In the navy we tended to classify port visits to places other than our home station into two categories: liberty ports or working ports.  Pretty self explanatory, but that never stopped me from doing so:  Liberty ports involved maximum time off the ship for the crew, working ports meant you might get off the ship for a few hours late in the day.  Most of our stops in Serenity have been liberty ports this year; aside from basic must do tasks that take up a portion of each day, we have had the luxury of being able to just explore or just lounge for a good portion of each stop.  Not so Charleston.

As we have written, The Big Kahuna remains in North Charleston awaiting the rebuilt transmission.  When we switched to Serenity, we transferred most but not all of our stuff from the old bus to the new rig.  So our four day stop here was intended to check on the bus, do some cleaning, transfer all of the remaining items to Serenity, and then have a bit of time left over to explore Charleston. Turns out there was a lot more work to do than we anticipated.

After research on AllStays.com we secured a spot at Joint Base Charleston, an Air Force dominated facility co-located with the Charleston International Airport.  Aside from the great price for a full hook up site, it is located only a few miles from The Big Kahuna’s current repair shop.  Less than half of the 45 or so RV sites are available for short term use; all of the nice back in spots in the heavily treed loop are set aside for monthly rentals, and they were all full with a waiting list.  In the short term loop there were a still a handful of sites open.

Having arrived on a Sunday after the recreation office closed, it took some exploring and the assistance of an off duty employee who happened by before we could figure out the after hours procedure and find the on duty camp host, but before long we were manuevering toward one the long pull through spots.  As we pulled up to a pair of sites we were surprised to see a distinctive big turtle decal on the back of a motorhome right next to one of our options.  What are the odds that the motorhome we parked next to in the Savannah visitor center would be at our very next campground?  It was a pleasant surprise and we enjoyed chatting with our temporary neighbors about their RV experiences.

The next morning we headed to General Diesel to check on The Big Kahuna, and were pleased to see he was as beautiful as we remembered, far cleaner than we hoped, and though obviously broken down, look to have suffered nothing from the months sitting in the yard.  That was the good news.  The bad was that we had a lot more stuff still in his storage bins than we remembered, which meant that getting it all into Serenity would be a challenge.  At least we found a good number of forgotten supplies stashed in the various cubby holes, so our shopping bill for the next few months would be a tiny bit smaller.

The next few days saw us doing a complete empty, sort, and re-stowage of every single one of Serenity’s compartments, inside and out.  The significant number of tools, car/truck care items, fishing poles, and biggest of all, our inflatable boat took up a lot of extra space. On the inside Rosemarie was dealing with the addition of a lot of arts and crafts supplies as well as more than a few glass and kitchenware items.  A kind description of our site during his process would be that it looked like a poorly organized yard sale, and I made apologies and promises to the neighbors and camp host that it would be all back to normal in a day or two.

It was a productive and necessary process, forcing us both to reassess how much stuff we had and needed, reorganize it for accessibility, and set aside a group of items to sell or donate.  By the time we left Charleston we had already sold $75 of stuff and activated half a dozen Craigslist ads at our next stop in Wilmington.  It took pretty much our entire stay there to get organized; we only managed one outing down town to a disappointing bar restaurant at fleet landing.  Perhaps next time we are in Charleston we will be able to make it a liberty port.

As for The Big Kahuna, our latest update from the transmission repair facility was no update at all, essentially the same status as a few weeks ago, i.e., they are only a few weeks from completion…

We are finally out of Florida and on our way to Maine as part of our 2016 counterclockwise exploration of the east half of the US plus a bit of southern Canada as well.

The Distance: 795 miles, which shows that we are really starting to pick up the pace as this is more than we did in January through March combined.  Our total for the year so far: 1586 miles.  We expect to see even greater mileage in May.

The Places:  Eight locations for this month, nine if you count the unexpected hotel stay due to a flight cancellation in Indianapolis.  We started with a visit to Gloria and Bill’s in Venice that stretched from two to three days due to a bit of illness on my part, then we backtracked south to Sanibel for a five day stay in our favorite Gulf Coast park before finally turning north for a full week stay at Trimble County Park in Mount Dora.  We stopped for one night on Uncle Bob’s property in Geneva before catching our flight to Indiana to see Dad and Marcia, and after returning from that visit we headed north to Gainesville to visit my daughter and cousins.  Finally, we headed east to the Atlantic coast for a stay Gamble Rogers State Park before crossing into Georgia for a two night stay in Savannah.

We had full or partial hook ups for 16 days, dry camped for one, stayed in relative’s homes for ten, and in hotels for three.  Looked at another way: we stayed at private RV resorts for six days, in public campgrounds for ten (7 state, 3 county), in relatives driveways, houses, or other property for eleven, and, as already stated, in hotels for three.

The Budget:   We scraped by this month, finishing nearly 4% under budget, though only because of a few sales from Rosemarie’s jewelry, a bit of Craigslisting, and the refund check from our Active Advantage membership experiment.  We managed this despite having to pay an (admittedly small) income tax bill and having to shell out an unexpected $240 for a new RV tire.  In addition to some extra money from sales and refunds, what saved us this month was the 14 days spent with relatives or in free hotels (courtesy of Allegiant Air and a credit card sign up offer.)  Not paying any campground fees for half the month more than offset the six days spent at high end private RV resorts.  We are three out of four months under budget this year!

The Drama:  We had to replace another tire on Serenity, which is really just confirmation that all of them are at the end of their appropriate life cycle.  We will have to bite the bullet and do the remaining four pretty soon I think.

The Improvements:  Once again, nothing significant to report.  We have plans for improvements,  such as new tires, a tire pressure monitoring system, a better work/crafting area, storage improvements, etc, but right now it just isn’t in the budget.

All of our monthly reports, as well as our first full year report, 2015 in Review, are linked below.

2016 Reports:

• January Report
• February Report
• March Report

2015 in Review

• January Report
• February Report
• March Report
• April Report
• May Report
• June Report
• July Report
• August Report
• September Report
• October Report
• November Report
• December Report

A few posts back we reported on our mixed experience flying the discount airline Allegiant. We had been quite lucky; learning during our flight to Indianapolis that our’s was one of three flights that day on which every passenger would get there full itinerary costs refunded as a tax day gift from the airline. Fantastic!  Unfortunately on our return trip we waited in the airport for five hours as he flight experienced delay after delay before finally cancelling.  Allegiant rescheduled everyone to the next morning, stated they would reimburse anyone needing a hotel for the night up to a certain amount, and promised to issue $100 vouchers as compensation for the difficulty.

We are happy to report that Allegiant came through on all fronts.  We received our vouchers via email, and the hotel reimbursement check has been cut as well.  While a cancelled flight is always a pain, Allegiant has done right by all of us effected, and we are quite happy with the outcome.

So after a mere 5 1/2 weeks of meandering through the state we have finally left Florida, signalling that we will be picking up the pace of northward travel until we reach Maine.  After leaving Gamble Rogers Memorial State Park we intersected I-95 and headed three hours north to the top of coastal Georgia.  One of the more lesser known good deals about visiting Savannah in an RV is that you can park your rig right downtown in the visitor center for up to 48 hours at only $7 per night.  We first learned of this deal when we transported The Big Kahuna from Wilmington to Florida two years ago.  Sure, its parking lot drycamping, but you are blocks from the River Street area and right in the middle of historic Savannah.   City driving in a big RV is always a touch intimidating, but the route to the visitor center was not that bad at all, and only the backing into the designated RV spots is a touch tricky.

We pulled in beside a 37 footer with a distinctive large turtle decal on the back, but unlike our new neighbors, we weren’t actually going to stay in the RV for the night.  Due to a credit card sign up offer from last year I had two free nights at any Hyatt hotel that I needed to use before expiration, and Savannah was the perfect opportunity.  We booked at the Andaz Hotel, a high end property even closer to the River Street area.  We took advantage of yet another not so well known deal from the Savannah Visitor Center and purchased a 48 hour parking pass for Loki.  At $7 per day this allowed us use not only the visitor center lot, but any municipally owned parking area throughout the city.  This saved us a good chunk of change during our stay; the hotel wanted $16 per night just for their lot!

While in Savannah Fred and Donna, friends and neighbors from our mutual time in Miami Beach, drove over from Statesboro to visit us and show us around town.  After obligatory cocktails in our hotel, we took to the streets in search of food and entertainment.  Donna pulled us towards The Lady and Sons, Paula Deen’s restaurant in town.  It was an affordable, country style buffet focusing on fried chicken and comfort food.  Though skeptical at first, we ended up stuffing ourselves pretty thoroughly.  We didn’t even have room for the included deserts, but they boxed it up for us and we had it the next morning, regretting only that we did not get to enjoy it warm and gooey as intended.

After dinner we headed out on the town, soon encountering a great classic rock band performing outdoors in one of the small parks surrounded by restaurants and boutique stores.  We watched and listened to a good portion of their set before calling it a night.

The next morning Fred and Donna picked us up and took us to the historic Bonaventure Cemetery, a beautiful oak and spanish moss dominated former plantation south of the city and next to the river.  Afterwards we found a well reviewed restaurant, Te Crystal Beer Parlor, with a great selection of local craft brews and an excellent lunch menu.  They were a bit understaffed and struggling to get us even drinks in a timely manner, but the manager came by to apologize and provided a desert on the house for the four of us to split.

We ended the weekend by strolling the River Street waterfront area, finally getting back to the honey shop we had enjoyed so thoroughly our last visit.  Mid afternoon we said our goodbyes to Fred and Donna before retiring to the hotel for a bit of luxury, TV, and free high speed internet, things no RVer should take for granted.

After leaving Gainesville we headed nearly due east to the Atlantic Coast, having secured three days in one of Gamble Rogers’s limited number of ocean facing sites big enough for our rig.  We first stayed at Gamble Rogers two years ago when we first brought The Big Kahuna down to Florida from North Carolina.  Back then we secured a last minute night on a same day cancellation.  We loved it so much we vowed to come back, but we never managed to get back; either our schedule or mechanical issues interfered.

But now we were on our way with nothing to stop us.  Reservations secured and just a two hour drive to our last Florida stop on our way north.  It’s never that easy, of course, and as we cruised slowly through the town of Palatka we heard a loud thump and a metallic ping, that sounded a bit like we had lost a hubcap.  We pulled over immediately and spotted another flat tire, the outside left rear, the partner to the tire we replaced in the keys a couple of months back.

OK, could be worse, its the outside tire, so easier to replace, we are in a town big enough to have several repair shops, and we have cell phone service.  We pulled over as far as we could and I began the phone an internet search for a nearby place with an appropriate tier while also working the insurance in case we needed road side assistance.  But after consultation with the mechanic at Palatka Truck Center, the third place we called and the only one that had the right size tire in stock, we decided that we could drive Serenity the three miles back to them on the remaining good tire on that side.

We had no problems, and Palatka Truck Repair was able to get us back on the road withing thirty minutes at a cost of only $240, all in, for our new tire, and they even balanced the inside wheel from our previous roadside repair for free.  During out backtrack to their facility, I spotted a Moose Lodge one block from them, so after the repair, and needing lunch anyway, we made a pit stop in their large parking lot for a cheap meal and a beer.  In addition to nice staff and friendly members, this one was particularly cool in that it is the first Moose Lodge we have been to that had designated RV parking with electrical connections!  At a suggested donation of $10 a night, we will definitely be keeping them in mind as we pass through the area in the future.

After a quick lunch and a tour from some of the lodge members, we got back on the road for the short remaining trip to Gamble Rogers.  We checked in at the ranger station before crossing the road to the beach section of the park, and pulled in head first instead of backing in.  This allowed us to have a nearly unobstructed view of the ocean from our expansive front windows, but it required careful positioning in order to connect power and water since they were now located on the other side of he rig.  We managed to get deep enough into the spot and far enough to the right side, from our perspective, to cross the electrical shore power cable and water hose under the bus and make the connection with but a foot to spare.

Having spent the last three stops visiting a plethora of family and friends, it was nice to have this one with no obligations.  We spent the days under our awning, exploring the trails, walking on the beach, taking a few short dips in the ocean, watching the shore and seabirds, and of course doing a bit of geocaching.

Since the weather involved very light breezes for some of our stay, we were lucky enough to watch a pair of powered paragliders making low altitude runs along the sparsely populated beach.  Man that looks like so much fun! And apparently not that expensive or regulated either.

After three great days we packed it up and headed north to Georgia, having taken five weeks to get out of Florida once we finally left Key West.  From here on things will move a bit faster, with on average about four days per state all the way to Maine.

So before we took our free Allegiant Airlines flight to Indiana, we parked Serenity at Uncle Bob’s and Aunt Terri’s in Geneva, enjoying their company as well as that of the Harlow Brothers, contemporaries of my family’s youth in Coalwood, West Virginia. After a night of imbibing and telling tales out of school, they were kind (and sober) enough to drive us to the Sanford Airport for our flight to Indiana. We covered the next five days pretty thoroughly in our last post, and returned to Florida on a Saturday morning in time to get our rig ready for the drive up to Gainesville.

A day behind our travel plan due to a flight cancellation, we adjusted as best we could, and took our preferred back road scenic route through the Ocala National Forest rather than the longer (by distance) though shorter (by time) back track through Orlando to intersect I-75 North.  Three hours later we pulled into Cousins Robb an Colleen’s place, parking perhaps in violation of HOA or community ordinances in their cul-de-sac.

Our immediate schedule was driven by the need to be in town in time for Andrea and friend Shelby’s joint birthday party.  Which was, of course, themed.  By which I mean, of course, that costumes were”highly encouraged.”  Some people groan at such a thing, but Rosemarie and I love it, and can put together a costume for just a few bucks.  As the theme was “under or on the sea,” Rose threw together a beach snorkeler, and I went as Steve Zissou from The Life Aquatic.  Andrea probably won best costume with her smoothly done Aqua(wo)man, but I am pretty sure I took second.  We somehow failed to take any pictures, so you’ll have to take my word for it. In lieu of that, here is Andrea and Pad Kee Meow.

We spent the next two days hanging with the twins, Cousins Nola and Maeve, who are so growing into such interesting and fantastic little creatures, and visiting some of Gainesville’s best thrift and coffee shops.  Andrea capped the visit by taking me to The Twisted Peacock, an interesting Indian-modern fusion restaurant.  I can’t speak for Andrea’s vegetarian selection, but my Rogan Josh was quite tasty and the corn bread (!?!) was delicious.

This may very well be our last visit to Gainesville as Andrea is moving to Iowa and Robb and Colleen are also contemplating a move.  If any of them remain, we look forward to visiting again, perhaps staying in one of the nearby state parks, but if not we will see them wherever they end up!

As mentioned in the last post describing our mixed experience with Allegiant Air, we flew to Indiana to visit my dad and step-mom.  Also full time RVers, they had dropped off their fifth wheel in Memphis before driving on to Indianapolis for a wedding and then continuing north to Brown County.  Marcia had use of a condo while dealing with some ongoing estate issues, and we joined them there for five days.  Marcia was eager to show us her former home town and to demonstrate that Brown County defies most expectations about Indiana.

After arriving in Indianapolis, dad picked us up at the airport for the one hour drive, which fairly well defined one of the primary aspects of Brown County compared to the rest of the state: as you head south from the capital, the infamous pancake-flat planes and fields give way to forested rolling hills.  The closer we got to the county seat of Nashville, the more picturesque the drive became, replete with post card-ready barns, hilltop log cabins, and covered bridges over clear flowing creeks.

From a botanical perspective, the timing of our visit was near perfect.  Flowering trees were approaching their peak bloom:  dogwoods (both white and pink), Cleveland and New Bradford pears, redbuds, and flowering crabapples were in full explosive color.  Some were so impressive that we had to stop and ask locals for the species.

The land didn’t just produce visual stimulation, we also arrived just as one of the areas true delicacies was coming into season: wild morel mushrooms.  Some of you from the pacific north west or mountainous regions of the eastern middle states may have had these before, but neither Rosemarie nor I had ever had the opportunity.  Given that the species is extraordinarily resistant to cultivation, pretty much your only option is to find them in the wild or buy from those who do.  Once informed of the general procedure, we made halfhearted attempts to look for them ourselves, but upon hearing that Marcia had never found one despite living in the county for a couple of decades, we gave up the task as pointless and left it to the professionals.

After a couple of strike outs at local groceries, Marcia found a place in Bloomington, that had three pounds left.  Barely had she heard the words before she had hustled dad into the truck to make a 30 minute high speed run to secure a bunch, and did so at what was apparently a great price: $30 vice the expected $50 for a pound.  She rinsed and soaked them before slicing longitudinally, coated them in a light breading, and finally pan fried them as the culinary highlight for a small party for us and her local friends.  I love new food experiences, and am willing to try pretty much anything new, but these were more than just an interesting thing to try; they were delicious in that earthy way that only fungus can provide.

Of course, shrooms were not the only fantastic edible thing we had while there, Marcia took us on a bit of a whirlwind tour of the county with special focus on the local culinary highlights.  At our request, she steered away from the high falutin’ in favor of the true local flavor.  Which lead us to the fantastic fried biscuits with apple butter at the Brown County Inn.  My god, they were fantastic.  I know I could have plowed through half a dozen, but thankfully we split a basket of four as an appetizer.

We also drove a tad up the road to the oddly named Gnaw Bone for a gigantic breaded pork tenderloin sandwich at the Gnaw Mart.  This is my kinda place: a roadside mini-mart that happens to specialize in local standard to the point that they have been featured in Gourmet Magazine and on one of the popular national morning shows.  Very Anthony Bourdain: no fancy eating area or table service, just fold up cafeteria tables in a storage room and an oversized juicy sandwich that we should have split between us.  Ah well, leftovers.

Nashville itself is also quite charming.  In the early to mid 1900’s the town became a significant art colony, primarily among impressionists.  Today the area maintains a significant relationship with that history, with art galleries and relevant events a mainstay for the town.  And of course there were antique shops a-plenty.  I had great luck in securing a handful of vintage Gillette razors at the amazing Brown County Antique Mall, whereas Marcia had better results finding a collectible eye wash cup at the giant, three story antique warehouse.

We took a drive through the expansive Brown County State Park, enjoying the previously mentioned profusion of flowering trees and clear running creeks.  There we also indoctrinated dad into the cult like hobby of geocaching.  Having downloaded the app and created an account, he also managed to find a trackable item in one of the local caches, so we look forward to hearing about how he moved that item down the road.

Lastly, I want to mention the significant influence of local musician Slats Klug, whose songs were a soundtrack to our visit.  Whether continually selected by Marcia as we passed landmarks mentioned in his lyrics, or played at the antique shops we visited, he was a constant presence.  I can recommend the highly entertaining tale of probation era shine runners in “Smelling My Way Home In The Dark,” which we played while driving along the roads and by the landmarks specifically mentioned in the lyrics.

I don’t know when we will be back to Indiana, but Brown County was one more confirmation that every state has wondrous things to show you.

I’ll get to the details of the trip next post, but to keep this on point: We scheduled a flight from Central Florida to Indianapolis to visit my dad and step-mom, Marcia, whom we had managed to miss during our mutual RV travels, partially due to our continuous mechanical difficulties. So before continuing our trip towards Maine and, based on their RV plans, probably miss them again until late this year, we did some research, found an affordable though not dirt cheap flight on a discount airline, Allegiant, on which we had never flown. We also paid for it with points from a recent credit card sign up bonus, so it was sort of free.

We probably would have taken a major carrier since the price wasn’t that different, except that the Allegiant flight was out of a Sanford, a satellite regional airport to Orlando International.  Located far closer to where we would be keeping the RV, and without the crowded drama that major airports entail, it was the best option, even if it meant getting nickel and dimed for every aspect of a discount airline itinerary.  So we paid the extra baggage fees, avoided the extra ticket fee by printing our passes at home, and boarded without drama or complaint.

After we took off and leveled out at cruising altitude, a cameraman stood up and recorded one of the flight attendants as she announced a special surprise: As part of a kind of compensation for tax day, Allegiant would be refunding the entire cost of the itinerary, including the return flight and whatever upgrades and special fees anyone had incurred, for everyone on this flight!  Though we had paid for the trip with some flexible travel points, we would get all of those back to use on another trip. Man what a deal. We were encouraged, of course, to share all about it on social media, and were provided with a flier with the details and preferred hashtags to use, so yeah, it was just a publicity stunt, but heck we benefited and were grateful.

So that’s the good side of our Allegiant experience…

For our return flight my Dad drove us the one hour to the Indianapolis airport and dropped us off about 90 minutes before the 5 PM flight.  Indy was not at all crowded, giving us plenty of time before needing to go through security, so we headed for the USO club.  These places are fantastic benefits for any active or retired military person or family, providing an oasis from the airport hassles, free snacks and (non-alcoholic) drinks, TVs, computers, video games, books, the works.  Most of it is donated our purchased with donations, and the club is staffed by volunteers.  If you have access and aren’t using them, your missing out, particularly if you don’t have entry to one of the various executive airline lounges.

Just before entering the USO, we checked the flight board and discovered that our plane was already delayed by an hour.  Ah well, we settled into the lounge for a slightly longer stay than planned, happy to at least have their amenities.  After an hour, we checked in again, and the flight was delayed another hour!  And then another hour!  Now we were looking at a four hour delay.  Finally, around 8:30 PM, they cancelled the flight out right.

Since we were not at the gate when they announced it, we had to hunt for the details of the cancellation, running into one of the passengers at the sparsely manned Allegiant counter. Together with her information, customer service rep on the phone, and that of the person at the employee unofficially providing information at the counter, we pieced together a somewhat confusing picture involving a replacement flight the next morning at 9:30 AM, and that we were to find our own hotel reservation, though two of the sources suggested that Allegiant would refund the cost up to $200 or more bucks, and might also provide a $100 ravel voucher as compenstation.

Back to the USO, and with the help of the on duty volunteer we hunted for a close by hotel with a shuttle service.  This was surprisingly hard because the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500 was coming up soon, and thus a lot of places were full.  Uncertain of the vague information we were giving about the hotel refund, I picked the cheapest option rather than the first, but it still cost us $140 after taxes for a one night stay at the airport Quality Inn.  After a half hour wait for the shuttle, we settled into the room and made the best of it: a night cap, some TV, and a marginally usable free wifi connection.  The next morning after our complementary breakfast, we took the shuttle to the airport and caught our return flight without further incident.

Since then I have tried to call Allegiant customer service, which after about five minutes of fighting through the phone tree and listening to a detailed list of airline related rules, informs me that I have another 20 minute wait to speak with a representative.  So I used the “contact us” form on their website, and now after nearly three full days I am still awaiting a response concerning reimbursement for the hotel and the $100 voucher.

So there you have it, a mixed bag with Allegiant. Yes, a cancelled flight with some as yet to be resolved costs, but it was a free flight to begin with, so hard to complain to much.

When we swung through Central Florida on our way south this last winter we camped at Trimble County Park for a few days, and loved it so much we vowed to come back for a longer stay if at all possible.  It made for a reasonable home base from which to visit our many family members and friends in the region, and is a real hidden gem in terms of natural beauty.  The challenge is getting reservations for more than a few weekdays, even now that the winter peak season is over.

The park only has 15 sites total, and with a maximum reservation window of 45 days in advance, we were only able to secure three days, arriving on a Monday.  However, as we learned last year, the park holds back a couple of spots for walk ups, which are also available to existing campers that wish to extend.  And so we did, giving us a full week there.

We had an even greater profusion of wildlife sightings than during our last visit, which is part of the explanation for the post title:  No, we did not hunt or kill anything other than midges, mosquitoes, and maybe a few spiders while in the park, but we saw a whole lot of nature, red in tooth and claw.  Nearly all day we could see up to five ospreys soaring over Lake Carlton, occasionally splashing down to snag a fish and haul it back to shore or to a nest.  We watched swallowed tail kites hunting insects over the lake, scooping a drink of water from the surface while in flight, never landing, as they filled up for their return flight to Central or South America.

In the morning as we sat at the edge of the lake 50 feet from our RV, we would frequently catch sight of the prehistoric jaws of Florida gar piercing upward through the water surface as they hunted feet from the shore.  That section of the lake edge was also the preferred night spot for a small, maybe three foot, alligator, that we frequently observed cruising by into the tall lake weeds or up onto the dead vegetation behind the RV next door.

The bullfrogs and squirrels were noisy and active during most of the day, the latter enticing a red shouldered hawk nesting behind one of the RV sites to make several low altitude runs directly through the campground, at one point passing within five feet of Rosemarie perhaps a yard off the ground.  The ranger that walked us over to her nest, pointing out the two chicks visible through binoculars, reported that he had witnessed the hawk snatching a squirrel off the ground during such a maneuver.  As if on cue she flew by again, landing on the campsite marking post two down from ours.

Pad Kee Meow was in hunter’s heaven, stalking the lizards near our rig, only her leash and our intervention preventing her from killing, or at least conducting an “enhanced interrogation,” of a dozen reptiles during our stay.  Though I tried to point it out to her (cats don’t seem to understand the concept of pointing) she completely missed the small black racer that slithered through camp one morning.  Though the mosquitoes were present in less abundance than I expected, the harmless but annoying midges congregated in the thousands around our outside night lights, teaching us to turn them off at dusk or risk an intrusion in the hundreds if we opened the door for a few seconds.

One morning as I was positioning our folding chairs I spotted a complete bird nest, with a tiny egg no bigger than a thumb nail in the lined pocket of the chair.  The ranger swung by and carefully moved it, informing us that it was likely a Carolina Wren, which will apparently build a nest on you if you hold still for more than five minutes.  Sure enough we spotted the culprit all throughout the day looking for the nest, and failing that just laying a second egg directly into the pocket despite the lack of a nest.  I moved it to the repositioned nest, but we left without knowing if she found it.

This visit we had more time to explore the park, including the various docks, picnic areas, boardwalks and trails.  The easy one hour stroll down the point between Lakes Carlton and Beauclair is particularly nice, covered almost the entire way with Spanish moss covered oaks, cypress trees, and palms.

Lastly, when we were packing up our folding table, which had spent the entire week next to the palm trees a few feet from the lake shore, I had to clear 20 spiders from the underside of the table and associated cloth, yet another lesson that should have been unnecessary since we had commented several times about the abundance of webs filled with midges and other bugs in that specific location.  Take note, future Trimble Park campers, don’t leave your gear next to the lake!

It wasn’t all about the lower animals, we had plenty of the higher ones come visit us while there.  We met Anthony and Anita, the friends that caught us trying to sneak through Mount Dora last year without coming to see them, at a cute cafe in popular and historic downtown area.  We hosted a evening BBQ at which my son and daughter-in-law (Jackson and Andrea,) cousin and cousin-in-law (Brian and Ashley), and one of Rosemarie’s friends (Nancy) recently transplanted to Mount Dora were able to join us.

We also put a good number of miles on Loki visiting everyone who was available in the region.  Son Jackson in Deland, Aunt Judy and Bill in Lake Mary, and Nancy in Eustis.  We missed visiting the Pineras, hopefully we will catch them early this winter when we come back to Florida, and the Nealy’s who could not secure one of those difficult to get Trimble Park reservations, probably because of all of us weekday guests extending though the weekend, heh.

Our last full day in Trimble we wore our ALS Walkathon Shirts, in solidarity with Team Linda, which crushed all opposition with the most money raised and most participants at the Virginia Beach event.

As part of our “prepare for the future research,” we swung by Kelly Park/Rock Springs  (another Orange County park, like Trimble) to check out the campground as an option for a future stay in the region.  Basically, we need a few more options since Trimble Park, though wonderful, can be difficult to reserve, and is just a bit too far away from Jackson, Aunt Judy and a few others to be an ideal base for our Central Florida excursions.

This coming winter we are thinking about splitting it up, a week in Trimble/Mount Dora/Rock Springs, a week in Blue Springs State Park (closer to the above mentioned kin) and a couple of days at Uncle Bob’s and Aunt Terri’s in Geneva.  As always, we would love to hear any recommendations for the area.

After we left the disappointing Turtle Beach Campground on Siesta Key, we headed back down the road half an hour to Venice, Fl to stay with Gloria and Bill for a couple of days.  When visiting their area we like to split time between parking the RV in their driveway and staying at nearby parks. Turtle Beach is simply the latest experiment in our ongoing exploration of alternatives to our preferred Rambler’s Rest RV Resort during the months they do not take the Passport America rate.  So far we prefer the difficult to reserve Oscar Scherer State Park, but we will probably try the Myakka River State Park next winter.

We always love coming to the Bayba’s, welcoming as they are to us and our cat, who has the run of the house and large screened in pool deck.  We also took the opportunity to give Pad Kee Meo her monthly bath and next day flea treatment.  You can tell from the picture she loves this just as much as every other cat.

Gloria always makes a variety of Puerto Rican dishes, usually starting with bacalaitos, a type of cod fritter.  While there we got to see Rosemarie’s brother, niece, soon to be sister-in-law, and her son, that’s Jerry, Laura, Kim, and Andrew, respectively.

I had planned to go on a salt water fishing outing with Bill, but the weather intervened and the charter captain rightly cancelled. This was actually quite a good thing, because I had developed a rather nasty stomach problem, and rocking and rolling at sea for six to eight hours in cramped quarters would have been uncomfortable at best.

After four days of suffering I consulted with Uncle Bob, a family practitioner, and he recommended I go straight to a walk in clinic, which in this town are rather numerous. The Gulf Coast Medical Group‘s urgent care facility saw me with only a short wait, issued a script, took a variety of tests, and said to call back each day for the results so as to adjust the medicine if needed.

Sure enough, 48 hours later they ordered me to stop taking the issued prescription, which had provided some symptomatic relief but was actually interfering with my body’s attempt to fight off the cooties, and immediately start on a course of antibiotics to combat a nasty bacterial infection.  Unfortunately this particular medicine is a close cousin of disulfram, aka antabuse, a drug used to treat chronic alcoholism by making it very unpleasant to consume alcohol.  So I had to completely forgo the divine juices for the 10 day course of treatment, which was more difficult than the actual sickness, heh.

Because of this ongoing illness and associated treatment we extended our stay at the Bayba’s from two to three days.  We called Periwinkle Park to inform them of the delay in our arrival, they understood the circumstances and did not charge us for the day or a change fee.  The next day I felt sufficient to the task of managing the two hour drive, so we backtracked south by 80 miles towards Fort Myers, crossing the expensive ($12 for the rig plus tow vehicle) toll causeway onto Sanibel Island.

We had scheduled this latest stay in order to allow Rosemarie to go on Pam Rambo’s shelling excursion to some of the other little islands reachable only by boat.  Pam is the owner of I Love Shelling, one of the local mainstay’s in Sanibel well known for her expertise and love of beach combing.  The haul was not as much as Rosemarie has taken on a good day on Sanibel after rough weather has stirred things up, but the outing was fun and informative.

Roseann and Anthony came to visit us for the weekend, and we enjoyed showing them the island, especially Friday morning exotic bird presentation right in the park.  Since we know the area reasonably well now we are also able to take guests to the best beaches, shops, and a couple of affordable but good restaurants.

We finished up our five day stay, saying goodbye to both Sanibel and the Gulf Coast until we return to Florida late in the fall.  Turning north east, we headed back to what has become one of our favorite places, Trimble County Park near Mount Dora.  Since Sanibel involved a bit of backtracking, in a way this marks the true beginning of our northward journey up the East Coast.  We look forward to meeting up with family and friends along the way, so if we are passing through your hometown or RV location, let us know and hopefully we can meet up.