QC01-03 Florida finally warms up

January 11, 2010 (Mon) Myakka River State Park, Sarasota, FL (2) 30/51° - Today was a day to hunker down to recharge our energy and wait out the cold. In the afternoon it warmed up enough to consider walking over to the concession area (bicycles and canoes to rent, air boat rides on the river, one camp store/gift shop and one gift shop/snack bar) about a half mile away and to hike out the road a mile or so toward the "north entrance". Our entertainment for the afternoon consisted of watching a couple from Quebec unload a convertible (car) from the trailer they were towing then back their 32' plus class C motor home with trailer attached into a site designed for and supposedly limited to a 30' RV. When backed straight in the motor home completely blocked the road. The rig is now "L" shaped with the motor home across the front of the site - trailer still attached and still sticking into the road a bit. Their site is next to the trail to the concession area so they have room to get their car off the road. Florida state parks do little to enforce their own rules!

January 12, 2010 (Tue) Myakka River SP (3) 33/60°- Well it was 3 degrees warmer last night than the night before, but last night the water supply hose froze up! By 9:30 we had water again (from the city hook-up) although we could use water from our on-board tank all along. As we ate breakfast, two white tail deer grazed about 100 feet away in the forest. An hour or so later a couple of black, wild hogs wandered by and rooted in the same grassy area. We haven't seen any alligators yet - too cold for them - but plenty of other wild life. Mostly birds.

By noon the temperature had gotten up to 50° so Mark decided that it was time to look into what was wrong with the generator. He couldn't use the cold as an excuse any longer. It turned out to be exactly what he thought it would be, a cable left unconnected after work was done on the automatic step. It was a real bear to retrieve! Picture trying to retrieve a sheet of paper that has fallen behind a desk drawer without removing the drawer. It took emptying the drawer of two deep cycle batteries, leveling boards and assorted useful (someday) junk and Joy's help holding a powerful flashlight while Mark probed through a 2 inch slot with a marshmallow roasting fork to find and pull the cable out where it could be reconnected to the battery.

Q057342 Myakka River SP #14 e/w $26 B (x3)
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January 13, 20010 (Wed) Myakka River SP to Ortona Lock South CG (113/1434 miles) - What a surprise! When we made our reservations last week, a miracle in itself as this campground fills up 6 months in advance, we thought we were going to be in the "buddy" site where we had been another time. We were dreading having to share the single pad site with strangers literally two feet away but it was the only site available and we thought the inconvenience was worth it. This is such a beautiful campground. Instead, the site turned out to be a single with plenty of space between us and our neighbors. There is mowed lawn and mulched, well kept shrubbery separating us from the next sites. Q sits on a concrete pad with a large crushed stone area on our starboard side containing a roofed picnic table, a grill and a fire ring. There is really more of a resort feel here than a campground - no swimming pool, hot tub or golf course but what can we expect for $12 a night? We do have water and electricity at the site.

We up at 7:00 (38°) this morning and after showers - we hope the last on-board showers for a while since the weather is warming - and breakfast, we headed south. A Walmart Supercenter was conveniently just off the I-75 for some needed grocery shopping, otherwise the 113 miles to Ortona Lock was uneventful. In the distance across the prairie we could see smoke which made us wonder whether it was from a controlled burn, often done in these parts, or a disaster of some kind. We got here just before 1:00.

January 14, 2010 (Thu) Ortona Lock CG (2) 46/72° - Last night was the first night in a long time we haven't thought we needed a heater going through the night. Wonderful! Today is also the first time we've had the bicycles off the front of the motor home. We rode them around the campground and the nearly 2 miles out to the main highway. That was enough for the first time in nearly a year that we've ridden. We were weak in the knees for a couple of hours afterward. On our ride through the campground we saw a Chinook Galaxy that we've seen before. We had talked with its owners in Hillsborough River State Park a couple of years ago. We haven't spoken with them here yet, but friends of theirs, who used to own a Chinook, stopped by this afternoon.

January 15, 2010 (Fri) Ortona Lock CG (3) 62/78° -  Up at 7:00 to a beautiful day. The sky was clear and the sun bright and warm. This is the Florida we came here for! Except that we weren't here to fully enjoy it. At 9:00 we released Q's umbilical cords (water and electricity) and rolled off our pad, our chairs and bicycles locked to the table the only evidence of occupancy. We were headed for Englewood to be with Bom when she signed the papers closing the sale of her condo. She seemed to take the loss of her home for many years without difficulty. After Fabian (real estate agent) and the title company rep left, Joy and her mother played a game of SkipBo. Bom won.

On the way home we stopped at an Olive Garden for their pizza with soup. It really hit the spot. We had intended to stop in La Belle on the way back to see if our mail had caught up with us yet but it was late. We'll try again on the way out.

It's amazing how tired we were from our activities today. Bed time was early!

Q057455 Ortona Lock South Campground. #50 w/e $12g A