QC41-15 Campfires, Rain and Frustration

March 4, 2014 (Tue)  Lakeland, FL to Ocala National Forest (90/1946 miles) 64/73° - Of the three campgrounds we've stayed at in the Ocala National Forest, we prefer Juniper Springs. So why are we sitting here in site #30 at Alexander Springs? Because we have friends here. Bill and Margaret, a couple from Michigan, and Dora, a single lady from New York State, come south and spend most of the winter months here. They are often gone, on their way north, by the time we get here on our way north but this year the weather back home has been so bad they decided to stay down another few weeks. We came here instead of Juniper Springs to spend some time with them.

Bill is a great one for campfires and has one at their site almost every night. Cold weather and rain are about the only things that will keep him from it. His reputation is such that other campers, especially regulars, and the campground hosts, keep him well supplied with wood. All are welcome to come to enjoy the warmth and shared travel experiences. Tonight we and Stuart, a lone bicyclist peddling his way through the forest, were their only guests. But the fellowship was no less satisfying.

Sand Hill Cranes at Ortona Lock South

March 5, 2014 (Wed) Ocala National Forest (2) 57/64° - We had anticipated a long day today. Doing laundry is a chore that has to be done every so often whether we want to or not. And shopping to replenish the larder is no substitute for a relaxing day in the sun reading either. We did reward ourselves by driving a few extra miles to an excellent Chinese buffet in the outskirts of Mt Dora that we found last year. Our mail was due to arrive in the Astor post office today - 8 miles the other side of Alexander Springs! Oh well, we're out we may as well go on and get it. It will save us from having to go out tomorrow.

On the way back to the campground, on the long lonely part of the road through the forest, we heard a loud bang followed by some rather unsettling rumbling. We had a flat tire! A blow-out actually. Unlike the motor home, changing a tire on the Honda CRV should be fairly easy. There should be no need to call our road service provider and wait for someone to come from who knows where. Getting off the shoulder-less road into the wide shallow ditch wasn't fun but it got us out of the way of traffic. The lug nuts proved hard to loosen because they'd been put on with an impact wrench when Costco rotated the tires. The uneven footing and improperly set hand brake allowed the car to almost roll off the jack. As if to underscore our faulty decision to do it ourselves the spare tire cover was next to impossible to get off. A job that should have taken 10 or 15 minutes ended up taking nearly 45. We should have taken a picture to include here but, well, we had other things on our minds. In stead here is one from a more relaxed time.

Ibis at South Bay campground

March 6, 2014 (Thu) Ocala National Forest (3) 59/65° - We were expecting heavy weather this afternoon but we thought we could make to Costco in Altamonte Springs (north of Orlando) to get our tire replaced and get back home by the time it hit. While we waited at Costco's outside food concession tables, we checked the progress of the storm an discovered that a hurricane watch was in effect - starting a half hour ago - for the whole Florida peninsula. And there was the possibility of 1" diameter hail! We made it back home in plenty of time, even with a pause at Panera Bread for a soup and sandwich lunch.

It turned out not to be much of a storm, not even all that much rain, where we were but it was a different story to the east on the Atlantic coast. TV news reports showed uprooted trees and flooding in several areas.

 March 7, 2014 (Fri) Ocala National Forest (4) 55/68° - It rained a little during the night but the storm seems to have passed us by for now. It has been a cold (mid 50s and 60s) damp miserable day. If we hadn't been going so much the last few days, we might have considered it an opportunity to take a road trip. In stead we would hang around, spent the time catching up on chores that we have been neglecting and relax. Wrong!

Almost before we began, Mark discovered that we had been double billed by one of out health providers. A phone call to them was unsuccessful because the signal strength here is too weak so we'd have to go out after all. Joy wanted to visit a very good quilt shop in Ocala anyway and we could use a WiFi connection with good, relatively quiet table access (i.e. Barnes and Noble or a public library) for some financial downloads so off we went. The quilt shop was no longer there #%@#*!. It  went out of business suddenly and without notice according to a former neighbor. Several attempts to reach the health provider resulted in an equal number of "Please leave your name and phone number..." messages.  But an hour at a Barnes and Noble across the mall proved successful - Joy got a book and Mark got his banking data. It was a long drive, far longer than we anticipated, and wrought with aggravation, in spite of a few successes. We were glad to get home.

Flowering tree at Alexander Springs

March 8, 2014 (Sat) Ocala National Forest (5) 47/67° - A chilly night last night. We didn't think we'd need the feather bed, it was in the car, and we didn't but getting up and getting dressed would have been uncomfortable if we didn't have the furnace to take the chill off. The sun warmed things up nicely as the day developed, though, so we were able to haul our chairs out and spend some quality time enjoying this secluded campsite - as long as we were in the sun.

A nice warm campfire gathering with Bill, Margaret and Dora closed out the evening.

Q091976 Alexander Springs CG, Ocala NF #30 dry $10.50 B