March 21, 2010 (Sun) Juniper Springs CG (4) 53/64° - Rain! A hard steady rain almost all day. Luckily our site has good drainage, there are hardly any puddles. We got quite a bit of reading done but that's about the extent of our activity for the day. Late in the afternoon, when the rain let up for a while, we took a walk around the campground but it started again just before we got back. This has not been one of the most exciting of days!
And the icing on the cake was no TV for the evening. Digital TV being the great technological advance that it is, we can get only one TV channel here. In years past, with analog, we have been able to get the three major networks plus PBS and others. Apparently the rain disrupted that one weak signal just enough to keep it from getting through at all.
March 22, 2010 (Mon) Juniper Springs CG (5) 48/62° - Today started out cool and though it warmed a bit the wind came up making it feel colder. Clouds over the sun kept any inactive outside activities at a minimum. There aren't many folks here now - actually there haven't been since Sunday afternoon - so it's relatively quiet. There is the sound of a generator off in the distance now and then, otherwise all we hear are the sounds of nature (and an occasional loud muffler on the highway). Our only neighbor isn't home and hasn't been the whole time we've been here. The rules say that a campsite cannot be left unattended for more than 24 hours. I wonder if the lady, another camper, who stops by once a day and walks around the trailer is considered to be "attending"?
A census taker was around this afternoon. When we told her that we would be home in a week or so and would take care of things there, she said, "OK". Apparently they were making sure that the people who live in campgrounds get counted.
March 23, 2010 (Tue) Juniper Springs CG (6) 53/67° - Kind of a lazy day today except that we did hike the loop on the Florida Trail in the afternoon.
Q057638 Juniper Springs CG, Ocala National Forest. #13 dry $9.50 A (x6)
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March 24, 2010 (Wed) Juniper Springs CG to Savannah, GA (225/3684 miles) 47/64° - Got off at about 8:30, took care of the holding tanks and headed for US19 north (clear but ground fog). For some reason we began to think about the first times we traveled this road many years ago. It was our preferred route between Penney Farms where Mark's mother lived and Englewood where Joy's mother lived. Today the drive was much more beautiful, though. It's late March, not mid February, so spring is in the air. Many of the trees are beginning to break out in pale green and the flowering fruit trees and yellow creeper are in full bloom.
After a week in the "wild", laundry needed doing, so we stopped in Green Cove Springs to take care of that. While stopped, we ate lunch and did some grocery shopping.
There were already motor homes and fifth wheels parked for the night in the Savannah Walmart at 4:30 when we pulled in. Folks headed north, we assume. One of the overnighters, a refurbished school bus, was one of the more interesting units we've seen. It had been painted blue with squares of various colors painted along the sides. There was something written in each square but we weren't close enough to know what. We were able make out the names of 1970s rock groups, The Grateful Dead, etc and what was apparently web sites aimed at their still active fans. Very "Hippy!"
Q059864 Camp Walmart, Savannah, GA
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March 25, 2010 (Thu) Savannah, Ga to Mars Hill, NC (346/4030 miles) 52/74° - It was a quiet night, if a little bright from the parking lot lighting. We woke early, fixed and ate our breakfast, and were on the road again before 8:00. The first rest area in South Carolina was loaded. We probably should have gone into the car parking area, it seemed less crowded, but we chose the truck/RV area - where, we discovered too late, there was only one open space. There was no way to get back to that space nor to get into the car area, so we got back on I-95. The next rest area was much more civilized.
From I-95 we turned onto I-26 west. A few miles later, we began seeing electronic signs telling us that I-77 to Columbia was closed. Closed! Must be something serious. We weren't going that way but those who had planned to were causing a big traffic jam in their confusion and indecision. We think maybe it was a serious traffic accident because police cars blocked the ramp. After lunch in a rest area east of Spartenburg we passed another sign announcing the closure of I-385 to Greenville, SC - apparently to replace a bridge. Again not on our route but the traffic became heavier. It moved along OK. No sooner had we cleared this congestion when we were told that I-40 was closed - due to a rock slide a couple of weeks ago - completely blocking the highway. I-40 wasn't part of our route either but its closure along with commuter traffic out of Asheville and road construction on I-26 were apparently causing big problems. Fortunately Bob called us with an alternate route soon enough to keep us out of that mess. We have seldom, if ever, come across an interstate highway officially closed to all traffic. In a matter of a few miles we encountered 3 different closures!
We got to Bob and Pat's about 3:30 and settled into our new home - in their driveway.
March 26, 2010 (Fri) Mars Hill, GA (2) 55/61° - Mark went with Bob to the weekly men's breakfast at a nearby roadside cafe. Joy, Pat and Kaye had left to explore a yarn shop by the time they got home. In the late afternoon we all went over to Robertjohn and Claire's house for dinner. While there Mark (guitar), Bob (Banjo) and Robertjohn (fiddle) made some music together. Joy, Kaye and Pat sat with their knitting as they chatted with Claire. We all had a mountain good time.
Q060210 Bob & Pat's driveway
QC01-15 Goodbye Florida
QC01-14 Back into the forest
March 16, 2010 (Tue) Lakeland, FL to Titusville, FL (94/3362 miles) 55/66°- It was a hazy 57° when we pulled out of Ed and Kathy's yard. They had already left for their job at Disney giving us the responsibility of locking the gate on the way out, which we handled admirably. We programmed Hildene to guide us to The Great Outdoors resort via Costco in Orlando (Joy wanted to return the shorts she'd bought in Brandon) and headed east on I-4.
The US192 exit off I-4 seemed a little premature but we took it anyway thinking that Hildene had a better way, then proceeded to turn the wrong way off the exit ramp. As we waited in the left turn lane to make a U turn, a kid (maybe early 20s) in a small car moved past us and ran into the back of a motorcycle waiting at the light. He had slammed on his brakes but hit the bike hard enough to knock the passenger up into the air and flip her around to land on her butt in the road. The bike went over spilling the driver also into the road. From our vantage point they both seemed stunned but not seriously hurt. The two people in the car ahead of us jumped out - he with a phone to his ear (911?) - and ran over to them. Almost before they reached the victims we heard a siren and saw the flashing lights of an ambulance come out of the line of traffic facing us. They must have been right there!
When it was clear there was nothing for any of us in the left turn lane to do, we moved ahead to the light, a little past the accident, and waited through 3 change cycles! For some reason, and there was none that we could think of, all the lights were cycling except for the left turn signal. We finally decided it wasn't going to change and pulled (illegally) back into the through lane to make our U turn at the next light. In addition to being a bit shaky, we were very aware of motorcycles for the rest of the trip. It's amazing the crazy risks some of them take!
US50 out of Orlando toward Kennedy Space Center is under construction - seems like it was last year too - and very slow moving until well out of the Orlando suburbs. Aggravating! We got to TGO about 2:30 and found Mike and Dorcas' site. Dorcas guided us to the site that would be our home for the next two nights.
March 17, 2010 (Wed) The Great Outdoors (2) 55/66° - The Brazilian Pepper is an unwanted invasive plant (as big as trees sometimes) that is taking over the flora in many parts of Florida. The Great Outdoors is aggressively fighting this invasion. For several years small teams of volunteers have regularly ventured into the underbrush to chop down the plants and kill the roots. Mike and Dorcas are part of this effort. This morning they took us out into one area to show us what they have been doing. It's amazing how much space these plants consume and how clear the area is when they are gone. It was also interesting to see how fast the native Florida greenery is beginning to fill the void. Later we went over to the new nature center where there are exhibits of wildlife and natural artifacts from the area. We finished our tour in the Jukebox Cafe and had Rubens for lunch.
This afternoon we relaxed at home while Mike and Dorcas attended an association meeting and migrated to their fifth wheel when they got back. We were promised rain but it only sprinkled now and then. The sun, when it was out, was warm even though the thermometer read only 66°.
Q059541 448 Oak Cove, The Great Outdoors RV and Gulf Resort.
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March 18, 2010 (Thu) Titusville, FL to Juniper Springs CG (97/3459 miles) 55/64° - We had a cup of coffee with Dorcas and Mike, when he returned from his walk, said good bye to them and pulled out of The Great Outdoors at 10:15 (57° cloudy). Thanks guys, for everything. It was good to see you. Mike, Dorcas and friends were talking about delicious red shrimp they've been having and suggested we pick some up to try, so we took a short detour to the Wild Ocean Seafood Market in Titusville to get some. Lunch at Chilli's and a stop at Publix for a few items to stock our larder were the high points of our drive here to Juniper Springs campground.
The gate keeper said, when we stopped to register, that there were only three sites left. That was surprising. It turned out not to be true. There were many available sites. We have no idea why she told us that, it would have been better, and less effort, to just tell us to go find an empty site like most gatekeepers do? After choosing a site, we were unable to ask why we had been so limited, the gal in the office was doing the paper work while talking on the phone.
As we cruised the campground we saw that Paul and Jayne (from NJ), whom we'd met in Monument Lake CG in January, were here. Joy ran into them later and they invited us to their campfire at 7:00. Mike and Dorcas will be interested to know that the other couple there, Michael and Linda, were from Canandaigua, NY. We had great fun sharing travel and camping experiences. The fun was cut short though because it started to rain just as we put the last piece of wood on the fire.
March 19, 2010 (Fri) Juniper Springs CG (2) 47/71° - Yesterday the weather forecast for New York City was for a high of 70° We never heard what it actually turned out to be but it only got up to 64° here. This morning when we turned the TV on to the "Early Show", some of the the tourists outside the studio (in New York) were in short sleeved shirts. Our thermometer was reading 47°. What's wrong with this picture?
There's an interesting couple in a site up the way. We met them yesterday because we heard that they were having trouble with the refrigerator in their class A motor home - it wouldn't work on propane. Since we've been there, done that a couple of times, Mark thought he might be able to help. It turned out that it was a different brand so he wasn't much help. When he got there the man (name now in the wind) was walking around the campsite with a full overnight back pack and equipment, including a rolled up sleeping pad, on his back. In spite of his outfit, he didn't seem to be anxious to leave on any extended hike. Just the opposite, he seemed to want to talk. Later on, he (in full gear) and his wife walked by on the road. But they weren't gone long - maybe an hour at most. This morning they walked by again, both fully equipped this time and again it wasn't long before we saw them back at their campsite. A half hour or so later we saw their motor home pull out and leave. When they came back, we learned that the the problem with the refrigerator was that they were out of propane. Duh! They had said that their son and twin 9 year olds were coming to spend the weekend with them. When we saw two young boys wearing big back packs, just like grandpa, we knew they had arrived.
Many of the campsites filled up late this afternoon and evening. Several of them with young families. The kids around us, most ranging in age from 1 to 7 or so, are so cute. They all seem so excited about the adventure ahead.
March 20, 2010 (Sat) Juniper Springs CG (3) 44/73° - Two of the young couples each with 2 or 3 young children and apparently camping together, left late this afternoon. The reservation tag on their site posts indicate that they had planned to be here two more days. We wonder what happened. We heard a child crying early this morning and off and on during the day. This is not an unusual sound when small children are camping but maybe the problem was serious enough to cut the weekend short. One of the tents was brand new - the box was set out as trash. Was this a maiden voyage for one of the families? Will they ever go camping again?
It has been a beautiful day. The sun was out from behind fluffy white clouds about half the time. And it was warm enough to make it seem as if we are really in Florida after all.
Juniper Springs CG, Ocala National Forest. #13 dry $9.50 A
QC01-12 A slow warm up
March 4, 2010 (Thu) Alexander Springs CG 39/56° (7) - The fellow across the way, from Quebec, seems not to mind the cold. When we go outside we are bundled up in jeans, turtle neck shirts and sweatshirts. He either doesn't have a shirt or chooses not to wear one. We haven't seen him in a shirt since he got here 5 days ago. He does have long pants though. They were hanging out on his clothes line one day. Yesterday he spread a towel out in front of his car and spent the afternoon sunbathing. The sun was warm but the breeze was enough for us to opt out of removing even our sweatshirts. Correction: we took them off while we were hiking the Florida Trail this afternoon.
When we turned the news on after supper we learned that the rocket launch scheduled for today had been postponed until 6:48. Florida is so nonchalant about the space program that a rocket launch is not news until it has happened, is delayed, scrubbed, or has failed. They have no regard for those of us who would like to see one sometime. Well, we saw that one! We bundled up and hiked up the hill (as high as a hill gets in Florida) to the main road (and East a bit to get a better view) and waited. Finally, through the trees, we saw what looked like a slow moving roman candle. It cleared the trees and moved out and to the East, apparently out over the Atlantic. It's mission was to place a weather satellite in orbit, not the shuttle, but it was exciting anyway.
March 5, 2010 (Fri) Alexander Springs CG 34/64° (8) - Another bad mark for Sears! Last summer, maybe earlier, we began to suspect that one or both of our batteries needed replacing. So while we were home, we took them out and to Sears for testing - they are Sears Diehard batteries. Both tested good according to the fellow who apparently had more important things to do. Mark suspected that one of them wasn't completely "good" but didn't question the verdict because the tester was already walking away. The cold weather and heavy usage gave some justification for the problems we were having so we put off getting them retested. When we discovered that they were losing voltage even overnight with negligible usage and that we had to run the engine to close up the bed in the morning, we decided it was time. The Walmart in DeLand pronounce one battery almost dead and apparently getting life support from the other one. So now we have a new battery and what a difference! We went the whole evening without having to recharge them . And the voltage drop was only slight with normal use of lights and TV and running the furnace for a little while. Life is good!
March 6, 2010 (Sat) Alexander Springs CG 33/66° (9) - Update on our Canadian neighbor across the way: When he came back in the late afternoon yesterday - he was gone when we got back from DeLand - he was wearing a shirt with his shorts and flip-flops. To protect a sunburn? Had he been on a date? This morning, with the temperature up to 35° by then, he was again puttering around his campsite shirtless. Hardy people, those Canadians. Well maybe. He drives to the restroom 300 feet down the road. Actually it's less than that on a path through the woods.
Joy bought a jig saw puzzle while at the Walmart. It was a challenge to find a surface in our small motor home to work on it but we did and Joy spend the day with it. But even with Mark's sporadic help it wasn't finished before bedtime. Challenge #2: where to put it for the night. There is just space enough on top of the water tank under the bed for the board we are using. Life is good!
March 7, 2010 (Sun) Alexander Springs CG 33/67° (10) - There is a sign on the gatehouse stating that a campsite must be occupied the first night. One of the written regulations additionally states that a campsite can not go unoccupied for more the 24 hours. These are standard rules for most public campgrounds. When we returned from DeLand on Friday we noticed a tent had been erected on a site two down from us. There has been no sign of any one around it for nearly two days now. Rules are made to be broken. There are two young couples with kayaks on their cars next door. This morning the two fellows went over and carried the "unoccupied" tent over onto their site. Could that have been because of a conversation with the campground host yesterday? An hour later they began packing everything up, including the orphan tent, and left.
March 8, 2010 (Mon) Alexander Springs CG 42/70° (11) - The weekend is over and every one has gone. Almost everyone.When we walked around the campground this morning we found that there was no one in any of the 14 sites in Loop A, we are the only ones in our 16 site Loop B, there is a cluster of 4 or 5 at the beginning of loop C and a hand full in loop D. From where we sit we can see the motor home and a trailer through the trees over on loop C but that's it. This afternoon a young couple pulled into the site across from us and set up a small tent. It reminded us of the time we were sitting on the isle of an empty movie theater and two people came in and squeezed past us to sit in our row. The young campers were cute and fun to watch. They were obviously inexperienced with camping and reminded us of our first stumbling experiences.
There is a bike trail through the forest near the Florida trail. When we hiked it the other day we saw workers in the distance which let us to believe that they were preparing a controlled burn. And on our way back to the campground we'd seen smoke back that way. Today we saw that the burn had come right up to the trail, which had been cleared to make a fire brake. We were surprised that we had been allowed on the trail the other day.
March 9, 2010 (Tue) Alexander Springs CG 47/68° (12) - It was nice to be able to walk over to the facilities for our showers this morning without feeling like we were flirting with pneumonia. It's been kind of a do-nothing day. The forecasters predicted a chance of rain so we decided we'd just hang around. As it turned out there was no rain - a couple of sprinkles but that was it. In fact there has been sun off and on. More campers came in this afternoon, one right next door to us! As far as we know, there is only one other unit on B loop. We've come to the conclusion, and we've experienced it before, that the gate keepers, for whatever reason, assign campsites like parking attendants fill parking lots. Start at one end and put them in one after the other. The new folks next door are a family, mother, father, two boys (4 & 5) and an other male (brother? grandfather?). The kids are fun to watch, helping set up camp.
Q057046 Alexander Springs CG, Ocala National Forest. #45/31 dry $9.50 B- (x12)
QC01-11 Some forest time
February 26, 2010 (Fri) Lakeland, FL to Alexander Springs CG (88/3072 miles) 36/59° - We didn't have far to go so there was no need to get off early. We took showers and Joy did a small wash before pulling up stakes and pulling out of Ed and Kathy's yard. When we stopped here at Alexander Springs on the way down we told Bill and Margret, who spend their winters in this campground, that we would be back when the weather warmed up. We couldn't imagine that it wouldn't, but it didn't. Our favorite site is occupied so we had to settle for finding another. Site C45 seems to have some sunshine, for warmth and for our solar panel, but turns out to be quite close to our neighbors. We'll probably try to move after the weekend.
February 27, 2010 (Sat) Alexander Springs CG 39/50° (2) - It was a slightly warmer start to the day but the light drizzle makes it seem a lot colder. It's not very pleasant weather, and generally hasn't been all winter, but it sure beats being home with what they have had this year. The Northeast is in the midst of shoveling out of their third major snow storm of the season and expecting another next week. It rained most of the day here, which put a damper on outside activities:-\ The sun did come our in the late afternoon for a short time - very short! By the time one of us said, "There's the sun." it was gone. The temperature managed to make it up to 50° - for about five minutes just before the sun came out the first time.
February 28, 2010 (Sun) Alexander Springs CG 38/64° (3) - It sure is great having our own on-board shower. It saves having to suffer 38° in an unheated public shower. We just turn the furnace on and wait until it warms up to a mild 52° in here. The sun was out most of the day so it's not been all that unpleasant. It would be nice to have the use of the chairs now locked away in our storage bin.
Site #31 opened up about 11am. Mark biked up to the gatehouse to let them know we wanted to move. Unlike the last time we were able to do that right away. It's really so much nicer here - open and sunny. There are times when shady sites are the best but not in weather like we've been having this winter.
It's Bike Week in Daytona so there are quite a few motorcycles in the campground. Some are here as transportation, some as dingies, and some as toys (big toys!). We can also hear them going by on the highway. Late this afternoon a royal blue class A diesel pusher came by and stopped to study the site across the road from us. The sides of the motor home were decorated with large photographic images of a man and woman from waist up. A sleeveless leather jacket showed off his heavily tattooed arms. She was blond, beautiful and similarly dressed though without tattoos. They were apparently singing a duet as he held a microphone. Another similar image was on the back of the motor home. A black trailer with "Harley-Davidson" emblems on the side tagged along behind. The driver had long hair and a beard and wore a sleeveless shirt prominently displaying his liberally tattooed arms. We have found that motorcyclists tend to be good neighbors and there was no reason to think that this fellow would not be, but we were glad when he moved on.
March 1, 2010 (Mon) Alexander Springs CG 38/69° (4) - It's official. Last month has been declared the coldest February in recorded history, averaging 10° below normal for Orlando and Kissimmee, and the second coldest in other surrounding areas. Something similar was said about January. And we were here to witness history being made! Today turned out to be a pretty nice day. We got a few odd jobs done around the motor home in the morning and walked down to the spring and hiked the trail along the other side in the afternoon. There were a couple of young people swimming in the spring, brave souls, and vehicles of every stripe going by our camp site but we have the campground pretty much to ourselves - the way we like it!
March 2, 2010 (Tue) Alexander Springs CG 53/71° (5) - Rain was forecast for today and we got it just before we got up. We had some shopping that needed to be done and a rainy day seemed like a good time to get it done, even though we could have waited another day or two. So after breakfast we locked our bikes to the picnic table, to indicate that our site is occupied, and took off for Umatilla. The laundromat that we've used for years has been depreciating recently. It had gotten so bad that, last year we hunted up a different one. It is under new ownership this year and what a difference! They've cleaned it up and put in new machines. There is a play area for kids and a "lounge" area for adults (folding chairs arranged along the three walls of the space). The attendant, who does not appear to be the new owner, is very friendly and went out of her way to help a couple of single fellows struggling to figure out how to load the vertical machines - they hold a lot more than one would think.
Joy got her hair cut in a shop a couple of doors down from the laundromat and was well satisfied with the result. She told the guy she'd see him next year. Then we went to the outskirts of Eustace to a Publix for groceries. The Pizza Hut in Umatilla still has a buffet for lunch and we couldn't resist.
March 3, 2010 (Wed) Alexander Springs CG 48/57° (6) - The campsite across the road from us is huge! It could accommodate a whole scout troop in individual tents with the leader in a big class A motor home towing a supply trailer. If it weren't for the regulation limiting site occupancy to 8 persons we would have some worries that a large group will move in. Actually 20 boy scouts would probably be better than 8 college kids on spring break. But we haven't had to worry so far because it is being occupied by a middle aged single fellow from Quebec in a minivan. He has thrown a blanket over the windshield and sleeps in the van - until noon. He has a couple of towels hanging on a clothes line strung between two trees and a small Styrofoam food storage box in the table. That's it. It seems kind of a waste of a big site - the folks in the big units that pause to look at it probably think so too - but the quiet works for us.
The normal (avg?) high for today in this area is 77°. It got all the way up to 57° for fifteen minutes this afternoon - with the sun on the same side of the motor home as the thermometer probe. Wind too cold to sit out. We expect no sympathy from our friends in the Northeast, or even the central Atlantic, but that's life in Florida these days.
Q057046 Alexander Springs CG, Ocala National Forest. #45/31 dry $9.50 B-
