October 11, 2009 (Sun) Bernard, ME to ~Dodge, MA (383/800 miles) - Overnight parking in highway rest areas tends to be dangerous and it's illegal in most states especially in the East. But sometimes the old adage "Any port in a storm" becomes appropriate. More later. But first:
We seriously debated going to church this morning since Dick would be assisting in the service but the long trip ahead had to be considered. So we reluctantly said good bye at about 8:30 and started North on SR-102 (you have to go north to get off the island) bound ultimately for Fayetteville, NY and home. The traffic on SR-3 to Ellsworth, ME was very light, nothing at all like it had been Friday afternoon, so we got there in good time. It's almost impossible for us to pass an L.L.Bean outlet store. The one in Ellsworth is one of the best so, of course, we had to stop. Joy found a couple of good bargains and after cashing in some coupons we'd earned managed to drop a total of $21. The fall colors have really popped out. The landscapes and views along US-1 and the Maine Turnpike were spectacular to say the least. We stopped at the New Hampshire State Liquor Store (tax free) and found the prices little better than sales in New Jersey including sales tax.But we went on and got a few bottles anyway.
License plates of interest:
PEST
ARRRRR with a sticker of the Jolly Roger flag (skull and crossbones) on left side of the trunk.
Hildene gave us the option of two Walmarts as potential "camping" sites. We chose Garner, MA because it was a little further along. It was not a supercenter nor was it in a very good location. We didn't even go in. The two young clerks in a near by McDonald's gave directions to the supercenter in Fitchburg. With Hildene's help we went back 10 miles, wound through some unlikely areas of the city and found a Walmart which turned out not to be a supercenter either. After a long talk with a couple of friendly customer service people and a frazzled young manager we learned that the policy of allowing overnight parking had recently been changed. For this store? For this area? For non-supercenters in general? For all Walmart stores? We neglected to find out, but we couldn't stay there. It was just as well. It too was in a questionable neighborhood and questionable "neighbors" appeared to be hanging around in the parking lot going in and out of the store. We had wanted to take SR-2 across the state as a more interesting alternative to the high speed Massachusetts Turnpike. But we decided to go south, find the supercenter in Worcester - surely there was one there - and take the Mass Pike in the morning. We couldn't find it. With Hildene's help we had a wonderful tour of Worcester's seedier sections - we are going to have an in-depth talk with her when we get home! - and gave it up.
The first rest area on the Mass Pike was busy and it appeared several vehicles of various types had settled in for the night. We found a not-so-level, out of the way spot and got ready to spend the night - minimally. We deployed the bed but didn't make it up and we didn't get completely ready for bed ourselves. We wanted to be able to beat it out of there at a moment's notice if a caller stopped by, whether cop or bad guy.
Q055182 Mass Pike rest area near Dodge, MA
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October 12, 2009 (Mon) ~Dodge, MA to ~Palmer, MA (30/830 miles) - We both woke up (if that's the right term since we hadn't slept) at about 1:30am because it was cold, our blankets kept falling off and the cold leather couch was slippery. We thought that if we were going to get into trouble it would be because we were there longer than just to rest. And most of the "overnighters" had left. So we decided to move to the next rest area. Many people regularly travel at night. It sure is the time to do that! The highway as all but empty and very peaceful. The music we found on the radio added to the serenity. It was great adventure.
The car parking area here is completely empty. We thought we'd be real obvious if we parked there for any length of time. Several trucks were parked in an area on the other side of the building near the diesel pumps, which were obviously closed. So we found a dark corner and climbed into the back again. We fully made up the bed this time but we stayed dressed.
Q055212 Mass Pike rest area near Palmer, MA
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October 12, 2009 (Mon still) ~Palmer, MA to ~Lee, MA (48/876 miles) - It was quiet when we went to bed but it didn't stay that way long. Trucks began to come and go. Diesel engines started up and shut down. A couple of times a truck would pull up beside us and sit for a while with its engine running - annoying in itself but Joy worried that we'd be blocked in. Our efforts to avoid getting in the way had become cause for us not to be able to sleep. When we could we climbed back into Q's cab and got back on the highway. Sleep? Maybe a total of an hour off and on over two hours.
Mark had decided to give it up and drive the rest of the way without stopping again, but Joy thought we should try again. The rest area near Lee, MA was small and there were 3 or 4 cars in the mostly level lot. We pulled in under a tree and went back to bed. The outside thermometer read 31°
Q055260 Mass Pike rest area near Lee, MA
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October 12, 2009 (Mon still) ~Lee, MA to Fayetteville, NY (167/1043 miles) - We slept solidly for three hours! We were not all that much interested in getting back on the road but after eating some breakfast that's what we did. An hour later we were lost in the Albany/Rensselaer, NY area! We thought that going up US-9 would be almost as good, time wise, as I-90 and a more direct and scenic route to US-20. And would avoid some tolls. The map made no indication that we'd be dumped onto Rensselaer city streets. Hildene picked this time to do her worst acting up - she'd go off just as we needed to find a turn, then take forever to find a satellite. By the time she did we'd be past the turn. Or the street route markings would differ from her directions often putting us in the wrong lane to make the proper turn - probably because her maps are out of date. When we finally found our way to US-20 the drive was beautiful. Traffic was relatively light and the fall foliage was spectacular.
License plate: GIDDI YP
We arrived in Fayetteville at 12:30pm badly in need of sleep, showers and a change of clothes - but super happy to see Shane sitting on his tricycle waiting for us. We were happy to see Jennifer too, of course, and Dave when he got home from work. We went to bed early.
October 13, 2009 (Tue) Fayetteville, NY (2) - It rained during the night which was good for sleeping and we sure did that. In bed at 8:30pm and woke at 7:00am. This has been a family day. Joy went with Jennifer when she delivered Shane to his day school and Mark went when she picked him up. Between trips we took an auto tour of downtown Syracuse (an ill fated shopping trip) and spent time just hanging out. Lunch at Wegman's was interesting and the hot wings and pizza (pick up) for dinner were great.
Q055427 Dave and Jennifer's yard
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October 14, 2009 (Wed) Fayetteville, NY to Home (302/1345 miles) - Yesterday someone in one of the stores was saying that the temperature was going down to 20°. It didn't. Our thermometer showed 37° outside and that's what the TV was saying it was this morning. So much for grass roots weather forecasting. The official forecasts for tonight are calling for the possibility of snow flurries. We were leaving just in time! We saw Dave off to work and Shane onto his school bus - what an interesting emotional adventure that was! He's too little to be going off by himself like that. We said good bye to Jennifer and got on the road about 10:00am. We weren't in desperate need of gas so we bypassed what we considered to be prices too high ($2.59) - until we began to pass stations selling it for $2.69, $2.79 and even $2.89. We finally stopped for some $2.59 gas, wishing we could have made it to New Jersey where it was $2.15/gallon.
The rest of the trip home was relatively, and thankfully, unremarkable. The colors of the trees along RT 17 appeared to be past prime, which was surprising but still quite beautiful. The traffic was very light and easy until we got close in to the New York City area. The Garden State Parkway had its usual percentage of maniac drivers.
License plates:
BUY COWS
HUGABUG (on a VW beetle convertible)
We got home about 4:40pm (cloudy 55°)
Q055729 Home
QC95-02 The Long Trip Home
QC95-01 A visit in Maine
October 8, 2009 (Thur) Home to Roxbury, CT (136/136 miles) - We both had Dr appointments this morning - we are happy to report that we are good for another 3 months at least - so an early start was out of the question. But that was OK because we only had a short way to go on this first leg. We had left most of our packing for today so we were busy before and after and finally got off at about 2:00pm. (66° sunny with some clouds) Gas was our first order of business. The local Raceway has always had the best prices in the area but they have gone to charging a different prices for cash and credit. That makes for a good deal when paying cash but not when using a credit card so we waved as we went by. $2.15 a gallon at the Race Star at the Rt 36 parkway exit was a 34¢/gal savings - relatively big bucks when filling a motor home gas tank.
Around the greater New York City area, and in some other parts of the motoring country, a motor home is considered to be a truck - at least when it comes to paying tolls. As we've mentioned before, The Garden State Parkway tolls are now double that of passenger cars as are the tolls on most other roads and bridges. We think this is a little unfair just because Q has dual wheels in back. He is, after all, just a glorified passenger car (sorry Q). You can imagine our shock when the toll collector at the Tappan Zee Bridge crossing the Hudson River asked for triple the car toll of $5.00. We can't possibly be causing that much more wear and tear! We'll go a different way next time.
Other than that the trip was unremarkable. Getting turned around in Jerry and Margot's long driveway was a little tight but we were able to find a rare level spot and joined them for a delicious spare ribs dinner. The festivities were interrupted briefly for Jerry to take Margot to the hospital emergency room, she injured her leg preparing dinner, a known high risk activity.
Q054523 Jerry and Margot's driveway.
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October 9, 2009 (Fri) Roxbury, CT to Bernard, ME (276/417 miles) - We'd hoped to be off very early. We knew we had a tough 300 miles to go and we didn't want to get to Dick and Ruth's place too late. It didn't work out that way. Our alarm didn't go off so we were over an hour late getting started (7:17am 49° cloudy). Wanting to avoid more toll ticket shock we had decided to take a slightly longer (we thought) route to avoid the Massachusetts Turnpike and the tolls around Boston, MA. On the way, we asked Hildene to do some calculations for us. She determined that going the "long" way would add about 3 hours to our trip. Not good! So back to Plan A.
Yesterday the trees gave only a hint of the season. Yellows and browns here and there gave promise of things to come. Today, as we drove north, there was more color - a long way from true fall foliage but enough to make us think that in a couple of days and a little further north the landscape would be ablaze. It also made us think that others, many others, would soon be out meandering along these roads enjoying the colors and slowing traffic to a crawl. But we'd forgotten that this was a 3 day weekend (Columbus Day on Monday) and might very well be the last relatively mild weekend of the year. People with nowhere in particular to go were already clogging the roads. US-1 along the coast of Maine is notoriously bad in the Summer was only marginally better today. We'd have made better time on foot in the small "touristy" towns and we'd inevitably get behind a elderly driver or slow truck on the open but winding roads.
The traffic on SR-3 between Ellsworth, ME and Mount Desert Island is normally heavy and often aggravating but today was the worst we've ever encountered. It rivaled a Friday afternoon southbound on the New Jersey's Garden State Parkway in the summer. The whole distance, about 10 miles, was a parking lot! It added another 45 minutes to an already over long trip. There was construction at the intersection of SR-2 where it turns East for Bar Harbor and SR-102 but it wasn't so extensive as to cause the backup. We concluded that it was really just plain old heavy 3 day weekend traffic. We were glad to let the Bar Harbor bound weekenders battle it out while we headed South on SR-102. Bernard is almost as far south as one can go by car in Mount Desert Island. Dick and Ruth's home sits just off Bass Harbor and overlooks the water. Beautiful spot.
The others arrived later - Roger and Marty, 30 minutes and Jerry and Margot 45. It was great for all of us to be together again - almost all of us, we missed Ruth.
October 10, 2009 (Sat) Bernard, ME (2) - Because of her spinal stenosis and other problems, Ruth now needs more care than Dick can give her so she has moved into a nursing/assisted living facility in Bar Harbor. That was our destination this morning. Ruth joined us in the "Music Room" with a panoramic view of Frenchman Bay where we all sat in a circle and reminisced, with plenty of laughter, about "old times". Ruth seemed to enjoy it as much as we did. Soon the dining room staff threw us out so they could set up for lunch. It was hard leaving her, as we had to do, knowing how much she had enjoyed our being there and how much she would like to be with us the rest of the weekend.
Lunch, naps (we're all getting older you know) and just hanging out filled our afternoon.
As they left last night to go back to their Bed & Breakfast in Southwest Harbor Roger and Marty clipped Q's step with their bumper disabling its ability to retract. Mark worked on it for a while last night but the dark and a light drizzle limited the effort. After we got back from Bar Harbor he worked on it again and was able to force it up into the travel position but it needs serious attention when we get home.
Q054799 Dick & Ruth's driveway
Some maintenance issues
As we drove south last Winter we began to notice, or thought we did, an increase in the slight shaking (wheel balance?) at certain speeds. By the time we got home in March it was noticeably worse but still not so bad that Mark could determine what it really might be. A visit to our local tire dealer was called for. They found cupping in the left front tire. balance? shocks? alignment? Unknown, but it was definably the source of the whopping sound that we'd begun to hear. Balancing and rotating all six tires seems to have salved both the shaking and the whopping. We'll have to see if they returns with the same apparent cause.
The attendant at one of the propane stations we stopped at while we were in Florida during the winter told us that our propane tank was badly rusted. He said that it wasn't dangerous yet but that we really should be taken care of before we filled up again. He also said that maybe cleaning and repainting would be enough. Mark inspected the tank himself later and saw that there was, in deed, rust spots here and there on the tank, especially where it was attached to the frame. It didn't look all that bad to him but he's no expert. It could at least go until we got home.
At Camping World in Lakewood, NJ we were told that replacement would cost about $400 and cleaning and painting a little less. They couldn't (or wouldn't) say if repainting was be enough to eliminate a dangerous explosion sometime down the road. It seemed that replacement was the safest way to go. It turned out that the tank had to be custom made at the factory where they were originally purchased by Trailwagons (Chinook). It ended up costing more than twice the original estimate but we have a tank that should last a while.
The brakes have been an off and on problem. Over time they seem to develop a harsh "chatter" seemingly taking over the steering wheel forcing it back and forth. It seems to be the worst on mountain roads and in stop and go traffic when the brakes a used a lot. About three years ago a Chevrolet truck repair facility tried to track down the problem to no avail. Finally they replace the whole front brake assembly at considerable cost not covered by warranty. That seemed to fix it. Since then we've learned that this seems to be a prevalent and chronic problem with the Destiny brakes, the only Chinook built on a Chevrolet chassis. Chatter on the internet puts forth several suggestions to eliminate a reoccurence, some pretty far out and expensive. Non completely fix the problem.
We met a full timer in Florida last winter who seems quite savvy about thing mechanical. He suggested that the problem could well be due to poor heat dissipation in the brake discs used on the chassis. He suggested stopping faster - Mark tends to use a light braking pressure and stopping over greater distances thus generating more heat in the discs. He suggested not leaving the brake engaged while stopped, or letting the motor home roll occasionally to allow the discs to cool evenly. He also suggested braking extra hard when it feel like the chatter is developing. We have driven about 2500 miles using these techniques and the seem to work very well. We'll see how long they continue to work.
QC94-04 And Home Again
August 1, 2009 (Sat) Mars Hill, NC (3) - It rained once while we were in Florida. The rest of the time it was mostly sunny and usually too hot to spend much time without air conditioning. Here it has rained every day. That doesn't mean the days were rainy. Mostly they were sunny. But it has rained at some point every day. We had to be careful about leaving the motor home open!
We like Kraft Hot 'n Spicy Mayonnaise - as do Bob and Pat. After its introduction several years ago it has been getting harder and harder to find until it has become a real challenge. Now we can only find it in an occasional Walmart in the south. Pat thought the Walmart in Asheville might have it so she and Joy took off this morning to get some. They didn't have it. So maybe a newer Walmart in the area had it. They did. The clerk was kind enough to not voice what she must have been thinking when those two older women each set 6 bottles of mayonnaise, and nothing else, on the check-out conveyor.
We were really lucky to have been here to join several close friends of Kaye (our sometimes camping companion last winter in Florida) in wishing her a bon voyage. She is off on a 3 month tour to Maine in her motor home leaving tomorrow.
Q53693 Bob and Pat's Driveway (x3)
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August 2, 2009 (Sun) Mars Hill, NC to Winchester, VA (398/2388 miles) - We'd said our goodbyes last night, so we were free to get up and on our way early this morning. We rolled out at 6:40 (67° rain and fog). Our first stop was for gas - in Mars Hill. We'd rather have waited until we got to Tennessee where the cost is lower but we'd pulled in on Thursday with the gas gauge on empty. We had to settle on the relatively steep price of $2.55. We stopped for breakfast at a scenic overlook near the top of the mountain pass but there wasn't much of a view - too foggy and raining hard. We didn't linger.
8:00 - Crossed into Tennessee. Raining and foggy.
8:51 - Turned onto I-81 north. 70° and raining. Red barn decorated with elaborate quilt pattern rather than the usual simple hex.
9:15 - Pit stop at Virginia welcome center. 69° and raining.
10:30 - Beginning to see glimpses of the sun mixed in with periodic rain. Traffic unusually heavy.
Many of the rest areas along this highway are closed (because of the economy?) so the ones still open are very crowded. We found a slot in the truck area but Mark vacated it early to allow room for a truck. Lunch would have to wait. At 1:00 we got off I-81 and found a nice little roadside park - a perfect place for lunch. It had lots of grass and a babbling brook down below. No rain while we ate but it returned soon after getting back on the highway. And so did the heavy traffic which turned into a 10 mile (according to a road advisory sign) back up. We got off I-81 and on to US 11. Traffic on this parallel route was heavy but moving so by 2:40 we were back on I-81 ahead of the accident.
We pulled into the Winchester, VA Walmart parking lot shortly after 4:00 more than ready to relax a while.
Q054091 Camp Walmart, Winchester, VA
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August 4, 2009 (Mon) Winchester, VA to Home (299/2687 miles) - The parking lot was busier and noisier last night than we've experienced other times. Probably because it's summer. It seems to be a popular rendezvous site too. Several couples, and also some kids, would drive up in separate cars, hang out for a while then leave. There was a group of RVs (motor homes and trailers) who seemed to be traveling together circled in another part of the lot. Dawn came in the form of a big red sun and we were off at 6:40 in search of gas for Q and breakfast for us. We were back on I-81 north at 7:30 (71°)
7:42 - Crossed into West Virginia The rumble for 5 miles was milled roadway. It made listening to the radio impossible and conversation difficult.
8:10 - Crossed into Maryland
8:23 - Crossed into Pennsylvania
9:15 - Stopped at the Carlisle, PA Flying J to dump and flush holding tanks
By 11:30 we were ready for some lunch. Dorney Park (huge amusement park in Allentown, PA) seemed like it might attract a good choice of fast food places in the surrounding areas. It did, but the maze of roads to get to them was unbelievable and quite an adventure. We were glad Bob and Pat weren't trying to follow us with their car in tow. We won't do that again - not there anyway.
The thermometer rose steadily all the afternoon. From a relatively mild 70° in Allentown to 86° as we drove south on the Garden State Parkway. Although it's getting hot, it's not like Florida. We're glad to be home.
Q054390 Home
QC94-03 Starting North
July 28, 2008 (Tue) Englewood, FL (19) - Everything was done that could be done until Goodwill Industries picked up the remaining furniture so we'd hoped to get off today. But the truck didn't come until after lunch. We called yesterday to confirm the pick up and to get an estimated time. "No, it depends on how the driver organizes his route for the day". So we spent the morning waiting. Reading and crossword puzzles were our entertainment and they got stale after 4 hours. We couldn't go anywhere for fear the truck would come while we were gone so we just sat around and waited. At noon, Mark took his bicycle up to Burger King and brought back a couple of high carb lunches. Then we waited some more.
When the furniture was finally gone it was too late to do the rest of the chores needed to close up the condo and drive any distance worth the effort so we decided to wait till tomorrow and went over to see Bom. On the way back we dropped off some small things at the Goodwill drop-off facility and some books (donations) at the library. Then it was indoor camp out time with necessities brought in from Q - stools, TV, etc. We'd thought about moving into Q for the night but it was way too hot for that - better roughing it than suffering in luxury.
July 29, 2009 (Wed) Englewood FL, to Savannah, GA (397/1656 miles) - Since our bed (an old studio couch) went out with the trash on Friday we've been sleeping on a 3 in. "memory foam" mattress topper the floor. Surprisingly it's not been as uncomfortable as it may sound. Even so there's not much temptation to linger there once awake. Like most other mornings we were up before dawn and after a quick breakfast we began the task of last minute packing, loading, cleaning and shutting down the utility systems. Finally at 8:55 we took our last look around the now all-but-empty (we left a couch, an end table and a lamp as sales props) condo that has been the home and retreat for Bom and her daughters over the last 25 years and started north (85° sunny with big fluffy clouds)
Before actually hitting the highway we made stops at Goodwill to drop off a few more items, a Publix supermarket for supplies and for another quick visit and goodbye to Bom. A stop at the Flying J off I-75 in Dade City at 11:40 got us a full tank of gas ($2.41) and holding tank relief. Another stop in a rest area at 12:15 took care of lunch and we were off again. The temperature outside got up over 95° and the skies to the Northwest steadily darkened to almost black before the skies opened up with heavy rain dropping it down to 74°. The temperature fluctuated up and down with the intermittent rain all afternoon as we made our way north up US301, I-95 and US17 into the outskirts of Savannah, GA.
We learned from the radio that December 21, 2012 is the date for the end of the world according to Mayan legend. We decided that it might be a good idea to start putting our affairs together as soon as we get home.
Q053359 Camp Walmart Savannah, GA
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July 30, 2009 (Thu) Savannah, GA to Mars Hill, NC (334/1990 miles) - Q was the only motor home in the parking lot last night. There was a truck tractor (without trailer) over a way but we had the place to ourselves. Not that it made for a peaceful night though. First there were the lights, always intrusive though tolerable, then there was the maintenance crew who chatted loudly (read yelled) amongst themselves as they power washed the sidewalk in front of the store. They seemed not to care that people were trying to sleep out in the parking lot!!
We were up at 6:00. After breakfast, shopping and filling up with gas (US Murphy $2.25) we got off at about 7:50. It was a beautiful day to travel - clear sunny 77° and hardly any traffic. The wild flowers and shrubs painted the medians in pinks, whites, purple and rose. At one point there was a large Christmas tree shaped spruce decorated with long chains and garlands - festive though out of season. There were several small stands along US25 selling peanuts, shelled, unshelled and boiled, leading us to believe that the low green crops we were seeing on both sides of the road were peanuts. Statesboro, GA, home of Georgia Southern University, is a pretty little town. The small well maintained homes along the route were of two or three basic designs obviously all built at the same time by the same builder. The university itself dominated the downtown area and its presence there seemed to be the reason for the lack of deterioration so often seen in town of this size.
We bought lunch at a very busy Wendy's (town name lost from memory) and sat in Q to eat it and watch the rain. We encountered more heavy rain near Greenville, SC as our assent into the Blue Ridge Mountains began to become more apparent. We crossed over into North Carolina around 3:00pm, battled more heavy rain through Asheville and arrived at Bob an Pat's at 4:00. We'll be here until Sunday morning.
Q053693 Bob and Pat's driveway.
QC94-02 A Working Stop
July 27, 2009 (Mon) Englewood, FL - In our previous post we should have parenthetically noted that Bom is Joy's mother. When Joy and her sisters were young they gave their mother this endearing name to go along with the whimsical names they'd given each other - Dur (Joy), Diu (Gail) and Reh (Frannie). They still use these names among themselves. I might add that Bom is 97 and has been living alone in her condo here in Florida for many years. But the time has come when assistance is needed, if only for her daughters' peace of mind. A fall while shopping in June, though without serious injury, generated a lot of concern .
The job of sorting through everyday necessities, to say nothing of a long lifetime of accumulated treasures, has been difficult on many levels. That and watching a fiercely independent woman adjust to a new and different environment has made our stay here fall somewhat short of restful. Fortunately there has been plenty of time for all to work through the adjustment. Joy and Frannie spent their mornings going through the condo item by item deciding what should be done with each. Things so essential for everyday living - furniture, dishes, kitchen utensils, cleaning supplies, linens, books etc. - are no longer needed, or wanted, for drastically scaled back living but have become so much of who Bom is and has been that decisions are hard to make. They, and Gail when she came last week, spent hours going through treasured keepsakes sorting and reminiscing about their childhood. Most important though is that Bom is beginning to think of her new digs as home. She has even proudly taken casual visitors on tours of the facility.
Spring in the Northeast was cold and wet. The three or four warm sunny days were wonderful but only added to the frustration of missing "real" Spring weather. Well we could use some of that chill now, if only for a refreshing break now and then. It has been hot - hot and humid, the whole time we've been here. Going outside has been repressive and not very conducive to exercising much. We did get a heavy rain, with thunder and lighting, last Monday morning and that was relief. Although it cooled things down for a few days, this is Florida in the summer.
The thunder storms that scrubbed several attempts to launch the space shuttle stayed north of us. The skies here stayed mostly clear giving us hope that, this time, we might see it - if we remembered to look. But alas, it was not to be. On the evening of the launch the skies were overcast. We looked but saw nothing.
Temperature inside Q, parked unoccupied in the bank parking lot, has exceeded 110° in the afternoons. Running the air conditioner a while each afternoon seemed a good idea and we did that a few days. But with the blessings of the assistant manager here, we have brought Q into the condo complex to park it in the shade. Most residents have gone north for the summer and the rest don't seem to care. This has helped and since it's right outside the door, we can pack things we are taking as we go along.
We are planning to finish up and start our drive north on Wednesday (July 29) - or Tuesday if we finish up sooner. The Goodwill Industries truck is scheduled to pick up the last of the furniture tomorrow. If it comes early and we can get the last minute cleaning done in time, we'll make a short hop up to a Flying J in Dade City, FL for the night. Otherwise we'll go all the way to Savannah, GA on Wednesday. Our aim is to get home Sunday afternoon.
Q052945 Sun Trust Bank and Quail's Run Condo parking lots (parked)
QC94-01 South in the Summer?
July 8, 2009 (Wed) Home to Franklin, VA (407/407 miles) - A sunny clear 66° at 8:34am as we backed out of our driveway. Our goal was to get to the Franklin Walmart late in the afternoon so our early start would let us take our time. We took US18 South to avoid the increased tolls on the Garden State Parkway - more than doubled for motor homes (and trucks) - to I-195 West and I-295 South. After crossing the Delaware River we headed for US13 and south to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge/Tunnel.. We had wanted to avoid the congestion around Baltimore and Washington, DC but the heavier than expected traffic down the Delmarva Peninsula made for a lot of aggravating stop and go driving. We dreaded having to go through Norfolk, VA but it wasn't nearly as bad as we'd expected. We pulled into the Walmart lot at about 6:30 - exhausted.
There are few feelings comparable to those caused by the nearby heavy squeal of a tires on pavement in a panic stop. We'd just stopped at a red light when it became frighteningly clear that we were about to be hit very hard. Mark looked in his mirrors, saw the old pickup that had been following for a while safely stopped behind and an 18 wheeler still moving, but slowly, further back. The side mirror showed nothing moving. Joy had been looking up at the traffic light when the squeal caused her to drop her eyes to two vehicles tightly connected side by side sliding toward us across the intersection, car parts flying everywhere. Her "Oh my God!" caused Mark to look forward in time to see one of the cars spin to a stop and the other flash across in front of us. A third vehicle came to a stop on the lawn across the way. There didn't seem to be any injuries except for possible shock in one of the drivers and we really hadn't seen what actually happened so we went on when the light turned green. One of the three cars, at least, would not be leaving the scene on its own power. The rear was badly damaged. We speculate that one of the cars wanted to run the red light but the two in front of him had decided to stop.
We've stopped at this Walmart a couple of times. Both times we've parked where traffic to and from the Walmart turned out to be heavier than we'd expected. This time we thought we'd try another area. Mistake! It was next to a road where four out of five of the vehicles passing were pickups with loud mufflers. When a large group of teenagers in cars began to gather near us, we moved back to to our old spot. The teen party, loud music and all, went well into the night. Police in Franklin, if not Walmart, would be wise to put a stop to that kind of thing!
Q052093 Camp Walmart Franklin, VA.
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July 9, 2009 (Thu) Franklin, VA to Savannah, GA (452/859 miles) - Up, breakfast and off at 5:55 (69° hazy). We got gas ($2.49) across from Walmart headed for I-95 on US58 west. There's a Walmart in Emporia, VA with a Five Guys sharing the parking lot (a possible future stop). Another possible future stop is the Walmart at VA exit173 where there is a Starbuck's that may have free WiFi.
6:58 - Crossed into North Carolina.
7:07 - Sign on towed vehicle in rest stop "I go where I'm toad"
8:45 - Stopped at Carolina Pottery (not yet open) for an exercise break. Walked the whole shopping mall and back.
10:55 - Passed South of the Boarder tourist extravaganza into South Carolina.
11:45 - Stopped for gas ($2.29) and lunch at Florence, SC exit
3:36 - Crossed into Georgia (81° cloudy and humid) encountering showers off and on
At 4:01 we pulled into Savannah, GA Walmart lot and saw that we were already there! A Chinook Destiny exactly like Q was parked in the area where motor homes normally spend the night. We could tell it wasn't us though because it had a bright yellow and black "Smart" car in tow. The MacCartys live in "The Villages" (near Ocala, FL) and were on their way to New Jersey to visit their son. It turned out to that we and they were the only two overnighters in the parking lot - unusual in itself.
At about 8:00 we decided to look at air and memory foam mattresses. We also looked for a ladder ball game. We weren't intending to buy anything, just get an idea of prices. We did find some real bargains in T-shirts of various shapes, gender and uses. 8:00 turned out to be a bad time to shop at Walmart - many customers, few checkout lines. We were well ready for bed when we finally got back "home".
Q052545 Camp Walmart Savannah, GA
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July 10, 2009 (Fri) Savannah, GA to Englewood, FL (400/1259 miles) - A cloudy (with some fog) 72° as we pulled onto US17 south back to I-95. The price of gas ($2.24) at US Murphy was the best we'd seen the whole trip so far so we topped off the tank before leaving Walmart.
Crossed into Florida at 8.25 (72° low fog) and left I-95 for US-A1A at exit 373. Stopped to get some peaches at a roadside stand on US301 south of Waldo, FL. Somewhat further south we saw a big foot school bus (a school bus with huge tires) - apparently a gimmick to attract potential tire customers. It looked drivable so we wondered if it also went to big foot events.
In Brandon we stopped at Costco - a traffic nightmare at 92° - to look at their price for a memory foam mattress topper. The price was good so we got one, as well as some other things (and lunched on samples). The mattress topper we'll use here (and in Q) to improve sleeping comfort (especially if we end up having to sleep on the floor!). Surprisingly, the price of gas is about the same here in Florida as it was in New Jersey. Usually it's 20¢ to 40¢ more here. We filled up at $2.49 in Ruskin, FL, the same as we paid before leaving New Jersey when we started out.
We stopped in to see Bom in her new digs, an "Adult Family Care Home" (assisted living), and found her cheerful and adjusting, if not yet completely happy with her need to move. We will be here at her condo for a couple of weeks while we get it ready to sell.
Q052945 Sun Trust parking lot (parked)
QC93-01 A Finger Lakes Fourth
July 2, 2009 (Thu) Home to Prattsburg, NY (351/351 miles) - At 8:15 (71° cloudy) we started north. There is no way to avoid the unjust tolls for motor homes on the Garden State Parkway without a lot of hardcore city traffic around New York City. So we "bit the bullet" and obediently paid the periodic $2.00 tax until we could exit onto SR17 south of Suffern, NY. At 10:30 we stopped at the Monroe Walmart to pick up some Diet Rite tangerine soda for Joy (seemingly only available at Walmart) but they didn't have any! Oh well, there are other Walmarts. Although a little early, we decided to go on and get spicy chicken wraps from the nearby Wendy's.
There's a Walmart in Elmira, NY, we've been there, but we couldn't find it this time. We found ourselves on the street leading directly into downtown Elmira. In stead of turning back, we decided to go on in and then out to Lovell Avenue where we'd lived for a couple of years. It's still there. In fact, it has been extended and more duplex apartments (probably condos now) have been added.
We pulled into the Lavery camp at about 5:00. Since there has been a lot of rain there this Spring as there has been at home the ground was soggy. Dorcas met us at our campsite, about half way up their long driveway, in her car. Mike had donned Bean boots (galoshes) and was wadding across the field.
July 3, 2009 (Fri) Prattsburg, NY (2) - We retired, last night to the sounds of frogs. Our "camp site" overlooks a pond (man made but left to go natural) filled with cattails and water lilies. This morning, as we ate breakfast, we watched and listened to Red Wing Blackbirds stake out their territories. Gold Finches by the dozens flew here and there adding flashes of yellow to the predominantly green landscape. A beautiful place to camp.
Today was the day of the "party". Mike and Dorcas' family and many of their friends came by for the festivities. All had great fun.
July 4, 2009 (Sat) Prattsburg, NY (3) - Ladder Ball was the activity of the day. This is a game using two 3 rung "ladders" about 3 feet wide and 4 feet tall spaced 15 to 20 feet apart. The idea is to toss a bolo - a couple of golf balls sized balls connected by a cord - from one ladder to the other with the goal of hanging them on one of the rungs. A double eliminate tournament was organized with teams determined by drawing (all ages mixed) playing on 3 separate "courts". A fun way to spend the afternoon.
We said our good-byes tonight before our soggy walk home. We want to get an early start tomorrow. It means missing the traditionally delicious camp breakfast tomorrow but we want to get past New York City before the bulk of the July 4th homebound traffic hit the roads.
Q051349 Mike and Dorcas' camp (x3)
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July 5, 2008 (Sun) Prattsburg, NY to Home (337/688 miles) - We got off at about 6:40 (47° blue skies and ground fog) after our usual breakfast of Quaker granola. It stayed quit foggy as we drove south on SR53, especially in the relatively low elevations. The drive was otherwise uneventful until we reached the 358.5 mile marker on SR17. We knew it was caused by construction because we'd seen it when we passed though on our way north on Thursday. We decided to let Hildene find a detour around the congestion. She did a good job, we thought. It wasn't her fault that there was festival going on in the town of Goshen, NY. That slowed us down. Even so we probably made better time than if we'd stayed on SR17.
We stopped for lunch in Chester, NY just before getting back on SR17 at 1:20. The rest of the drive home was the normal, maybe a bit less than normal, city bound heavy traffic. The Garden State Parkway also seemed lighter the usual. But the crazies were still out. There are always a few who aren't happy unless they are going 20 mph faster than the flow of traffic. We got home about 3:30.
Q051686 Home
QC92-01 Another visit with Shane
May 29, 2009 (Fri) Home to Fayetteville, NY (297/297 miles) - It was a cloudy, rainy 60° when we finally got started at 9:40.It was an uneventful trip up the Garden State Parkway to US10 in Paramus. Stopped there for gas before crossing the state line into New York - saved about 20¢/gallon. We had a list of things we can only find in Walmart so we stopped in Monroe, NY to pick them up. While there we got a couple of spicy chicken wraps and some french fries at a nearby Wendy's. The temperature had gotten up to 72° by then. It was still cloudy but the sun had shown itself briefly earlier as we'd come through Tuxedo, NY.
We knew it was coming and it did - heavy rain off and on as we drove through the Catskill Mountains on US17. But it had cleared by the time we reach Binghamton. The sun prevailed most of the rest of the way. Shane was in the driveway watching for us as we drove down the street to his house. It was so good to see him (and our daughter, of coarse) after nearly half a year. He had a great time riding his new bicycle, a Birthday present from Jeff, Barbara, and the girls.
May 30, 2009 (Sat) Fayetteville, NY (2) - Dave's new job sometimes takes him out on sales calls on Saturday (and some evenings) as he needs to meet with some clients when their jobs allow. He is selling Anderson replacement windows. He had a call this morning so we hung out with Jennifer and Shane. We learned, or tried to, one of their several Wii games (played with game console and peripherals attached to the television). Great fun but increasingly frustrating as required skill levels increased. In the afternoon, we wandered the neighborhood yard sales, a yearly event, and ended up buying an area rug.
Q050560 Dave and Jen's yard.
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May 31, 2009 (Sun) Fayetteville, NY to Home 297/594 miles) - The weather for our trip home was more of the same, cloudy with some sun breaking through now and then. At least there was no rain. We got off at about 9:43 and headed for I-81. We would need gas before we could make it back to New Jersey where it was cheaper. We saw a station with a good price just after passing exit 14 - no help now but we need to remember that it is there for next time! We stopped for gas south of Cortland and got 10 gallons, enough of the expensive stuff to get us to New Jersey. Traffic was heavy and down to a single lane near Middletown, NY but other than that the trip home was uneventful. Lunch was wraps near Liberty, NY.
Q050823 Home
QC91-16 . . . and Home
March 29, 2009 (Sun) Petersburg CG to Smithfield, NC (328/3609 miles) - No wet blankets this morning. But it didn't rain during the night either. In fact when we went to bed a beautiful new moon dominated a sky full of sparkling bright stars. So would the duct tape have worked? Don't know.
We got off at about 8:10 (54° clear but windy) and cruised some of the rest of the campground on our way to the dump station. There are quite a few really nice spots, many on the water like ours has been. There are very few spots taken so a stop in the future should not be a problem. This campground definitely is a keeper.
Hildene scored another win! We had her set to take the shortest route to Greenville, NC hoping that would keep us off the interstate highways where she has a tendency to lead us. It worked but at one point she directed us to turn south when we knew we should be going north. Then when she told us to turn left we said, "That can't be right." and went on. After a while we turned around - we were going the wrong way after all - and bypassing the "wrong turn" went north for several miles - Hildene complaining all the way. "She's confused," we said, but finally decided we were lost and had no choice but to begin following her directions - right into a dead end road! After some weaving around, we ended up back at that "wrong turn" and took it this time. That worked. The road got pretty narrow (i.e. one lane) for a while but we finally emerged onto "civilized" roads and we were on our way again. We thought we heard Hildene giggling at on point.
We had planned to stop in Fayetteville, NC for the night but we thought it too early when we got there so we came on to Smithfield. After getting permission to spend the night from the Walmart store management there we went to a Ci Ci's Pizza Buffet for supper.
Q049595 Camp Walmart, Smithfield, NC
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March 30, 2009 (Mon) Smithfield, NC to lower Delmarva peninsula in VA (226/3835 miles) 41/66° - The Walmart was somewhat noisier then we remembered it being from the last time we were there. Cars and noisy trucks seemed to be coming and going all night. This is not usually a problem for us but last night there was a truck that would idle for a while, shut down for a while and then start up again - all night long. It was a way off but we found ourselves lying there waiting for it to start or to stop. Morning finally came though. After showers, breakfast, and paying our dues to Walmart (shopping), we got back on the road at about 8:55 (48° mostly sunny).
It was only an hour and a half to Greenville so we got there a little early for our lunch rendezvous - so we headed for the Walmart to see if we could pick up a few things we couldn't in Smithfield. This being Monday the choice of restaurants was limited but we found Hamm's open and had a great lunch - and, of course, a great visit with Luke and Jake. It was warm enough to eat lunch out on the terrace and that was wonderful.
The rest area just north of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel has signs posted limiting parking to 48 hours. We (as well as other RVers and long haul truckers) interpret this to mean that overnight parking is OK. So here we are. The last time we were here it was pretty noisy. We're in a different area of the parking lot this time so we'll see how it is tonight.
Q049821 Lower Delmarva Peninsula Rest Area
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March 31, 2009 (Tue) Lower Delmarva peninsula in VA to home (349/4184 miles) - Woke up last night at about 11:30 to the sound of a big diesel engine idling right outside our bed room window! About the time Mark was about ready to move to an other area of the parking lot the truck pulled out - leaving the sound of another idling three spaces away. That wasn't as bad. It was a quieter engine and not as close. But we were awake and it was irritating so we moved - to an area more heavily populated with trucks. But they were quiet and so was the rest of the night.
We got off at about 7:40 (43° clear) and headed north on US13 in search of a McDonald's for our traditional last-day-on-the-road breakfast. On our way again, we stopped at the rest area at the south end of I-295 where there is a sanitary dump station and cleaned out our tanks. No need to winterize this time. We also ate lunch there. We jumped off I-195 and turned south to Lakewood in search of the Camping World there. We wanted to talk with them about some repair (or replacement) of the propane tank - we'd been told it needed work. We didn't get much satisfaction in that respect but we ended up spending some money in their store. We seem to be trying to keep the economy afloat!!!
We got home at about 5:30 - too late to pick up our mail, but happy to have the space and our own comfy bed again
Q050170 Home
QC91-15 Wet Pause Northbound
March 24, 2009 (Tue) Lakeland, FL to Ocean Pond CG, Osceola National Forest (178/2988 miles) - Off at 9:30 (66° clear) and proceeded up US98. At many places along the way pinkish-purple wild flowers covered the sides of the road and as we moved north the azaleas in the woods and yards grew more brilliant. We debated whether to get to the campground before eating lunch or stop along the way. We stopped - in Orange Heights Baptist Church's Souled-Out Youth Center on US301. There was a "for sale" sign out by the road and the building looked abandoned but we were assured, by another very large sign, that Jesus Saves - good to know had we been picked up for trespassing.
At Starke, FL we turned West on US100 then North on US231, a beautiful 2 lane road through forest. There was evidence of logging having been done in many places and also areas where replanted trees were well on their way. In some of the older stands, cattle stood as if waiting for the trees to be cut so that their grasses would return.
We stopped at Ocean Pond Campground on our way south. We're here again - backing into site #25 about 2:00. It's a lot warmer this time and there's hardly any wind. It's a nice big site with a good view of the lake out our dining room window. Too bad we're here for only one night.
Q048984 Ocean Pond CG, Osceola National Forest #25 w $6.00 B
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March 25, 2009 (Wed) Ocean Pond CG to Appling, GA, Petersburg Corps of Engineers CG (293/3281 miles) - After on-board showers and a granola breakfast we retracted the TV antenna, rolled up our water hose and got back on the road at about 8:40 (54° clear, sunny) soon passing through the Quail Management Area - we didn't know that quail needed managing - on our way to Lake City. Again the roadsides US441 were aglow in a haze of pastel colors from the wild flowers. Almost every yard along the road, no matter what the apparent income level of the homeowner, was rich in the bright reds and oranges of azaleas. Even many wooded areas sparkled with their color. As we moved further north on US221 the purple and white haze of budding Red Bud and Dogwood trees began to turn the roadside woodlands into storybook landscapes. Farmers on various sized machines were turning under old cotton fields in preparation for planting new. We wondered if maybe some of the fields might be for peanuts since so many come from Georgia. It was a truly beautiful route this time of year - and hardly any traffic.
Bob, Pat and Sheila greeted us as we backed into site #84 in the Petersburg Corps of Engineers CG at about 4:00. They had a fire going in their fire ring which did a good job of fending off the humidity from a misting rain as we sat under their awning swapping experiences of the last 3 weeks. Later they treated us to delicious chicken and rice for supper and hosted a grueling game of dominoes.
March 26, 2009 (Thu) Petersburg CG (2) - Bob and Pat, fearing that what they consider the best sites in the campground might be gone before we got here, had reserved a site for us. And what a beautiful site it is. It sits moderately high above J. Strom Thurmond Lake giving us a beautiful view out our dining room and rear windows. We have a nice gravel "patio" with a picnic table, fire ring, barbecue and fish cleaning stand (which we are particularly glad to have).
Joy sat out by the low wall the defines one corner of our site for a while this morning counting American Coots swim by on the lake. She thought there may have been 50 of them in one group. The rain started as a light sprinkle about mid-morning just after Mark took his guitar out. But the awning was good shelter so he played watching the rain on the water and the Coots swimming back and forth. Joy chose the more enclosed shelter of the motor home to work on her quilt and play a game of solitaire or two. We spent the afternoon reading and napping to the sound of off and on light rain on the roof. It let up long enough to let us enjoy a late afternoon campfire.
March 27, 2009 (Fri) Petersburg CG (3) - The showers here are pretty good but 58° is cool for unheated shower rooms - but tolerable because the water was hot. The walk back to Q in the rain made us wonder why we'd bothered to bring towels though. Joy and Pat decided to get away for a while and took off for town in the car leaving Mark and Bob to their own devices - guitar and banjo respectively - in their own motor homes.
The light rain persisted off and on all day making outside activities a washout (so to speak). We were able to have a campfire in the late afternoon again though. A misty rain came up about the time the fire was going good but Bob and Pat's motor home is close enough to the fire ring that we were able to sit under their awning and enjoy the fire anyway.
Joy fixed chicken enchiladas to share - aiming, successfully, to duplicate the dish Donna fixed the other night.
March 28, 2009 (Sat) Petersburg CG (4) - We found the corner of one of our blankets wet this morning when we converted our bed room back into a living room. Q had leaked! How could that be with a full fiberglass shell - no joints at all except where the shell meets the cab and that is below and away from where the leak seems to be. The expected thunderstorm came about 9:30am. Although there is thunder there wasn't much lightning and what there was seemed to be a long way away. But it's been raining! - much heavier than it has been the last few days and almost constant. Having neglected to do it earlier, Mark hauled out the ladder during one of the rain's lighter periods and with Joy's help holding the ladder and handing up tools, tried to find and fix whatever might be leaking. One of the marker lights seemed to be wet inside so he proclaimed that the problem and covered it with duct tape - that wouldn't stick because of the wet surface. Dripping wet he proclaimed the operation a success and they went back inside. We'll see how wet the blankets are tomorrow morning.
We seldom get into a campsite that is absolutely flat and level. We often need to prop one or more wheels up with leveling boards to get the motor home close to level. Not here. The whole site is one big puddle - no run-off at all until the water level reaches an inch or so over the whole site. So going outside means not only getting soaked from above but from below as well. Talk about washout! What does one do in weather like this? Not much. We sat around and read most of the day sweltering in the heat from our little heater brought into service to dry things out. The warmth and the sound of the rain on the roof made us both drowsy so we did some napping too.
Tomorrow we push for home with a stop along the way to see nephews Luke and Jake.
Q048277 Petersburg Corps of Engineers CG, Appling, GA #84 w/e A (x4)
QC91-14 The I-4 Corridor
March 18, 2009 (Wed) Englewood, FL to Plant City, FL (98/2603 miles) - Another difficult departure! After 2 weeks it was hard to say good bye to Bom, although not as hard as in times past. At 97 she is remarkably healthy and more than capable of living on her own as she does. In fact, maybe even more so this year than last. Also since we have made a commitment to come back to Florida this summer it won't be a whole year as it usually is. Difficult or not, we had to do it and we did, getting on the road at 9:40. headed for Plant City for a visit with Gordy and Ruth.
Our first stop was at the Prime Outlets discount mall in Ellington. Ruth had said that if we were stopping there, she'd like us to pick up something for her. An excuse to stop at a discount mall is something Joy doesn't ignore. We stopped made a small contribution to keeping the economy afloat. At Costco we were able to sample enough of the products they were pushing to call it lunch. We also did some shopping.
We got to Gordy and Ruth's at about 1:30 and, after offloading our suitcases and computer, took Q over to the swimming pool parking lot. He wasn't happy but at least there were more interesting things going on there than in a bank parking lot.
Q048597 Parked (x2)
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March 20, 2009 (Fri) Plant City, FL to Titusville, FL (120/2723 miles) - We spent the day yesterday (Thu) mostly visiting. It was good to be able to sped this time catching up on family doings. And as always is was good to spend some time with Gordy and Ruth. But the time was too short and again today we were on the road. It might have been a rather straight forward run to Titusville up I-4 and across on US50 except for the city of Orlando. Other times we have run into unbelievably heavy traffic through Orlando so we decided to try and go around. Not possible! Going south through Kissimmee on surface roads with traffic lights was as bad if not worse. But once we got out of the cities, we found roads where barely a car passed us. It was a somewhat longer route and with a stop for groceries in St. Cloud and for gas, it took somewhat longer so we're not sure what we gained.
We pulled into The Great Outdoors at about 2:30 and backed into a site across the road from Mike and Dorcas that a neighbor is kind enough to let us use free a couple of nights. (Sites here are individually owned and are often rented out to transients when not in use.) Mike and Dorcas (Mark's sister) have a new 5th wheel - some two weeks old - a tour of which was top priority. Very nice! It's a little bigger than their previous one but seems a whole lot roomier inside. It will be a very comfortable winter home for them.
March 21, 2009 (Sat) The Great Outdoors (2) - It turns out that this is a good weekend for us to be here. TGO is holding what they call their Fun Fair. In addition to the booths and kiosks you'd expect to find in a community Fair - crafts, baked goods, 50/50s, chances to sign up to join worthy activities, etc. there were displays of antique cars, motorcycles and radio controlled model boats and airplanes restored/owned/build/operated by the residents. One boy about 12 or so held a python in his lap (and coiled around his arm). Joy petted it with her finger. A man dressed in jungle gear calling himself Jungle Jim held an adolescent alligator in his arms - maybe 4 feet long with its mouth taped shut. Joy didn't pet him.
After seeing all there was to see at the Fun Fair we drove over to Christmas, FL to the the annual Bluegrass Festival being held there. Bluegrass bands from all over preformed for 30 to 40 minutes each on a portable stage set up in the woods of the Orange County park. We set up our chairs and enjoyed the music of several groups. We also took advantage of two of the festival's other attractions, barbecued pork sandwiches and homemade ice cream (which was actually being made in the background). Delicious! There were also the usual craft and vendor booths willing to make a sale or two.
We were well ready to put our feet up, relax and bask in the memories when we got back in the late afternoon.
Q048717 The Great Outdoors, Titusville, FL #443 w/e/s/c free A (x2)
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March 22, 2009 (Sun) Titusville,FL to Lakeland, FL (87/2810 miles) - The Plantation House Restaurant - part of the TGO (golf) clubhouse - has had a spotty reputation in the years we've been visiting The Great Outdoors. We went to dinner there the first time the first year we visited Mike and Dorcas there and found it quite good. Since then the management has changed hands a few times, as has its quality as a restaurant. Recently it apparently has been getting better so we decided to try their breakfast buffet - more a brunch than a breakfast because it was served between 9:00 and 12:00. It was good but not spectacular. Even so one could easily fill up to the point of not having to eat for the rest of the day - which we almost did.
We got back on the road at about 10:45 (clear, sunny, windy 69°) and headed back to Orlando and I-4 via US50. Thanks Mike and Dorcas for your hospitality and good meals. We will try to get up to see you on the 4th of July. We ran into construction on US50 and the usual tight traffic through Orlando but once on I-4 it was easy going.
Karl and Donna, friends of Ed and Kathy, are visiting them in their Safari class A motor home when we got to Lakeland. We had a good time getting to know one another over delicious chicken enchiladas that Donna had prepared and a rousing game of dominoes.
March 23, 2009 (Mon) Lakeland, FL (2) - The big event for the day was lunch at 5 Guys Burgers and Fries. Well not exactly "at". Karl was expecting a delivery of a replacement for his faulty wireless modem that he'd have to sign for, so we went over and got take-out to eat at home. It's good we decided to do that because FedEx came while we would have been away.
Tomorrow we start north. It will be slow as we have a week to get there. We don't know yet where we'll be tomorrow night. We'll know when we get there. That's part of the adventure
Q048804 Ed and Kathy's yard, Lakeland, FL (x2)
QC91-13 A pause in Englewood
March 5, 2009 (Thur) Englewood, FL (3) - It's beginning to warm up a bit but still too cold to swim in the morning. So we spend most of our time inside reading and visiting. It was good to see Gail even for a short time. Living on opposite coasts like they do makes it difficult for sisters to see each other. Two days is a gift. Gail left for Seattle this morning with promise of visiting us in the summer.
March 6, 2009 (Fri) Englewood, FL (4) - A positive aspect of Gail's leaving, if one needs to be found, is that we have been able to move from sleeping in the living room on a sofa bed to the privacy of a bedroom. A welcomed change. Joy took advantage of the afternoon lull to ride her bicycle over to the quilt shop - alway an enjoyable, if costly, experience.
March 8, 2009 (Sun) Englewood, FL (6) - We seem to have settled into a easy relaxed routine. We have a 3 1/2 mile that we are walking as soon as we get up. After breakfast, Joy sits at the table with her mother reading the morning paper or working a crossword puzzle until it's time for them to walk over to the pool for a swim - although it's barely warm enough. Then she's back to the crossword puzzle or her quilting. Mark spends the morning at the computer processing the mail, both email and smail, and catching up on the many jobs neglected while we've been isolated in remote campgrounds.
Joy and her mother have set up a jigsaw puzzle out on the back porch where they can enjoy watching the wildlife and listening to the fountains in the small pond as they work. They may spend some time in the morning out there but usually it's an afternoon activity. After lunch Mark retreats to the motor home out in the bank parking lot where he can play his guitar without fear of disturbing neighbors. He might be caught reading or napping too if a visit is timed right. He enjoys the time alone. And with Joy out working the jigsaw puzzle, Bom has her condo to herself for a while too - important for someone who is used to living alone.
In the evening Joy and her mother play Skipbo (a card game) while Mark reads.
March 9, 2009 (Mon) Englewood, FL (7) - As last year, and apparently for many years, a group of mostly experienced (retired semi-professionals and serious armatures) musicians get together every Monday night in Indian Mounds Park to jam. And as last year, Mark rode his bicycle over to hear the live music. Billed as "bluegrass" the numbers they played were more country/western than bluegrass - although there tends to be a fine line between the styles. In addition to those who seemed to know every piece of music anyone chose to come up with so played almost every time and sounded pretty good, there were some, mostly out of the audience, who brought karaoke to mind. Almost everyone there, both performers (15 - 20) and audience (75 - 100), seemed to know everyone else - there was much handshaking, hugging, and air kissing as people came and went. And the chatter is constant. At one point a professional who had performed at the Englewood Elks Lodge Friday night was introduced and sang three numbers (and hawked his most recent CD). In spite of the amateurishness and the Rocky Horror Picture Show/Gong Show atmosphere at times, the music was mostly pretty good and Mark enjoyed being there and listening to it. Might he sit in sometime? Not likely. Some that did shouldn't have either!
March 10, 2009 (Tue) Englewood, FL (8) - This being a retirement area second hand stores abound. They range all the way from junk shops to fairly high end consignment shops. It might be surprising to learn that a high percentage of the clothing is "winter" type - wools, heavy cottons, coats and such. It was for us until we thought about it. People move down here not realizing that how little it will be needed. So off it goes to be recycled. It's not all winter clothing though. The change in lifestyle for retirees encourages a downsizing of their less casual attire. As a result some real bargains can be found. Joy took off this afternoon - walking instead of riding her bicycle - intending to find some of them. And she did, a backpack full, in a new consignment shop open only since mid December.
March 17, 2009 (Tue) Englewood, FL (15) - Another week of relaxed routine. The weather has been spectacular - cool for the most part in the evenings and at night and comfortably warm during the day. The sun has dominated the skies the whole time we've been here except for today. Although it threatened rain most of the day, we never got more than a few sprinkles. It's been a good 2 weeks with one exception.
There was to be a manned space shot from Cape Canaveral last week. Although quite a way from here, these launches are sometimes visible so we were all set to go out that night at 9:00 and watch the sky. But it was scrubbed and rescheduled for Sunday night. OK we'll do it then. We forgot! Well that was disappointing but not too bad because we've watched for them from here before and they've not been visible. We probably wouldn't have seen anything this time either. Wrong! This morning's paper had pictures of it taken by some local people. #@!*#! :-(
Tomorrow we're back on the road bound for Plant City, FL.
Q048488 Englewood, FL, SunTrust parking lot parked. (x15)
QC91-12 Kissimmee Prairie
February 25, 2009 (Wed) Fort Pierce, FL to Kissimmee Prairie SP (93/2370 miles) - It was a very quiet night for a Walmart parking lot. No highway noise, no cars racing here and there and very few trucks. So quiet, in fact, that at one point we woke to the sound of running water. If we'd been at home, we would have been sure that a pipe had burst in the basement but that couldn't be in a motor home. The pump would be running. A look outside showed that it hadn't been raining although there was some water rivulets on the asphalt. It turned out that a nearby sprinkler head was broken and water was gushing out of it like a fountain. Q was parked directly over the storm sewer drain.
In the morning, our friend Jack picked us up at his house in Stuart and took us to the assisted living facility to visit Olive, then to lunch at one of their favorite Italian restaurants. Thanks, Jack. It was really good to see you both.
After two days in the congested bustle of the Florida east coast, transition to the interior was both stark and abrupt. Within just a couple of miles the landscape of chain stores, gas stations,and fast food restaurants becomes vast expanses of prairie, dotted here and there with lollipop shaped palm trees. This is an area of large cattle ranches and many of them are beginning to show signs of the recession and several are for sale. After miles and miles of seeing nothing but an occasional house - some barely visible in the distance at the ends of their incredibly long driveways - we came to Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park. The campground is some four miles into the prairie on a washboard rough (this time) dirt road. We were well shaken by the time we reached our campsite and well ready to kick back and relax.
February 26, 2009 (Thur) Kissimmee Prairie SP (2) 49/74° - Laundry was our first order of business when we got in last night. The machines here cost less than most laundromats and tend to be faster - except... There is only one washer and one drier. And the lady ahead of us had honed inefficiency to a very high level in order with the goal of spending all her retirement years standing in front of public laundry machines. We brought the wet laundry back to our campsite and hung it on a jury rigged clothes line. This morning it was wetter than when we'd hung it! Dew. And some was dirtier - from a dirty clothes line! Back to the machines we went and while they did what the open air could not, we took showers. For Mark it was a very pleasant change from Q's cramped water-restricted shower stall. For Joy it was not. She couldn't get any hot water in her shower! Not a good start for her day.
But for this it was a very pleasant day to sit and recover from the stress of the last few days. Although cool in the morning, the sun was warm enough for short sleeves and bare feet. The "breeze", as they call it down here in hurricane country, was a bit chilly when a cloud passed over and made it impossible for Mark to practice his guitar outside. It not only flipped the pages of his music book, but blew over the music stand itself.
February 27, 2009 (Fri) Kissimmee Prairie SP (3) 51/78° - As I sit here looking out our dining room window I can see Bob and Pat's motor home maybe 40 feet away across a mown grass "lawn". Beyond them are a couple of trees, some low tropical shrubs and miles and miles of flat prairie all the way to the horizon. The scene out the cab window is almost the same except that after a stretch of lawn across the road, there are 16 horse paddocks, some with horses (this is the equestrian part of the campground) and a hard-wood hammock (woods) a mile or so away. The scene out the back door is also similar but no paddocks and the trees are closer. There are two empty campsites out our living room window and beyond them a compost toilet. It's peaceful and relaxing here and enough away from others that Mark can play his guitar and Bob his banjo (alone or together) without disturbing people, being invited to jam session with them or to entertain at their campfires - all of which have happened and either ignored or politely declined.
Compost toilet? It's basically a high-tech outhouse - no water, no chemicals and surprisingly free of odor. It seems to serve this area of 15 campsites quite well, even on weekends, we hope, when the sites are full. There are more modern facilities about a quarter mile back in the "family" campground. The rest rooms there have flush toilets, hot showers (except for Joy's the other day) and laundry machines.
February 28, 2009 (Sat) Kissimmee Prairie SP (4) 53/82° - The stars in these remote areas are something to behold. In fact amateur astronomers come here from all over the state because the viewing is so good. The last couple of nights have been cloudless and the sky brilliant with their display. The moon has been a bright crescent highlighting the faint image of dark side (the old moon in the new moon's arms) with Venus (or maybe Jupiter) hanging out nearby. Last night it (the moon) lay red on the horizon as we made our final potty run of the day.
One of the activities in this park is the guided swamp buggie tour of the prairie. We've been wanting to do it since we started coming here five years ago. Today we did. Our guide turned out to be the park manager himself - substituting for the regular guide who was unable to be here. He was very good and obviously loved what he was doing. On this 2 1/2 hour, 15 mile ride out into the 54,000 acre prairie we learned more about this ecosystem than we can possibly remember - and probably just enough to be incredibly boring if we tried. Alligators were scarce because of the dry conditions but in one pond (puddle?) we did see a mother with at least five babies. We stopped at one point where we could see nothing but prairie all the to the horizon for 360° around. We could see nothing man-made, except the buggie, in all that vast space - not even a phone tower. And the quiet was deafening. There were small hammocks here and there and a scattering of single palm trees - which are considered invasive and may be taken out in an effort to return the area to what it was like "before the Europeans came". Suffice it to say, it will be the experience of the trip - well worth doing again.
March 1, 2009 (Sun) Kissimmee Prairie SP (5) 50/65° - We had a cool but not uncomfortable bike ride over to the shower facility at about 7:00 this morning but by 9:00 the breeze had begun to pick up considerably. An hour later we were battening down to keep things from blowing away. The awning was already in but we stowed the chairs, the mat and the flags and even loaded the bikes onto the rack to hold them secure. Dust from the road blowing into our eyes made working outside all the more adventurous. Once in travel mode, except for the TV antenna which we left up, we hunkered down inside to wait it out. Q was faced into the "breeze" as he sat on the pad but we could feel the gusts as if being hit from the side. There were a few sprinkles of rain now and then but not enough to settle the dust that was blowing past the windows. It was an interesting few hours. Things settled down in the afternoon but it was still too windy for the campfire and s'mores we'd planned for late afternoon.
March 2, 2009 (Mon) Kissimmee Prairie SP (6) 42/66° - It was a cold night last night. We'd talked about bringing the featherbed down from the attic but never did. Instead, we piled on all the blankets we normally have available. They were more than enough. It's supposed to get even colder tonight, frost warnings in some areas, so we may have to rethink the featherbed.
Bob and Pat left for parts north and west early this morning. It was sad standing in the cold morning breeze watching their motor home move slowly down the road into the prairie. Thanks for your company these last two months, guys. It's been great sharing the adventure with you. See you again this summer.
The young lady in the office told us that site #1 was open and available for one night so we decided to move. It is right next to the facilities so we took advantage and did a laundry. With a shower so close we went on and got those out of the way too - sparing us the need to suffer an unheated bathhouse in the morning. This site is shady but there are spot of sunshine and it doesn't have the breeze the other one had so is comfortable. It feels strange, though, turning on the water without hearing the pump and not having to worry about how much electricity we are using. There are those hook-ups here. Ah, the feeling of luxury!
Q048353 Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park #22 dry $13.00 B (x5) #1 w/e $13.00 A+ (x1)
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March 3, 2009 (Tue) Kissimmee Prairie SP to Englewood, FL (135/2505 miles) 41° @ 6:00 - There was a beautiful sunrise over the prairie this morning. Q's orientation in the new site allowed us to watch it as we lay in bed. But all good things must eventually end so we had to get up and prepare to venture back into world. At 8:25 (43°) we began the drive out the long dirt road to civilization. Well not quite. We didn't see civilization for another 30 miles - a few houses and ranches here and there and loads of orange groves but that's not really civilization. The large open topped 18 wheelers loaded with oranges that we'd pass occasionally apparently lost a few because the road kill consisted mostly of oranges. It looked more appetizing than the animal type but we didn't stop to pick any up.
The best gas price we saw was $1.87 at Walmart's U.S.Murphy. We stopped but the station was closed - no sign to that effect, just a young woman in a reflective vest going from car to car telling each confused customer in turn. She was still at it when we passed back by after doing some shopping. We ended up paying $1.93 at a 7-11 several miles later. Lunch was at Ci Ci Pizza buffet because we couldn't find a 5 Guys Burger and Fries. Bom and Gail (Joy's mother and sister) were waiting when we pulled into Englewood's Quail's Run at about 2:00.
We found new "no parking" signs posted all over the SunTrust Bank parking lot where Q hangs out while we are here - strange things for an active commercial business to display! Mark went in and talked with the Bank Manager. She said they are meant to keep large trucks from leaving their trailers out there - a proliferating problem we'd been noticing. She said it was OK for us to store our motor home there while we are visiting. Q was hoping we'd have to go find a campground!
Q048488 Englewood, FL, SunTrust parking lot parked.
QC91-11 Q Monument Lake Revisited
February 19, 2009 (Thu) Flamingo CG, Everglades NP to Monument Lake CG, Big Cypress NP (119/2087 miles) 64/84° - Pulled out of our campsite at 7:40, dumped, took on water and began the long (38 mile) and beautiful drive north through the Everglades. Robert is Here, shortly north of the National Park boundary, was our first stop. Key lime milkshake for breakfast. It's good to have fruit for breakfast, right? Then began a stressful day. The seven multi-need-patron line at the Florida City post office counter was serviced by one government employee auditioning to be an exhibit in the wax museum. We took a wrong turn on our way to a propane station and ended up in a limited exit shopping mall parking lot - Bob and Pat dutifully following in their 30 foot motor home with car in tow. Getting to the propane hose was problematic, especially for a 30 foot motor home with car in tow. The parking area had to be cleared of other customers. While the men got the propane, Joy and Pat went to do laundry. Joy, dealing with a very nice young woman who spoke little English, found that she barely had enough cash to recharge the card needed to activate the machines. We had been planning all week to eat lunch at one of Miami's 5 Guys Burgers and Fries restaurants but found that the address given on their website was wrong! We ended up eating at El Toro Taco - closed when we came through the other way. It was very good, but noisy. The traffic on northbound SR997 - a two lane road lined with tropical plant nurseries - was very heavy and 10 - 15 mph below the 55 mph speed limit. It was just fast enough to stop at every red light along the way. The traffic on westbound US41 was lighter and well over the 55 mph speed limit. Some thought even that not nearly fast enough - including two Miccosukee Indian police cars.
We got to a relatively empty Monument Lake campground at 3:30 and collapsed.
February 20, 2009 (Fri) Monument Lake CG (2) 53/74° - The view out our back door is a sparse forest of spanish moss decorated dwarf cypress, evergreen and palmetto trees, a mixture of smaller trees, shrubs and saw grass. It's almost like we can expect to see Gazelle and Springbok bounding across the prairie or a lion slinking through the grass. Out front alligators actually do swim lazily across the small lake or bask in the sun along the shore. The picture of exotic living, maybe but with a touch of modern exotic entertainment as well.
In the late morning we went out to where the park service had conducted their controlled burn two weeks ago. We were surprised to see how the prairie was coming back to life again. Instead of the fields of charred black that we'd last seen, there was a haze of green. The grass was again taking over. The boardwalk was open but disappointing in wildlife activities. A few birds, some interesting water bugs and a good sized snake that we think was a Water Moccasin was about it. We tried the Loop Road - a 20 mile dirt road through the swamp - where one stop yielded an alligator, herons, ibis, anhingas and others. Not wanting to press our luck, we turned around at that point and came back.
When we got back there were 3 or 4 pickup trucks with trailers loaded with huge wheeled swamp buggies lining the road between the campsites and the lake. And more come later along later - one hauling a trailer load of much smaller ATVs. The group is camped in the next several sites. The campground host says they have been here before and that they are quiet considerate campers but we couldn't help thinking about the potential for loud partying late into the night. We'll see.
February 21, 2009 (Sat) Monument Lake CG (3) 46/76° - No problems at all with our neighbors. In fact the generator set up a couple of hundred feet away didn't even start up until after 7:00 this morning then only ran for a little over an hour. We expected them to all take off across the prairie in their in their swamp buggies early for a full day of exploring but they hung around until after lunch. Then instead of striking out from here, the pickups left hauling the buggies on their trailers. There was apparently a sizable rally down the road (at Monroe Station?) because we could hear loud music across the prairie all afternoon and well into the evening.
February 22, 2009 (Sun) Monument Lake CG (4) 53/79° - At the risk of overdoing it talking about the group down the way it's worth recording that they packed up and left this morning. While they were a well behaved group, they were a large group and therefore inherently noisy. And then there were all those vehicles coming and going on the dirt road out front, kicking up clouds of dust and, of course, the huge steel frames with seats on grossly over-sized wheels that tended to clutter the scenery. We were glad to see them go.
Late in the afternoon Joy saw the 5 alligators that have been reported to be there. They were all lined up at the shore of the lake near where the tenters used to camp - closed now because of the alligators have learned that there might be good things to eat there - not necessarily human.
February 23, 2009 (Mon) Monument Lake CG (5) 58/77° Happy Birthday Shane - Gorgeous sunrise over the prairie. Soft pink and pale blue sky heralding the bright red sun. And what a treat to lie in bed watching it.
Bob and Pat left at about 9:00 this morning. They plan to check out a Florida State Forest campground and maybe visit an old friend on their way to our next rendezvous an Wednesday. This seems to be the day for everyone to move out. By noon only 5 other campsites were occupied. About 2:00 a van with 4 grungy young (early 20s) men backed into the site next to us - the one Bob and Pat had been in. Why, with the campground virtually empty? They sat there for a couple of minutes without getting out then pulled out onto the road again. They backed back down the road and into the end site. Two of the young men got out, leaving the doors open, went into the back and pulled out a cooler and set it on the ground. They pulled several garbage bags containing something small and heavy - a couple of pounds of meat came to mind - out of the back, and started to transfer whatever it was into the cooler. Meanwhile the other two fellows disappeared into the swamp. After ten minutes of standing around the other two, one continuously hiking up his pants to keep them from falling down, disappeared into the swamp too. While all this was going on Mark was inconspicuously, he hoped, putting things away in case we decided to leave in a hurry. After a while the young men started, one by one, coming back out of the woods carrying arm loads of wood, sticks mostly. The "meat" they were transferring turned out to be fish, they had left a couple flopping on the ground. One of the fellows came over and, though he couldn't speak much English, was able to let us know he needed a match to start a fire. We let them keep the small box we gave him. They seemed harmless at that point but we finished packing and brought the bicycles in close anyway. They left at about 5:00 pm.
Q048070 Monument Lake CG, Big Cypress NP #23 dry $8.00 B (x5)
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February 24, 2009 (Day) Monument Lake CG, Big Cypress NP to Fort Pierce, FL (190/2277 miles) - This morning there was a mini-van pulled in two sites down. Joy heard it come in around 3:00 am - and saw the lights. The side was crudely hand painted with various things, one of which was a skull and cross bones - the "scull" being a smiley face. Some of the glamor of Monument Lake has dimmed for us.
We got off at about 8:30 (cloudy 59°) and turned East on US41. Our first stop was the dump station at Midway campground, then we continued on to Margate, FL, north of Miami, and made our way through manicured communities to the condominium where Joy's friend Dorothy lives. We took her to Sweet Tomatoes, a very good salad and soup bar, for lunch. Since she is a quilter, one of Joy's former customers in fact, we took her to her favorite quilt shop. Joy went along kicking and screaming! HA!
Then it was city traffic to I-95, north in commuter traffic to Stuart, FL then north heavy traffic on US1 to Fort Pierce. Arrived Walmart 6:30 and prepared for the night.
Q048260 Camp Walmart, Fort Pierce, FL
QC91-10 Everglades Forever
February 13, 2009 (Fri) Flamingo CG (5) 63/80° - It was foggy last night and everything was very damp this morning. This campground has two dump stations (or more accurately, two half dump stations). The sewer line in the "T" loop is out of order and they have inexplicably taken out the fresh water tap at the station in the "A" loop. So after breakfast we visited both and availed ourselves of their respective amenities.
The long Presidents Day weekend is bringing in lots of campers. All the sites around us are filling up. Unlike most campgrounds most are tents - ranging in size from barely big enough for one person to sleep to elaborate multi room "palaces". Small trailers are also prevalent. A lot of boats decorate vehicle tops and dedicated trailers - it's going to be a busy weekend on the water. And there are a lot of kids.
February 14, 2009 (Sat) Flamingo CG (6) 60/78° - We woke this morning wondering what was dripping. It turned out to be condensation from the awning dripping on the rug. The air is so humid that it might as well be misting rain.
Two crocodiles (maybe more) live in the channel near the marina. We made it a point to pay them a visit when we rode our bikes over to the camp store for milk. They were in exactly the same position they were in last year leading us to believe what we've long expected - they're statues. Actually they are real. They just don't move much.
February 15, 2009 (Sun) Flamingo CG (7) 61/79° - The campground filled to overflowing last night. Every site around us was occupied when we got up. But almost immediately they began to become available as some of the longer timers packed up and moved on. Of those who came in for the weekend most are families with children - some lots of children. Several groups appear to be pushing site occupancy limits. In one site (the one we vacated for this one in fact) six adults and three older teenage children shared one tent. Some may have slept in one or both of the two cars.
We thought we were in for a "long weekend", especially when the restrooms became nearly unusable for various reasons, but by late afternoon almost everyone had gone home. One very large family (maybe several family) unit left after dark, grossly overstaying the time limit. So much for the three day Presidents Day weekend. Apparently three day weekends are for camping even if you only go for one night. We've got the campground pretty much to ourselves again - except for the semi-professional (read intimidating) guitar player across the road, the slightly more professional guitar/harmonica/keyboard player in the next site - although invited to join them Mark was glad he'd made other plans when they got together in the evening.
February 16, 2009 (Mon) Flamingo CG (8) 58/75° - This campground being so open makes it easy to spot freeloaders - for us anyway. When we got up this morning, there was a small pickup truck (no tent) in a nearby site. He had obviously been there since last night because the windows were cloudy from the overnight fog. He was packed up and gone long before the campground hosts came around to check occupancy.
This has been another windy day making it seem chilly to sit out unless in the sun.
February 17, 2009 (Tue) Flamingo CG (9) 54/74° - Today is the day the government mandated that all television be broadcast in digital - until it said they didn't have to till June 12 "to give the people more time". We expect it was really to give broadcasters more time (angering many who complied in time). Even so, all the Fort Myers, FL stations, and probably many others, are shutting off their analog signal today anyway. We are going to miss the analog signal because it is the best, maybe only, way to accurately aim our antenna. We can usually pick up an analog signal with the antenna in completely the wrong direction then turn it to the best picture. With digital we either get a signal or we don't within a very narrow range. There could be a perfectly good TV station within range and we would never know it!
Several large flights of Pelicans (some may have been Storks) flew over this afternoon. Beautiful! We don't see that much in New Jersey. Down at the marina the other day we watched an Osprey devour his catch. We haven't seen that at home either but, unlike Pelicans, there are Osprey in New Jersey.
February 18, 2009 (Wed) Flamingo CG (10) 54/74° - This has been another windy day. As was yesterday. If we were to describe our trip so far in two words, they would be cold and windy. We don't remember quite so much of either in other years. At least it's been relatively warm while we've been here. It certainly was a beautiful day today in spite of the wind.
This seems to be the music corner of the campground. Besides Bob on banjo and Mark on guitar there have been the fellow with a guitar that was across the road, the fellow with guitar, harmonica, and keyboard next door, a fellow with guitar on the next cross-loop road West and another on the next cross-loop road East. It could have been quite a jam if they'd all gotten together.
Tomorrow we're back to Monument Lake.
Q047947 Flamingo CG, Everglades National Park #B16&9 dry $8.00 A (x10)
QC91-09 On to the Everglades
February 7, 2009 (Sat) Monument Lake CG (6) 53/70° - The big event of today was the wind. It blew all day long (again) making relaxed outside activities like reading unpleasant. 70° should have been marginally comfortable but it was not unless the sun was out. And it was mostly cloudy. The wind did let up some in the late afternoon, though, allowing us to enjoy a shrimp hors d'oeuvre prelude to Bob and Pat's barbecued chicken and pork with squash risotto.
Snakes aren't the form of wildlife we would choose as guests at our campsite but a Black Racer chose to stop by from time to time anyway. He's really quite pretty, a solid dark charcoal color about 4 feet long. Not poisonous, they say, so he's welcome to share our sun as long as he doesn't come too close.
February 8, 2009 (Sun) Monument Lake CG (7) 55/74° - After an in-(motor)home Eucharist, Kaye again treated us to her "Kit Carson Bran Pancakes" - named for her father not the Kit Carson. Although the temperature was a little on the cool side, we sat around the picnic table determined to make it the kind of camping experience it should be. It turned out wonderfully. After brunch, we reluctantly watched Kaye leave for parts east and eventually home. The rest of us enjoyed a day in the sun (albeit a windy one).
In mid afternoon a Prevost motor home (typical price tag approaches $1 million) backed into the site next to Bob and Pat. The young couple (maybe in their late 40s or early 50s) are from Houston and have been full-time (no conventional home to return to) since October. Surprisingly they have no towed vehicle and don't feel they need one. They have bicycles and a motor scooter for auxiliary transportation. Interesting. They have yet to learn about dry camping etiquette, though. They ran their generator, as quiet as it was, all afternoon and evening.
Q047797 Monument Lake CG, Big Cypress NP #16 dry $8.00 B- (x7)
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February 9, 2009 (Mon) Monument Lake CG to Flamingo CG, Everglades National Park (150/1964 miles) - Moving/laundry/shopping day. We got up early so we'd have time to take showers and pulled out of our campsite at 8:00. The nearest dump station, run by the National Park Service, to the east on US41 is at Midway campground. We stopped there then went on to the Miccosukee Indian gas station (across from their casino at the junction with SR997). The cost was a little high ($2.09/g) but we were on fumes at that point. It turns out that we could have made it to a less expensive place in the outskirts of Miami but with the gauge on "E" we didn't want to take the chance. We did a huge laundry and made an unsuccessful quick stop at the Walmart (not a supercenter) across the street. At a Publix supermarket we stocked up for 2 weeks deep in the Everglades - although we may not stay that long.
Jennifer, our daughter, has been to what is considered the best Mexican restaurant in the area - El Toro Taco in Homestead - and highly recommended it to us. It was closed on Monday! We ended up going to nearby Casita Tejas Mexican - good but probably not as good. At Robert is Here farm market, we stopped for their famous, and delicious, Key lime milkshake - so thick it's more like soft ice cream than a milk shake.
Finding a campsite is an adventure of varying degrees. The "B" loop in Flamingo campground, at the very southern tip of Florida, was sparsely populated allowing us to find the "perfect" spot. It turned out to be already taken by a couple who returned as we (actually Bob and Pat) were getting ready to settle in. We ended up taking the sites we were in last year.
February 10, 2009 (Tue) Flamingo CG (2) 62/76° - Very comfortable sleeping last night - well appreciated after yesterday's fun filled day. After catching up on some computer work and other chores around the camp that we didn't take the time to do yesterday we struck out for a walk around the campground. We found that by circumventing the whole campground and going out the path to the "marina" (where the camp store is) we'd walked about 4 1/4 miles. This was a bit further than we had intended, especially in the hot mid-day sun, and a bit further than we are used to in these sedentary times but it felt good. And we were able to spend the rest of the day doing nothing guilt free.
Q's orientation to the sun in site B16 gave us very little shade - none on the "living" side even with the awning out. Mark had to follow the shadow pressed up against the "back" side as he practiced his guitar in the afternoon. We moved when a better space became available. Now we should have shade in the morning and most of the afternoon.
Although it was a bit breezy, has been all day, we enjoyed a campfire in the late afternoon.
February 11, 2009 (Wed) Flamingo CG (3) 68/79° - We took showers this morning without the need to turn the heat on, or even to close the windows to keep the breeze out. A change we can live with!
The westerly orientation for Q in site B9 works very well. We were able to enjoy the shade of the awning most of the afternoon. At about the time it was gone the shadow of a nearby tree took over.
This morning, or maybe it was yesterday, we watched a flight of pelicans fly over the trees and out toward Florida Bay. Two red tail hawks visited a tree across the road this afternoon and provided entertainment for nearly an hour - looking for prey, scratching in the dirt near the fire ring, and flying here and there. About the time they left for better pickings, a Roseate Spoonbill flew over. What a beautiful bright pink bird - much brighter in flight than on the ground.
Joy fixed a big dish of spaghetti to share and we ate out on the picnic table - only about the third time we've been able to do that. Yellow Jackets are prevalent here - they particularly like splenda sweetened coffee and soda - but they left us pretty much alone.
February 12, 2009 (Thur) Flamingo CG (4) 69/80° - Joy had an interesting experience this morning. When she went to the public restroom, she found the ladies room door locked. After several attempts to get it open, interrupted by checks around to determine whether there might be a reason for the door to be locked, a woman unlocked the door from the inside and told her that she may as well come in, there is plenty of space. Strange!! Might she have wondered what the extra stalls and sinks in her private bathroom were for?
The Snake Bright Trail is 1.6 miles long (3.2 round trip - it seemed longer), flat (a foot or two above sea level) and almost dead straight (but for the overhanging trees one could almost see from on end to the other) through typical Everglades environs (beautiful). The Snake Bright Canal that runs along side the trail was a rusty brown at the beginning but cleared as we approached the bay. There wasn't much to see in the way of animal wildlife (we expected to see some alligators at least) but birds were plentiful - mostly in the form of turkey vultures. At one point we flushed a couple of Roseate Spoonbills, their bright color contrasting sharply with the drab clutter of jungle foliage. A four foot long dark gray snake (not a Black Racer, we think) sat trailside and watched us pass. He had something in his mouth. We saw only what looked like a tail sticking out waving back and forth. In the bay, sand crabs scurried to and fro on the low tide mud and off in the distance a fleet of fishing boats shimmered in the sun.
Flamingo CG, Everglades National Park #B9 dry
