Looking Back--FL Trip

What a difference a week (and 500 miles) makes! 

Last Saturday morning the sun was shining, balmy breezes blowing and I was in a tee shirt and shorts.  Cold, icy and low thirties are greeting this  day….I’m wondering if I will have the fortitude to get out for a hike later?

It’s been a difficult week, weather wise, as we have only seen the sun for a few hours.  Trying not to get down in the dumps, focusing on the next trip and promises of 60 degrees next week.

Spent the week going through two months of mail, paying bills, getting hair cuts and reconnecting with our cats, family and friends.  Thank you, Shonda, for being a great foster mom…both of our babies look great!

Another first!  Movies in the morning! After a doctor’s appointment yesterday, at 10:20 AM, we went to see Silver Linings Playbook.  Great show!  Love this retirement thing…

Now the boring stuff!  As promised, gas and lodging expenses have been tallied.  Food costs are about the same traveling as at home with a little less restaurant dining while camping.

We drive a 2002 Toyota Tacoma, pull a 2002 16' Casita and carry two 12’ kayaks on top of the truck.  The kayaks effect our gas mileage…averaging from 15 to 16 miles per gallon.

Total mileage was 3100 miles and gasoline costs were $672, paying from around $3.50 to $3.97 (once!)  We started in the Florida panhandle and went as far south as Venice.  Subtracting our normal (home) monthly expenditure for gas, $150… the trip gas costs were $372.

Camped for 60 nights with sites ranging from $40 (two nights) at Mexico Beach down to $0 at a friend’s house.  We averaged $29 per night for 6 days at Myakka State Park.  The higher fees were paid so we could spend quality time with old friends….a great return for our investment!

We enjoyed ten nights in the Florida State parks with the price ranging from $22 to $29.  Loved the wildness of the parks but felt crowded in the campgrounds and wished they gave some kind of break for out of state senior citizens….FL senior residents camp for half price. 

Thirty-three nights we paid $12 or less.  Our favorite places were secluded and without hookups, Dorr Lake and the primitive area of Salt Springs, both in the Ocala National Forest.  Total cost for camping was $799.00, averaging $13.32 per night.

Also bought a new battery, $98, and one trip to a RV repair, $95.

What would we do differently?  Spend more time camping without hookups, invest in a new tv antenna, get a cell booster and don’t forget to pack the inverter!

What mods did I enjoy?  Our new clothes line and the high rise kitchen faucet.  Had no idea that both would constantly be used!

We have loved our time in the Casita….wish I could make being at home as much fun as being gone!

Come on Spring!  It’s time to get ready to go again!

 

First Timers at Wal-Mart

 

We are home!  And, for the very first time, we spent the night at walmart, something that I have been very hesitant to do!  I’ve been just plain ole chicken, worried that something unpleasant would happen.  In retrospect, we would not have chosen a Saturday night as there was quite a bit of noise with kids partying and engines racing but I never felt threatened.  And all was quiet after a while.

It was difficult to leave paradise….as some of our northern neighbors called Salt Springs…but it was time.  Thought that we could miss the rain if we left Saturday because showers were predicted for FL on Sunday and Tennessee on Monday but I forgot about middle Georgia where it poured buckets on us.

Our last days in FL have been pleasant with beautiful weather and I got involved with something that I never, ever imagined myself doing.  I have said before that I do not do crafts!

 Yes, I made a pine needle basket!  Thanks to Margaret and Nancy and their patience with me!

Unfortunately it took a lot of 3 or 4 days and my blogging and internet time took a back seat.  But you can tell that I am very pleased with myself and got in touch with my (imagined) Cherokee roots.

We had a blue sky and bright sun for our travel today…arrived home at 11:30 AM with enough energy to get most of the important unpacking done.

Searched the yard this afternoon for signs of spring!  I love to see my old plant friends return.  Can’t wait for the warm weather to come and stay.

Japonica

lenten roses

grape hyacinth

A Florida trip wrap up will be coming soon with accounting on gas and camping fees….just need to get some rest and a little TV time.

Spring is Coming: Life is Good!

Today is a perfect warm breezed day at Salt Springs campground!  It’s around 75 degrees and the balmy air is inspiring me to do absolutely nothing!

Here in the northern half of Florida signs of spring are all around.  This dogwood in bloom is a great reminder of the coming April display at home.  The red maples that were budding here in January now have their new leaves and little wildflowers are peaking through the pine needles.  Purple azaleas are displaying full blooms in many of the quaint old neighborhoods.

For the past week we have been in the primitive section of Salt Spring cg roughing it without hookups.  There was no room in the electric section and, surprisingly, the waiting list for electric sites was 3 pages long!

The price is right at $9.25 with the senior pass and the privacy and quiet during the week is excellent!  Surviving the past 3 day holiday weekend is another story!  The campground was full of children screaming, dogs barking, and youngsters partying. 

But they are all gone now and serenity has returned.

This is our last week.  The trek home will start soon…still trying to decide whether just to stay here and enjoy this special place or to leave early enough to explore some places on the way home.

With our current state of mind, we will probably do like the sunbathers above and just stay here.

Resurrection fern and lichens

More Springs and thoughts of home

 

Is it time to go home?  That’s the question that I’m asking today.  The clues are there….I’m tired, impatient and feel deprived.  Two nights ago my husband and I got drawn to a Chinese buffet and gorged like heathens. 

I am missing the news…even though the online stuff looks like nothing has changed except a big blizzard and the pope resigning.  And missing some of my mindless tv programs like Revenge and Nashville.  And missing a good, solid internet connection.

So today finds me in Chiefland, FL’s library….on a perfectly beautiful Tuesday afternoon!  If I am very truthful…I could do what I am doing online in the Casita, but I need a little break from my sweetie….maybe hours more than I have!

So sad that I need my space….he just bought me an early Valentine present, a tiny box of chocolates from Walmart as who knows how far we will be from a store come 2/14?  (Tiny at my request.)

Sunday we left our great little campground at Lake Dorr driving across the state to Manatee Springs State Park joining two other Casita owners camping here.  It has been fun helping one of them get introduced to her new trailer as this is her first outing.

The spring is also beautiful and the short run winds up at the Suwanee River.  But, we are just about springed out and have no interest in kayaking.

 

The water here is deeper than Salt Springs, our normal swimming place, but it does not entice me to get wet.

The Suwanee River from the Manatee Springs boardwalk.

Backing up a little…..our week at Lake Dorr was wonderful.  The privacy soothed me after camping with neighbors too close!

These guys were our neighbors last week.

graceful Sandhill crane

 

We named him Clyde, the Beggar Catbird!

Every meal had him at our side with his piercing eyes wanting a handout.  We don’t feed the wildlife but he was hard to resist!

Another Spring!

Also took a short paddle on Alexander Springs which was less than 10 miles from Lake Dorr…..the pictures are beginning to all look alike.

 

Tomorrow we return to the Ocala NF…hoping to get back into Salt Springs cg, but it may be full.  Not really ready to head back home…the 4 letter “s” word is in the forecast!

Maybe another meal out will make everything better!

Kumquats, Sandhills and Wooden Bowls

We’re still at Salt Springs; can’t seem to leave this place!  The campground is like a small city….something I usually dislike in camping but the feeling of community is strong and we have been just too comfortable to leave.
I love getting up and sipping that first cup of coffee while watching the Spanish moss wave from the live oaks.  In the distance I hear sandhill cranes with their unmistakable call. 
Our neighbors have been very good to us.  Maybe we look poor (and hungry) because our 16' Casita is dwarfed next to other trailers but we have been receiving an abundance of fruit and food.  Neighbors on the left have given us 3 pints of fresh strawberries and leftover chili, neighbors behind us have donated a couple of pounds of kumquats!

They are quite tasty…you eat the peeling and all!   Within a few minutes we each had scarfed down five.
The hubby has always been the artistic one and yesterday he got the opportunity to make a wooden bowl as the recreation barn has woodworking tools and a helper.  I thought he did a great job!

While he was playing with wood, I was playing with the Casita.  Got the water tank sanitized and, with help, opened up the area above the refrigerator controls.  The insulation had fallen; it was secured and the rivets were replaced with stainless steels screws.
We have been having some electrical problems as the converter fan has been running way too much.  Thought that a new converter was needed but it may be the battery so an appointment has been scheduled for a professional to look at it.  A downside of too much community closeness is that everybody wanted to help us.  We got too much help and lot of the advice was not valid for the Casita.
This week has flown!  One day we paddled 10.4 miles down the Ocklawaha River with a group of total strangers from the campground.  This river did not have as many birds as the Silver River but way more alligators.  Wonder if there’s a connection?  There were 9 boats in our party..8 kayaks and one canoe. Picture is from our lunch stop.
       
This is our last full day here as we are moving on tomorrow.  We’re already talking about coming back in February, maybe camping in the non-electric sites?
Hope to paddle again today with the manatees…supposed to be 75 degrees this afternoon.
I am missing my friends who are at Quartzsite!  Hope the weather has improved for those attending the big tent show.  Oh well, can’t be in two places at the same time!  And we are having a great trip…..love to my desert loving friends!

The Ocala National Forest and paddling with monkeys

 

The Ocala National Forest, located north of Orlando, is the oldest national forest east of the Mississippi and the second largest national forest in Florida with 672 square miles.  Salt Springs campground, with full hookups, has been our home for the past 7 days. 

The forest has 4 major springs: Salt Springs-named for it’s composition of magnesium, potassium and sodium, Alexander Springs, Juniper Springs with a daily flow rate of 13 million gallons and Silver Glen Springs, flow rate of 65 million gallons. The first three springs have campgrounds and Silver Glen has picnic and swimming area.

Paddling our kayaks has been top priority.  A recent trip took us outside of the forest to the Silver River which flows out of Silver Springs.  This paddle has been on my bucket list for years as I wanted to see the Rhesus monkeys that were, reportedly, often spotted  on the river.  The monkeys are descendants from those turned loose during the 30’s.  It seems that local promoters thought they would make the river trip a more tropical adventure!

Five miles paddling upstream against a 2 to 3 mile per hour current seemed a bit too strenuous for our abilities, so I was hoping we could fight the current for two hours and then float back.  And we did! 

Think blue skies, smooth water,  palm trees and banks full of water lilies with an occasional alligator lying half hidden in the foliage.

        

Almost every log was full of turtles.

 

Lots of birds!  Ibis, cormorants, egrets, great and little blue herons and moorhens.  I missed seeing the river otter that came up alongside of hubby’s boat.  And the monkeys were spotted!  A large family, 9 or 10, were in the top of a tree hanging over the river.  I steered to the opposite side having been warned of the possibility of one landing in the boat with us!

Little Blue Heron

Ibis

      Egret

Water Hyacinths

 

I always hesitate to id unfamiliar plants but I believe that the water lily or hyacinth is an invasive plant from South America…..and saw that Florida spends 15 million a year trying to control it.  The other flower maybe pickerel weed.

We stopped at the two hour mark, got out our lunch and ate while drifting back down the river.

Two tired senior paddlers went to bed very early that night!

Warm at Salt Springs

 

What a difference 24 hours makes!  We left Ocean Pond campground on Monday morning arriving at Salt Springs CG in the Ocala National Forest by noon.  Check-in was a breeze as there were no one in front of us waiting for a site.  We had our choice of 3 long term campsites and I blindly picked site 46.  Luckily it has a nice big area just in front of the trailer that’s full of live oaks, palm trees and mischievous  squirrels.

Our bodies went through a shock with the temperature shift as it had been in the 50’s for most of our trip.  Now we were looking at 80’s for highs for the next 10 days.  I swore to myself that I would not complain about being hot!  Not after freezing for so much of the time at Fort Pickens.

February of 2010 was the last time we were here and I was anxious to see if anything had changed.  As soon as we got set up we walked to the canal, boat launch and spring.  David grabbed his camera and we were fortunate to see, not one,  but four different alligators soaking up the sun.

 

The next day we finally got to use the kayaks that we had been toting around for  two weeks.  The launch is just down from the spring and frequently, during winter months, manatees are in the spring run.  We weren’t disappointed as several of these gentle giants were playing in the water.  At one point as I was paddling around looking for the giants, two huge nostrils appeared right in front of my boat.  Quickly back paddling, I eased out of it’s way as I did not want it to come up under me!

Last night we went to the  recreation barn and played board games with friendly folks.  The barn was full of snowbirds woodworking, quilting and playing cards. I’m not much for games but the nights are very long and it was a pleasant way to spend part of the evening.

On Thursday the bikes got unloaded and we toured the campground, road through town and went down a sandy forest service road.  Purchased a bag of honey belles (oranges) from a roadside stand and started devouring them as soon as we got back to camp.  After lunch, knowing that the 80 plus weather was not going to last, I unpacked the bathing suit and headed to the spring.  Only a handful of swimmers were there so the solitude of the spring was not interrupted.

The water was wonderful, a cool 72 degrees, and I tried to work off the fried catfish, the previous night’s dinner, by swimming, or rather dog paddling, around the spring.

 

Salt Spring

Today was supposed to be another paddling day, instead we drove around the forest getting acquainted with other campgrounds.  Visited Eaton Lake’s campground…with the Senior Pass we could stay there for $4 a night!  It had 13 sites and only one camper who warned us that the ticks and chiggers were real bad. (No hookups, pit toilet) We drove on to Juniper Springs where there is also no hookups but a nice bathhouse and pretty campsites.  Probably will be our destination when we leave Salt Spring.

Eaton Lake

 Extremely tired tonight so just quitting the thinking part and posting more pictures.

 

Home at Salt Springs

Entrance to the spring

Salt Spring with the run, where the manatees play, in the background

Eaton Lake