QC31-05 And Key West

January 22, 2013 (Mon)  Big Cypress National Preserve (4) 64/74° - We have encountered a rare species - a 5th wheeler who is not addicted to his generator. It's been our experience that where there's a 5th wheel trailer there's a  generator standing guard. Some folks are more courteous about when and how long they run them than others but run them they do. We've become more tolerant in our old age but we still prefer the the songs of birds and the wind in the trees to the drone of a generator (or loud radios) when we think them unnecessary. The folks with the big Montana with 3 slide-outs who came in next to us Saturday afternoon and left this morning never ran a generator at all! Evidently some 5th wheels do have batteries after all.

And speaking of batteries, our new ones seem to be doing a great job of hanging onto the charge given them by the solar panel each day. We've been here 4 days now without electric hookup and they don't yet really need to have a boost. We ran Q's generator for a while this morning more to exercise the generator than to recharge the batteries (thought it didn't hurt) because there was no one anywhere near us to hear it.

January 23, 2013 (Tue)  Big Cypress National Preserve (5) 59/72° - Why anyone would make a conscious decision to move to the Miami area is beyond comprehension. We didn't actually go into Miami, we had no reason to and it was probably full anyway, but skirting it on the major highways was bad enough. One has to assume that people are still moving there because the roads are being made bigger and bigger to accommodate them. What a nightmare! Even Hildene (our GPS) which we updated just before we came south had a hard time keeping us from getting lost in the tangled roadways. A sign for one road we were supposed to take read "Davies Rd has been moved". That was helpful! Where did they move it too? California?

In spite of the problems getting there we had a wonderful time with Dorothy, Joy's quilting buddy. After lunch at Sweet Tomatoes, a fresh salad buffet, she and Joy perused a great quilt shop in Margate and talked quilts until we had to again tackle the traffic to get home.

January 24, 2013 (Wed)  Big Cypress National Preserve (6) 59/74° - Windy and a bit on the chilly side this morning. When it's sweatshirt weather in south Florida, it must be really cold back home. And from what we hear on the news, it is - we hear maybe even sub zero in New York.

Smoke from the prescribed burn in the Everglades was coming closer all afternoon. It finally got close enough so that we thought it might be interesting to go up to the main road to see what was going on. It turned out that they were about to set fire to the swamp right across the road. It's amazing how hot a "forest" fire gets! And how high the flames. We could see the glow, and even flames, from the campground well into the evening. The smoke made for a beautiful sunset.

January 25, 2013 (Thu)  Big Cypress National Preserve (7) 55/76° - Another relaxing day sitting around and looking forward to our adventure in Key West.
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January 26, 2013 (Fri) BCNP (8) Monument Lake to Key West, FL (204/204 miles) 53/74° - We got off in Lamont under clear blue skies. It was a little on the chilly side but we had been promised that it would warm up - and it did. By the time we got to the laundromat in Homestead, shorts and t-shirts were plenty warm enough.

Several years ago we started down the road connecting the Florida archipelago intending to see Key West. We wisely turned back thinking it was really too far for a one day trip. It's a long, often slow, albeit interesting trip. Today we got to the Key West Naval Air Station gate at about 4:15 where we called Jim and Lois to escort us onto the base. After settling into our typical (less than luxurious yet totally adequate - it had electricity, a shower, and a comfortable bed) military housing apartment quarters we headed out to the Sunset Lounge on base for grouper sandwiches and to watch the sunset. When we got there, we found that they had run out of grouper - somebody said it was that the chef walked out - and would have to settle for hamburgers (huge with a more than adequate portion of french fries). After waiting in line at the bar to place our order, they announced that they had just run out of hamburger meat too! with the person in line just ahead of us getting the last order! So it was onion rings and beer. We got some great pictures of the Key West sunset though.

January 27, 2013 (Sat) BCNP (9) Key West, FL (2) - This morning we walked over to the tourist area of Key West - which was about what you'd expect a dense tourist area to be like - and boarded one of the "Conch Trains" - an ATV type vehicle dressed up like a steam locomotive pulling 5 small (15 seat) observation cars. The "engineer" gave us a running commentary of the history and architecture of Key West and pointed out the homes and hang- outs of some of its famous residents - John James Audubon, Harry Truman, Ernest Hemingway, Jimmy Buffett etc. This was a good way to get a quick education.

Lunch was Cuban sandwiches - similar to a sub but toasted on flat Cuban bread with special spices. At 1:30 we boarded the schooner America 2.0 (2 masts, 107 feet long and a crew of 3, normally 5) to race 3 (at least) other schooners and a ketch in one of the Key West Classic Regatta 2013 races. We won by a good margin even with a show-off "360" half way through the race. Interestingly, like Bill and Gail's sloop Regalo, the America 2.0 has no shrouds supporting its masts.

In the late afternoon, we wandered one of the many (throughout the year) street craft festivals. We found the work of the craftsmen and women from all over the country, even as far away as California, of excellent quality. In talking with some of the vendors we learned that the response and sales have been very good. I guess they would have to be to justify enduring the logistical problems of getting inventories to a venue as remote as Key West.

On our way back to the base (walking) we got to the fish market 15 minutes after the kitchen closed. However, they were kind enough to cook up some Hog Fish for us to take home. Delicious!

January 28, 2013 (Sun) BCNP (10) Key West, FL (3) - This morning we drove over to one of the two fabric stores (and the only one that could remotely called a quilt shop) in Key West. It was closed! This is Sunday. Duh! So we decided to hit the fabric printing place. That one would be open for sure, it's in the middle of the tourist area. It's been closed for five years!! Oh well.

There are many art and craft galleries. So after getting lunch at the Wine & Craft Festival site near the base (more Cuban sandwiches) we wandered through three of them and took the tour of the Audubon House and gardens. John James Audubon never lived there. Although he is rumored to have painted some of his famous bird renderings from the upstairs balcony this apparently is not true either. He often stayed there as a guest in the home, though. It has been called the Audubon House for almost its entire existence - much to the chagrin of the Geiger family, owners of the home until it was turned into a museum.

Too tired from two days of constant walking to do anything else, we ordered in pizza and ate "in quarters" highlighted with much talk and discussion on many interesting subjects.

L056966 US Naval Air Station, Key West, FL (x3)
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January 29, 2013 (Mon) BCNP (11) Key West, FL to Monument Lake (193/397 miles) - We left the island of Key West at about 9:20 this morning expecting intermittent delays and stoppages along the 109 mile 2 lane road (the only road) connecting the keys and the Florida main land. None developed and by 1:00 we were at the Homestead Race Way gas station refueling. 4 1/2 hours isn't bad. Thanks Jim and Lois for the opportunity to finally see the fabled Key West and for a wonderful time and stimulating conversation.

We found Q completely unmolested in his site here at Monument Lake. We wonder if anyone even knew we were missing for 3 days.

L057159 Big Cypress National Preserve, Monument Lake CG

January 30, 2013 (Tue)  Big Cypress National Preserve (12) 73/82° - This has been a day to rest. Tomorrow we're off to Jonathan Dickinson State Park on the Florida east coast for a couple of days then out into the Kissimmee prairie.

Q087389 Monument Lake CG, Big Cypress National Preserve. #2 $8 dry (x12)

QC31-04 And on South

January 15, 2013 (Tue) La Belle, FL (7) 59/79° - Blueboys, in the RV community, are 10 to 30 gallon (usually blue) plastic portable tanks with wheels and long handles. They are used to transfer holding tank waste from large motor homes and 5th wheel trailers to campground dump stations when they need to be emptied during long stays. Apparently Tuesday is the traditional day to do that here at Ortona. There has been a parade of cars and pickups pulling tiny blue trailers going back and forth by our site all day. Some have passed by so many times that we wonder if it might have been easier for them to just drive the rig to the dump station and be done with it.

Except for the first couple of times we were here we have been able to walk (and even take our bicycles) across the dam to the locks so we can watch the boats go through up close. The gate has been locked this year. The campground host says that the walkway is damaged and unsafe. We've missed this small bit of entertainment.

January 16, 2013 (Wed) La Belle, FL (8) 62/78° - Heavy fog this morning. We couldn't even see the canal until nearly 9:00. Once the sun broke through, though, it was a beautiful day. Warm, almost hot, dark blue sky with big puffy clouds and plenty of sunshine. It has been this way every day we've been here. This is a sunny site with no trees close enough to provide any shade. Sitting in the sun for more than 10 minutes a day isn't an option this early in the season (or trip). Our orientation is such that shade from Q is on the road side which isn't the best place to lounge so we have to chase the shadow of the picnic table shelter roof around our site. This and reading (and knitting for Joy) was pretty much the extent of our activity today. It was also pretty much the extent of our exercise. We never got around to riding our bicycles the 4 mile round trip up to the main road and back.

January 17, 2013 (Thu) La Belle, FL (9) 57/77° - We made a shopping/laundry/mail pick-up trip into the big city (LaBelle) this morning in preparation for a week in the wilds of the Big Cypress Swamp. No mail yet! FMCA said some was sent but it hasn't gotten here. We'll try again tomorrow as we pass through on our way South. We didn't want to have to take Q with Lamont in tow into the very tight maneuvering situation around the post office - but do it we must.

We spent the afternoon watching a cold front come in. The wind came up and the sky got very dark off to the West. Weather forecasts said we might get some rain and it sure looked like it, but we didn't. It got a whole lot colder though. Down to 57° by the time we went to bed.

Q087296 Ortona Locks South CG #21&8 w/e $12g (x9)
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January 18, 2013 (Fri) La Belle, FL to Big Cypress National Preserve (92/1479 miles) 48/60° - Cold! It was 52° when we got up and went down as low as 48° as we got onto SR 80 West. This wasn't the morning for a cold shower so since the one he'd been using tended to be on the cool side Mark, decided to try the other one. Not a good choice! It was a long way from even lukewarm. Joy, however, had a wonderfully hot shower.

Our mail still hasn't made it to the LaBelle Post office! It use to be that we could count on being able to pick it up on Wednesday (it's always sent on a Monday). Last year it slipped to Thursday a couple of times. Now it seems that we can't even count on it being there on Friday. It makes scheduling a mail pickup a little hard to plan!

As we were heading south on SR 29 Joy remembered that the host at Monument Lake last year said that the campground might be closed for renovation this year. A discussion of what we would do if it was closed ensued. The possible solutions were depressing. What a relief it was when we say the motor homes parked around the tiny lake.

January 19, 2013 (Sat)  Big Cypress National Preserve (2) 61/76° - We expected to see the campground fill up in the evening. It often does on Friday nights with folks on their way to the Everglades or Key West - it makes a good and inexpensive stop when Midway campground 8 miles East is full, as it usually is. But very few of the campsites were occupied this morning. The host said that it has been a very light season so far. That's fine with us. We were able to get one of our favorite sites at the south end of the lake.

Swallows, hundreds of them, come swooping in low over Q from the south to skim the lake then circle back around. It's like being in blizzard of huge black snow flakes. 10 minutes later they are gone. Then in an hour or so they are back. This happened over and over in the late morning and early afternoon. Even so the small flies and gnats are plentiful trying every trick available to them to swarm into the motor home with us. Fortunately they're not of the biting persuasion - just annoying.

January 21, 2013 (Sun)  Big Cypress National Preserve (3) 66/78° - The folks across the road from us have a Sun Voyager class A motor home and tow a Jeep. When we came in on Friday there was a trailer with a boat hooked behind the Jeep. We've seen three unit rigs quite often down here, though they usually consist of a boat behind a 5th wheel trailer. What made this rig even more unusual was that the boat was a fold-boat - one that is designed to be folded up and carried on top of a car. Why complicate travel by creating a cumbersome rig like they had when the boat can be easily folded up and put on top of the car? The answer is: they don't. Yesterday afternoon, obviously getting ready to leave today, the fellow folded up the boat and put it on a roof rack on the Jeep. Then he folded up the trailer and put it on a rack on the back of the jeep along with the bicycles. There are those who probably think some of the things we do are strange too.

Q087389 Monument Lake CG, Big Cypress National Preserve. #2 $8 dry

QC31-03 Ortona Locks

January 10, 2013 (Thu) La Belle, FL (2) 69/82° - Ortona Locks, on the waterway between Ft Myers and Lake Okeechobee, is one of our favorite campgrounds. Run by the US Army Corps of Engineers it is much like some of the better run private camping resorts - without their many, often unnecessary and unused, amenities. There is one site we consider the best in the campground and we have lusted after it for the many years we have been stopping here. This year it was available when we were setting up reservations. We grabbed it! We only have it for three days, we'll have to move on Saturday, but here we are for now - panoramic view of the canal and the boats waiting to go through the locks sit right off our shore.  And we have no close neighbors. What a great site! No wonder it is seldom available.

For some reason the designers of the switch panel that controls Q's water heater neglected to include an indicator light so it has been hard to tell whether it is on or off. This afternoon Mark wired a small LED bulb into the circuit that lights up when the hearer is on - burning propane.

January 11, 2013 (Fri) La Belle, FL (3) 62/80° - Since there was no mail for us at the LaBelle Post Office Wednesday when we came through - our mail is usually available on Wednesdays but sometimes Thursdays - we went back to get it today. There still isn't any! We called FMCA who forward our mail to us while we are on the road and they said they hadn't had any to send. They have some now though and will send it on Monday.

We spent the afternoon reading and watching the boats in the canal going to and from the locks.

January 12, 2013 (Sat) La Belle, FL (4) 65/81° - Moving day. This campground is always fully booked 6 months in advance from January to mid March. The only way we have been able to get in is to watch for cancellations in the time frame we want to be here and reserve the vacated site. This means we sometimes have to move from one site to another if we want to stay for any length of time. Today was the day we had to move from the best site in the campground to one across the way and down the road. It's not a bad site, none here are. The pads are angled and spaced such that we have a  fair view (past the motor homes and 5th wheels across the road) of the canal and locks out our port window and the tropical shrubbery forest out our starboard window. Our neighbors are nearby, but not  oppressively close as they would be in most private parks.

January 13, 2013 (Sun) La Belle, FL (5) 64/79° - I'm sitting here looking out at the beautiful park like landscaping and wondering: Why, when most, if not all, the "residents" here are paying half price (golden access senior citizen discount) is this campground so well maintained while National Forest campgrounds like Alexander Springs, where paying full price is the norm, struggle to keep toilet paper in the rest rooms? Could it be that Corps of Engineer campgrounds are maintained from the virtually bottomless military budget pockets while the National Park Service budget gets cut year after year?

January 14, 2013 (Mon) La Belle, FL (6) 62/83° - Soon after we moved a couple of days ago a diesel pickup truck droned by pulling a huge 5th wheel trailer, a Cougar with 4 slide-outs, followed by a little red Honda Civic. We saw the 5th wheel later on that day on our old vacated site with the Civic parked on the pad with it. We haven't seen the pickup truck since and it's becoming quite apparent that it was probably only used to move the 5th wheel into the site. This might be a reasonable practice when the trailer is to be parked in one place for a season but this is a short term park - the rule of being here only 14 days in 30 is supposedly strictly enforced. It seems an expensive endeavor to hire a tow vehicle to move your trailer from one park to another every 2 weeks.

Q087296 Ortona Locks South CG #21&8 w/e $12g

QC31-02 To the Locks

January 4, 2013 (Fri) Savannah, GA to Ocala National Forest (231/1260 miles) 49/62° - Up at 6:45, breakfast and over to Walmart for three batteries (2 for Q, 1 for Lamont). Walmart would not install in a motor home so Mark did it and encountered the problem that he was afraid an inexperienced technician at Walmart might - lost a cable down behind the battery drawer. For an hour or so he was unaware that he had lost it. He finally decided this was the only reason things weren't working properly. Finding the cable and getting it out is a real bear. Joy came to the rescue and we were finally back in working order. Off at 10:15.

11:10am first rest stop: A contributor to the internet Chinook forum suggested that our tail light problem might be due to a blown fuse in a separate (Chinook only) fuse panel up under the dashboard. It was. Mark replaced the fuse and the tail lights were working again.

1:00pm 5 Guys for lunch: Tail lights dark again! OK at least we know where the fuse is. Now for the cause. The relatively pleasant skies began to turn dark soon after we got back on the road. We were driving in the rain without tail lights again! At least it's warming up. It got up to 62° before it began to rain.

January 5, 2013 (Sat) Ocala National Forest (2) - Weekends can be very busy here. Since we were coming in on a Friday night we went on and reserved a site (for an extra $9). There turned out to be no need - hardly anyone here. We were disappointed to learn that Bill and Margaret have already been here and gone (they are usually here most of the winter) - Margaret was having a problem with her back.

Three medium sized unleashed dogs wandered around the campground - all around our site and in and out of the woods several times - baying and barking. Joy was inside reading. Mark was outside and but retreated inside until they decided to leave.  Later a lone dog with a strange collar (or two) came out of the forest and hung around. We'd been warned that there were bear around but not dogs. The campground host said they were hunters (whatever that means) and harmless. They didn't seem unfriendly, nor friendly either for that matter, but one doesn't take chances with a pack of unsupervised dogs!

Q086077 Alexander Springs CG, Ocala NF #50 dry $10.50 (+$9 trans fee to reserve the site)
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January 6, 2013 (Sun) Ocala National Forest to Lakeland, FL (85/1345 miles) 59/75° - We got off at about 7:00 after in-house showers and breakfast. Surprise when we were hooking up, three of the four tail lights are working again, without replacing the fuse (we didn't have a replacement). Does that narrow down the source of the problem? We'll see. Laundry in Umatilla and a quick stop at Publix in Eustace and we were on our way. The dominant landscape feature today was miles and miles of nurseries and very young orange groves. We got to Ed and Kathy's at about 1:40pm.

January 7, 2013 (Mon) Lakeland, FL (2) 57/67° - Rainy and somewhat miserable all day. Mark was going to look into the problem with the tail lights but decided that tomorrow is another day and promising to be better weather. So activity was rather on the sparse side. Joy worked on a jigsaw puzzle, Mark mostly read and caught up on some computer work and Ed and Kathy were in and out.

January 8, 2013 (Tue) Lakeland, FL (3) 62/79° - The Book Bazaar (a used book trader) paid us $60+ for some used books we'd read. We bought a bunch and have a $17 credit with them for the next time. Lunch at Chili's then home so that Ed and Mark could track down several electrical problems. As far as we know they found them all and fixed them. They included a blown fuse and a blown diode in line that was supposed to be keeping Lamont's battery charged, two pins in the umbilical connector were out of place and not making contact and a blown tail light bulb in Lamont. We found no cause for this mayhem so we're hoping it was all coincidental.

Q087162 Ed and Kathy's Yard (x3)
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January 9, 2013 (Wed) Lakeland, FL to La Belle, FL (134/1479 miles) 69/86° - The day of reckoning and travel. All systems worked on hookup and throughout the trip. YES!! Even Lamont seemed to be getting nourishment, battery voltage-wise, but we need a longer trip than 134 miles for true confirmation.

It was 75° already when we left Lakeland at about 10:30. Weather reports are promising a record breaking 85° or above. Q's A/C began working early. Gas at USA Murphy (Walmart) cost 3¢ a gallon more than it would have if we had gotten our Walmart gift card replenished ($3.35). Oh well. There is a lot of flat unpopulated land in Florida south of Sebring. The most prolific signs of civilization were miles and miles of orange groves, trees not much bigger than twigs to trees loaded with yellow fruit.  Cattle ranges came in a close second. The skies were full of big puffy clouds and there were birds of many varieties all along the road, cranes, egrets, herons, hawks, anhingas and many we couldn't identify.

Our mail hasn't made it to La Belle yet so we'll have to come back another day.

Q087296 Ortona Locks South CG #21 w/e $12g

QC31-01 South to North Carolina

December 30, 2012 (Sun) Home to Winchester, VA (293/293 miles) 29/36° [12.1v] - It was cold with ferocious cross winds, sometimes blowing snow, as we went northwest and as we came southwest and south! How does the wind know when to change direction? Slow gas pump at Carlisle, PA Flying J, v-e-r-y slow! While it was pumping Joy went in to the ladies room, then Mark went into the men's room and still there was a long, cold wait in the wind. Mark began to think the tank was taking more than it should so he looked down - and saw gas pouring out the fill tube onto the ground! How long has that been going on??? - at $3.49 a gallon!! Good thing it was a slow pump.

We had  gotten off at about 8:25, and except for the wind, the drive went well. Q behaved and Lamont tagged along behind so smoothly that we hardly noticed that he was there. We had a late (2:50pm) lunch/early dinner (lunner?) at Chipotle in Winchester near the Walmart, then did some shopping before finally settling in for the night. At 5:00 and we were the only transient residents. Snow was piled up in large mounds in the parking lot.  They must have had more snow than NJ.

Q086100 Camp Walmart Winchester, VA
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December 31, 2012 (Mon) Winchester, VA to Mars Hill, NC (396/689 miles) 25/42° - The guys don't take compliments well! When we went to give Lamont his pre-trip exercise we found the battery flat dead. Mark couldn't get him started with the jump start battery we carry for such occasions - not even a "click" from the starter. We got the same result when we tried jumping it with Q's battery (after unhooking and turning him around). The road service truck came within a half hour and even he had some struggles. But he finally succeeded. Instead of hooking up then, Joy drove Lamont to the first rest stop south of Winchester on I-81.

Up at 5am and off at 8am.

We ate breakfast at the rest area and hooked up Lamont. That's when we discovered that Q's (and therefore Lamont's) tail lights had stopped working, just stopped working, sometime between the pre-trip electrical check after hooking up and climbing into the Q's cab! Since the brake and signal lights still worked we got on the road hoping we could make it to Mars Hill before dark. We did.

It was a beautiful drive south through the Shenandoah valley. There was snow in the Blue Ridge Mountains to the east but none on the road. In fact there was very little in the fields along the road. There was more, even this far south, than we had on the ground at home though. We got gas at $3.16/gal (with our Flying J discount) thinking it was a good price - until we saw it for $3.05 a few miles down the road.

Q0086496 Bob and Pat's driveway

January 1, 2013 (Tue) Mars Hill (2) 36/42° - We turned the TV on as soon as we woke up this morning to make sure it had become the new year as promised. It had, i.e. the crystal ball had made its way safely down in New York's Times Square right on schedule. We're good for another year.

Joy broke out a jigsaw puzzle (a Christmas gift) and she, Bob and Pat spent most of the day working on it. Mark looked for a piece to put in, couldn't find it and gave up all together. Other than that it was reading, sitting around, visiting and waiting for "fiscal cliff" news. Dominoes in the evening.

January 2, 2013 (Wednesday) Mars Hill (3) 39/43° - Visited Friends and Fiber yarn shop in Asheville with Bob and Pat (well mostly Pat with Joy. Bob and Mark checked out the Dollar Store.) The yarn selection was amazing. Not so in the dollar store. Then it was lunch at Papa's and Beer, Mexican Cuisine. Very good! In the afternoon Mark, with Bob's help, tried to find the reason Q now has no tail lights. No luck. Nor was there for the local garage mechanic.
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January 3, 2013 (Thu) Mars Hill, NC to Savannah, GA (340/1029 miles) 39/52° - When one's vehicle has no tail lights it's best, in fact imperative, to travel in daylight. One should also avoid fog, rain and heavily overcast skies. We started out in plenty of time to get here before dark but we had no control over the other elements. It was heavily overcast all the way south - overcast enough for it to seem like dawn or dusk. Fog limited visibility as we traveled south out of the mountains on I-26, and rain, sometimes heavy, accompanied us the last 40 or so miles down I-95 to Savannah, GA. And by then it was beginning to get dark!

We were behind schedule because Q's house battery low voltage warning alarm pierced the solitude. This should not be. Driving should be charging the batteries not draining them! We stopped and checked for a cause. We found nothing, but we switched the refrigerator to gas because it draws a lot of power on DC. When the voltage was back to normal we switched it back to DC. But 75 miles later the warning squeal was back. A physical check of the batteries revealed that one was sick. OK, new batteries. Tomorrow. In the mean time we travel with the refrigerator on gas.

We pulled into the Walmart parking lot at about 5:17, parked, exercised Lamont, and did some courtesy shopping in the store.
 
Q088846 Camp Walmart Savannah, GA.