March 4, 2007 (Sun) Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park - Last night and the night before we were awakened at about 12am by loud shouting in the men's room - our site is near the rest rooms. At first it sounded angry but it turned out to be exuberance - probably from the consumption of beer. We seem to find this kind of behavior more often in state parks than either national or private parks. We should have gone over with the horses as we'd planned! We won't have had that problem tonight. All but a few of us older folks have gone home now and we are free to sit quietly in our yard and watch the deer bound through the fields. In the afternoon we took our bicycles out a way on the access road. It was a sandy dirt road, so somewhat treacherous and dusty. But it was good exercise, especially coming back against the wind.
March 5, 2007 (Mon) Kissimmee Prairie Preserve SP - It got cold last night, 41° during the early morning hours. We wished we'd gotten the electric heater out from under the sofa before we'd turned it into a bed. We had enough blankets to keep us comfortable though. We opted to save our showers until later in the day when the sun had warmed things up a bit.
We got to talking with the campground host (Bob) on our way to hike a "short" trail through the prairie that circumvents the campground. He suggested that we take water. Of course we should. We knew that. Just didn't think about it. As Joy went back to Q to get water he told Mark about a bicycle hiker who'd gotten lost on the trails and had to be rescued. Mark called to Joy suggesting that she bring the map. He didn't mention the compass which would have been a good idea too. He must have thought we were a couple of real novices, which I suppose we were, because we weren't on the trail long before he came along in his little golf cart type vehicle to tell us that we should make all right turns. "Don't make any left turns." he said. It turned out that there was only one opportunity to make a left turn and it was obvious that we shouldn't. We could see the campground off in the distance across the prairie most of the time. The left turn would have obviously taken us in completely the wrong direction. The loop was about 3 1/2 miles long and we never saw the Burrowing Owl that Bob said to look for. Robins, Mockingbirds and Red Shouldered hawks were the extent of our wild life sightings.
March 6, 2007 (Tue) Kissimmee Prairie Preserve SP - This morning we set out on the longer - 6 miles by the time we got back - Prairie Loop Trail. We took water, a map, a compass and hats to keep the sun off our faces this time. Part of this trail goes through a palm/palmetto hammock (forest) and we were far enough away from the campground and the trail markings confusing enough for both the map and the compass to come in handy. Again we saw plenty of Robins, Mockingbirds and hawks but at one point we rousted a couple of wild boar. They must have been sleeping near the trail and our approach startled them. They suddenly jumped up and ran across the trail right in front of us, startling us, and charged off into the brush.
Most of the trail was sandy and a lot of it very fine and soft. 6 miles on that stuff is much harder then the asphalt and concrete we are used to. We were exhausted when we got back and spent the rest of the day recuperating.
March 7, 2007 (Wed) Kissimmee Prairie Preserve SP - Our activity/exercise for today was to walk out to the Five Mile Prairie Trail. When we got to it, though, we turned right. Turning left would have meant hiking a 12 mile loop to get back - or turning around and coming back, of course. We weren't up to that. It might have been fun to do it on horseback but too much on foot. Bicycling would have been a real challenge because of the sand. Turning right took us eventually out to the entrance road which brought us back to the campground, a 4 mile walk. This was plenty with our sore muscles from yesterday's hike. Our wildlife sightings today included the Burrowing Owl (2) that we missed seeing the other day and an otter. The only water we saw was a lily covered pond that was supposed to be home for a couple of alligators. They must have been off duty because we didn't see them.
Q036597 Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park #1 e/w $13.20 B+ (x6)
March 8, 2007 (Thu) Okeechobee, FL to Sebring, FL (54/2672 miles) Off at 8:39 (54°) Bob (campground host) said that there may be water and electric in the equestrian area next year - if the money comes through. That would be good. It's a nice area over there. We hope that means there will be a decent rest room/shower facility too - there's only an outhouse (albeit a nice one) there now. Along the very sparsely populated 20 miles or so across the prairie we passed one Cracker (cowboy) on horseback and his two dogs and no motorized vehicles. That campground is really out in the sticks! Once back in civilization we stopped at a Sweetbay supermarket. Some of the brand names were Hannaford. We wonder if Sweetbay is the southern arm of the New England Hannaford supermarket chain.
The gate keeper at Highlands Hammock State Park said he could give us a campsite for tonight - there were plenty - but he doubted there were any left for tomorrow (Fri) night. He found one though - specified for a 19' motor home. He said we could have it for two nights if we could get our 24' motor home onto it. It turned out to be the same site we had the last time we were here in 2004. We fit then. We fit now. It was about 11:30am when we squeezed Q between the trees and converted him into a home. We'll never know where we would have gone tomorrow night if Q had been any bigger.
March 9, 2007 (Fri) Highlands Hammock State Park - This is such an interesting park. In addition to all the hiking and biking trails, the people activity is so pervasive that it's hard to get a good night's sleep or any relaxation during the day. Last night at about 12:30 we were awakened by the sounds of voices and RV maneuvering. Someone had come in late and didn't care that everyone else had gone to bed. At 4:30 again we heard an RV jockeying into a campsite - this time into a site across from us. There are at least 3 (maybe 4) large family units spread out around us. The kids, from ages of about 2 to 13 are all having a great time riding their bicycles. Rigs were coming and going all day. Watching them set up and break camp is always entertaining. Some people do the strangest things!
We took a couple of breaks from the entertainment to bicycle around the park loop and out the county road toward the Western entrance. We had thought we might go out that way tomorrow but the road turned out to be washboard gravel with a weight restricted bridge somewhere beyond where we went.
Q036651 Highlands Hammock State Park #17 w/e $19.60 B (x2)
March 10, 2007 (Sat) Sebring, FL to Englewood, NJ (95/2672 miles) - We got off at 8:56 (65°) under high broken clouds. We have decided that we will probably never come back to this campground - certainly not to that campsite. During the late yesterday afternoon and evening all the sites around us filled up with large family units. The group that set up behind us backed their popup trailer right up close to our picnic table and used it to hold some of their junk while they set up. (It was still there this morning.) We had a very small site - hardly bigger than Q himself - so to have them encroach so closely was very off-putting. And the kids of all these families who seemed to know one another tended to use our site as a pathway. Kids are kids but parents should also be parents and enforce limits - or at least mention them.
The trip to Englewood was relatively unremarkable - except for when we passed through Arcadia, FL. They were in the midst of a rodeo parade crossing the main drag. Fortunately we got to the intersection just ahead of the parade and crossed with barely a need to pause - the first time! But Hildene was confused as to exactly where we were - road construction had created new roads - and directed us to turn left when there was no need to. By the time we (and Hildene) figured out where we were and how to get back on route we were headed for the same parade intersection again. We did some sitting this time!
We pulled into Quail's Run at 11:30 - in time to join Bom and Gail for lunch. We'll be here at least a week.
Q036746 SunTrust Bank parking log (parked)
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