March 14, 2011 (Mon) Alexander Springs RA to Juniper Springs RA (21/3042 miles) 43/83° - We pulled out of the campsite at about 10:00 and proceeded to the dump station. After taking care of Q's cleansing and replenishing needs we got on the road at 10:30 (47° clear, sunny and warming up) to move our home over to Juniper Springs - not a long trip (21 miles), no adventures. We got here at 10:52.
The gatekeeper told us that there was only one site available other than a pull-thru that they wanted to save for a bigger rig that was coming in later. We were a bit put out by this as non-reservable aren't supposed to be "saved", but we respect the unique needs of those over-sized rigs. Actually we were early into the campground. If we'd come in after the mandatory checkout time, we'd have had a bigger choice. It turns out that we really like this site (so far). It is in a part of the campground that we've been in only one other time - the first time we were here back in 2004. It is sunny and very private - we can't even see any of our neighbors. This kind of privacy makes us a little wary though. So we will probably lock up our bicycles and stow our chairs at night - which we tend to do anyway.
There seems to be no TV reception here!
March 15,2011 (Tue) Juniper Springs RA (2) 47/85° - Laundry, shopping, a haircut for Joy, and lunch in the "big city" of Silver Springs. Otherwise a lazy day - actually afternoon since our adventure took all morning and then some.
There has been a bird flying over now and then with a deep "V" shaped tail. This afternoon Joy was able to get a good enough look at him to identify - with the help of Roger Tory Peterson. He was a Swallow-Tailed Kite. A beautiful red Cardinal wandered to within a couple of feet of Mark's chair as he sat reading on the patio. His camera was in the motor home.
March 16,2011 (Wed) Juniper Springs RA (3) 52/84° - Wonderful showers! The best public showers we've used. They were clean, roomy (enough for two, if so inclined. The doors lock), and the water was hot. It helps that they are less than two years old. They were closed for renovation two years ago when we were here.
Our big adventure of the day was to go over to Astor to get our mail. A noteworthy item from this exercise is that there was no new summons (or arrest warrant) from the Red Bank police or courts. Oh, we did get a notice that Mark's NJ driving privileges had been revoked, but a call to the Red Bank Municipal court revealed that the notice had been sent before they received the check paying the fine.
On our walk on the boardwalk along the springs run there was a turkey high up in a tree. We didn't know a turkey could fly that high. He/she/it looked like he/she/it was trying to figure out how to get down.
March 17,2011 (Thu) Juniper Springs RA (4) 57/87° - A lazy day enjoying a quiet campground - after our noisy neighbors (they talk loudly) moved on and the kids all went down to the springs to swim.
March 18,2011 (Fri) Juniper Springs RA (5) 53/87° - Mark found he had two ticks when he took his shower this morning. He extracted the one on his leg. Joy did the honors with the one on his back. We have no idea where they may have come from. Needless to say, we will be checking very carefully from now on! Other than that it was another lazy day. This is getting sinful. The weekenders are moving in but so far they seem quieter than the midweekers.
March 19,2011 (Sat) Juniper Springs RA (6) 53/93° - Our thermometer read 93° on the shady side of Q this afternoon. We're not sure we believed it. It wasn't all that uncomfortable sitting in the shade. There was a slight breeze and the air must have been dry making it tolerable.
This is the day of the moon's closest approach to the earth in 18 years. To record this momentous event we walked a little way out on the Florida Trail to a point where we had a good clear view of the rising full moon, set up the camera and snapped away. The result, some pretty horrible pictures of a blob of light on a black background. They were almost bad enough to sell to a UFO magazine. Another attempt from our back yard yielded better results but still not all that good.
March 20,2011 (Sun) Juniper Springs RA (7) 50/82° - Joy's turn to do battle with a tick. She found one as she was getting dressed. Mark plucked him off with tweezers. He was quite small.
When we stopped at a drug store this morning, on our trip out to find a NY Times, Joy asked if there is Lyme Disease in the area. The clerk said yes, but it is very rare. We'll watch for symptoms, especially around Joy's bite site because the tick was so small, and discuss with the doctor when we get home - if no symptoms develop before then.
The school holiday must be over for Florida kids. The campground is practically empty. There is a group somewhere, though, with at least 4 young men of high school age. They have been going around and around our loop, which is on a hill, on skate boards. Ah, such energy! There is a site at the foot of the hill with several large tents. We think they are camped there - with adult supervision.
Q074084 Juniper Springs CG, Ocala National Forest. #48 dry $9.50 A
QC11-14 Forest Living part 2
QC11-13 Forest Living part 1
March 8, 2011 (Tue) Titusville, FL to Alexander Springs CG, Ocala NF (89/3021 miles) 50/81° - A few days ago we watched the movie RV with Ed and Kathy. Several times through the movie Robin Williams' character (or a member of his family) saw the big class A motor home they had rented roll away - usually with a disastrous conclusion. This morning it was our turn! As we were saying good-bye to Dorcas and Mike, Q and Lamont began to roll down the road unattended. But unlike the movie this misadventure did not end in disaster. Joy quickly jumped into Q's cab and jammed on the brakes. On that note and with all of the residents looking on and laughing (except one who was unhappy that we were blocking her driveway), we departed The Great Outdoors and made our way to I-95. Before getting on the highway, though, we stopped at the Walmart to fill up with their bargain priced gas - $3.48/gal (though we paid only $3.45/gas with our gift card).
All along I-95 we saw evidence of the fires that had closed the interstate off and on over the last few days. No smoke today but the blackened trees and brush along the road was enough proof that it had been bad. This being "Bike Week" in Daytona, there were motorcycles everywhere - along the roads, in gas station and restaurant parking lots and in fields at swap meets. We were a little concerned about the availability of campsites at Alexander Springs but there was no problem. While none of the sites we have used in the past were available, the one we found seems to be a good one.
March 9, 2011 (Wed) Alexander Springs CG (2) 58/79° - This campsite, with more privacy than the others we've had here, is closer to the main road outside the campground. This makes the road sounds more prevalent which isn't really a problem - except that this is Bike week. Every so often we hear a loud roar that makes us think a large propeller transport plane is about to land on us. Motorcycles, usually in groups by the sound, are going by on their way to or from Daytona (or a swap meet). Motorcycles are apparently exempt from loud muffler laws that generate tickets with other vehicles. These background noises are accented now and then by one of our neighbors starting up his motorcycle. Fortunately these guys, our neighbors, are considerate campers in spite of their noisy vehicles. We have yet to hear any of them rev up over an idle as they make their way through the campground.
We spent most of today relaxing and enjoying being on our own again after some weeks of visiting. It has been warm enough to sit outside even when the sun was behind the occasional cloud. About mid-afternoon the breeze, never very strong, died down and the gnats, no-see-ums, and small black flies came around. We put up with them for a while then went indoors.
March 10, 2011 (Thu) Alexander Springs CG (3) 61/68° - It rained most of last night. About the time it started in the evening, maybe a bit before, a young couple pulled into the campsite across the road and began to set up their tent. The site was empty when we got up this morning.
Mount Dora was the town in Florida where Mark's grandparents retired and over the years we've been there to visit. Once a sleepy little town now it is full of little shops and interesting restaurants. We stopped there a few years ago to explore with our motor home, which wasn't much fun because there was no place to park it. Today we were in our car and were free to poke around and have lunch there. We ate at the Palm Tree Grill. Joy had a crab cake and Mark a fish wrap. Both were delicious.
March 11, 2011 (Fri) Alexander Springs CG (4) 41/63° - Too cold for showers this morning. But it warmed up enough in the afternoon, though it was still chilly. We have been wondering why there are so many kids around at mid week. There are 10 or 12 late high school aged young men - we haven't seen many young women - in a site down the way a bit and sites here and there throughout the campground with similarly aged young people. Most came in yesterday (Thu). We learned this afternoon that this is teacher conference weekend in Florida.
March 12, 2011 (Sat) Alexander Springs CG (5) 36/70° - Even colder this morning than yesterday but it warmed up nicely. By early afternoon we were dressed for summer - shorts and T-shirts. This has been a typical Saturday in a national forest campground (and state park for that matter). Most of the campsites are full with mostly families or older teens in tents (except for the motorcycle dudes). It's surprising to us how many have to bring the noises of civilization to the wilderness with them. As we took our walk tonight we heard radios drowning out the crackling of campfires in many of the sites with tents as shelters. We felt kind of sorry for the older couples next door to them trying to enjoy a quiet evening by their fire. One fellow even took a radio into the shower with him! Oh well, they will all be gone by this time tomorrow. Actually things quieted down very nicely as the evening went on.
March 13, 2011 (Sun) Alexander Springs CG (6) 39/74° - After getting the New York Times and a couple of bagels at the Publix in Eustis we spent the day enjoying the mild weather - mild, that is after it warmed up from the chilly 39° this morning. As expected, the campground pretty much cleared out over the course of the day. But there have been a surprising number coming in to replace them.
Tomorrow we are off to Juniper Springs CG.
Q074063 Alexander Springs CG, Ocala NF #42 dry $10.50 B (x6)
QC11-12 The I-4 corridor
March 1, 2011 (Tue) Lakeland, FL to Plant City, FL 65/83° - Now this is interesting (read complicated). Because this is the Q chronicle, the dateline should be Lakeland because that's where Q is. But we are in Plant City. After breakfast this morning, we packed up Lamont for a two day trip west. The park where Gordy and Ruth live is not very friendly to anything bigger than a large station wagon, so we have had to relegate Q to a small parking lot over by the swimming pool in the past. Being able to bring a car this time is another advantage of towing. We got here, without incident, at about 1:00 and spent the afternoon catching up on family news.
March 2, 2011 (Wed) Plant City, FL (2) 66/79° - A two mile walk in Alderman's Ford Park this morning was the highlight of the day. Otherwise a family day with Gordy and Ruth.
March 3, 2011 (Thur) Plant City, FL to Lakeland, FL 66/79° - After a leisurely breakfast with Gordy and Ruth, we packed up the car and headed back to Lakeland. Plant City is known as the Winter Strawberry Capital because three quarters of the nation's midwinter strawberries come from here. Florida's Strawberry Festival is held here ever year causing the expected heave traffic and congestion. Today is the first day of this years event. We cleverly avoided the nightmare by going east instead of south through the city. It was the way we wanted to go anyway.
We got back to Ed and Kathy's about 11:30am and we all went out for lunch at Five Guys Burgers and Fries.
March 4, 2011 (Fri) Lakeland, Fl (5) 63/80° - Today was the third day of the Flower and Garden Festival at Disney World. According to their publicity "The Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival presented by HGTV is a spring special event filled with Disney character topiaries, a colorful array of flowers, gardens, live music and special presentations. It's where Disney springs to life! The festival is held from March 2 to May 15, 2011." It certainly was beautiful!
Many (if not most) people come/go to Epcot for the rides but with Ed and Kathy - who work at Disney for many of their special events - as our guides we spent almost all of our time looking at the gardens, floral displays and topiaries. We did go on two of the rides in the The Land Pavilion - Living with the Land and Soarin'. We've gone Soarin' before and it still takes our breath away!! Living with the Land was a boat ride through an area where, among other things, the newest methods of growing food are shown and explained. We saw tomatoes, pumpkins and squash on trees, various veggies grown in aquaculture, and a bunch of other interesting growing methods - with spectacular results. i.e we saw a 7 1/2 lb lemon! They also had display fish tanks, showing how fish farming works. Really interesting.
We had lunch at the Mexican Restaurant in "Mexico" in the International Area. The 3 course Mexican meal was wonderful!!
March 5, 2011 (Sat) Lakeland, Fl (6) 61/82° - Yesterday was a long tiring day for all four of us so we spent today catching up. It seemed as though there was always someone napping at any given time all day long. If the napper wasn't human, he/she was animal - dog or cat. Otherwise we worked on various individual projects.
Q073851 Ed & Kathy's yard (x6)
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March 6, 2011 (Sun) Lakeland, FL to Titusville, FL (123/2932 miles) 61/79° - We pulled out of Ed and Kathy's yard at about 8:00 and drove separately over to the Publix supermarket. We had a few things to pick up (most importantly The New York Times) so decided to wait til after we'd shopped to hook-up. Then it was I-4 to Orlando and US 50 East to The Great Outdoors near Titusville, FL. We found Mike and Dorcas' pad with no problem - we'd been here several time before - and settled into the empty site across the road at about 10:30. We spent the rest of the day sitting out on their patio beside their 5th wheel chatting and catching up. We were on our own for lunch but they took us over to The Dixie Crossroads, a restaurant they'd raved about in the past, for a delicious seafood dinner. We walked out feeling well satisfied even with "small" portions.
March 7, 2011 (Mon) The Great Outdoors (2) 55/74° - There's a very good yarn shop in Cocoa Village south of Titusville that Joy and Dorcas visited this afternoon. Mark and Mike tagged along. The village has a lot of small interesting shops that cater to tourists ashore from the many cruise ships that dock in nearby Port Canaveral. In addition to being a stop the area is the terminus for several large cruise lines. Seafood restaurants abound in the Port Canaveral area, especially along Glen Creek Drive on the water front where the ships can be seen across the water. Dorcas and Mike mentioned one restaurant whose name inspired a "try" - Fishlips Waterfront Bar and Grill. It features seafood in a huge sports bar, a large indoor dining room and at outside waterfront tables. We chose the regular dining room. Mark and Joy shared a seafood platter (seasoned grilled snapper, grouper, sea scallops and jumbo shrimp). Delicious! Dorcas raved about her lobster bisque and Mike devoured his Kahuna Burger with great pleasure. It was well worth the effort to find it.
Tomorrow we'll be on our own again. We'll be going back into the Ocala national Forest.
Q073974 The Great Outdoors #443 Oak Cove Dr w/e (x2)
