QC31-13 More time in the forest

March 15, 2013 (Fri) La Belle, FL to Lakeland, FL (132/2447 miles) 43/72° - Another cold morning! It helped to be busy. After breakfast we scurried around and got ready to leave Ortona Locks. At 8:30 or so Joy threw the laundry into the back of Lamont and headed out for La Belle 8 miles to the west to get started on that dreaded duty while Mark finished breaking camp. His dreaded activity was dumping the holding tanks which he did and then met Joy at the laundromat. We hooked Lamont to Q in the parking lot of the out-of-business Save-a-Lot and we were on our way (64° clear). The best price we found for gas was $3.59/gal in Sebring, FL. This was down a bit from last week but not by much.

March 16, 2013  Lakeland, FL to Plant City, FL - Q is sitting this one out as Lamont takes center stage. This morning, we packed him up and headed 12(?) miles west to Plant City to visit Gordy and Ruth. We spent the afternoon and evening catching up on family doings. It's always great to see them when we are in the area.

March 17, 2013  Plant City, FL (2) - More visiting today interrupted by a jaunt over to a big mall south of Lakeland. Our intent was to see if Books-a-Million had the book Joy has been looking for and to see if Bed Bath and Beyond had the OrGreenic frying pan - it has a ceramic lining rather than Teflon - that we've been considering. Books-a-Million didn't have the book but they did have the frying pan (go figure!). We bought one. While Ruth and Joy went shopping in some of the clothing stores, Gordy and Mark went to the Verizon retail store to begin looking into getting smart phones (for us). In spite of the pretty young saleswoman's personal attributes, Mark resisted making a purchase.

March 18, 2013  Plant City, FL to Lakeland, FL - Now that we had some idea about what we wanted to do about reconfiguring our phone situation - Joy has been wanting a cell phone of her own for a while now - we thought we'd get a second opinion. The nice young salesman in another Lakeland Verizon store convinced us that an iPhone was really the best way to go, even though he himself had a Droid. We took the plunge. Joy now has our old home number, Mark has our old cell number.

Interesting (though irritating) sidebar: When we began to seriously think about upgrading our communication, we could get some models of smart phones free from Verizon. By the time we actually did it, the "sale" was over!! The cost of procrastination.

Q088464 Ed & Kathy's yard
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March 19, 2013 (Tue) Lakeland, FL to Ocala National Forest (102/2549 miles) 61/84° - What a difference a few weeks make. When we were here last the campground was nearly full and on weekends it was jumping. Now there is hardly anyone here. We pretty much had our choice of any campsite we wanted. Being completely overwhelmed, we choose the site we were in the last time, #13. It is roomy and provides a choice of sun and shade depending on the weather.

March 20, 2013 (Wed) Ocala National Forest (2) 64/78° - Normally we would have taken today to recharge from the past busy period but this was the day Shane was to have surgery on his ear so we thought distractions would be healthier for us. So we drove into Silver Springs, did a laundry and indulged in a Chinese Buffet. Even then it was a couple of hours after we got back before we heard that the surgery was finished. Apparently it was more involved than the surgeon had expected but it was successful. More surgery may be needed though. Shane and parents are doing well and recovery is under way.

March 21, 2013  (Thu) Ocala National Forest (3) 47/64° - This has been a lazy day. Other than a bicycle ride around the almost empty campground our only productive activity was entering data into our new smartphones. It's amazing how much miscellaneous data - calendar, address book, shopping lists, book lists, to-do lists etc we are going to be able carry around in our pockets now. We will even be able to make phone calls from anywhere and take pictures and videos of catastrophic events to sell to the news media. Life is good!

March 22, 2013  (Fri) Ocala National Forest (4) 43/70° - We thought seriously about our showers this morning - whether to take them or not. Two months ago using the unheated public showers when the outside temperature is 43°  would have been out of the question. This morning we thought we might. It's interesting how we've been able to use this trip to Florida to become acclimated to the cold. Even so, we opted to wait till afternoon when the temperature was predicted to reach well into the 70s. It barely reached 70° - outside. The shower rooms weren't even that! - but we're used to the cold now.

March 23, 2013  (Sat) Ocala National Forest (5) 57/76° - From nearly empty to nearly full, the weekenders piled in late yesterday. There are many sites with gaggles of young people here to celebrate Spring. Fortunately, we are far enough away from them to not be bothered by their festivities - except when they walk by on their way to and from the springs to swim (or to look for wild turkeys as one group reported).

It has warmed up to pleasant again. We are back in shorts and t-shirts - an encouraging change even though it has rained off and on all day.

Q088566 Juniper Springs CG, Ocala National Forest #13 dry