March 15, 2014 (Sat) Ocala National Forest (12) 49/79° - We started today in the hospital emergency room. Joy woke up during the night with a minor, recurring, easily treatable problem. She did need a doctor issued prescription though. An internet search revealed the closest walk-in clinic to be in Miami! Well, that wouldn't do! So we set out bright and early in search of something closer. The emergency room was at the Florida Hospital Waterman in Tavares (just west of Eustis). Joy gives the hospital high marks. The facility looked clean and well maintained and the staff was fast and efficient (in spite of the apparent high volume). Above all, they seemed to have dispatched her discomfort in very short order.
There is no end to chutzpah on weekends in a public park as loosely managed as this one is. Kids biking, walking and playing ball in areas meant for vehicle traffic is a normal and expected part of the weekend camping experience but, the total disregard of one-way/do not enter signs and other traffic and vehicle rules as well as loud intrusive music should not be. And blatant indiscriminate, sometimes intentional, fouling of the public rest rooms is beyond unacceptable. There are signs posted here and there throughout the campground stating that vehicles must stay on paved roads and pads. For the most part this rule is respected but yesterday afternoon a large class C motor home blazed itself a new campsite, hitting overhead tree branches in the process, several feet from the site's paved pad. Chairs were put out and the young couple went off to spend the rest of the afternoon somewhere else. We half expected one of the cruising campers to pull into the empty pad and claim it their own. Someone must have informed the couple of the infraction because as soon as they got back late in the afternoon they moved the motor home over to where it belonged.
This afternoon several large groups of spring-break aged young people took over some of the sites around us. At one point we saw four sturdy young fellows lugging a rather sizable generator into one of the sites and we thought the worst - with good reason, it turned out. They must also have brought along stage sized amplifiers and speakers too because as the evening wore on the volume of the music rose to unbelievable heights. Campground security came around a couple of times and made them turn it down and were there, if a little late, to insure that the 10:00 quiet time was honored, but for a while they were entertaining the whole campground whether it wanted to be entertained or not. And the folks on the other side of us contributed their own music. But the quality of their sound equipment distorted it badly trying to handle volume it was not designed to produce.
March 16, 2014 (Sun) Ocala National Forest (13) 59/83° - An early run to the Publix in Eustis yielded a New York Times and a couple of bagels for lunch. Then it was back home to, hopefully, watch the exodus of the party folks. And leave they did - but not without a parting shot of aggravation. Joy reported that a large group of girls (can't call them women although they were probably 20 some) had taken over the women's restroom completely, occupying every space and more with activity that could well have waited until they got home - cars, fully packed and ready to go, overflowed the small parking area outside. After they left the floors in both restrooms were covered with mud and littered with toilet paper. We feel no envy for the voluntary staff whose responsibility it is to keep these ares clean.
March 17, 2014 (Mon) Ocala National Forest (14) 62/84° - We woke up to spritzing rain. The weather guessers are saying we're in for some heavy stuff later on today and into tomorrow so we had some decisions to make. The first was what to do about showers. This wasn't really a hard one. A little more water in the form of light rain as we went to and from the shower rooms wasn't going to hurt anything. And it's warm enough, this morning, not to have to wait for it to warm up later in the day. The second decision was a little more complicated. We weren't in dire need of a sanitary refresh but we were close. Under ordinary circumstances we could wait until the weather cleared tomorrow afternoon but if the predicted severe weather, complete with thunder, lightning and high wind (we were under a tornado watch!) actually descends upon us, we're not going to be wanting to traipse through the woods to the public restrooms. We chose to be prepared. What little rain there was at the time gave us a break.
The expected violence never materialized but it did rain all day - sometimes as downpours. By the time we were ready to go to bed there was a nice big puddle in our back yard. And it was still raining.
March 18, 2014 (Tue) Ocala National Forest (15) 57/73° - The rain kept up most of the night - we had to wonder how the folks in tents were making out - but was reduced to a light sprinkle and the trees shedding the accumulated water by morning. The forecasters were predicting the return of the sun but there was laundry to be done and a lunch at Wasabi Buffet to be eaten so off we went to the big city. There is a new bakery in Umatilla, a tiny one not open on Sundays, that we stopped to check out. The folks who own it must be transplants from New York because the bagels looked as if they came from there and the blueberry muffins looked to die for. Other bakery items looked just as tempting but aside from a tri-chocolate chocolate chip cookie, we resisted the temptation to buy more.
Q091976 Alexander Springs CG, Ocala NF #32 dry $10.50 B
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