party going on. College kids? We are hoping that the quiet hour rules will be enforced.

January 13, 2007 (Sat), Alexander Springs Recreation Area, Ocala NF - A walk around the campground, covering all four loops and the public/picnic are at the springs, is just under 2 miles - according to our pedometers. Our walk this morning revealed that most, but not all, of the sites are now occupied. We also discovered the source of all the noise last night. 5 trucks and SUVs are crammed into 2 sites and several good sized tents are scattered through the woods. All was quiet this morning. There had been scuba divers - 2 life guards(?) and 5 patrons - in the springs pond yesterday. Today it was empty - probably too early for them.

January 14, 2007 (Sun), Alexander Springs Recreation Area, Ocala NF - It rained during the night. It wasn't supposed to do that! The chairs weren't as protected as they should have been so they got wet. Minor problem. The refrigerator went off during the night. Major problem. Mark turned it on once around 4:00 but it was off again when we woke up at 7:00. We know exactly what the problem is, we think, because the same thing happened in Q1 - bad circuit board. Unfortunately this is Sunday and tomorrow is a holiday! We spent the morning and half the afternoon turning it back on when it went off while Mark did what he could to clean the propane jet. We finally decided that the time had come to fire up the generator so that it could run on 120 volts for a while to cool it back down. The folks next door don't like generators any better than we do so we waited until they left for a couple of hours. The refrigerator has been running nonstop on propane ever since! Could it be that the problem was just low battery voltage? It doesn't make sense, it wasn't that low, but maybe.

Q035167 Alexander Springs Recreation Area, Ocala NF #31 dry $8.50g B (x5)

To Mars Hill, NC - #71-01

January 3, 2007 (Wednesday) Home to Winchester, VA (292 miles Today 292 total) - We're parked in the same Wal-Mart parking lot that we parked in last year on our way south. But this time we came by way of I-78 and I-81 (Last year it was by way of Baltimore, MD and Frederick, VA). The distance is about the same and probably the traffic is too. We got off this morning at about 9:30 (39° and sunny), got gas in Matawan, NJ ($2.17/gal) and made our way to the Garden State parkway northwest, I-287 and I-78 West and finally I-80 South. The Yarn Basket (a yarn shop) is still in business in Chambersburg, PA and open this time - it's been closed the last couple of times we've passed this way.

We pulled in here at about 3:15, got permission from the Wal-Mart floor manager to spend the night and settled in near a big class A towing an SUV. Several fifth wheel campers, a pickup camper and a car joined us as the evening went on.

Q034156 Camp Wal-Mart Winchester, VA B

January 4, 2007 (Thursday) Winchester, VA to Mars Hill, NC (397/689 miles) - We'd parked with a slight list to starboard so Mark spend a good deal of the night fighting the tendency to role out of bed. This, the usual first night restlessness and being slightly cold made for too little sleep. Even so we were able to get off by 8:08 (45° and sunny) albeit without eating breakfast. We'd have taken care of that at the first rest stop, but it was very small and very crowded. Virginia seems to be going to work on their rest areas along I-81 because most (by a big margin) have closed their rest rooms and set out temporary facilities. The next rest area was one of the few with open rest rooms.

Q is slightly too big to go into the "cars only" area at most rest areas but we feel uncomfortable taking up on of the huge parking spaces reserved for trucks when it is crowded. We should have gone into the car area, as we sometimes do, because while we were fixing and eating breakfast the truck parking spaces filled and overflowed. Trucks began to park everywhere - on the approach road, in to swing areas, and along the rest- area exit road. We didn't linger! For lunch we used the car area - and stuck out a little bit.

The Blue Ridge Mountains displayed their usual magnificence as we drove down through the Shenandoah valley and presented their usual challenge to heavy trucks through the pass on I-26 (or I-181 as some call it).

We've been having the unusual good luck of stopping at the lowest priced gas station - $2.17/g in Northern VA where prices were ranging around $2.23 and higher and $2.11/g in Tennessee vs $2.19 to $2.21.

We arrived at Bob and Pat's at 4:14 (62°) - a day early as it turned out. (we'd given them the wrong arrival date!) They were happy to see us though and their neighbors were gracious enough to allow us to come along with them to dinner. The new addition to their house - a large kitchen and great room area - is beautiful and very functional.

January 5, 2007 (Friday) Mars Hill, NC - This morning was the first that we've wakened to a pastoral scene with Llamas outside our window. Bob and Pat's neighbors (the ones where we ate dinner last night) have a small herd. There is a much larger herd (100 or so) in the field beyond but we've seen only a couple of them.

January 6, 2007 (Saturday) Mars Hill, NC - Bob and Pat threw a big party (well big by our standards anyway) today to celebrate the "opening" of their new addition and Bob's birthday. 30+ people, mostly from their church, came by for drinks and dinner. What a great bunch of friends they have. And what a wonderful place for a party. The weather was perfect - warm for this time of year yet cool enough to not want to linger outside without a sweater or light jacket. The rain from yesterday has moved off to the east.

January 7, 2007 (Sunday) Mars Hill, NC - This morning Mark and Bob attended the men's breakfast at the church. After sausage, bagels and coffee there was a group discussion, with personal sharing, about miracles in our lives. In the early afternoon Mark spent much unproductive time on the telephone trying to get help from AT&T Worldnet in solving our email problem. Other than that we managed to fill the rest of the day with unremarkable activities and watched "Lady in the Water" (movie) in the evening.

January 8, 2007 (Monday) Mars Hill, NC - We spent most of today in Asheville, NC in various interesting shops. While Joy and Pat "did" the quilt shop (and others) Mark and Bob went to the Best Buy to exchange a telephone system for a properly working one. Lunch was in a very good Mexican restaurant. Dominoes are planned for the evening.

As you might have gathered, we are still having trouble with email sent to our main address being blocked by AT&T. If you are trying to get in touch and getting error messages for your effort, please use our alternate address. We are getting email that is sent there.

Q034553 Bob and Pat's yard. (x5)