QC21-10 Campground hopping

March 15, 2012 (Thu) Big Cypress NP to Hobe Sound, FL (210/1956 miles) 64/77° - We got here just in time! We had heavy rain as we came south on I95 but it cleared and there was no water on the roads as we pulled into Johnathan Dickinson State Park. We found our site and unhooked Lamont without incident but as we were plugging in the electric, the sky opened up. And, of course, our power management system picked then to act up. Mark finally plugged in without it but got drenched in the process.

What might have been a 150 or so mile trip became 210 because we suspected (from being that way on Tuesday) that US41 East of Monument Lake would be closed for construction this morning. As far as we know there is no way to detour around that part of the road so we turned West adding 30 miles to the trip. Also Hildene, for some unknown reason, took us way North of the campground then directed us back South again - maybe another 40 miles out of our way.

We're in the "new" part of the campground. It looks to have been carved out of a flat field with only a few anemic looking palm trees here and there. US1 is a short way to the East with traffic sounds that promise to make us think we are in a Walmart parking lot. It will be darker here though and there well be no muffler challenged vehicles roaring past just outside our window - we hope. We'd prefer to be in the river section where we were last time. It's the older section and has a more state park atmosphere - more trees etc. There were no sites available down there.

March 16, 2012 (Fri) Johnathan Dickinson SP (2) 69/85° - Jack is an old high school friend of Mark's. (old meaning longtime, friends not necessarily age. He's younger than Mark and maybe even than Joy too.) In recent years we have tried successfully to see him when we are in the area. Last year we didn't. This year we did and we had lunch together in one of Jack's favorite restaurants. He'd lost his wife since we last saw him and we missed Olive being with us but it was good to see Jack and we really enjoyed the few hours we had catching up.

Q084039 Johnathan Dickinson SP w/e $26 A+ (x2 )
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March 17, 2012 (Sat) Hobe Sound, FL, to La Belle, FL (107/2063 Miles) 68/85° - We overruled Hildene and found a better route back to Belle Glade. We still have no idea why she sent us so far out of our way Thursday - and wanted to send us back the same way today! St Patrick's Day and many parades were scheduled for the area but we didn't encounter any. We did encounter high gas prices though. We paid $3.97/gal - $120 to fill the tank! Unlike NJ who requires that credit card prices be posted, FL does not. The posted price, the best we'd seen, was $3.89. We didn't figure out we were being ripped off until the tank was half full.

We are back in Ortona Locks - in another (and apparently noisier) part of the campground. It seems to be more social up here. everyone seems to know everyone else and the all talk loudly.

March 18, 2012 (Sun) Ortona Locks South CG (2) 60/82° - The folks next door have managed to secure permission stay here beyond the very strict 14 days/month limit in this park. In fact they have been told they can stay as long as they want, even beyond April 30 when they plan to leave. Their secret? They have worked here and at W P Franklin Lock campground (a few miles west of here). They have also agreed to do some fill-in maintenance work here later on. They are nice folks. He was born and grew up in northern England  which left him with a very thick accent. (He jokes about not being understood.) She has an English accent too but we don't know (yet) from where. They have lived in the US most, if not all, of their adult lives. They are full-timing in a Revolution (a big class A motor home). They also own a home between Ft Lauderdale and Miami. They say folks can't understand that. Nor can we. (i.e. how can they be full-timing in a motor home and also have a non movable home?)

March 19, 2012 (Mon) Ortona Locks South CG (3) 63/85° - Moving day (another one) We had to move to site 36, where we were a couple of weeks ago. The boombox that drove us crazy last time has moved on - thank to the strict 2 week max rule - but today was lawn mowing day! At home they make money by mowing more lawns. They come and go so fast we hardly have time to become annoyed (almost!) Here they apparently have to put in an 8 hour day whether they need to or not. So instead of getting it over with the guys do a lot of wandering back and forth with the horrendous noise interspersed through out the day. It did quiet down in the late afternoon. This really is a great site overlooking the canal and all. There is shade in the afternoon too and that's good.

A huge barge, it looked too wide for the locks, came up the canal pushed by a tug boat. We ran (well walked fast) over to the locks to watch it go through. It just fit! A deck hand said it was equipment for a power plant. We'll take his word for it because it was completely covered with tarps. Watching it go through the lock was an interesting experience,

Tomorrow we're off to The Great Outdoors Gulf and RV Resort.

Q084146 Ortona Locks South Campground #7&36 w/e $12 A+
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March 20, 2012 (Tue) La Belle, FL to Titusville, FL (185/2131 miles) 63/83° - The price was right - well maybe not exactly right but the best in the area - so we pulled into a USA Murphy (Walmart) to get some gas. The space to maneuver a motor home with a car in tow was very tight but we pretty much had our choice of pumps. For good reason. They were all blocked off with traffic cones. No gas was being pumped there at all. All the lights were on, there was activity (maintenance vehicles it turned out), and there were no signs announcing the station was closed. We got around and out without having to unhook the car - a real possibility since we didn't have the space between pumps to use. As we pulled out a pickup pulling a huge fifth wheel RV pulled in. He discovered the problem before we could warn him but not in time. He too had to squeeze his way around and out. A closed sign would have been a great help!

We left Ortona Locks at about 9:30am and except for the the adventure at Walmart we had an uneventful drive up through Florida cattle country to The Great Outdoors. Dorcas was able to make arrangements for us to use one of the unoccupied (for sale) sites in the resort so we hunted it up and pulled in. Although not as close to them as in the past, it is a nice site with plenty of greenery out our windows. We spent the afternoon and evening with Mike and Dorcas catching up on family news and making plans for tomorrow.

March 21, 2012 (Wed) TGO, Titusville, FL (2) 69/85° - While in Ortona Locks CG, Mark made a third attempt to locate where water is getting into the junction between Q and his awning. Ordinarily this would not be any more than a curiosity but the water was being released not to run harmlessly down the outside of the motor home but to drip inside through the window, if it was open. It rained this morning as we got up. No drip through the window!

The Quilt Place (a quilt shop in Rockledge, FL has over 10,000 bolts of fabric, maybe as many as 12,000. Dorcas and Joy spent an hour there, looking at everything and doing some shopping.  A huge place, it was almost over whelming, but fun.

On the way home we stopped in Coco village to visit Knit and Stitch (a yarn shop). Joy bought yarn, of course, and a book she has been looking for. Lunch in Ossorio (flat bread sandwiches is their specialty) was excellent.

Back into the forest tomorrow.

Q084331 The Great Outdoors #209 e/w $30 A+