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)