You are currently browsing the monthly archive for April 2019.
Yup, I kid you not. While still at White Oak Creek, we made a quick day trip into Georgia to the Providence Canyon State Outdoor Recreation Area. It’s this weird place in Western Georgia that was created by erosion due to poor farming techniques in the 19th century. On a pretty Sunday afternoon, we took a nice walk to the bottom and wandered about a bit admiring this strange place. I’ll let the photos speak for themselves, but if you’re ever in the neighborhood, it’s certainly worth a stop.
To our Montana/Utah kin: OK, so it’s not Yellowstone or the Wasatch, but when you come from a state whose maximum elevation is the lowest max elevation in the US (345′), then you take what you can get.
Providence Canyon State Recreation Area, GA 4/21/19
Providence Canyon State Recreation Area, GA 4/21/19
Providence Canyon State Recreation Area, GA 4/21/19
Providence Canyon State Recreation Area, GA 4/21/19
Providence Canyon State Recreation Area, GA 4/21/19
March 17th: Leave rented house, move on to Sybil.
March 29th: Turn over rental keys, Sybil is now our “official” home.
April 18th: Drive out of Florida.
Florida had been my home for 37 years, Patti’s for more than 25, and a lot has obviously happened in that time, including an entire career doing something meaningful. Now I’m retired from that career and we’re not looking back. Crossing that Florida-Georgia line (huh, catchy) was a major step in our new lifestyle. We’re really doing it. (gulp)
White Oak Creek CG, 4/18/19
We stayed at a Corps of Engineer (COE) campground just south of Eufaula, Alabama (pronounced “you-falla”) called White Oak (Creek) Campground. (Why “Creek” is in parentheses is a mystery.) This is our second COE campground and we just love them. By definition, they are almost always on water. And they are cheap. With our America The Beautiful Pass, we paid $12/night for a water view. Seriously, Patti and I stood in front of our picture window just staring at the view many times during our four nights here. This is a big reason why we’re doing this.
We had a milestone while staying here. Overnight on our first night a significant weather event took place that affected much of the southeast. One of those strong fronts came by. Just like much of our history with hurricanes, it passed during the wee hours of the night. Also just like the many tropical storms and hurricanes we went through, the wind drove us crazy. Unlike those previous storms, the RV was rocking pretty good. Our house tended to not move too much during the storms. It would vibrate, but not roll. (BTW: a concrete block house vibrating like a tuning fork does not instill a sense of well being.) After all was said and done, we came through without a hitch, although we were a bit sleep deprived the next day.
On Friday, the place filled up and lots of the campers brought their boats … either fishing or pontoon party boats. Many of the campsites, including the one right next to us, could handle an RV/trailer, tow vehicle, boat, and it’s tow vehicle. All on one site. People would put their boat in the water and then just tie it off on the beach next to their site. Crazy.
What else was crazy was the balance of our time here. We took a nice walk through Eufaula and had a great lunch. We also spent time just sitting outside by the lake, watching the world (and geese) go by. It’s rough doing this RV thing. And we took a field trip that was awesome enough to justify its own post. Stay tuned for that! What a great campground.
Our best view (so far), White Oak Creek CG, 4/18/19
Lady Sybil, White Oak Creek CG, 4/18/19
A visiting family, White Oak Creek CG, 4/21/19
Nora’s evening walk, White Oak Creek CG, 4/18/19
A peanut processing plant, still in operation, Eufaula, AL, 4/20/19
A portion of the Creek Indian Trail, Eufaula, AL, 4/20/19
To complete our exit from Florida, we spent a few nights at the Stephen Foster Cultural Center State Park along the banks of the Suwannee River. We have stayed here before and it’s a great, mellow park with some good walking along the river. We didn’t do much here, mostly walked and did some chores. A major chore was to run over to Green Cove Springs, FL to visit our mail service and pick up some important items in person. Getting mail while living on the road needs to be planned and physically receiving it can be difficult. Most of the time we have them scan and then shred our mail, but we had received a debit card and decided to just go by and pick it up ourselves. We made a day of it and took a nice drive across NE Florida.
Otherwise we just enjoyed the beautiful weather. I took a couple of walks along the Florida Trail but didn’t get any biking in. I tried to get some photos of the Spanish Moss in the campground but the only evening I was free at the appropriate time (for that good evening light) it was very overcast. Maybe next time.
We have found that three days at a location is just not enough when you need to actually live your normal life at the same time. Groceries, banking, and all of the other “normal” activities take up time. We are currently heading to an appointment in Iowa but once we clear that we’ll be slowing down. There’s a lot of roses out there to smell and we plan on taking the time to do so.
Almost that good light. Stephen Foster SP, 4/16/19
Backwoods campsite, Stephen Foster SP, 4/16/19
It’s nice to be walking real trails again. Stephen Foster SP, 4/17/19
Spotted on the trail. It was still so cool that he didn’t move as I approached, knelt down, took the photo, and walked away. Stephen Foster SP, 4/17/19
Nora is adjusting well. That’s her seat. Stephen Foster SP, 4/17/19
Enjoying the Silver River, 4/13/19
We have been to Silver Springs several times over the years and have always loved it, so we made it our next stop in the Crawl Out of Florida. Easy drive, no entry line, nice weather, perfect. This park is divided into two parts: camping/recreating and the old Silver Springs attraction which is famous for its glass bottom boat tours of the springs. Campers get free admission so we have been to the springs several times and taken both the regular and extended tours. They’re both great. This trip, Patti wanted to go kayaking, so that’s what we did.
We went over on a Saturday morning which could have been bad, but wasn’t. We spoke with the girl behind the counter, money changed hands, and soon we were floating through the park. And it was great. We quickly got the hang of controlling the kayak (well, mostly) and had a lovely float down a side channel of the Silver River. Very wooded and not too hot. And, because of course there are, there were monkeys.
Back in the 1930s, a local entrepreneur (Colonel Tooey) had the bright idea of importing some monkeys to an island and then charging tourists to see them “in the wild”. What he didn’t realize was that rhesus monkeys could swim, which they quickly did. Hence, several colonies of monkeys are roaming about Central Florida (predominately here at the park). And there’s your fun fact of the day. (Bonus fun facts: they filmed portions of “Sea Hunt” and some Tarzan movies here. If you don’t know what “Sea Hunt” is, ask your parents.)
The bonus to the day was that I decided to charge the batteries of a very old waterproof camera (an Olympus 720, to be exact) that I hadn’t used in a decade or so. To my great surprise and pleasure it still works great, so see below.
Finally, we brought Nora out of Sybil in a harness and leash. She’s not quite comfortable yet, but she sure is interested. Stay tuned on that front.
Silver River, 4/13/19
Cheeky Monkeys, Silver River, 4/13/19
Contemplating a turtle, Silver River, 4/13/19
Walking the cat, Silver Springs SP, 4/13/19
The wait to get into Wekiwa Springs 4/7/19
We spent 3 weeks at Wickham Park in Melbourne moving out of the house, transitioning into Sybil, and saying our goodbyes. It was difficult, particularly the goodbyes, and we were very tired and more than a bit shell-shocked when we headed out to our first “official” stop. Only a bit under two hours away is Wekiwa Springs State Park, our home for five nights. It was an easy drive on a beautiful Sunday afternoon until we came around the last corner and saw a large backup waiting to get into this very popular park.
Now, understand that when we are towing the truck we are 63′ from end to end. If it wasn’t for the kindness of a stranger we’d be sitting there still. We sat there for 45 minutes waiting to get in, but it wasn’t that bad. Secure in the knowledge that we could empty our bladders whenever we wanted in our very own bathroom, the wait was stress free.
Our time at Wekiwa was as mellow as we could make it. We went over to St. Petersburg to make our farewells to my sister on one day, on another we strolled the town of Mt. Dora. Otherwise it was nice long walks on the trails in the park, naps, some normal chores, and basic decompression. It was extremely relaxing and a welcome change to the hustle and bustle leading up to our departure.
We are settling into our new reality. I’ve rearranged my clothes several time after learning what works and what doesn’t. Same for our basement storage. And the kitchen/pantry is most certainly a work in progress.
Below are a handful of photos as well as a map of our stops so far. The map only shows two stops so far. Stay tuned, that number will only grow.
The driver casually cruising. 4/7/19
Nora casually cruising. 4/7/19
Lady Sybil at Wekiwa Springs, 4/11/19
A view of Sand Lake. Note the sign next to the bench warning of alligators. How relaxing. 4/11/19
A Mt. Dora bookstore. Our kind of place. 4/10/19
The World as We See It 