Blue Roads to Hiking Trails

Cain's Creekside RV Park

2012-03-08T18:19:00.000-06:00

I’m writing this tonight from Hahira, Georgia, just a few miles north of Valdosta. We didn’t get in a rush to leave this morning, but took our time doing the last minute preparations and talking to the neighbors and anyone else who happened to walk by our site. Even when it was time to go, we only drove to the front of the campground before stopping to fill up on propane, settle up our bill in the office, and chat with a few more of the winter regulars. It was about 10 AM when we finally pulled away.

We’re not opposed to spending a night at Wal-mart between travel days. On our way down to Florida in January, we stayed at a Wal-mart in Valdosta. However, temperatures were forecasted to be pretty warm this afternoon, so Gene found us a campground with full hook-ups for a Passport America rate of $15.

Us in site number 2. I think that's the owner's home behind us.

Cain’s Creekside RV Park is almost brand new--it just opened last August. The owner is so excited about his campground and he dotes on every customer. He even came out to the motorhome with Gene after he checked in. And, he was excited to share his big plans for expansion this summer.

We have the view of this pond out our front window.

The campground is small with only about 11 sites. They’re all pull-thrus with full hook-up with 30 and 50 amp electrical posts. This sites are moderately spacious, with gravel parking pads and grass between sites. The owner has planted a tree on each site and some shrubs. There are also privacy fences between each site. The fences are not tall; they seem to be designed primary to hide the utilities and the trash can. Each site has a brand new picnic table and a fire ring. The sites are all in a row facing a small pond.
The land on the other side of the pond is vacant at this time, but the expansion plan is to put another row of sites over there. Because that area is vacant now, our view across the pond is of a mobile home community. What we see is not unattractive. The homes are all doublewides on large lots. The whole community looks to be well maintained. It’s not a rundown trailer park.

That's the new office on the other side of our neighbor in site number 1.

The campground is located about a mile out of town, and we are truly out of town. There is a large horse farm across the street. There are no street lights and very little traffic. The only thing to disturb the peace and quiet is the train which rumbles past about once an hour. Fortunately, we’re not too close to a street crossing so we can barely hear the whistle.

So, we’re back on the road, and that’s our first day. Thanks for tagging along.

A Winter in Florida

2012-03-07T14:20:00.000-06:00

This has been our third winter in Florida; the last two here in Bushnell and the first winter in Ocala. We’ve decided wintering in central Florida suits us. There are various reasons, of course--in the scheme of things it’s not so far from Nashville, there are some trails for hiking, we enjoy the Escapee park, and Bushnell is conveniently located to the bigger cities of Tampa, Orlando, and Ocala.

A sampling of our winter in photos.
Longleaf Pine and blue skies.

There are a lot of other places we like better than Florida, but all of those places are cold in the winter. We want some place warm and Florida has that. So does Texas, but Texas is several hundred miles farther from Nashville. That’s important to us because we want to be able to see family about every three months. On a few of our trips we’ve been away from family for six months or so. We found we didn’t like that so much.

Withlacoochee River

Since we love to hike, it’s important to us to have trails in the area. There are a lot of trails around central Florida. They’re sandy and flat, which is not our favorite, but the area still offers some decent hiking opportunities. Summerdale, Alabama would be another option for winter, but besides not being quite warm enough, there are almost no trails in the area.

Walks on the Van Fleet and Withlacoochee State Trails

Speaking of Summerdale, Rainbow Plantation Escapee Park there is wonderful. The campground is nice and they offer almost nonstop activities at the clubhouse. As nice as Rainbow Plantation is, we like Sumter Oaks here in Bushnell better. It’s a much smaller campground and we like that. The selection of activities is much more limited, but we’re off doing our hiking thing anyway. It’s a quiet, cozy little park and we’re beginning to think of it as our winter home.

Fellowship with friends. This one at Mike and Peggy's place.

Bushnell, as a city, has very little to offer, but an hours drive will get you to Tampa, Orlando, or Ocala. An hours drive will also get you to the Gulf coast or the Atlantic.

For all these reasons, we’ll likely be back to Florida for several winters to come.

How about all those trail lunches in Withlacoochee State Forest

As far as this year goes, we’ve really enjoyed our stay. Because of family issues in Nashville, we didn’t get down here as early as we had hoped, but next year we’re thinking about coming down early in December--really spend the winter here. Our hiking has been good. We’ve hiked about 80 miles since arriving in the middle of January and didn’t do the same hike twice. We didn’t do a lot of sightseeing this time like we did the past two winters, but next year we may slip away for a couple weeks to the Everglades. The best part of this winter has been the time with friends. We had a great week with Mike and Peggy, and six weeks with Tony and Diana. We’ve renewed our friendships with several folks who make this their winter home and we’ve made a few new friends as well. How can it get any better?

Whether Dairy Queen, Twisty Treats, or Plant City
we could always find something sweet to eat.

We’ve been busy today preparing to move. Anytime we sit for very many days in a row I have to go through every cabinet to be sure things are secured for travel. I also got all the laundry done. Escapee parks usually have the cheapest laundry facilities around. Gene washed the dust off the motorhome and the car. They sure look pretty.

Everything is ready so it looks like we’ll be pulling out in the morning heading up to Valdosta, Georgia for the night then on to Perry Friday. We’re anxious to be on the road again. But, we’ll be right back here next winter I’ll betchya.

That’s it for today. Thanks for tagging along.

Thinking Ahead

2012-03-05T15:03:00.000-06:00

Boy, what a difference a day makes. A front passed through early Sunday morning bringing thunderstorms and behind it, much cooler temperatures. Today dawned bright and sunny, but only 40 degrees at 7 AM.

I think Gene and I both have had our fill of the dry, sandy trails here in Florida for this year. We’re longing for the mountains. We wanted to get a little exercise today, but opted for the paved Withlacoochee State Trail.

We saw dogwood in bloom today. First time this year.

Maybe it’s just a case of hitch itch. We’ve been here 6 weeks and are looking for a change of scenery. Besides that, we’re anxious to see family. Much of our conversation over the past few days has revolved around our plans after leaving here.

We only have one commitment this spring and that is Gene’s summons to jury duty the last week in March. We don’t have to be back in Nashville until then, and we don’t want to get there much earlier than that to avoid any lingering winter weather.

After Nashville, we want to make a bee line for the Smokies. Spring wildflowers in the mountains are just gorgeous and I want to be there for the display. With that in mind, we decided to make our visit in Nashville on the front end of jury duty rather than afterwards.

Also entering into our thoughts has been the drive north on I-75 through Georgia. First of all, we want to stop in Perry to visit with my brother and his family. Since everybody there works, weekends are the best time for quality visiting. We’ve got that all worked out for next weekend.

Not wanting to get to Nashville before the following weekend, we were looking around for some hiking to occupy our time. North Georgia seems like a perfect spot--colder temperatures and some real mountains to climb. There might even be a few thru-hikers in the area needing a little trail magic.

We haven’t done much hiking in North Georgia, so have been reading the hiking blogs and looking at the maps to get some ideas. A 10-mile loop hike Jermm’s Outside posted about a few weeks ago caught our attention. We put that on the list. I would also like to hike up Blood Mountain southbound on the AT from Neel’s Gap. The morning we hiked through there on our Georgia section in 2003 it was so foggy, we didn’t have any views. I’m sure we’ll come up with something.

So, we have a rough plan on the drawing board. We’ll revise and refine as the week progresses, but for now we expect to pull out of here Thursday or Friday.

That’s it for today. Thanks for tagging along.

Rock Springs Run Trail

2012-03-03T16:50:00.001-06:00

We were up and out early this morning for the drive over to Rock Springs Run State Reserve. We had about a 60 mile drive on secondary roads passing through several small towns. With lower speed limits and lots of traffic lights it took almost two hours to make the trip.

Rock Spring Run State Reserve is part of the Florida State Park system. I was unfamiliar with the term “run” as it relates to a waterway. Gene had to enlighten me. A “run” is what I would call a stream, creek, or river. Rock Spring Run is an 8-mile long river originating from an artesian spring. It forms a portion of the boundary of Rock Springs Run State Reserve and eventually empties into the Wekiva River. According to the brochure, Rock Springs Run offers some fine canoeing.

Within the Reserve there are 14 miles of hiking trails as well as bike and horse trails. We went there, of course, to hike and had selected a 7-mile loop for today. There is an entry fee of $3 per vehicle. We parked at parking area number 1--the parking area for hikers. Parking area number 2 is for bicyclists and parking areas 3 and 4 are for horses. Parking area number 1 will only accommodate about 5 cars. There is an information kiosk with park information and trail maps, but there is no restroom or water.

We got started on our hike about 9:30. We were excited about the trail at the beginning. After leaving the road and hiking in the counterclockwise direction, we immediately entered an area of pines. We were mostly in the shade on a wide, well maintained trail. After about a quarter mile or so we were in a large expanse of saw palmetto. Not long after that we were on a deeply rutted forest road, probably an old logging road. We hiked along for about a mile and a half dodging the deepest ruts and in full sun before we decided it just wasn’t any fun. After a very brief discussion, we decided to turn back.

Yellow butterwort

Apparently, Rock Spring Run can be accessed from the hiking trails, but we weren’t in the area for that. We did pass a “lake”, but the trail didn’t get close enough for us to actually see water. Since it’s been so dry in Florida, I’m wondering if this small lake was dry.

Even though we aborted our hike, it still was a fine outing. I especially enjoyed the change of scenery from what we’ve been seeing in the Withlacoochee State Forest. Twenty-five miles east of here we started seeing short, rolling hills and small ponds and lakes. The vegetation was much greener there than here, also. We passed a tree farm and several nurseries and citrus groves.

We stopped in Tavares for a quick lunch and were home by 2 PM. It’s just as well we cut our hike short, because the wind had worked itself up into some pretty strong gusts. We were able to get our awning stowed away before it got damaged.
We’ll put Rock Spring Run Reserve on our list for next year, but on a cooler day. We were so hot this morning, we really didn’t give the park a fair chance. And, I’d like to see Rock Spring Run. We were so focused on getting in the air conditioned car and getting some lunch, we didn’t take time to search out the river. Gotta do that.

That was our day. Thanks for tagging along.

Gear Maintenance and Trail News

2012-03-02T18:12:00.002-06:00

With temperatures in the mid-80s in central Florida, I haven’t wanted to hike. I’ve closed the curtains, cranked up the AC, and hibernated inside for two days. Gene did a hike yesterday--suffered through ten miles and was just glad to get out of the heat and humidity.

Since I’d gotten most of the chores done earlier in the week, I used the extra time catching up on my blog reading. Got kinda behind when Tony and Diana were here. A couple of things caught my attention from the hiking blogs.

One is the new bear canister regulations put in place by the US Forest Service in northern Georgia. Bear canisters are required in several places out west, but unheard of in the east--until now. A bear canister is a container made of hard plastic which is almost impossible for a bear to break into. Backpackers use these canisters to store food, toiletries, and anything that has an odor that a bear (or any wild animal) might associate with food. This is a temporary requirement (March 1 thru Jun 1) in a short 5-mile section in north Georgia between Jarrad Gap and Neel’s Gap in the Blood Mountain Wilderness Area. Since it is just a 5-mile section, I suspect most backpackers will opt to hike on through and not spend the night in the designated area.

The second news tid-bit was about the upcoming US Postal Service closings. Apparently, some of the small trail town post offices are on the list for possible closure. I didn’t investigate that (only reporting what I read on another blog), but it certainly doesn’t surprise me. This news is important for thru-hikers because some use the USPS for mail drops and bump boxes.

A mail drop is a box packed by the hiker, friend, or family member which contains items the hiker will need in the future and mailed to a post office in a trail town. Gene and I used mail drops when we did our 400 mile section from Hot Springs, NC to Roanoke, VA. Our boxes contained stuff like water treatment chemicals, ziploc storage bags, first aid supplies, vitamins, prescription meds, and the maps and guidebooks for the next section. A bump box is used by hikers to “bump” unused supplies up the trail to be used later. It’s essentially the same thing as a mail drop, but in this case the hiker mails the box him/herself as he/she progresses up the trail.

In recent years, hikers have tended toward mailing boxes to hotels and hostels rather than the post office. This eliminates the need to be in particular place during hours when the post office is open. So, even though some of these small town post offices may close, it may not impact the trail community all that much.

Now for the gear maintenance part of this story. Gene noticed after his hike yesterday that a seam has come apart on his hiking boot. He has a tendency to turn his ankle, so, unlike the popular trend of wearing low cut hiking shoes, he still wears heavy, high-top boots. These boots are expensive, so he tries to make every pair last as long as possible. Today, in an effort to hold that seam together for a few more hikes, he applied plumbers goop. The boots have about a thousand miles on them anyway, so they’re about worn out and Gene ain’t gonna win no fashion award out there on the trail, so plumbers goop it is. At least it’s waterproof. That may become important in a week or two.

The other thing he tried to fix was my raincoat. I have a Helly Hansen, three quarter length raincoat that I’ve had for years. Although my mother gave it to me to use on the trail, I don’t. It’s far to heavy for that. I just use it as my raincoat and I love it. However, it has lost it’s waterproofing. Gene took things under his wing today. There are spray-on products to waterproof fabric, but he used a wash-in product. After the raincoat dried, we did the “water” test. When we sprinkled water on the coat, the drops beaded up pretty good. A heavy rain will be the real test.

That’s about all I know for today. Thanks for tagging along.

March, The Start of Spring Hiking Season

2012-03-01T15:26:00.000-06:00

As hikers living in middle Tennessee, we were always anxious for March to arrive. Warmer temperatures bring on the lure of the trail. It also brings out an array of spring wildflowers and blooming shrubs and trees which turns the trail into a masterpiece. In our minds it was the beginning of spring hiking season.

Appalachian Trail Marker in sidewalk in Hot Springs, NC

March is also the beginning of Appalachian Trail thru-hiker season. Of course, there are always a few hikers who are willing to brave the freezing temperatures and snow who start on their thru-hike early, but most wait for “spring” on Springer Mountain. March and April will see hundreds of hopeful hikers head north from Springer in Georgia on their quest to reach Mt Katahdin in Maine before the snow flies.

Bloodroot

Many of these hikers post journals of their trip and each year I select a few to follow. It’s not a random selection; I have my guidelines. I have found I enjoy the narratives of hikers closer to my age rather than the younger ones. I also like to select hikers who take the time to post about their preparations for the hike. I have noticed that those hikers who are excited about preparations and want to share that excitement on their journals will be the ones who will post often during their hike. I have selected six hikers to follow. These are the three that I’m most excited about.

Star Chickweed

First is Bluevist. She is one of those brave souls who started Jan 1st. She is already through Georgia and the Smokies and is well into North Carolina now. She is hiking alone, which is relatively unusual on the trail, however, women are more and more going on their own. This is the 10th anniversary of her first thru-hike which she completed in 2002. She has gone out for winter hikes (what she calls walks in the woods) for the past several years. She hikes as far as she wants and then gets off the trail. She doesn’t actually say she’s attempting a thru-hike this year, but she seems to be sticking with it even through the snow in the Smokies. She knows what the Trail is all about and the difficulties of a long distance hike. I wish her a safe and enjoyable hike whether or not it turns into a thru-hike.

Crested Dwarf Iris

Next is Richard Lindsey. Richard’s journal caught my eye because he’s hiking with his son, Alex, who recently graduated from high school. They are from Washington state and are leaving early in March for a drive across the country to begin their hike about the middle of March.

Last are Headnout and Tagnalong. These are unusual trail names and when I saw them on the 2012 journal list, I immediately clicked to see who they were. Sure enough, they had done a thru-hike in 2006. I recognized the names of the older couple we had dinner with at Zealand Hut in the White Mountains. The hut system in the Whites is a blog in itself, but for the purposes of this story, I’ll just say that the AT passes most of the huts in the White mountains. Many thru-hikers work for their stay at the huts as they pass through the Whites. Gene and I were among the 36 guests at Zealand Hut the same night Headnout and Tagnalong were there working for their stay. We had a great conversation with them that evening.

Trillium

So, back to their trail journal--After that hike in 2006, Headnout went on to hike the Pacific Crest Trail in 2010. They have decided to thru-hike the AT again this year in celebration of (are you ready for this)--their 49th wedding anniversary. Isn’t that great! They’ll be starting March 8th, on their anniversary. They are accomplished long distance hikers and will make it to Mt Katahdin barring injury or other health issues.

These are my favorite picks for journal reads from this years group of Appalachian Trail thru-hikers. I wish all the hikers a safe journey and I’m anxious to follow along through their Trail Journals.

That’s it for today. By the way, all of today's photos were taken in previous springs. Thanks for tagging along.

Withlacoochee State Trail

2012-02-28T14:57:00.000-06:00

We had many things on our list for today so we were looking for a fast walk just to get a little exercise (work off some of that strawberry shortcake from yesterday). Laps around the outer loop of the campground would have worked, but we prefer something a little more scenic. Withlacoochee State Trail was close by so that’s where we went.

This is another Rail/Trail conversion and is very similar to the Van Fleet Trail a few miles farther east. The Withlacoochee State Trail has the distinction of being the longest paved rail/trail in Florida, coming in at a whopping 46 miles. Like the Van Fleet, the trail is wide, relatively straight, with wide shoulders for dogs and horses. The trail is open to walkers, bicyclists, skaters and horse back riders, but in our very limited observation, it is used mostly by bicyclists. Today, for example, we saw one other walker and about a zillion bicyclists.

Railroad mile marker

We started at the Ridge Manor Trailhead. We parked at this trailhead to access the River Trail last week. It’s a large parking lot with restrooms and picnic area. Ridge Manor Trailhead is only 6 miles from the southern terminus at Owensboro Junction. Today we walked north for about 2.5 miles then turned around to return to the car.

Lyre-leaved sage

Like the Van Fleet Trail, there were relics of the old railroad days. We passed markers which we suspect give the milage to Richmond, but the brochure doesn’t say that. The rest benches are farther apart than on the Van Fleet trail. We finally came to a rest stop after a couple miles. It was much nicer than the ones on Van Fleet. This rest stop had a rack bicycles could be leaned against, a hitching post for the horses, and a covered picnic table as well as the resting bench. Pretty nice.

After our walk we’ve been busy preparing for dinner guests this evening. Tony and Diana will be leaving in the morning, so this is like their sendoff dinner. We’ve also invited other friends to joins us for cocktails beforehand.

With guests coming, I better get busy.

Thanks for tagging along.

Plant City Strawberry Shortcake

2012-02-27T18:47:00.000-06:00

‘Tis the season for the Florida Strawberry Festival in Plant City. This 10-day celebration draws huge crowds every year. This years festival starts Thursday, March 1, and runs through March 11th. The entertainment during the festival includes some pretty big name stars and that always attracts folks, but the real attraction are the strawberries. And, what’s the highest and best use of strawberries? Shortcake, of course.

The Festival begins on Thursday, but Tony and Diana are leaving on Wednesday and they wanted to go check things out. Our reasoning was that strawberries are already coming in and they’ve got shortcake made, why wait for the festival. So we took off down to Plant City today.

Gene did the driving, so he got to pick the route. He chose to take I-75 south to I-4 east. The Plant City exit is only a few miles east of the I-75/I-4 interchange. That’s a drive of about 60 miles. Traffic was heavy on the interstate today so he decided to take Florida 301 for the return trip. It’s a slower, more relaxing drive through rural farmland and only about 50 miles in distance. Once again we were reminded that we greatly prefer back roads to interstates.

We had heard from those in the know that Parkesdale Farm Market was the place to go for shortcake. Apparently, that’s correct and word has gotten around. The parking lot was almost full when we pulled in and the line for shortcake was wrapped around the side of the building. These folks know how to serve a crowd, though, and the line moved quickly. We all ordered the #2 shortcake. That’s the one with a layer of vanilla ice cream between the strawberries and the whipped topping.

Oh my gosh, we couldn’t eat it all. Only Tony cleaned his plate. Next time (probably next year) I’ll go with the strawberry shake. It looked really good, too. The four of us agreed we didn’t think the soft serve ice cream was a significant improvement to the traditional strawberry shortcake.

Plant City has more to offer than just strawberries and Parkesdale Farm Market was selling potted flowers, a variety of citrus and other fruits, and almost any vegetable you might want. You could also buy strawberry plants if you wanted to grow your own.

Grapefruit ready to be bagged.

Oranges for sale

With our tummies full of shortcake and our trunk full of fresh fruits and vegetables we headed home after a quick stop at Starbucks. We pulled into our campground just as the next round of thunderstorms passed through.

We probably won’t go to the Festival. Huge crowds are not something we enjoy. But, we’ll put Plant City and Parkesdale Farm Market on our annual Florida “to do” list.

That’s it for today. Thanks for tagging along.

Men Sweat, Ladies Glisten

2012-02-26T19:48:00.002-06:00

Contributed by Gene.

Do you remember leisure suits and double knit polyester pants? Todays hiking clothes for next to skin wear are normally polyester.

Polyester for hiking took over from polypropylene . The British Army used polypro base layers on Her Majesty’s forces in the Falkland War. Since it was a plastic, it melted often compounding the soldiers’ injuries.

Polypro did not fall out of favor with hikers due to melting. It was, to use the British colloquialism, the PONG factor. Polypro was The Pro at retaining body odors. It seems that after a while they could not be laundered fresh as a mountain breeze. They’d stink soon as you put them on.

So polyester, still a form of plastic as it happens, took over. Polyester does not retain odors nearly as badly. But, make no mistake, after many wearings during sweaty hikes, it to will lose it’s ability to come clean and fresh smelling

There are, of course, quite expensive athletic wash products with enzymes and such to combat this olfactory scourge on our sensibilities. I spent an inordinate amount of time on internet research and it was learned the common man or woman’s polyester anti-pong recommended stategey to be:

Wash early and often, in the hottest water the care label allows. SHOUT and other pretreatments are generally okay and can be rubbed in with the fingertips, but don’t allow pretreatments to stay on the garment longer than five minutes, according to the instructions on the container, or unspecified disaster with result.

We’ve tried various techniques to get rid of the stink including soaking in a bleach solution. Once over the line, it’s hard to retrieve. My favorite strategy is to buy cheap poly garments to begin with. No $40 shirts for me. When they stink irrevocably, replace them with new, cheap hiking clothes. Sooo, my blue shirt got to stinky and now I have a new red one--$5 at Marshell's.

Looks great with my orange hat, don't ya think?

That’s it for today. Thanks for tagging along.

River Trail, Part Two

2012-02-25T14:44:00.000-06:00

We were back on the trail again this morning. Today, we put a couple of trails together and came up with a 4-mile (one way) hike which included the northern end of the River Trail.

Last Wednesday we hiked most of the River Trail beginning at the southern end. We hiked north along the river to a point we were guessing was about 4 miles from the trailhead. That left about a mile of the River Trail that we didn’t do. After we got home and spent some time with the maps, we discovered that we could park the car at a point where the Florida Trail crosses the road and hike south to connect with the Silver Lake Trail, then use a connector trail to reach the northern end of the River Trail after about 3 miles. With the mile of the River Trail that’d make 4 miles one way, 8 for the day--perfect.

I-75 overpass. You can see how low the water is.

Silver Lake

We finally got to see Silver Lake today. Even the Silver Lake Loop trail which we hiked a couple weeks ago doesn’t get close enough to the Lake to see it from the trail. Today, we passed under the I-75 overpass and found ourselves right at the lake. The trail skirted the lake for about a half mile. Lucky for us the water level is very low so we got to walk through the swampy area on dry ground.

Swamp just at the edge of the lake

Near the lake are a couple of campgrounds. We saw a few campers on the trail in this area. Once we got past the lake and the campground zone all was quiet again.

All the trails we hiked today were well maintained. The connector trail south of the campgrounds all the way to and including the mile of the River Trail was an old road bed. At one point, with the old fence posts and the live oaks overhanging the trail, it looked a lot like a country lane.

When we reached the point on the River Trail where we had stopped on Wednesday, we sat again on the bench for a short rest. Shortly after putting our packs back on and heading toward the car, we noticed a little lady rushing toward us. This was a little surprising since we’ve seen so few people on the trails.

Withlacoochee River

As she approached, she slowed down and stopped to speak. She was wearing a t-shirt with something about Appalachian on it, so we asked if it was a reference to the Appalachian Trail. It turned out that this little lady, who looked to be in her mid 70s, was Nitro, an Appalachian Trail section hiker. She is planning to do a 150 miles in Virginia this spring and will then have completed everything from the southern terminus at Springer Mountain in Georgia to Connecticut. We enjoyed chatting with Nitro, but she was in a hurry to be on her way. Training, I guess.

Of all the trail we’ve hiked in central Florida, our hike today was my favorite. We had a woods walk, a short stretch by the lake and through the swamp, and about a mile along the river. There were cypress, live oaks, saw palmetto, and longleaf pine. The trail was mostly in the shade, as well. That is so much more pleasant.

Gene was sporting his new red shirt today. More about that tomorrow.

That’s all for now. Thanks for tagging along.

River Trail

2012-02-22T16:17:00.000-06:00

We were back on the trail today in Withlacoochee State Forest. Today’s hike was along the River Trail. There are several different trails along the Withlacoochee River. Today’s trail was simply named “River Trail”.

We're seeing this along the roadways. Don't have a name for it yet.

We started our hike at the Ridge Manor Trailhead which is only about 6 miles from our campground. It’s the closest trailhead so far of the hikes we’ve done. This trailhead gets more use from walkers and bicyclists using the Withlacoochee State Trail, a paved rail-trail conversion. It has a large parking lot able to accommodate dozens of cars. There is a sheltered picnic area as well as an open picnic area under the live oaks. There is an information kiosk about the paved trail. It also has my favorite--a restroom. A quick word about the restrooms. In Withlacoochee State Forest the restrooms at the trailheads have all been clean, well stocked with tissue, hand soap, and towels, and are of the flush variety, not pit toilets.

To access the River Trail, we walked through the picnic area to an opening in the fence and the beginning of the River Trail. There is an information kiosk located at the fence for this trail as well as a sign in sheet. At almost all the trailheads in Withlacoochee State Forest there are sign in sheets. We always sign in. Forestry Service likes to keep track of trail usage. We figure the more names on a sign in sheet the more likely they’ll maintain the trail.

This trail, for the 4 miles or so we hiked, is about 4 feet wide, about as wide as a lawn mower and it had been mowed recently. We headed east for about a half mile before turning south, but soon turned north and continued north basically paralleling Withlacoochee State Trail and I-75 farther west. After the trail turned north, we followed Withlacoochee River all the way until we turned around. The trail continues on for another 3 miles and joins the Silver Lake Trail which we hiked a couple weeks ago.

We were hiking along the west side of the river on State Forest land. Across the river on the east side the land is privately owned and we saw many fish camps. These camps included everything from the run down hovel to modest cabins to elaborate homes with wrap-around screened porches.

For our lunch we stopped at the bench at Gator Watch. We watched for gators, but saw none today.

Yellow wood sorrel

The River Trail is a linear trail. We went out about 4 miles then turned around to come back. About 2.5 miles from the trailhead is a junction with the Windmill Trail. This 2 mile trail roughly parallels the River Trail, but is about a half mile shorter. We took it for a change of scenery. This trail leads away from the river and into the forest connecting back with the River Trail about a half mile from the trailhead.

The windmill on the Windmill Trail

We got back home before the rains set in. Right now, we’re having a thunderstorm with plenty of thunder and lightning and a few strong gusts of wind. Gene just got soaked trying to lower the awning. This is drastically different from the 30% chance of isolated showers which was our forecast this morning. Oh well, Florida needs the rain and a lot of it.

That’s it for today. Thanks for tagging along.

Mardi Gras to Alaska

2012-02-21T18:15:00.000-06:00

We couldn’t be out on the trail today because there was just too much going on in our campground. As you know, this is Fat Tuesday and Mardi Gras or Carnival is at its peak today.

Not every area of the country gets quite as excited about Mardi Gras as Louisiana and lower Alabama, but way over here in central Florida we had our little parade. It didn’t last long, but it was a whole lot of fun. Not sure what the cows in the pasture across the fence thought about the commotion.

Several couples in the campground spent last summer in Alaska. If you’ve been reading this blog for very long, you know Gene and I were there as well as Tony and Diana. We didn’t travel together, but met up a couple times during the summer. Also there were Wanda and Wallace, the campground managers at this park. Traveling with them were Wanda’s cousin and her husband, Bea and Bennett as well as Fran and Sharon. Also in Alaska, but traveling with a different group were Marilyn and Larry.

Diana took the initiative to get us all together for a little reminiscing this afternoon. We all gathered at Tony and Diana’s rig to eat a little, drink a little, and swap a few tales.

That’s it for today. Thanks for tagging along.

Van Fleet State Trail

2012-02-20T15:43:00.000-06:00

This has been an absolutely glorious day--lots of sunshine, low humidity, slight breeze, and temps in the low 70s. I just love it. This would have been a very nice day for hiking, but there were a couple things on our lists that needed to be taken care of today. Not wanting to miss out on this fabulous day all together, we opted to go for a quick walk this morning instead of a hike.

About 25 miles from our campground is the General James A. Van Fleet State Trail. This multiuse trail is named in honor of the American combat commander and veteran of WWI, WWII, and the Korean War. This 29-mile length of paved trail is open to walkers, bicyclists, and in-line skaters. Horses are allowed to walk along the wide shoulder on either side of the pavement.

There are four parking lots along the length of the trail. The closest one to us is the Mabel trailhead parking lot. It’s large with plenty of room for many cars, including a handicapped van parking area, a shelter with a couple picnic tables, and a restroom. There is even drinking water, which is perhaps more rare at trailheads than restrooms.

The Van Fleet Trail is a rail-trail conversion and is straight as an arrow and flat as a pancake. The trail description says there is a curve along the trail, but wasn’t in the section we walked today. We did see one of the historic mile markers. These markers indicate the distance to Richmond, Virginia, the hub for the railroad line and the home of many of the rail workers. The northernmost section which we were on is located within the Richloam Wildlife Management Area of the Withlacoochee State Forest. As the crow flies, it is relatively close to where we hiked on Saturday.

Historic mile marker.

We had in mind to walk for an hour then turn around and head back to the car. That would give us time to get back home for lunch and have the afternoon to get our other errands run. As is the case with many paved trails, the milage was painted on the pavement. We were close to an hour at 2.5 miles. We decided to turn around at that point making our walk a nice round 5 miles.

At the 1 and 2 mile marks, we came across these resting benches.

We got all the way to our turn around point without seeing anyone else, but on our return trip saw several bicyclists. One gentleman was kind enough to tell us about the alligator and even road back and dropped a bit of Spanish moss on the trail so we wouldn’t miss the spot. Across the ditch and tucked into a hole was the mama keeping a watchful eye on junior sunning himself on a rock. There were several bushes between us, so it was hard to get a clear shot of the two, but I think you can see mama’s head behind junior. Follow junior’s tail around. He’s one long alligator, but his body is small compared to mama’s head. It was all very exciting.

After lunch we were able to get our errands run quickly and efficiently. Now, we’re ready to sit out and enjoy the rest of this marvelous day.

We want to welcome our latest followers, Ray and Wendy. They have been RVing for many years in a variety of rigs loving those vacations and weekends away from home. Now, they’re looking forward to the day when they can hit the road full-time. Welcome, Ray and Wendy. We’re glad you’re tagging along.

That’s all for now. Thanks for tagging along.

The Down Side of Hiking

2012-02-19T16:13:00.000-06:00

Today, Gene and I are suffering from what I think is a major down side of hiking--bug bites. We seemed to have been bitten more yesterday than on any of our hikes this winter.

Yesterday was warm and sticky--temperatures in the mid to upper 70s and very high humidity. The slight breezes we’ve enjoyed on previous hikes were absent yesterday. All in all, a great day for mosquitoes. We got stabbed numerous times.

The trail we hiked yesterday is lightly traveled. Grass was growing over the trail in many areas. It had been mowed so wasn’t an overgrown trail, but grassy nonetheless. Our lower legs are just covered with chigger bites. We’re thinking all that grass is a good place for the chiggers to set up housekeeping.

Of course, the main line of defense for these pesky biters is Deet. I just hate Deet and avoid using it, if at all possible. Yesterday, the mosquitoes were so bad I sprayed my hands and arms. Since I was wearing long pants, I didn’t bother with spraying my legs. Big mistake. Deet may have helped prevent some of those chigger bites.

Sunset out my window from a few days ago.

We have a whole new look in our campground. The winds are blowing around here with gusts of about 30 mph. Nearly everyone has stowed their awnings, lawn chairs are tucked under slides, and patio decorations are squirreled away in safe places. About the only thing left out are flags of various types flapping in the breeze.

We’ve had a few brief showers, some heavier than others, but the sun is out now with blue skies overhead. It feels like the humidity is a lot lower, as well. Things are shaping up to be a great afternoon to sit outside.

Otherwise, we’ve had a quiet day around the old home place. Cooler weather tomorrow should be nice for hiking.

That’s it for today. Thanks for tagging along.

Richloam Tract, East Loop Hike

2012-02-18T15:13:00.000-06:00

We were back on the trail today. For me, it’s been a week since my last hike. Gene went on Wednesday by himself while I stayed home to rest my cold. Today, Gene led Tony, Diana, and I on the trail he had hiked alone on Wednesday.

Looks like we weren't the first to hike this trail.

The trailhead was close, only about 10 miles from our campground, in the Richloam Tract of the Withlacoochee State Forest. There is lots of parking at the trailhead, an information kiosk, and trail maps, but no restroom. Us girls like to have a restroom at the trailhead. It especially comes in handy after the hike for a place to change into dry clothes.

There are three loop hikes in the Richloam Tract. The East Loop is the shortest of the three at 7.5 miles with a half mile connector trail from the parking lot to the junction with the loop. The trail and the surrounding environment is very similar to the trails we’ve been hiking in Withlacoochee State Forest. In wet weather, this trail would be swampy, but that wasn’t a problem today. Everything was dry even though it rained most of yesterday.

The guy painting the blazes got a little carried away.

We hiked the loop in the counterclockwise direction. At about the 3 mile mark, we were at the East campsite. It was a little early for lunch, but since there was a picnic table we didn’t stand on any lunchtime traditions. This backcountry campsite was small compared to the others we’ve seen in the Withlacoochee. It was off the trail by several hundred feet tucked away in the live oaks. There were also several cypress trees nearby making us think there might be water there during wet weather. Of course, all I could think about were the alligators that might also be there along with their friends the water moccasins.

The only wildlife we saw was a turtle, if you don’t count the dead armadillo on the side of the trial. Lots of birds sang to us all day. They must have been happy with the rain yesterday, too.

The hike was good, but us girls were pretty pooped by the time we got back to the connector trail. The heat and humidity sapped our energy. The only thing that kept us going was visions of the root beer floats which Diana was making for our after hike treat.

I have been copying early blog posts to Blogger from Trip Journal this week. This morning I added the entry from November 17, 2008. I mention that because that was the first time we sat down with Tony and Diana for a visit. They have become dear friends since that time. We always feel blessed when in their company.

That’s it for today. Thanks for tagging along.

Fighting a Cold

2012-02-14T18:30:00.000-06:00

I’ve been feeling a bit under the weather the past few days--stuffy nose, slight headache, sneezing, very little energy. Sounds like a cold; feels like a cold. I haven’t taken to my bed, though. We’ve been out doing a few things.

Sunday, we were all ready for a hike. We got in the car and drove past Tony and Diana’s place and were surprised to see their car there. We thought they were on their way to visit friends in Sarasota. As it turned out, they had brake problems. Forget the hike; we needed to take care of our friends. We drove them to Auto Zone then to the grocery. On Monday morning, they had their car towed to a dealership. From there they went on to visit friends, so we don’t know the outcome of the brake issue. They should be back tomorrow with all the details.

It’s just as well we didn’t go for our hike on Sunday. I wasn’t feeling all that great and it was cold and windy. Not a good day to be out.

Monday was a little warmer, although the early morning temperatures were below freezing. We debated about hiking, but Webster flea market won that contest. Gene has had funnel cake on his list since we got here. I thought for sure he’d get it at the FMCA rally, but he didn’t. Besides funnel cake, he wanted a pair of sunglasses so off to the flea market we went.

It was a very successful shopping day. He got his funnel cake right away, then we strolled up and down, in and out looking at everything for sale. I think you could find anything under the sun at that flea market. He found is sunglasses as well as a buckle for his pack waist belt to replace the one he step on and broke on Sunday night.

Besides tomatoes and fresh strawberries, I found a pair of knockoff Crocs. I’ve been wanting a pair of something that I could just slip on for quick trips outside. These will work perfectly and can’t be beat for just $5. They only weigh 4 ounces. I may go back next week and get another pair. They would be great camp shoes for backpacking trips.

Speaking of backpacking. Gene found the time to fix his Thermarest sleeping pad. When we were on our trip to the Arctic Circle, he discovered that it had a leak. Try as he might, he was never able to find a hole or feel where the leak was. Since we don’t have a bathtub, he didn’t have a way to check for the leak. He took it up to the indoor pool here at the campground. It only took a couple minutes to find the tiny hole. It was so small, he was able to fix it with glue.

We’ve had a fun Valentine’s Day. I fixed Gene pancakes and bacon--one of his favorite breakfasts and he did the laundry for me. Boy, was that a treat. For the afternoon, we took a drive up to Ocala for lunch. We had lunch at Murphy’s Oyster Bar, but it wasn’t all that great. Oh well. We both enjoy browsing through bookstores. We found a Barnes and Noble, ordered coffee and a brownie to sip and munch while we leafed through a few books. Gene was trying to find a Florida wildflower book, but he was not completely satisfied with any of the three they had to choose from.

Since I've mostly been resting, I've had time to work on the blanket for my next grand niece, who is due in April. I'm finished all but weaving the loose ends through.

So, that’s what we’ve been up to. Hope you’ve had a nice Valentine’s Day. Thanks for tagging along.

My First Ever Horse Pull

2012-02-11T15:24:00.000-06:00

I’ve been to many places and done many things in my lifetime, but today was the first time I have ever been to a horse pulling event. I guess I should say horse pulling contest, because the teams of horses were competing against each other and some of the spectators were betting on which team would pull the most weight.

Since I’ve never been to one of these events before, I really didn’t know much about what was going on and from what I could gather from listening to people around me, the horse pulling contests are different in Florida than in other parts of the country. When we first approached the stands, we heard an auctioneer and thought we were at a horse auction. We found out that the spectators and participants were bidding on the up coming team of horses. The highest bidder contributed that amount of money to the jackpot which was awarded at the end of the competition.

The morning event was for the smaller horses. We were there in the afternoon for the big guys. The teams we saw competing weighed around 5,000 pounds and were pulling over 3,000 pounds. To help the horse grip the dirt, their shoes had prongs on the back. The handlers would bring a team around and hitch it to a heavy duty truck. Once hitched, the teams were off. Sometimes, they didn’t even wait to be hitched and they had to be brought around again. A complete pull was 20 feet.

I enjoyed seeing the horses; they are such magnificent animals. But, I wasn’t so thrilled with seeing them strain to pull the load. I’ve been to tractor pulls and enjoyed those events, but it’s different when its a machine. We stayed about thirty minutes. I’d had all of that I wanted.

That was our excitement for today. Other than that we’ve been doing chores and preparing for colder weather. Temperatures are forecasted for below freezing tonight. Looks like we won’t be having 80 degrees for the next several days.

That’s it for today. Thanks for tagging along.

Croom Tract, Loop A

2012-02-10T15:53:00.000-06:00

We were back out to the Withlacoochee State Forest today to hike the last of the three loop trails in the Croom Tract. Loop A is 7 miles in length with a short, quarter mile connector trail from the parking lot. Again, Tony and Diana were out there with us. We’re liable to make hikers out of them yet.

Posted this photo yesterday and have now decided it is Yellow Star Grass

We learned many things before we ever got started on our hike. The parking lot is the same one we’ve been using for all the Croom Tract hikes. It’s located on Croom Road at the fire tower. It’s a very large parking lot with a nice restroom and drinking water. There is also a picnic area and across the street is a small campground. There is a $2 per person day use fee to use these trails.

While we were still in the parking lot getting our things ready for the hike, a forest service truck pulled up. Naturally, we chatted with the driver (John) for a few minutes and he was just full of information. Perhaps the most important thing we learned was that there is an annual pass available at the District Ranger office (and maybe online) for $30. The pass is good for up to 7 people per car. We’ve spent more than $30 in day use fees already. That will be something we’ll definitely purchase next winter.

Gopher mounds

He also told us that the large mounds of sand we’ve been seeing on our hikes are made by gophers. We saw plenty of them today.

Thanks to you readers who confirmed our suspicions about wild hogs being responsible for the damage to and around the trails. John verified that, as well, and he also said that armadillo will also root around in the sand. The places we saw on our hike on Thursday I feel sure were made by hogs. They were too widespread and too deep, I think, for it to be the work of armadillo.

As it turned out, John was the person who had laid out, built, and maintains the trails in Withlacoochee State Forest. He told us how many miles of horse, biking, and hiking trail he had built during his 25 year career with the forest service and it was phenomenal. Of course, he has volunteers who help maintain the trails now, but still it is quite an accomplishment. Way to go, John, and thanks a million.

John was so interesting we had to drag ourselves away, but, alas, the trail was calling. Besides, it was chilly this morning and I needed to get moving to warm up. We crossed Croom Road for our trail and headed down (literally) the connector trail to Loop A. We did our hike in the clockwise direction. At the junction with the connector trail and the Loop, is a backcountry camping area. It is very large and will accommodate many tents. There is one picnic table, but several fire rings with logs or benches for sitting. There is no privy and no water, but it is only a quarter mile to the parking lot with the restrooms and drinking water.

This hike was different from the other loops in Croom Tract in that there were several short hills we had to hike over. Everything else we’ve hiked in this area has been essentially flat. The hills were different and offered a little change of pace. We hiked through mostly pine forest.

Our excitement of the day came at lunch. We found a shady spot and spread our out ponchos to have a clean place to sit. While we were enjoying our lunch, a couple of hunting dogs trotted down the nearby horse trail. We didn’t see any sign of their owner, but they were obviously well cared for hunting dogs with tags, collars, and GPS tracking devices. A few minutes later one of the dogs came back to investigate what we were doing. He was a cute little thing and though he checked us all out, Gene was his favorite.

A mile or so down the trail after our lunch break, the other little dog showed up. There was no sign of her brother and she followed us all the way back to the parking lot. Since she too had a GPS, her owner was waiting for her when she came out of the woods.

We added the feather from Gene's hat to the dog's collar.

Since we had gotten free coupons for blizzards at the FMCA rally last week, we deemed it necessary to stop by Dairy Queen on our way home. Another great ending to a successful hike.

That’s all for today. Thanks for tagging along.

Upper Hillsborough River Trail

2012-02-08T19:05:00.000-06:00

Today we drove south to the community of Zephyrhills to hike the Upper Hillsborough River Trail. This trail is 4.6 miles one way through the Upper Hillsborough River Management Area. The Hillsborough River runs through the area and the trail roughly parallels the river, but it is nowhere near close to it.

Since this is an out and back hike, it is possible to park either at the northern end or at the southern end. We chose to park at the northern end (near the junction with CR 54 and CR 35A) because that was closer for us. There is no parking lot at this trailhead, but there is plenty of room to park on the shoulder of the road. There is a parking lot at the southern end (on CR 535) which will accommodate about 8 vehicles.

The trail is blazed orange with a short three-tenths of a mile blue-blazed trail from where we parked the car to the junction with the main trail. Florida Trail Association maintains this trail, as they do all the trails we been hiking in Florida. So far, our experience has been great. The trails have been well marked and junctions with forest service roads well signed. The trails have been cleared of debris and vegetation has been cut back leaving the trail easy to follow. The volunteers have done an excellent job.

Hard to tell from the photo, but the ground has been all dug up.
We can't figure out what kind of animal is doing this.

The Upper Hillsborough River Trail is a different story. Within the first tenth of a mile we were confused about which way to go. There were blazes in both directions. By looking at the map, we were able to determine quickly we needed to turn left. We almost missed the junction with the main trail after three tenths of a mile. There was no double blaze nor a sign indicating we had arrived at the trail junction. We just happened to notice a Florida Trail sign that was turned perpendicular to the way we were walking. It clearly marked the trail junction, but only if you were coming from the other direction.

The trail is barely visible through the palmetto

We were glad to have our long pants on to save our legs
from the overgrown vegetation.

The trail was very twisty for the first mile and a half. There were plenty of blazes on the trees, but they were not always visible from one blaze to the next. Often we had to stop at a blaze and one of us would wait while then other scouted for the next blaze. Usually, the treadway is very evident on the ground, but this trail was so overgrown and apparently gets so little use, we often couldn’t see the trail.

There was a lot of small limbs and palm fronds on the trail. We took the time to move some of the smaller stuff off, but that did little to make the trail more visible.

Saw a couple flowers today, but I have no idea what they are.
I need to get a Florida wildflower book.

We walked through a few small areas of live oaks, but the trail mostly ran through saw palmetto and low scrub. Our heads and upper bodies were out in the sun most of the day. We really appreciated the slight breeze that was blowing.

At the 1.6 mile mark, we got to cross a railroad track. We haven’t done that in a long time. This was an active track, too. We heard the train whistle several times during the day and saw the train on our return trip. The trail also stayed close enough to the road that we heard a lot of traffic all day. At one point the trail passes under the approach for the small Zephyrhills Airport. We saw many small commuter planes pass overhead. Had to be careful planning those potty breaks.

Crossing the railroad tracks.

This area is open to hunting on the weekends and we crossed several roads the hunters use to access the area, but unlike what we’ve seen in the Withlacoochee State Forest, these roads were not signed. I think this trail may be closed during hunting season.

We got to the southern end of the trail a little after noon. There was a picnic table there which would have been nice for lunch, but it was in the full sun. We opted to spread our ponchos on the ground under the shade of a few live oaks. After lunch, we retraced our steps to the car.

I’m gonna have to say this was a difficult hike. The trail was hard to follow and we crossed several large areas that had been dug up by something. If we came across an area like this in the Smokies, we’d say wild boar had done the damage. I’m not sure if they have wild hogs here or not, but something had definitely torn up the trail.

That’s it for today. Thanks for tagging along.

Winter Chores

2012-02-06T17:42:00.000-06:00

During the winter months of January and February is the time we set aside for the “winter chores”. These are the chores which are hard to get done during the rest of the year when we’re busy traveling and hiking. They include the cleaning out of drawers, cabinets, and closets, washing and waxing the rig, off loading things we haven’t used in a while, and various other tasks and maintenance jobs.

Gene is making progress on washing and waxing. He’s gotten the roof washed. Well, maybe that’s not much progress, but it’s a start. I’ve cleaned out drawers and cabinets, but will make another pass to see if we can reduce that 300 pounds we’re over weight.

Gene’s project for today was to paint our step. It hangs out there in all kinds of weather. Not only does it get very dirty, during the year it starts to rust at the corners. A good cleaning and fresh paint has been on his list for some time. The step looks like new with one coat of paint. Another will be applied tomorrow. Sure hope I remember to step on the stool when I go out the door rather than on the fresh paint.

Also on the agenda for today was to get Peanut’s blanket washed. Like the laundry facilities in most campgrounds, washing pet blankets is a no-no. One of our neighbors recommended a laundromat in Bushnell. We loaded up all the laundry bright and early this morning and headed to town. With Peanut’s blanket, an afghan, the sheets, plus our clothes and towels, I had 4 loads. It’s almost a miracle to find 2 free washers in the small laundry facility here at the park. I decided to avoid the frustration by doing it all at the laundromat in town.

The laundromat was awesome. It was new--new building, new equipment. Everything was very clean and everything worked. But this was Monday, wash day all across America. It was packed. I got my laundry in because there were about a million machines, but it was difficult to walk between washer and dryer for the number of people milling around. Plus it was expensive. I paid double what I would have at the campground. I’ll have to take Peanut’s blanket up there, but I won’t do my regular laundry there again. Nice is nice, but dollars are dollars.

Our resident Florida sandhill cranes. They're a handsome couple.

We enjoyed visiting with friends at the Super Bowl Party. There were some mighty fine chillies to be sampled, as well. It’s hard to eat just a few bites of ten different chillies. There were a variety of other snack foods also which resulted in that stuffed and bloated feeling. Emma’s mama asked for the recipe for the 7-layer Mexican dip. Here’s the abbreviated version of what I sent her.

First layer--bean dip
Second layer--8 oz sour cream mixed with half package of taco seasoning packet
Third layer--guacamole. I make my own, but store bought is fine
Fourth layer--grated cheese
Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh layer--chopped tomato, sliced or chopped ripe olives, and sliced green onions.

Yesterday, I served it in a baking dish, but a 10 or 12 inch round serving platter makes a nice presentation.

We’re excited to welcome Lady Dyna Rider as our latest follower. She and her husband, TM, are dreaming of retirement in 2015 when they’ll be traveling in their 5th wheel. Thanks for tagging along, y’all.

That’s it for today. Thanks for tagging along.

Back at Sumter Oaks

2012-02-05T14:14:00.000-06:00

The rally is over and we’re back at Sumter Oaks in the same spot we were in before we left. All the same neighbors are still here. It’s like old home days and it’s good to be back. It’s especially good to have electricity again.

Hawthorne of some type, I think. Spring is happening.

The last thing on our agenda before leaving the rally was to have our motorhome weighed. I was pretty nervous about how that would turn out. Since we live in it, it’s about as full as we can get it. Besides all the stuff we have, we’re stocked up on groceries, as well. The pantry, refrigerator, and freezer are FULL. We emptied what little bit of fresh water we had left, but all of the fresh water we had used was sitting in the waste tanks.

We were pleasantly surprised with the results. We were only 300 lbs overweight--all of it in the front. The rear axle was perfect at 5000 lbs on each side. Been wanting to do that for several years so were glad to have to opportunity to get it done.

Found this in the trail this morning. The nickel gives you some sense of the size of the snail.

This morning we both needed a little leg stretcher. We tried to walk as much as possible at the rally, but still only had about a mile and a half for the week. We were anxious to find a trail to hike, but with other things on our to do list for today we wanted something short. The 3.5 mile Silver Lake loop at the Croom track was perfect.

Notice the vultures in the top of the tree.

Just drying their wings, I guess.

We actually parked on the loop where the trail crossed Croom Rital Road which was only a few miles from our campground. There really isn’t an official parking lot there, but the shoulder on the west side of the road is very deep and the grass has been cut. There is room for 4 or 5 cars. The Florida Trail crosses the road from the east, then crosses the Withlacoochee State Trail (a paved rail-trail conversion great for biking), then enters the woods.

This area is under water in wet weather.

Part of our hike was along the orange-blazed high water trail and another part along the blue-blazed low water trail. Since there are drought conditions in Florida right now, we were able to make a loop using these two trails. During wet conditions areas of the low water trail would be under the Withlacoochee River--not a place I’d want to be. Today, however, we were able to enjoy the walk through the cypress knees and view the river well within its banks.

The trail passed a canoe camp and this sand beach.

Withlacoochee River

To help us enjoy the super bowl, there will be a chili cook-off this evening. Several are bringing chili and the rest of us are bring goodies to go with the chili. I’m taking that 7-layer Mexican dip. I rarely have leftovers when I take it anywhere.

So, I guess I better get busy and get the dip made. Thanks for tagging along.

More FMCA Fun

2012-02-03T16:04:00.000-06:00

The fun continues here in central Florida. The weather has been just perfect for the rally. That was a big concern for us, but we needn’t have worried. An RV is somewhat like your car; sitting in full sun, it can heat up in a hurry. Although cats love to be warm, locked up in a sweat box isn’t healthy. Parked on a runway in full sun, 80 degree temperatures each day, and no electricity to run the AC was a concern.

The temperatures have been in the low 80s each day and we are definitely in full sun, but there has been a wonderful breeze flowing through our open windows to keep the air inside moving and more comfortable than it would have been otherwise. Plus, we were parked with our awning side to the afternoon sun. The breeze wasn’t so strong that we couldn’t deploy the awning to keep the sun off the side of the coach. Things have worked out great.

There are a few renovations we’d like to make in our small motorhome so we’ve been attending the renovations and upgrade seminars. There have been three; all pretty much the same but presented by different vendors. If your can dream it (and pay for it), you can do it. There is no job to small or too large--the sky is the limit.

We have a couple things in mind. One, which happens to be the most popular renovation of all is removing the carpet and installing new flooring of some type. The new vinyl tiles are attractive, easy to care for, light weight, and don’t cost an arm and a leg. The other thing on our list of changes is to get rid of the sofa and have some type of computer desk installed along with a Euro chair. We’re still rolling that idea around in our minds because the sofa is our second bed which we use from time to time, especially when one of us is sick. Plus, it has a huge amount of storage underneath. It’s gonna take a lot of hard thinking to give up storage. Anyway, we learned what we are thinking about is possible, got a few other ideas, and all three seminars were well presented.

Gene also went to a seminar on fixing stuff with glue. In the hiking world, duct tape is the fix it medium of choice. There is a saying out there that 80% of all problems can be solved with duct tape. It’s hard to convert a duct taper to glue and Gene was just not impressed.

The big rally event for Thursday was the parade. All parade elements were present--color guard, fire truck (in this case an ATV), candy throwing (along with a few Mardi Gras beads), old cars, and horses. That was fun.

After the parade, Tony and Diana came by and we drove into Brooksville for dinner. From dinner, the day went downhill rapidly. The low tire pressure monitor light came on in the car. Gene pulled into the nearest parking lot to check the air pressure. Down to 12 pounds in the front driver’s side tire. He opted to change the tire instead of calling for roadside assistance. The changing went well, of course, because he had many helpers. Tony, Diana, and I had loads of fun; Gene not so much.

This morning he took the flat tire in to be repaired. It was the same tire that was damaged on the Dempster Highway in Yukon last summer. Now there are two patches in that tire. At least the changing of the tire was in a clean, well lit parking lot, not on the side of a gravel road 300 miles from civilization with grizzly bears roaming around in the woods.

That’s it for today. Thanks for tagging along.

FMCA Fun

2012-02-02T11:45:00.000-06:00

The rally got into full swing yesterday. There has been plenty of activity on our runway. So much so that this morning when we went out we were surprised to see motorhomes stretching along both sides almost to the end of the pavement. There are three runways being used for parking. If they’re all as full as ours, there’s a crowd here. However, most people who mention the crowd in conversation seem to think attendance is down.

We start our days off with free coffee and donuts. As you might imagine, that’s a popular place in the early morning. While coffee and donuts are being served, the Frustrated Maestros perform. We sip our coffee while we listen to the performance. The problem with that is that you have your coffee in one hand and your donut in the other. If you have a powdered donut, powder gets everywhere. This morning, I had powder from the tip of my nose all the way down the front of my navy blue shirt and on down to my shoes. At least they were white. Then I had no hand to brush it off with. We noticed there were little puddles of powder on the chairs and all around the floor. By Saturday, it’s gonna be a real mess around here.

Coffee and donut tent

Gene is onto electricity. He had that multimeter class with Mike last week and he attended the Basic RV Electricity seminar yesterday. He’s spent more time talking with the RV medic about electricity than anyone else. He bought the book and read all about it last night. We may not learn anything else at this rally, but we’re gonna have electricity down pat. He did report that the seminar was very good.

The Frustrated Maestros is composed of the band

And the singers.

We spent much of the morning today walking through new and used RVs for sale. We’re not interested in another RV, but I like to look at what’s out there. Gene does it because I want to. There were a couple of well used coaches that were fun to go into. One was a 1976 GMC. Restoration had begun, but there was still plenty to do. The $20K price tag was attractive, though. My favorite was a 1994 Prevost. It has been very well cared for, only about 50,000 miles and a price tag of a mere $119K. Sweet.

1976 GMC

Inside the 1994 Prevost

Just pretending.

We’re parked about as far away as we can be from the seminar and vendor tents. It’s not a problem and we’re enjoying the walk. There are golf carts and shuttle busses running constantly, so getting a ride is easy. Yesterday afternoon Gene was walking back from the seminar and must have looked pathetic because the “handicapped” cart stopped to give him a lift. I thought that was pretty funny until this morning when the same cart stopped to give us both a lift.

Strolling the vendor tent

That’s it for now. Thanks for tagging along.

Set Up at the SEA Rally

2012-01-31T16:17:00.000-06:00

We got a slow start this morning. Having only a 30 mile drive to the rally location, there was no need to get in a big hurry. We finally left the campground about 11 AM.

The Family Motor Coach Association (FMCA) Southeast Area (SEA) Rally is being held at the Hernando County Airport in Brooksville. We are now parked on one of the runways. I thought this was an old airport not in use any longer, but I can see the tower out my window and there are planes landing and taking off on other runways nearby. It’s a little intimidating. Surely, they know were here. I take comfort in the fact that there are a couple hundred RVs on this runway with us.

We are in full boondocking mode and are enjoying that so far. We can, if we want, run our generator 16 hours during the day. It’s always nice to have that option.

I was impressed by the guys who volunteered to assist with parking. They all have on plenty of orange--orange vests, orange hats, some even with orange shirts. Reminded me of our orange hats we wear hiking during hunting season. I’m sure there are no hunters around here, so I’m thinking all that orange is a commentary on RV drivers.

We hitched a ride on the shuttle over to the information tent to pick up our “welcome packet”. It was full of paper and an unsharpened pencil. I don’t know of a single RVer who carries a pencil sharpener. The paper was advertisements and coupons. The most exciting coupon was for $$ off on ice cream at Dairy Queen. You better believe we’ll be using that.

Also included in the “welcome packet” was a list of seminars. We’re a little disappointed. Well, maybe a lot disappointed. There was very little we are interested in. Most are what we call infomercials. They are there to sell you something and, for your convenience, they also have a booth in the vendor tent.

From the few people we’ve spoken with, the crowd is down. That’s not surprising, I guess. The RV industry has taken a hit during the economic downturn.

No matter; we’re here and we’re gonna have a good time.

So, I think that’s all for today. Thanks for tagging along.

Farewell for a Time

2012-01-31T07:59:00.000-06:00

Well, here we are at the end of January already. It didn’t seem possible we’d been here a month then I remembered we didn’t actually get here until the middle of January. Still, the time seems to have evaporated. They say, “time flies when you’re having fun”. I think, at my age, I better quit having so much fun.

Monday morning was spent in the kitchen. We had invited Mike and Peggy and Tony and Diana for dinner. We are leaving today and so are Mike and Peggy, so it was kind of a farewell dinner. It was a pot luck, but I had a couple things to prepare so I got onto that right away. We’re heading over to the FMCA rally and will be dry camping for several days, so I wanted to get a few things made up ahead of time for that. Seemed like I cooked and washed dishes all morning.

For lunch, we drove over to Cracker Barrel to meet friends from Nashville. Jim and Janice are in our hiking club (Tennessee Trails) and we’ve known them for years. They are spending a few weeks in their Airstream at a campground near Dade City. After lunch we all came over to our place to give them a tour of an Escapee campground. We enjoyed visiting with them for a few hours.

Our dinner guests came strolling in about 4 bringing food, lawn chairs, and gifts. Mike presented Gene with his very own multimeter. That’s so nice. I lifted this photo from Mike’s blog. Thanks a million, Mike.

Planning future adventures.

The couple weeks we’ve had to spend with Mike and Peggy have now come to an end. It’s been great fun, but they are off to continue on their winter tour of the warm southern states before heading back to Maine in the spring. We had a wonderful time together. Safe travels to Mike and Peggy.

Our chef

We are moving today, as well. But not far. Just 30 miles or so over to Brooksville to the Family Motor Coach Assoc. (Southeastern region) rally. This will be our first small regional rally and we’re looking forward to a new experience. The only other rally we’ve attended was The Rally (Good Sam) in Albuquerque in 2009. That was huge and we didn’t like it so much. We’re anxious to try something smaller. Details of the rally are forthcoming.

That’s it for this morning. Thanks for tagging along.

Croom Tract, Loop B

2012-01-29T18:56:00.000-06:00

Well, we did our 10-mile hike today. I think we’re all pretty tired tonight. The ice cream really helped get us home. After Tony had had his blizzard at DQ, he allowed as how he could have done another quarter mile with no problem.

Redbud are starting to bloom

We got an early start. There was a little nip in the air this morning with temperatures in the 40s. We could see our breath. We were not deterred, however. Our trailhead was at the Tucker Hill parking lot; the same as the Loop C hike we did last week. There were several cars there this morning and we saw several hikers on the trail including 8 backpackers.

We did our hike around the loop in the clockwise direction. The trail wound its way through longleaf pine and live oak thickets. Some areas had recently undergone controlled burns and were open, while other areas were covered in scrub oak. We also passed areas of prairie and one dry swamp. Looking out over the area from a distance it looks flat, but there is a gentle roll to the land and we hiked up and down short hills all day.

Another dry swamp.

At about the 3-mile point we came to an area which at first appeared to be a sinkhole. As we got closer, we realized it was a ravine which appeared to have been dug out and the soil piled at the edge. The map shows an old rock mine near this area. Perhaps these ravines were somehow connected to the mine operation.

One of the ravines we passed.

Near the halfway point we came upon a backcountry camp site. The site was huge, with room for many, many tents. Sand pits had been dug for fire rings. Because of the drought conditions, there is currently a fire ban in Florida. There was a picnic table which became our lunch spot. A great campsite if it only had water. There are many forest roads which crisscross the entire Croom tract, so it would be possible to cache a water supply at road junctions if you wanted to backpack in the area.

White banded trees identify the camping areas.

Lunch spot for today

There are trails for hikers, mountain bikers, and horses within the Croom tract. Each group has their own trails so there’s no sharing. The trails are clearly marked and well maintained. Every forest road we crossed (and there were several) was identified. With the free map available at the trailhead, it is easy to plot and follow a route for any of the loops in the Croom Tract.

I can't find this yellow flower in my book,
so I don't know what it is.

We kicked in the afterburners for the second half of our hike. Could we smell the ice cream? The last couple miles were along trail we had hiked when we did Loop C. We zoomed right along not taking much time to look around. I think we were all pretty glad to see the car.

That’s it for today. This tired puppy is going to bed. Thanks for tagging along.

RV Live is Good, but Busy

2012-01-28T18:17:00.000-06:00

Some may wonder how they’ll fill their time once retired. We have no problem with that. Instead, we wonder where we’re going to find the time to get it all done. Tony asked us yesterday if we get everything done we intend to do each day. The answer is “no”. So what have we been doing for the past two days? Well, let’s see.

Shadows on the trail.
From our hike on Thursday

I started Friday morning off with the laundry. Frequent hiking tends to fill up the laundry basket in a hurry. I used to say the thing I missed most from my stick house was the frost free freezer. I think I need to revise that, because what I really miss most is the washer and dryer. Both our 5th wheels were plumbed for washer/dryer, but we never had them because we didn’t want to carry the extra weight. Now, there’s hardly room for the laundry basket in the Four Winds much less a washer/dryer. Most campgrounds have a laundry facility and that’s where I was at 8 AM Friday morning. I was lucky; there was no one else there. Friday mornings can be a busy time at the laundry, but I guess the rain kept most away. I was able to get two loads done with no waiting.

Resurrection Fern came back to life.
This shot was before the rain.

After the rain.

While I was at the laundry, Gene was taking care of financial matters--balancing the checkbook, reviewing the credit card statement, etc.

Tony and Diana stopped by before the laundry got put away and before the financing was done, so we put all that stuff aside and got out the Tennessee and Great Smoky Mountain National Park maps. They’re going to be in Ashville, North Carolina for most of the summer and we’re planning to be in the vicinity of the Smokies, upper East Tennessee, and western North Carolina. We were looking at possible places to met up and planning a few things to do together.

After they left we finished up with the laundry and finances and grabbed a quick lunch. Gene had several errands to run so he scooted off to CVS, Walmart, Ace Hardware, and the Post Office. That all took a couple hours. While he was gone I got a few household cleaning chores done, not the least of which was to clean out the litter box. That’s a chore that I hate, but needs to be done frequently to keep the odor at bay. While I had the hose and soft scrub out, I decided to clean the kitchen trash can.

To rest from the chores, I worked on my knitting project. I’m pretty focused on this project. It’s a blanket for my next grand niece due in April. The goal is to get it finished to deliver to her excited parents when we stop by their home on our way back to Nashville in March. That’s a priority, so I carve out some time to work on it every day.

Before Gene got back from his errands, that Maineiac, Mike stopped by. We chatted for a little while. After Gene got home, Mike came back, bringing Peggy with him this time. We had a good visit and got to hear the story first hand of their soaking at Busch Gardens. We grabbed a quick dinner between their visit and an evening of entertainment at the jam session.

Although the activities have been different, today has been much the same. Various chores (including defrosting the freezer, my least favorite job) with friends drifting in and out. The highlight of today, however, was the multimeter class taught by Mike for his students, Tony and Gene. It was something to do with wires, switches, gauges, and electricity. I’ll defer to Mike for the telling of the details. Perhaps I should have attended the class. While the class was going on, us girls (Diana, Peggy, and myself) each did our own thing as well as visited each other at various times and various places. The class lasted a couple hours.

Class is in session. You can tell which student is not working up to potential.

Another highlight of our day was the Skype call with Ansley and Kayley. Kayley is old enough now that she understands better about the Skype call and will sit and talk for a while. It’s a short while though, then she’s off and running again. Still, we enjoyed talking with Ansley and seeing big girl, Kayley.

Tonight’s entertainment at the clubhouse promises to be better than the jam session, but we may pass on that. We’re planning a 10-mile hike for tomorrow and will need to get our packs ready tonight and hit the bed early. Diana wants to go and she’s already planning for ice cream afterwards.

RV life is so good, but busy, and it’s all fun. Thanks for tagging along.

Withlacoochee River Park Hike

2012-01-26T19:11:00.000-06:00

When planning for our hike today, we looked at the map for a trail near water thinking that would give us a change in scenery from our other hikes. We were also hoping for the possibility of seeing some birds like egrets or herons. We found a 5.2 mile loop trail at Withlacoochee River Park, a county park near Dade City. We were not disappointed. Tony and Diana went along to keep us company.

Canoe Launch

Our trailhead was located just after the park entrance at the canoe launch. There is a large parking lot and picnic shelter, but no restrooms. The restrooms are a half mile or so on down the main park road at the next picnic shelter and play ground. There is a $2 per car day use fee for this park.

After pulling on boots and packs we walked over to the canoe launch for our first good look at the Withlacoochee River. The entire trail was relatively close to the river even though it was out of sight most of the time. We saw more hardwoods today than on previous hikes and there was plenty of saw palmettos. We saw a few egrets, but they were far, far down river from our vantage point.

Hiking around the prairie.

The hike started at the canoe launch and followed close to the river for about a half mile before veering around a large area of prairie. As we turned back toward the river, we passed through an area of live oak. After 1.5 miles we came to the beginning of the loop. We hiked in a counter clockwise direction today because our trail description was written for that direction. Since the trail is basically flat, direction shouldn’t make a difference in difficulty, but it was nice to be back at the river for the second half of the loop. It offered nice spots for breaks.

The hawk was very far away.

About halfway around the loop we came to a backcountry camp site. The site was large and mostly level with a fire ring and a picnic table. I didn’t see a privy. It was a good place to camp except for the fact that there was no water other than the river which was more than a half mile away for the camp. Of course, the camp is only about 3 miles from the car, not so far that you couldn’t bring your water with you.

The second half of the loop is through the Green Swamp. With the drought conditions in Florida right now, the swamp is completely dry. Because it is so dry, we weren’t plagued by mosquitoes like the trail description said we would be. Thank goodness for that.

We saw some wildlife today. In the bird category there were egrets, a hawk, and a vulture, plus many, many small songbirds. We saw three deer and a tiny frog.

It was a good hike and a fine day was had by all. We worked up an appetite, though. Diana was the first one to say, “ice cream”. In Dade City we found this fantastic little ice cream place. They served both hard and soft ice cream. We’ve now decided that we’ll plan all our hikes based on the nearest ice cream stand.

Gene and Diana placing their orders at Twistee Treats

That’s it for today. Thanks for tagging along.

Another Hike Along the Florida Trail

2012-01-25T16:16:00.002-06:00

We’ve been busy around here. There’s just so much going on with friends in the neighborhood.

Monday was Webster flea market day. Diana and I went primarily for fresh vegetables, but we also strolled through several of the antique booths. I found a new martini glass, but mostly we loaded up on fresh fruits and vegetables.

While we were in Webster, Gene was here with Vern. Much caulking has gone onto our roof. Now, I’m anxious for some rain just to see what happens or, perhaps I should say, doesn’t happen. I don’t expect it to leak any more.

We had originally planned to hike on Tuesday, but there were several things that needed attention around the motorhome, so we attended to those things.

Tuesday evening Tony, Diana, and Gene and I were invited to Mike and Peggy’s for grilled hamburgers. Stories were told, howls of laughter erupted, souls were laid bare, and tummies were filled. We had a great time. Thanks Mike and Peggy for a wonderful evening of fun, friends, and fellowship.

To work off those delicious hamburgers, Gene and I were up early heading for the trail. We went back to the Citrus track where we had hiked on Saturday. We even parked in the same spot and headed down the blue blazed connector trail to the junction with the Florida Trail. Instead of turning to do the loop trail like we did Saturday, we continued on the Florida Trail until it intersected with the B Loop Trail, about 3 miles.

Drive to the trailhead passes through a tunnel of live oaks in Floral City.

For 2.5 miles the trail was very similar to what we had done on Saturday with the sandy foot path covered with longleaf pine needles and dotted with ant hills. After a couple miles on the trail, we dropped down a few feet in elevation into what seemed like a large bowl. Perhaps it was a large sink hole. There are numerous sink holes in Central Florida. In this area we saw lots of saw palmettos and a few wildflowers. There was even a cave.

We were so excited to see the flowers. On all our hikes since arriving here, we’ve seen a few tiny white flowers growing very close to the ground. None of the photos I’ve taken have turned out well. We saw many more of these flowers today, plus yellow Jessamine vine, a white flower which we think may be a dewberry variety, and another yellow flower which I could never photographed clearly. One of the things we really enjoy about hiking, particularly in the spring, is the wildflowers. They made our hike for today.

This small cave entrance had evidence of people crawling in there.
Won't catch me going in there.

When we reached the junction with the B Loop Trail, we stopped for a short break, then retraced our steps to the car for a total of just over 6 miles for the hike. We had taken our lunch in the cooler and found a picnic table in the Holder Mine Campground for a relaxing lunch after our hike.

We think this may be a dewberry variety; not sure about that.

Saw palmettos

Since we left early and the hike was short, we got home in the early afternoon. After showers and a little more visiting with friends, we’re settled in for a quiet evening at home. Life is so good.

Yellow Jessamine

We want to welcome two more followers--Ms. Fiddlesticks and Carole. We’re so glad to have y’all tagging along.

That’s it for today. Thanks for tagging along.

Pancakes and Photos

2012-01-22T18:42:00.000-06:00

We had a special breakfast this morning. We were treated to Tony’s old family recipe of buttermilk cornmeal pancakes. Tony did the cooking and we, along with Mike and Peggy, were served bacon, pancakes with fresh blueberries, and fresh squeezed Florida orange juice from oranges bought yesterday at Ferris Groves. That’s about the best breakfast a fella can have and it was delicious. Thank you, Tony and Diana.

After breakfast, we drug out maps and planned our next hiking adventure for later in the week. With our hiking plans all worked out, Mike and Gene got together to discuss a little project they’ve got going. I’m not exactly sure what all is involved, but it has to do with wires and switches and the car. Something about towing. Maybe I’ll figure it out by the time it’s done. While they went off to Walmart to purchase supplies, Peggy and I had a few minutes to visit.

In between breakfast, friends, laundry, dinner preparations, and the regular Sunday afternoon ice cream social, I had a few minutes to continue working on my photo project. I’m moving all my old photos which are stored on CDs to thumb drives. The primary reason for doing this is that the thumb drives hold more data and take up less space. Every square inch is precious in a Class C. Also, it is my understanding that CDs have about a 10 year lifespan. If that is correct, many of these are reaching their limit. I’m also saving them to an external hard drive so the thumb drive is probably over kill, but I’d sure hate to loose these old photographs. The photos posted today were taken in the Okefenokee Swamp in the early 1990s.

Vern will be back tomorrow to finish his work on the leak and install a vent cover. While Gene spends the morning with Vern, I’m gonna see what kind of treasures I can find at the Webster flee market.

That’s been our day. Thanks for tagging along.

Another Hike in Withlacoochee State Forest

2012-01-21T18:46:00.000-06:00

Today our hike was again in the Withlacoochee State Forest, but farther north in the Citrus Tract. We did Loop A which, along with the connector trail to get to the loop, was a total of about 8.5 miles. Tony and Diana went with us and we had a grand time.

It was a beautiful day for a hike.

Our trailhead was at the Holder Mine Campground about 3 miles south of Inverness. It is a small parking lot with an information kiosk, but no restroom facilities. However, across the road is the campground with restrooms and showers.

At the junction with Loop A trail. Notice the official
Florida National Scenic Trail plaque on the post.

Our hike started on the blue connector trail which connected with the Loop trail after eight tenths of a mile. We did our hike in the clockwise direction today.

This is small game season and we saw one hunter with his dogs today. We, of course, were sporting our blaze orange hats. Tony didn’t want to be mistaken for a quail or a squirrel, so he tied a red bandana around the brim of his hat.

Five Mile Pond is located about midway in our hike, making it a perfect spot for lunch. We were disappointed, but not surprised to find the pond dry. Florida needs rain in the worst sort of way. We took a nice, long break here spreading our ponchos on the ground for a clean place to sit and eat.

Five Mile Pond was dry as a bone.

We followed the Florida National Scenic Trail for a portion of our loop. That was kind of exciting to actually be hiking on a long distance trail and one of the eight National Scenic Trails.

Compared to our hike on Thursday at the Croom Track, today’s hike was more diverse. We had a couple short hills to climb and then descend, we passed through areas of long-leaf pine and through other areas of live oak. Again, the trail surface was primarily sand and in some areas so soft it was like walking on the beach.

Naturally, the best part was hiking with friends and we were happy to have Tony and Diana along to share the trail. We were all pretty tired though by the time we got back to the car. Lucky for us, we had to drive right past Ferris Grove citrus market on the way home. We got some Honey Bell oranges, but our real reason for stopping was the strawberry milkshake.

That’s all for today. Thanks for tagging along.

A Day With Vern

2012-01-20T20:36:00.000-06:00

Vern came today and we were sooooo happy to see him. The first priority--find and fix the leak in our back wall. Vern spent the better part of the day with us and he removed several parts of our RV from the rear end cap. He found several small cracks and gaps in the caulking and lots of evidence of water. The insides of our tail lights were still wet from the rain we got two days ago.

Vern has removed all the old caulking and recaulked around the end cap. He took the light covers off to allow for some air circulation to dry out the inside wall. He’ll be back on Monday to caulk around the light covers. I think Vern is going to finally put an end to this leak.

We left Vern on his own and made a quick trip to Walmart this morning. During the rain on Wednesday, I was dashing from the car to the motor home with my head down trying not to get too wet while also trying to avoid the deep puddles. I totally forgot about the awning arm and hit it almost as hard as it could be hit without doing serious damage to it or myself. Of course, as short as I am, I hit right at eye level and the collision really did a number on my glasses. Luckily, it was only the frames that were damaged and not the lenses. For the past two days I’ve been wearing an old pair of reading specs I picked up at a drug store somewhere. Needless to say, it was a priority to get my glasses fixed today. The technician took his little tool and had my glasses “bent” back into shape in less than a minute. It is so good to be able to see again.

The cranes are always wandering about the campground.

While at Walmart, I picked up a toaster oven. I know, it takes up a whole lot of space on a very small counter, but I couldn’t help it. I’ve been wanting one for a long time and it’s what I had in mind when I asked for a Walmart gift card for Christmas. We’ve already taken the regular toaster up to the free table in the club house and the new toaster oven has claimed almost all the space on the counter. I warmed bread for dinner which took only a fraction of the time it would have taken in the range oven. Besides, I didn’t have to take all the cat supplies out of the oven to use it. It was much easier to clean the bread crumbs out of the bottom than from the regular toaster. The feature I’m most anxious to use is the broiler. I think I’m gonna love it.

We want to welcome Pam and Wayne as our latest followers. Check out the great photography at their site, Nomadic Newfies. We're certainly glad to have you guys tagging along on our journey.

Tomorrow is another hiking day plus the citrus market at Floral City.

That’s all for today. Thanks for tagging along.

Hiking in Withlacoochee State Forest

2012-01-19T19:40:00.001-06:00

We found our way to a trailhead today. It was very good to be back in hiking boots and walking in the woods after about three weeks of this other stuff we’ve been doing. Today’s hike was in the Croom Tract of the Withlacoochee State Forest. There are several loop trails in this area and we did loop C.

Live Oak

The Florida Trail system is fairly extensive and I’m trying to get my mind around what we’re doing exactly. A few months ago Gene ordered maps and a Data Book for Central Florida from the Florida Trail Association. The Florida Trail is a long-distance hiking trail which runs the length of Florida. In addition to this “thru” trail, the Florida Trail Association maintains many “loop” trails on various public lands. All these trails make up the Florida Trail System and are listed in the Data Book and are drawn on the maps.

Getting Ready

The Florida Trail is blazed in orange. The loop trail we hiked today was blazed in orange. As far as I know, the loop we did today was not part of the Florida Trail. It is identified on the map and in the Data Book as Withlacoochee State Forest, Croom Tract, C Loop.

Gopher Tortoise

We struck out at 8 am. Tony and Diana wanted to go and Tony volunteered to drive. The trailhead was only about 17 miles from the campground, but we were unfamiliar with the road and how to get there, so we made several stops to compare the GPS map and coordinates with the trail map and Data Book directions. We finally found the Tucker Hill trailhead parking lot.

Hunter's Camp

The trailhead parking lot was very large with a nice restroom facility and a picnic area. There is a day use fee of $2 per person. There is an additional fee for hikers who want to camp overnight. There was an information kiosk with brochures about the area and a small trail map. We paid the fee, grabbed a couple maps, used the restroom and were on the trail shortly after 9 am.

Our trail passed by the edge of Smith Prairie

We started out in temperatures low enough to require a light jacket, but the sun did its thing and we were soon making clothing adjustments. By the end of the hike, we were positively hot.

The trail, as you might expect in Florida, is flat and the surface was sand overlaid in most areas with pine needles. We walked through forest of pine and live oaks draped with Spanish moss. About halfway around our loop, which we did in the counterclockwise direction, we came to a very large hunter’s camp. The camp was empty today. We stopped for a short break at one of the picnic tables.

For our first hike in Florida this year, we enjoyed this easy 7-mile walk. The trail was well maintained and easy to follow. We crossed three forest service roads, but these were all signed and labeled on the map.

The highlight of the day was the gopher tortoise. He was content sunning himself at the edge of the trail and allowed us to make numerous pictures. Other than birds, the tortoise was the only wildlife we saw.

We have Vern scheduled to come tomorrow, but we’ll be back on the trail on Saturday.

We want to welcome Ray at Dreams of Travel in a RV. Ray has a dream like we had and many others do of the RV lifestyle. Hope we can encourage you along in your dreams, Ray. We’re glad you’re tagging along.

I have a correction to make. In my previous post I stated that we had last seen Mike and Peggy at their home in Maine in 2010. That’s just not true. We last saw them in Oklahoma City in 2011. How could I forget. That was the day their toad came unhitched from their rig.

That’s all for today. Thanks for tagging along.

Sumter Oaks RV Park

2012-01-18T05:40:00.000-06:00

Finally, we’re here. We arrived at Sumter Oaks Escapees park about noon yesterday. For the third day in a row we had great driving weather and a nice ride down I-75 to Bushnell, Florida. We got checked in and mostly set up in our site where we expect to stay until the FMCA rally in early February.

We have a large site on the end of a row at the edge of the park.
No one in front of us or to the right.

We stayed at this park several weeks last winter. This is the place with the sand hill cranes roaming around between the RVs. It’s a typical Escapees park with the daily 4 pm social hour to meet and greet new folks coming in and get caught up on all the park news, Saturday morning breakfast, Sunday ice cream social, and numerous craft and activity groups which meet during the week.

We met several folks last year and have seen them from a distance already this year. Naturally, we’re anxious to get reacquainted with them. Our friends Tony and Diana are here. We’ve caught up with them several times this year--twice in Alaska and most recently in Nashville. Also here are those Maineiacs in Motion, Mike and Peggy. It was great to see them again and are looking forward to spending some time with them. We last saw them at their home in Topsham, Maine in 2010. Ron and Penny, whom we got to know last winter and have stayed in contact with throughout the year, are also here.

Diana and Penny

Ron and Tony

Mike and Peggy

Tony and Diana had a little welcoming party for us at their rig and invited Ron and Penny, and Mike and Peggy. So the fun and fellowship has already begun. Diana also prepared a wonderful travel day meal for us last night.

There are several things we want to get done while here. Do you remember Vern, our handy-dandy mobile RV repair guy from last year? Gene is hoping to have Vern do a couple things for us, primarily find and fix that persistent leak. Warm, sunny days are also good for cleaning the outside of the rig. We’re also anxious to get in some hiking. The Florida trail system is pretty extensive. Gene ordered maps and has already picked out several hikes.

Today, my plans are to get caught up on routine household chores that didn’t get done while we were traveling. Gene is planning to contact Vern to set up a schedule with him for the repairs. We’ll, of course, be visiting with friends while enjoying the nice 70 degree weather.

That’s it for today. Thanks for tagging along.

A Little Closer to Florida

2012-01-16T15:55:00.000-06:00

Boy, we were up and out this morning. I think it may have been our earliest start ever. We were pulling onto the interstate at 7:20. That’s Eastern time, of course, and it was still dark out.

Sunrise over Atlanta

We headed into Atlanta with the rest of the thundering herd. By our standards, traffic was heavy, but I’m sure it was very light compared to the norm in Atlanta. We took the bypass around town and traffic on I-285 was very light. We were happy.

Again today we had a very nice ride until we got to Macon. That’s when we ran into construction which lasted for about 20 miles. Traffic moved right along at about 60 mph, but we always feel stressed in construction zones especially with those concrete barriers lining the traffic lane.

Tonight, we’re in another friendly Walmart a few miles north of Valdosta, GA. We arrived early in the afternoon and had time to do our weekly grocery shopping.

We have a little over 200 miles to go for our drive to Bushnell tomorrow. We’re hoping for another early start.

We finally hit the warmer weather today. It is 69 degrees right now. I have the vents and door open and would probably be more comfortable in shorts. Life is good.

That’s it for today. Thanks for tagging along.

Heading South

2012-01-15T17:03:00.000-06:00

Believe it or not, we finally got out of Nashville. It was a cold morning to be disconnecting utilities and hitching up the car, but we were happy to be out there freezing our fingers off. We got away from the campground about 9:15 and are now parked at a Walmart just north of Atlanta.

Peanut seemed to enjoy the ride today.

It was a bright, sunny day for a drive and traffic was moderate. We left Nashville on I-24, then picked up I-75 in Chattanooga. Both interstates were in good condition and we had a very nice ride. The only construction we ran into was a bridge repair a few miles west of Chattanooga, but there was hardly even any slowdown in traffic.

The Tennessee River at the base of Lookout Mountain
as it winds its way through Chattanooga.

So, we’re happy to be on the road again and will continue our way south tomorrow.

That’s it for today; gotta be watching my computer battery power. Thanks for tagging along.

A Tribute to Uncle John

2012-01-14T18:56:00.000-06:00

Today, the family and a few friends gathered for a memorial service for my uncle. He passed away Dec 29th at the age of 88 after a full and useful life. He was married 59 years to my mother’s older sister.

John was well respected in his community and at his church, he had many, many friends and was dearly loved by his family. He will be greatly missed, but we feel he has gone to a better place.

After the service, several of us went over to one of John’s favorite restaurants, Olive Garden, for a bite to eat. John never saw a meatball he didn’t love and his standard order at Olive Garden was spaghetti and meatballs. Some in our party today ordered that meatball in his honor.

This was a day to remember John and Vivian. I suspect they will be in our thoughts for many days, even years, to come.

Trying To Stay Warm

2012-01-13T09:27:00.000-06:00

It’s winter in Tennessee. The cold temperatures, wind, and snow blew in just as predicted yesterday afternoon. Let me just say right up front that this particular Class C was not built for winter weather.

Something just ain't right about having snow on your RV.

I’ve posted a lot about the advantages of our small motor home, but this is one case in which the 5th wheels were much superior. On both of our 5th wheels, we had the cold weather package thus they were far better insulated. We’ve also noticed in the Class C that we have a lot more condensation during cold weather. My theory is that it is because there is so much less space and thus less air to absorb the moisture. Our habits of cooking, showering, and breathing have not changed, but we have an incredible amount of condensation. That condensation has all frozen on the inside of our windows.

Part of our problem is propane. We figured we had enough to get to Saturday, our day of departure, but when the weather turned cold, we revised our plan. We are now planning to leave this campground today and move over to one of the campgrounds on Music Valley Drive. That’s where we have to go for propane anyway. Now, however, the roads are somewhat hazardous to travel. We’re still planning to make the move today, but will have to wait until afternoon when the temperature gets above freezing. So, we’re being kinda conservative with our propane and don’t have the furnace cranked up to hot. Not having portable propane tanks is another one of those disadvantages of motor homes.

My folks are still doing well so we’re still planning to head south. However, we’re now thinking we may wait until Sunday morning to leave Nashville. We had wanted to get to Perry, GA to have dinner with my nephews. We’ve learned that Sunday is not convenient for them, so now we don’t need to rush for that deadline.

So, we’re preparing to move over to Music Valley Drive and on a more positive note--the sun is peeking through a few holes in the clouds.

Thanks for tagging along.

Catching Up And Formulating a Plan

2012-01-11T15:07:00.000-06:00

As you might suspect, I haven’t much wanted to leave my home over the past couple days. We’ve been hanging around with Peanut and trying to catch up on routine stuff. I’ve only been out once and that was to the grocery. Gene has been out a couple times--he went with me to the grocery and yesterday afternoon he went for a short hike at Beaman Park. We haven’t even opened our door today.

So far, everything is going well with my folks. My dad continues to improve slowly and apparently my mom has everything under control at the house. While I was there, I did a lot of cooking and my aunt brought in six casseroles and a huge pot of soup. All that food went into the freezer so all my mom has to do is heat and eat. She can still do her own cooking, but she gets tired very easily. With the extra work of caring for my Dad, she’ll enjoy not having to spend a lot of time in the kitchen.

With things going as well as they are, we are looking for a departure day of Saturday. A memorial service for my uncle who passed away a couple weeks ago is scheduled for Saturday afternoon. After that is over, we’re thinking we may drive a hundred miles just so our distance won’t be so far the following day to Perry, Georgia. If that works out, we can actually see ourselves in Bushnell, Florida on Monday afternoon. We’ll see how it goes.

I’ve spent considerable time catching up with the blogs I follow. Seems like everybody is getting a very good start to the new year. As I read one of Judy’s posts at Travels with Emma, I was reminded of a few King Cake parties I’ve been to. Once upon a time, in a life which seems far, far away, my teaching friends and I had a little book club. Like most book clubs, we’d select a book to read and then get together to discuss what we’d read, drink wine, and eat junk food. Eventually, we gave up the reading and just got together to drink and eat. Someone in our group had heard about King Cakes, but we were really too far away from southern Louisiana to hardly notice Mardi Gras.

One year our little group decided to order a King Cake and that got us started on an annual King Cake Party event. We ordered our first King Cake and it came complete with the Baby Jesus (henceforth known as the BJ). We didn’t like the taste of the cake so much and decided from then on to make our own. The person getting the BJ in their piece of cake got to host the party the following year and make the cake. We also decided there were several “kings” to be honored--Elvis, for example, King Tut, BB King, King Kong, the Lion King. The host announced the “king” and everybody dressed accordingly. It was a hoot. Thanks, Judy, for setting in motion all those fantastic memories.

Rick and Paulette have been out hiking and his post the other day about a short section on the PCT brought back a host of memories of some good hikes we’ve done on that trail in the Lake Tahoe area as well as near Mt Rainier. It reminded me also that I haven’t selected the Appalachian Trail thru-hikers to follow this year. Many thru-hikers post their journals on Trail Journals and each year I like to select six or eight to follow. I usually pick out some older hikers. Their journals are more interesting to me than the younger set. We’re also getting very anxious to get back on the trail ourselves. We’re looking forward to doing some hiking on the Florida Trail this winter.

Peanut seems to have enjoyed us being close at hand for the past couple days. Gene taught him a new trick while I was away. Peanut has discovered the heating pad. Gene put it on the bed one morning and turned it on. It’s hard to get that cat up from there now. Would you say he’s is SPOILED?

That’s enough rambling for today. Thanks for tagging along.

Light At The End Of The Tunnel

2012-01-09T19:26:00.002-06:00

Whew, what a week, but, finally, we are able to see, as they say, the light at the end of the tunnel.

On Friday, after four days of antibiotic treatment while in Special Care, there was enough improvement in my dad’s condition that he was moved to a regular room. By Saturday morning, he was like a whole new person and the doctor began talking about sending him home. We were all shocked at that and you could not have convinced me on Friday that he would have been well enough to go home on Saturday, but late Saturday afternoon he was finally ready to be discharged.

Pneumonia is a pretty serious condition, especially in the elderly. In addition, my dad has the relatively rare disease myasthenia gravis and even though the MG is under control, its existence effected the treatment of the pneumonia. And, if that’s not enough, when he and my mom were leaving for the hospital on Tuesday, he fell in the basement and sustained a severe sprain to his left ankle. That injury prevented him from being able to be as mobile as they like pneumonia patients to be. Nevertheless, as his neurologist says, “he’s a tough old bird”, and was well enough on Saturday to go home.

I returned home myself on Saturday evening and was very glad of it. I think Gene was pretty happy, too, and the Peanut was..., well the Peanut crying for his supper. Although, I’ve been sleeping at home since Saturday, I have been back over to my partents’ home for the better part of Sunday and today.

My mom came through like a trooper even though she was worn to a frazzle. My staying at the house, doing all the cooking, keeping the household chores done, and driving her back and forth to the hospital was the best decision we could have made. But, I think she has gotten tired of me being under foot and today she informed me that she could very well take care of her own home and that I didn’t need to come over there everyday. I heard that--I’m staying home tomorrow.

It is my understanding that pneumonia is not all that easy to get over and that a relapse is a major concern. My dad will have to take it easy for several weeks as he slowly rebuilds his strength.

Our plans at the moment are to stay in town until the weekend. We’ll see how things go and will, of course, stay as long as we’re needed. However, if all goes well, we hope to be on the road headed south by Sunday.

Several of you, our dear friends, have expressed your concern, prayers, and support through comments or in personal e-mails. We are grateful for each and every one of you and truly appreciate your thoughts, prayers, and support. Thank you so much.

I was without my computer for several days and, even if I’d had it, I’m not sure when I would have found time to read my daily blogs. I am looking forward to catching up with what everyone is up to.

So, that’s where we are on this Tuesday. Tomorrow, I’m looking forward to spending a whole day in my own home. I’ll let you know how that goes.

Thanks for tagging along.

Just to Let You Know

2012-01-06T15:04:00.000-06:00

We are in the midst of a family emergency. My Dad went to the hospital on Tuesday evening with a diagnosis of pneumonia. This morning he was moved from special care to a regular room and is improving slowly. We are spending many hours at the hospital.

My mother is unable to stay alone, so I've moved in with her to take care of her needs, drive her back and forth to the hospital, and be with her at night.

Just wanted to let you know what's up with us. My blog posting is likely to be hit or miss for the next few days.

Hopefully, this won't last long.

Weird World 2011

2012-01-03T17:19:00.000-06:00

Before 2011 gets too far away, I want to share a few shots we got during our travels last year. Naturally, we all try to catch that perfect “kodak moment”. We are always on the look out for that one special thing that represents the essence of our day, or trip, or adventure. Occasionally, we find things that make us laugh out loud or drop our jaws in astonishment. These things we’ve dubbed “weird world”. Here are our Weird World photos from 2011.

Cat recipes? Really?

J.O. Cafe, Savannah, GA

At an Oklahoma Rest Area

Enjoy and thanks for tagging along.

Springfield Greenway

2012-01-02T18:06:00.000-06:00

Hope everyone is having a great start to 2012.

Saturday, we had planned to help my folks take down their Christmas decorations. They got out there and got it done on Friday. When I called on Saturday morning, everything was already taken down and in the basement waiting to be put back in boxes. I was happy to take it down and carry it to the basement, but I draw the line when it comes to putting it in a box. I lived in my parents’ home for way too many years and learned that I could never master the box puzzle. I’m just not going there.

Information panels provided the history of the area.

So, suddenly, we had a free day and a beautiful day it was with sunshine all round and beautiful blue skies. I guess the weatherman got the clouds and wind thing confused with another day. Naturally, a hike popped up as we were thinking of things to do with our free day. But, we were still weary with driving so we wanted something close. Gene got on the internet and discovered Springfield has a greenway and Springfield is only 9 miles away.

The old water plant

Greenways are not usually our first choice. We’d much rather be on a dirt trail in the woods, but they are often convenient and sometimes that’s just what we need. Plus, they have the added advantage of usually being paved which means a faster walk--a longer distance in less time.

Sulfur Fork Creek

The Springfield Greenway is 3 miles in length with Price Park on one end and the Courthouse on the other. Parking might be a problem at the Courthouse, but there is plenty of parking at Price Park. Additionally, there are three other parking areas along this 3-mile stretch. There are two parks--Garner Street Park which is 0.8 miles from the Courthouse and the American Legion Park which is 1.25 miles from the courthouse. Both of these parks have plenty of parking as well as restrooms. There is also a small parking lot just off E. Main Street at the bridge over Sulfur Creek. It will only accommodate about 6 cars and there’s no restroom, but it is only about a tenth of a mile from the American Legion Park. This small parking lot is the one we used.

We started our walk by heading out of town toward Price Park, 1.5 miles away. The greenway follows Sulfur Fork Creek past the old Woolen Mill and the old water plant. Past the water plant we had a corn field on one side and Sulfur Fork Creek on the other. It was a pleasant walk because it hasn’t rained in several days. However, after a heavy rain, this trail floods in the low lying areas. We saw several places that were still covered in dirt and leaves from the creek following the last heavy rains.

At Price Park, there is a small lake which was host to lots of geese, ducks, and a few gulls. There was also a playground and several picnic tables. A great place for a family outing. Moved to this location was one of the oldest structures in Robertson County. The outside of this log home was decorated for the holiday, but it was not open so we couldn’t go inside.

We backtracked from Price Park to the car then continued toward town another 0.6 miles to Garner Street Park. There we turned around and went back to the car without going the other 0.8 miles to the courthouse.

One of the oldest structures in Robertson County, built about 1796.

We enjoyed our walk and I’ll bet we have plenty more opportunities to visit the Springfield Greenway in the future.

Several of our readers have expressed their condolences over the passing of my uncle. We really appreciate your concern, thoughts, and prayers. John was elderly and had spent his last few months in a Hospice Center in Spartanburg, SC. He lived a full, rich life and I have many, many fond memories of times spent with him and his wife, who passed last year. He is in a better place now and we are grateful for that. Thank you for your concern.

That’s it for today. Thanks for tagging along.

New Years Day Hike

2012-01-01T20:08:00.000-06:00

We anticipate doing a lot of hiking during 2012 so, in that regard, we got off to a very good start today with a 6.5 mile hike at Montgomery Bell State Park with the Clarksville chapter of Tennessee Trails Association. We last hiked with the Clarksville group at Meriwether Lewis on Nov 19. Several of the hikers who were on that hike were with us today and it was nice to see them again. The hike we did today was the same hike we had done with our hiking buddy, Herb, on Nov 7th.

Suva, our leader for this hike.

We met the Clarksville group at the Visitor Center at 10 am. All together there were 21 hikers in our group. It took several minutes for everyone to get their gear ready, visit the restroom, sign in for the hike, and stow the pot luck lunch in any pack that had extra room. Of course, there was the customary group photo to be taken. After about 20 minutes we were finally ready to hit the trial.

Our lunch spot for the day.

Since this was the same hike we had done on Nov 7th, I won’t repeat the description of the trail, but if you missed it then or want to reread that hike, click here. I’ll cut right to the chase of today’s hike. It was New Year’s Day, after all, and for several years TTA has had a “pot luck lunch on the trail” hike. Needless to say, the packs were full. Some hikers were even carrying backpacks, not the customary day packs for a hike of this length.

We made our way around to the lake which was to be our lunch spot. There was a little nip in the air and there was a brisk breeze blowing so it was a bit chilly out. We found a place at the end of the lake which was somewhat sheltered from the wind and in the sun. Our leader, Suva, spread the “table cloth” and we laid out the feast. And a feast it was including the shrimp cocktail.

Being New Years Day we naturally had to have black-eyed peas. This may be a southern tradition; I don’t really know, but all my life we’ve had black-eyed peas on New Years Day. They’re supposed to bring good luck during the year. There have been a few years in my life when I didn’t considered myself very lucky even though I ate those peas so I tried doing without them for a few years. I’m back to eating them now, but only because I like them. I can’t actually say they bring good luck. Anyway, we had several pots of peas on the trail today.

The stoves came out to heat those peas. There were 6 stoves all together and Gene was in his element. You know how he just loves backpacking stoves. He made the comment later that he noticed how all the people with alcohol stoves were in a hurry to get to the lunch spot so they could get their stoves lit. For those of you not backpackers, alcohol is notoriously slow as a heating fuel.

J R Tate, aka Model T

We had a great hike, a fantastic lunch, and a wonderful day. We really enjoy hiking with the Clarksville group. They are so much fun to be with. Among the group, there are several long-distance hikers. The long-distance hiker is a different character from the day hiker and we enjoy talking to them about trails and gear. Suva, our leader for today’s hike, has for several years taken a group to do a section of the Appalachian Trail. That group is within four hundred miles of completing that trail. Also on our hike today and a member of the Clarksville Chapter was J R Tate, better known in Appalachian Trail circles by his trail name, Model T. J R has completed 4 thru-hikes and has written a couple books about his experiences on the trail. It’s always fun to catch up with him and his stories. And let me just say we proudly carry an alcohol stove made by his hands.

So, I think we got this year off to a very good start--good friends, good food, and a good hike. That’s all for today. Thanks for tagging along.

Happy New Year

2011-12-31T16:45:00.000-06:00

It’s hard to believe this is the last day of 2011. For us, it has been a fantastic year. We feel truly blessed. Gene and I have this little thing we do just about every day. One of us asks the other “what was your favorite part of today”. We started asking this question on our first long section hike on the Appalachian Trail. It helped keep us focused on the fun part of the day and not on the pain in our feet or backs. Since then, we’ve kept up the practice.

When I asked “what was your favorite part of 2011”, after a little thought he had these things to say: The Alaska trip had some highlights. The most notable and by far his favorite was seeing the humpback whale breach, the Icefield Parkway, and the Johnson Crossing cinnamon rolls. Of all the places we went to in Alaska, he liked Denali National Park best. He says he likes the motor home better than the 5th wheels and he enjoyed the experience of boondocking which we did a lot of on that trip. Aside from the Alaska trip, he liked the fact that I didn’t have to have bypass surgery which we thought was a very real possibility when we were in Colorado. He is also thrilled with becoming a hiker again. We’re both enjoying that.

For me, I had a tie for first place. We were in Alaska, after all, and the natural beauty of that expansive landscape was awe-inspiring. That was hard to beat, but, I love my family and friends, so I also had to say the time spent with the people who are important in our lives also got a “favorite” vote from me.

Independence Mine, Alaska

We covered a lot of ground this year beginning in Bushnell, Florida last January, driving back to Nashville in March, then heading to Alaska by way of Arkansas, Oklahoma, a tiny bit of Texas, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Alberta, British Columbia, Yukon. Our return trip saw us in Yukon, British Columbia, and Alberta again, as well as Northwest Territories, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, and Kentucky. We saw a lot of stuff along the way and took thousands of photos. Occasionally, I’ll get a shot that I really like. These are my favorites for this year.

Lucille Lake, Wasilla, Alaska

Paper birch

We wish everyone a very happy, safe, and blessed New Year. We sincerely hope our paths will cross during 2012. And, even though I say it at the end of every post, we are truly thankful that you’re tagging along.

Trout lily

Cadet Chapel, USAF Academy, Colorado Springs, CO

Back To Our Normal Routine

2011-12-30T19:32:00.000-06:00

Our bodies and minds are slowly returning to normal. Mentally and physically we were very fatigued. Today we saw our standard routine working its magic.

The sunsets are from other times and places, but seem somehow
appropriate at the end of the year.

Gene and I are both people who function best with a schedule. We get up and go to bed at the same time each day. We go about our tasks, whether chores or for pleasure, at about the same time every day. Our meals are at regular times and we generally eat a low fat, high fiber diet. If any part of this routine is disrupted, especially over a period of days, our bodies begin to complain. Those complaints are usually manifested in some type of digestive distress. Gene’s stomach has been hurting for several days and I’ve had acid reflux, but the most serious issue is Gene’s blood pressure. While we were out yesterday, he checked his blood pressure at one of those do it yourself machines in the pharmacy. It was way too high. We’re guessing it’s due to all the extra stress plus the yummy, but rich foods we’ve been eating during the holidays.

Yesterday, we’ve started on a low fat, low sodium, high fiber diet and gotten back into the exercise routine, as well. Already, we’re both feeling better.

For our exercise, which really helps clear the cobwebs out of our minds, we went just around the corner to Beaman Park. It’s a nice little park, but it isn’t our favorite in town. It is, however, very convenient and since we have been driving back and forth across the county every day this week, we wanted something close. It was cloudy and windy, but the temperatures were a little above normal making for a very pleasant day for hiking. Apparently, others thought so, as well. We saw more people on the trail today than we normally do. Maybe everybody’s trying to work off those extra holiday calories.

We had a bit of sad news today. We heard this morning that one of my uncles passed away yesterday. John was in a nursing home in Spartanburg, South Carolina. His death was no unexpected, but it’s sad nonetheless.

Our weather forecast for tomorrow looks about like today--cloudy and windy with a slight chance of rain, but the temperatures will be on the warm side. We’re going to take advantage of the weather and help my folks take down the outside Christmas decorations and take the tree to the tree collection center. Their house always looks very festive, but it sure is a lot of work to get everything put away after the party is over.

I think that’s it for today. Thanks for tagging along.

It's Finally Over

2011-12-29T19:19:00.002-06:00

This has been a Christmas like no other I can remember in recent history. We got started on Christmas Eve and didn’t stop until last night. Gene and I are two tired puppies. Although she won’t admit it, I bet my mother is, too.

For several years we have been gathering at my parents’ home on Christmas Eve. This event started out as a neighborhood party. Everybody dressed up in their festive attire and finger foods were served on Christmas china and silver. Over the years, that huge party has been downsized several times until now it is just my folks, Gene and I, my uncle and aunt, and, if he’s in town, my brother. We wear jeans and eat soup. This year Nancy made taco soup, I made potato soup, and mother made chicken mushroom soup. All were delicious.

My nephews and their families arrived on Monday and Tuesday. That surely made a house full. There were kids on the floor and my brother on the sofa. That also made a whole lot of mouths to feed so there was a whole lot of cooking going on. My brother and nephews are all good cooks and aren’t afraid to roll up those sleeves and get it done. That was a good thing, especially Tuesday, when we had a total of 19 for dinner. Twenty-three were invited, but not all could come.

One nephew and his family left early Wednesday morning to return home to middle Georgia. My brother left in the afternoon heading back to Macon. That only left my oldest nephew and his family for our meal last night. He decided he was going to do the cooking. If you’ve followed this blog for very long, you have heard me praise his cooking skills. We were not disappointed last night with veal scallopini, linguini with a olive oil, garlic and tomato sauce, and a Caesar salad. Thank you, Ben!

We were so busy visiting, cooking, cleaning, opening gifts and everything else that I never even picked up my camera. There were a few moments that I wish I had captured, but mostly it was nice just to enjoy rather than try to catch every “Kodak moment”.

As you can imagine, we’re all pretty tired. Gene and I didn’t plan anything for today. We enjoyed sipping our coffee this morning without a deadline to meet. Mid-morning we went out to spend some of the Christmas money we had gotten, but mostly we just relaxed and enjoyed the day. He took a nap and then went for a short walk this afternoon. Hopefully, in the next couple of days we’ll be back to our hiking. Gotta work off these extra calories we’ve consumed this week.

We’ve had a very busy week, but also a very rewarding week spending time with family.

That’s it for today. I think I can safely say I’m back to my regular nightly posting of the blog. So, until tomorrow----thanks for tagging along.

Still Doing the Christmas Thing

2011-12-27T08:01:00.000-06:00

We are still in the big middle of Christmas celebrations.

Christmas Eve we spent at my folks preparing for and enjoying the traditional Christmas Eve soup supper with a our immediate family and my aunt and uncle.

Christmas day was a buzz of activity first a couple hours with Jack, Ansley, and Kayley. Then it was off to my parents and cooking for Christmas dinner.

Monday we were busy catching up on a few household chores and cooking another meal to take to Jack and Ansley for dinner.

Today, we off once again to my folks to spend the day visiting with my nephews, their wives and children and preparing for the big extended family dinner tonight. At last count, there should be 23 around the table tonight. Well, not around the table, but scattered on sofas and chairs all around the house.

So, we're off for another full day of family fun. Thanks for tagging along.

Merry Christmas

2011-12-24T21:53:00.000-06:00

Merry Christmas, everyone.

Cathedral of St John the Baptist, Savannah, GA

Hobby Lobby, Nashville, TN

Opryland Hotel, Nashville, TN

One More Baking Day 'Til Christmas

2011-12-23T19:18:00.000-06:00

Like most folks, we’ve had a busy day today. We started off our day at Wal-mart getting prescriptions refilled, groceries bought, and selecting the last few items on the gift list. We thought going early would be less crowded, but not so. We were there so long, the mad rush of the early morning was gone by the time we were ready to check out. Probably would have been better to have waited until mid-morning.

After a quick lunch, it was hair cutting time. Gene was way overdue for a trimming. He gets to the way overdue stage because hair cutting is not my favorite thing to do and I can find all kinds of excuses to put it off. No putting off today; Christmas is just around the corner.

Chocolate Peppermint cookies, almond bark, and
chocolate covered peanut clusters

Then it was on to the cookie baking. For years, my mother and I have had a cookie baking day. Last year I realized those days would have to slip into the category of great Christmas memories. It’s just too much effort and exhausts her too much now. Neither can she follow a recipe too well anymore. Tomorrow, she and I will make a couple of sweet treats together, but it will be nothing like those huge holiday baking extravaganzas we used to do.

Later this afternoon, we went over to see Jack, Ansley, and Kayley. It was good to see them. Kayley is all excited about getting presents and she was anxious to show us the things she got at daycare. She’s not quite old enough to understand the whole Christmas thing yet and doesn’t get that the presents, the Christmas tree, and Santa are all connected.

We want to welcome our newest followers, Michael and Dee at Gone RVing! They, like us, full-time in a Class C. We’re glad to have Michael and Dee tagging along.

Now, it’s time to make those bon bons. Oh, by the way, the holly jollies are back and we hope you have a holly jolly Christmas Eve. Thanks for tagging along.

A Kink In The Holly Jollies

2011-12-22T19:34:00.000-06:00

We have arrived safely in Nashville after almost a month of hiking in Alabama. It really seems like Christmas to us now--we’re home to wallow in the love and blessings of family. We may have even had a little more pep in our step this morning, despite the rain, as we busied ourselves with the routine chores of breaking camp and moving. We were pulling out of the campground at 8 a.m. which is a little earlier than usual for us.

The predictions of rain all day were right on. Funny how that happened. Usually the forecasts don’t resemble what actually happens. Today it did and we drove in rain all day long. But, traffic was relatively light, except for the rush hour through Birmingham, and we were basking in holiday cheeriness so we were having a fine ride even if it was raining so hard we could hardly see the truck in front of us.

Our trip was about 240 miles, but we seemed to be stopping every little bit. First was the stop at the campground office to deposit our hang tags, then the stop at the top of the hill to deposit our trash. Then came the fuel stops. We stopped for gas near Huntsville, we stopped for propane on Music Valley Drive, and another stop for gas to top off the tank at Joelton. As the day wore on, our Holly Jollies began to fade.

We finally made it to the campground in Joelton and got set up in our site. It was an easy pull-thru, but we did have to get out the leveling blocks. It was still raining and the campground is covered in water. By the time Gene got everything hooked up he was soaked. I’m not sure his shoes will be dry by Christmas.

He had checked the electrical post with our little tester, but apparently pulled the tester out before it had time to run through all it’s tests. Anyway, when he plugged it in on the inside after everything was done outside, we got the “ground fault”. The campground manager came out, but after all was said and done, we ended up moving to another site. The second site is actually better, but everything had to be done again, including the leveling blocks. That’s when we got that severe kink in our Holly Jollies.

Never fear--it’s Christmas and our Holly Jollies will be back tomorrow along with the sunshine.

That’s it for today. Thanks for tagging along.

Oak Mountain State Park in Review

2011-12-21T19:08:00.000-06:00

This was our last full day at Oak Mountain and I wanted to say just a couple of other things about the park. We came to hike and hike we did. We were very pleased with the trail system and the condition of the trails. There are over 50 miles of trail in the park. The bike trail and the horse trail we left for their respective users.

One thing that I haven’t mentioned at all is the number of geocaches here. There are over 55 in the park. We’re not geocache people, so weren’t interested in trying to find any, but we did stumble upon one during one of our hikes. In the interest of keeping the location a secret and not giving away any clues, I left that part out of my earlier posts. Now that there’s no way to tell where this cache is located, I’ll show you what we found. That was just a little extra treat one day.

So, we have been very impressed with this park, both with the facilities and the staff, and have enjoyed our stay. We anticipate returning many times in the future.

Yesterday, I mentioned being a type A personality. I like to make lists because I like the organization and structure it gives to my tasks. As a type A I don’t do so well with unscheduled events. We had one today that sent my little step 1, step 2, step 3 mind into a frenzy. As I came in the door from putting the last load of laundry in the drying, Gene said, “we have a problem”. Those are never good words to hear.

The problem was a tire issue. We’re planning to leave tomorrow and Gene was checking air pressure this morning when he discovered that our front passenger side tire on the motor home was 40 lbs low on air pressure. Unable to imagine any reason why the tire would have lost that much pressure during this week other than a leak, he called around to find a place to fix the tire. He finally settled on Don’s Tire about 10 miles from here. Of course, we had to take the tire to them, so we packed everything up, unhooked our life support, and drove on over to Don’s. Tim (Don was out doing other stuff) was unable to find anything wrong with the tire. So far today it has maintained its pressure. What a mystery.

That little episode took a couple hours out of my day so I didn’t get to mark off nearly as much stuff from those lists as I’d hoped. Oh well, there’s always tomorrow.

My Maineiac friend, Mike, was wondering if his name appeared on the “naughty” list. Let me just say that I’m not the keeper of that list, nor the “nice” list. I suspect everyone knows on which of those lists their name might appear. Just remember, Santa is always watching.

That’s it for tonight. Thanks for tagging along.

Making a List

2011-12-20T14:55:00.000-06:00

This morning we did one last hike. It was the last 2.5 miles of the Yellow trail that we had not done. Since this trail meanders through the woods up and down the hills along the base of the north ridge, it’s a little more difficult to create loops. It is the longest of the hiking trails (excluding the bike and horse trails) at 8 miles. That’s too much for us to do a complete out and back. So we divided it into three different hikes. One was the short loop at the north end when we connected to the White trail. Our second hike on the Yellow trail was from Picnic Area 2 when we did two out and backs, one northbound from the picnic area and the other southbound.

Today we drove over to Group Camp Road and parked the car. There is actually not a parking lot here, but there is enough room on the side of the road to park 4 or 5 cars. We walked the short distance from the main road to the junction with the Yellow trail at the point where we had turned around on our last hike. From this starting point the trail crosses a stream on a foot bridge then climbs up the first of several hills. Much of the trail in this section shares the path with horses. For the first mile or so we saw little horse use, but the portion beyond Tranquility Road seems to be popular with the equestrians.

The trail crosses Tranquility road near the Alabama Wildlife Center and soon comes to the junction with the Treetop Nature Trail. We continued on the Yellow Trail to its end at the South Trailhead parking lot. After a short break we turned around and headed back.

There is a new connector trail which connects the Yellow and Green trails. This trail is so new it isn’t on the map yet, but in our hiking we had seen the other end at the Green trail so felt comfortable taking it on our way back. At the Green trail we were able to pick up the Treetop Nature trail and hike up the hill to connect with the Yellow just below the Wildlife Center. It cut off a couple of climbs and maybe a third of a mile on our return trip.

We’ve hiked 34.6 miles while we’ve been in this park. We’ve enjoyed it all, but it is now time to turn our attention to something entirely different. With just five more days until Christmas, I guess it’s about time I got organized. Nothing like waiting until the last minute to rev up that old Christmas spirit.

I’m one of those crazy Type A personality people and I just love lists. I love everything about lists. I love making a list and I love marking things off of the lists as I get it done. Yesterday, I worked on making lists. I have a list for who’s getting what for Christmas, a list of gifts that still need to be purchased, a cookie and candy baking list, a chore list, and the ever present grocery list. We got started on marking things off of these lists yesterday. We went out with the rest of the population of Birmingham to do Christmas shopping. Thank goodness Gene had ordered a lot online and we didn’t have many stops to make. Still the traffic was horrific and the stores were crowded. I purposefully waited for Monday morning because I had heard that is supposed to be the least crowded time of the week. Maybe that rule doesn’t apply to Monday before Christmas. We were both exhausted by the time we got home.

Needed a little snow to help my Christmas spirit so I found this
picture from last December in Nashville.

This afternoon and tomorrow, we’ll be staying at home working on the baking and chore lists. Thursday, we’ll be moving back to Nashville to be with family for Christmas.

Better get busy, now. Time is short. Thanks for tagging along.

The Yellow Trail

2011-12-18T19:20:00.000-06:00

In our hiking at Oak Mountain State Park, we have completed the Blue, White, and Green trails. Today, we did a good portion of the Yellow Trail. The name given to the Yellow Trail is Foothills Trail. That’s an appropriate name because the Yellow trail meanders up the hills and down into the ravines that skirt the North Ridge.

Water coming over the Old Lake Dam

For today’s hike we parked at the picnic shelter at Picnic Area II and started our hike by going left toward Old Lake and then on to Maggie Glen. We retraced our steps from Maggie Glen to the picnic shelter then continued on the Yellow trail to Group Camp Rd. then back to the picnic shelter and the car. The total distance was 5.6 miles.

The first part of our hike took us upstream to the dam at Old Lake. Above the dam, the trail skirted the west side of this small lake before re-entering the woods. Gene and I agreed--the lake was our favorite part of the hike.

At the top of the Dam

Park cabins are on the other side of the lake

There was a side trail which led to the cabins on the other side of the lake, but we passed on that adventure. Not far from the lake we came to a backcountry campsite. There was a stream nearby for easy access to water, but the campsite was not level enough for our liking. After a quick inspection of the campsite we continued on to Maggie Glen.

A watched pot never boils

I love this area at Maggie Glen. It is so peaceful beside the stream. Several trails intersect here, so there is a kiosk with a trail map and other information. By the kiosk are benches which made a great place to sit in the sun for our morning break. Gene, bless his heart, made hot chocolate for us.

We returned to the picnic area then continued on the Yellow trail in the other direction. For the first quarter mile or so, we followed the stream. We crossed the stream on a foot bridge and began our climb to the top of the next hill. In this section, the Yellow hiking trail is shared with horses. However, the trail is pretty steep and in places pretty narrow for horses, so we didn’t see much evidence of horse use.

Descending the other side of this hill brought us to Group Camp Road. At the intersection was another kiosk with benches--a perfect place for our lunch break. After a long break, we headed back to the car at the picnic shelter.

From where we stopped for our lunch, the Yellow trail continues with its short ups and downs for 2.5 more miles. There is a parking lot at the end of the Yellow trail. If we get an opportunity, we’ll hike this last 2.5 miles to complete all the hiking trails in the Park. Although hiking is allowed, we have not and don’t want to hike the Red trail which is used by mountain bikers. There is also an Orange Horse trail which we haven’t hiked, but we’re not too fond of horse trails.

That’s it for today. Thanks for tagging along.

Moccasin Wildlife Trail and Rescued Birds

2011-12-17T18:13:00.000-06:00

We took a much needed day off from hiking yesterday to get some household chores done. Perhaps the most urgent chore was to get the laundry, especially those stinky hiking clothes. Oak Mountain State Park campground not only has pull-thru, full-hook-up sites, it also has washers and dryers in the bath houses. It’s wonderful.

Today, I was on a quest to find out where the Moccasin Trail went. This is the trail down by Beaver Lake and I had done a short walk along this trail last week. We started at the same point I had before, at the back of the B loop in the Campground. I was disappointed in not seeing the great blue heron today. The trail is easy to follow as it skirts the lake at the back of the campground. As we began to get past the campground, the trail became increasingly more faint and the footing uneven. It seemed hardly more than a fisherman’s path to a favorite spot. With no indication of how long this trail is and without blazes to mark the way, with decided to turn back.

Fishermen on Beaver Lake

Gene spoke with the campground manager and he indicated that the trail pretty much circles the lake. That would make it a couple or three miles in length which would be a very nice loop. I was anxious to see if I could connected the dots.

After lunch we drove up to the parking lot by the dam and went exploring. We found a path from the parking lot, but it eventually faded away and again we thought it was probably just a fisherman’s path. Back at the dam, we looked for a way to get to the other side without walking through water. Perhaps in dry weather, the road wouldn’t be flooded and it would be an easy walk to the other side. Today, however, there was water flowing over the road. It wasn’t very deep and many cars passed through, but our car is very low to the ground and we just didn’t want to do it so we don’t know whether we could have found the trail on the other side or not.

Water flowing over the road at the dam.

I may try walking the path again on Monday to see how far I can get. Otherwise, I may just have to abandon my efforts on this trail. Too bad, too. It has great appeal being assessable to the campground and an easy walk along the lake.

Our next stop was the lower portion of the Treetop Nature Trail. One of the objectives of the Alabama Wildlife Center, located in the Park, is to rehabilitate injured birds. They do a fantastic job and many birds are returned to the wild. However, there are birds which sustain such debilitating injuries that they can no longer survive in the wild. These birds are cared for by the staff, friends, and volunteers of the Wildlife Center and live in huge cages along this trail. It was sad, in a way to see these magnificent birds caged, but, on the other hand, they wouldn’t survive on their own. Even though we didn’t do it, this trail continues up the hill and ends at the Wildlife Center building in about a half mile.

Tomorrow, we’re going to tackle some of the Yellow Trail. We haven’t done much of it so are looking forward to something new and different.

We want to welcome our two newest followers--Teri and Hembree (2025). We’re glad to have you both tagging along.

That’s it for today. Thanks for tagging along.

Blue and White, The Same Only Different

2011-12-15T19:34:00.000-06:00

We were back out there hiking again today. That makes three days in a row. Woo-hoo. After a summer of sitting, it feels so good to be getting back into hiking shape again.

The White Trail is wide and flat as it leaves the Peavine Falls parking lot.

Today, we did the Blue Trail and connected with the Orange Trail to the White Trail. That sounds exactly like what we did on Tuesday except today we started at the Peavine Falls Trailhead at the south end of the park. We hiked along the Blue Trail to the Orange connector. We hiked the White Trail from the Orange Connector back to the Peavine parking lot for a 7.7 mile hike. We have now hiked all of both the Blue and White trails.

This looks like a good spot for our morning break.

What we did today was much easier than what we had done on Tuesday. The climb up to the ridge from Peavine Falls on the Blue trail was much more gradual, plus it was 300 feet less in elevation gain. Likewise, coming off the ridge on the White trail was much shorter and less steep than on the north end of the trail. We’d rate this as a moderate hike.

Long leaf pine starts out with a grass-like phase. It does grow tall, but
concentrates on making it stem thicker and developing a taproot.

The Peavine parking lot is at the end of a narrow, steep, curvy road. I wasn’t thrilled with that, but luckily we only met one car as we were going up. The parking lot is huge. Peavine Falls is a popular place and is only a half mile walk from the parking lot. There is a port-a-potty and a picnic pavilion, but no changing room. Three trails lead from this parking lot--the Green, White, and Blue. Actually, you follow the White to connect with the Blue at the falls.

We aren't sure what this red bush is. It looks a little like
low bush blueberry.

As we walked by the falls this morning, we kept glancing over from different vantage points, but had no better views then we did the other day. There were two different trails that lead down to the base of the falls, but there were signs everywhere warning of the hazardous conditions. We decided to leave all that to those younger and braver.

There's still a few leaves out there, but precious few.

Although other trails were in close proximity, this hike seemed much more remote than the others we’ve done in this park. Perhaps it was because it was a cloudy day and we saw no one else on the trail. Of these two trails, I found the White trail to be much more interesting to hike. I liked the narrow ridge top section of the White trail better than the ridge walk on the Blue trail and I especially liked the last couple miles of the White trail as it followed alongside Peavine Branch.

Tomorrow we’re going to take a day off from hiking. I’ve been asked to write a few hike descriptions for the campground and I need to get that done before I forget what I did. This little project came about sorta as a result of our electrical failure. When the guys were here working on our electricity, Gene gave each of them one of our cards which has our names and blog address. One of those cards got into the hands of the campground manager, he read the blog, like the trail descriptions I had written, and asked if I would be interested in writing up a few hikes. What he has in mind is to have a list of hikes with short descriptions that can be handed out to campers who inquire about hiking. Anyway, when I said I’d be willing to do that, he consulted the park superintendent who also liked the idea--liked it so much he offered us two weeks of free camping. We couldn’t believe it. That is so generous. Thank you very much.

That’s it for today. Thanks for tagging along.

An Easy Day

2011-12-14T19:00:00.000-06:00

Even with a good night’s sleep we weren’t too perky this morning, so it felt real good to sit around sipping coffee, leisurely going about morning chores, and just enjoying the beginning of another beautiful day. Midmorning we drove over to Publix to pick up a few things I forgot on my last grocery outing and on the way home we filled up the car and got a sandwich at Chick-fil-A.

Early this morning I made a pan of brownies for those guys that worked so hard on our electrical disaster. We drove over to deliver brownies to the work camper on our way to the grocery, but as it turned out he is off for the rest of the week and is out of the park until Sunday. Then we started looking for the maintenance guy. We found the maintenance department over by the golf course and just pulled into the parking lot. Gene asked the first person he saw. That person turned out to be supervisor and knew exactly where our man could be found--in the campground.

Very nice section of the Yellow Trail as it passes
through a forest of long leaf pine.

We couldn’t let this beautiful day get by without going for a short hike. After lunch we walked over to the Yellow trail just past the entrance to the campground. This short piece of the Yellow Trail goes right down to the North Trailhead parking lot. We continued on the Yellow Trail until it intersected with the White Trail. We came back on the White trail even though we had hiked this section of the White Trail just yesterday. It made a very nice 3-mile loop and we didn’t have to drive the car to a trailhead. How convenient is that?

These posts are all along the trails at quarter mile intervals.
They make it easy to tell how far you've come and how
far you have to go.

Being back at the parking lot where that nice changing booth is located, I just had to make a photo. I hope this idea catches on at trailhead all across America.

I just love this.

It looks like this great weather is going to hold out for one more day. Can’t waste that, so will probably hike the south end of the Blue and White trails tomorrow. It’ll be another 7 mile day, but this end of the trail doesn’t climb as much nor as steeply as the north end.

That’s all for today. Thanks for tagging along.

Blue and White Loop Hike

2011-12-13T20:22:00.000-06:00

We were out there doing it today and I have the sore body to prove it. After due deliberation over the map, we put together a 6.5 mile loop starting on the Blue Trail and crossing over to the White Trail via the Orange connector. I suppose if you’re color blind, you could be in deep dodo.

For this hike we used the north trailhead. The Blue, Red, White, and Yellow trails all start from here so the parking lot is huge. If that lot is full, there’s an overflow lot. This parking lot has something I’ve never seen before at a trailhead, and I just have to mention it--a changing room. After a hike I’m always anxious to get out of wet, sweaty clothes. I have done contortion acts in the front seat of the car trying to change into dry clothes. I was very impressed to see this little changing area. It’s brand new; in fact, they were working on it this afternoon when we got back to the parking lot. Looks for all the world like another Eagle scout project.

As you can see from the trail profile, we had a climb right from the beginning. There were three stream crossings pretty soon after we started, but they were just trickles that could be easily stepped over. Just before the one mile mark there is a side trail to Eagle’s Nest Overlook. Being up pretty high, we thought there would be a good view, so we took the very, very steep quarter mile side trail to the overlook. To our disappointment, there was a huge boulder at the overlook which completely blocked the view unless you wanted to climb to the top of the boulder. Thanks, but no thanks.

This rock was in the way of my view.

Back on the Blue Trail we continued our climb to the ridge. Once on the top, it was easy going until we intersected with the Orange Connector. We passed trails to overlooks, but we didn’t fall for that trick every time. We did take one side trail over to the edge of the ridge, but the view was obstructed by trees. At the Orange Connector we stopped for our lunch break. It was such a beautiful day and so warm in the sun that we actually stretched out on the ground for a few minutes. Well, Gene was on the ground, I was on may clean and dry poncho.

We passed this backcountry campsite on the Orange Connector.

Lots of stuff to look at at the intersection where the Orange and Red trails intersected.

The Orange Connector took us off the ridge top, past the red trail, and over to the next ridge and the White Trail. I think the hike along the ridge on the White Trail was a nicer hike than along the ridge on the Blue Trail. The White Trail followed a very narrow ridge line, passing over our highest elevation of the day at 1286 ft, until it dropped off into the holler (that’s a real southern word for you). After about a mile of almost vertical descent, we found ourselves at Peavine Branch in Maggie’s Glen. From there it was an easy walk out to the parking lot.

Found this boulder field on the Orange Connector

I enjoyed this ridge walk on the White trail

Now for something all together different--electricity. Emma’s mama, Judy, asked if we used a surge protector and if it had protected our rig. No, we don’t have a surge protector. I know, lots of folks out there recommend having one. From what I understand about electricity (and that’s very, very little), that for our 30 amp rig, we plug into the 30 amp outlet, and that’s what we get. There is no more than 30 amps of electricity going to come through that outlet unless something bad happens at the utility or if lightning strikes a wire or a transformer or something. My understanding is that surges can also occur within the RV from large appliances turning on and off.

So, a surge protector that plugs into the post at the campsite might protect against the lightning strike or the disaster at the utility company. It seems to me the real danger is from those surges which occur inside the RV which are on the other side of that surge protector at the post. There are probably few people in America that don’t have surge protectors on their computers. For us, because we have so few electrical outlets and because of their locations, we have those extension cord/surge protectors all over our RV. The only things not plugged into one are the microwave, refrigerator, AC, and the small TV in the bedroom.

In the incident on Monday, that was not a surge. There was a short, either in our plug or in the campground post, which caused the problem. If the problem had been in the post and If we had had a surge protector plugged into the outlet, the surge protector would have been fried but would have protected our electrical cord (I think). However, it only cost $18 for a new end on our cord and a new surge protector would have been much more than that.

Just one other thing for completeness sake. We have one of those small testers which measures voltage and frequency. Gene always tests the electrical post before plugging our rig into the outlet. Then we plug the tester into an outlet inside the rig and leave it plugged in. It will alarm if the voltage is either too low or too high. We’ve never had a too high alarm in the 6 years we’ve been RVing. We’ve had low voltage occasionally, usually during the summer about dinner time when everybody has their ACs cranked up to very cold.

Hope that helps, Judy. I think that’s more than I really know about electricity anyway.

I also got a comment from that Maineiac in Motion, Mike, who suggested I use some other term besides “melt down”. From a man who spent his career in nuclear energy, I guess “melt down” is a pretty scary term.

That’s it from me for today. Thanks for tagging along.

Melt Down

2011-12-12T19:39:00.000-06:00

Boy, have we had a day. I don’t think I want to call it exciting, but it was certainly different from what we had planned.

Yesterday ended well. We had a relaxing evening and when we got tired we locked the door, pulled down the shades, turned off the lights and went to bed. About 3 AM I had to go to the bathroom and when I got back in bed I noticed the electricity was off. That was strange because I could see the lights were on in the bath house. I looked out another window and could see Christmas lights brightly shining on a rig across the way. Since it appeared to only be us without power, I woke Gene up to report my findings.

He was not thrilled, but got out of bed anyway. Our breaker inside was not tripped, so he put on shoes and a coat and went outside to check the post. All seemed well, so he unplugged and plugged our cord back into the outlet. That set off sparks and sizzles. The electricity came on, but only for an instant. Gene unplugged the cord and left the problem for the light of day.

A quick check of the post this morning indicated that things had gotten a little hot in there. Just before 8 AM Gene called the park office to report the problem. There was someone from maintenance at our site within 10 minutes. He had all the parts to change out the unit in the post and after about an hour he plugged us back in. We had electricity briefly and then it went out again. By this time, one of the work campers had showed up on the scene. Their second project was to change the breaker box at the post. With that done, they plugged us in again and again we had electricity briefly.

Immediately after Gene had made the call to the park office, he had called Four Winds tech support and described to him what the end of our electrical cord looked like. It was only slightly scorched, so the tech guy felt like it would be safe to use. However, after the maintenance guy and the work camper had replaced all the parts in the post, they started looking at our cord. It was more damaged than Gene had realized. They sent Gene off to get a replacement. Luckily, a camp store just a few miles down the road had one and we dashed off to get it. I had to do the driving because Gene’s back is still not as good as it should be.

From the time we got back with the replacement part, the work camper had it reinstalled and electricity flowing within 30 minutes. And he did it for free. How nice was that. Better bake that man some brownies.

As we were leaving the campground to get the electrical part, we passed an ambulance, a couple police cars, a few park ranger cars, and a fire truck parked on the side of the road near the turn off for the Wildlife Center. We couldn’t see where there had been a crash, but there were so many cars there it was hard to tell what was going on. We thought maybe a motorist had hit a bicyclist. The road is curvy and it could easily happen. When we got back to the park with our electrical part, even more fire trucks and police cars were there. Now they had the road blocked. I pulled over to the shoulder to wait.

Finally, after we had sat there for about 20 minutes, one of the policemen came over and suggested we might want to go around. When I asked what had happened all he said was “hunting accident”. Before I could move, a news van pulled up behind me. My window was still down from talking with the police officer, so the reporter started asking me questions. One of her questions was if we’d seen the helicopter. That was a pretty juicy tidbit of information, so I asked her what had happened. She said hunting accident, too, but she didn’t rush off like the policeman had. We learned from her that bow hunting is allowed in Oak Mountain State Park. That was a surprise to us. We’d never even considered there’d be hunters here. She didn’t have much more information to share and the party started to break up anyway, so we were waved on through.

Being curious about hunting in the park, for my own safety don’t you know, I did a little internet researching this afternoon. I learned that officials started allowing bow hunting in Oak Mountain to help thin the deer herd which is over populated here and thus not very healthy.

This evening, I learned from one of the local TV channels, that a hunter had shot himself in the chest when he fell out of a tree stand. He apparently had a hand gun tucked away in a pocket somewhere. Now that explains the party on the road--a real crime scene investigation.

That was our day. Hope yours was just as exciting. Thanks for tagging along.

Green Trail to Peavine Falls

2011-12-11T20:58:00.000-06:00

We actually got to go for a hike today. Gene’s back is not well, but greatly improved.

Oak Mountain State Park has a number of trails of varying lengths. The trails are named and color coded. Individual trails are linear, but have connectors which lead to other trails. With a little imagination, loops can be created using trails and their connectors.

For our hike today we chose the Green Trail (Peavine Trail) to Peavine Falls. The Green Trail is 1.9 miles in length and runs between Peavine Parking lot and the Park Office. To get to Peavine Falls, we used the Green-White connector to get to the White Trail which leads to the top of the falls for an out and back hike of 4 miles.

Green Blaze marks the Green (Peavine) Trail

We started our hike at the Park Office. Actually, the trailhead parking lot is next door to the Park Office and across the street from Wildlife Center Trail. The Green Trail starts just a few yards from the Wildlife Center Trail and begins with a pretty steep climb to the top of the first hill then drops down about 100 feet to the junction with the Yellow, Orange, and Red Trails.

The Red Trail is the mountain bike trail and is the longest of all the trails. It weaves back and forth and we had to cross it several times. This was a nice day to be in the woods and there were several bikers out on the Red Trail. Extreme caution needed to be used when crossing the Red Trail.

Peavine Branch

After this major trail junction, we started the very steep climb to the North ridge of Oak Mountain. Near the top of the ridge, the Green Trail again junctions with the Red Trail and follows it for several yards before turning left and continuing to the top of North Ridge. Once on the ridge we had a pleasant, nearly flat walk for about a half mile to our connector trail. The connector descends steeply to Peavine Branch then follows the White trail to the top of the falls.

Peavine Falls

We were somewhat disappointed once we got to the falls. Our trail led to the top of the falls and there didn’t seem to be a very easy way to the bottom. I never could get a real good view of the falls. The photo I made was from a position much closer to the edge than I like to be and then holding the camera out as far as my arm would stretch.

The rock I was hanging over to get the photo.

That little disappointment aside, we really enjoyed the hike. The trail was very well marked except at a few trail junctions where another blaze or two would have been helpful. The tread way was good, mostly dirt with a few rocks, and the trail was well maintained. We liked the more vigorous workout we got on this trail. It’s rated moderate to difficult due to the 700 foot elevation gain in just over a mile. Proved to us we’re not ready for mountain hiking yet.

Top of the falls

I carried a heavy pack today and my knees are already scolding me for that. I even wore knee braces. Probably would have had some real pain, if I hadn’t. No one can accuse me of being an ultralight hiker. I decided to take my Canon SLR with the 300 mm lens just in case I had a photo op at the waterfall. Not wanting to risk damaging the camera or the lens, I tucked them securely inside their carrying case and then put the whole thing in my pack. Add car keys, a wallet, the 10 essentials, and a fleece jacket and my pack weighed a ton. No wonder my knees are complaining. And, as it turned out, I never took the camera out of my pack. All the photos were made with my little Canon Power Shot.

Peavine Branch

That’s it for today. Thanks for tagging along.

Light Trail and a Bake Sale

2011-12-10T19:34:00.000-06:00

I am happy to report that Gene’s back is still improving; so much so that he was able to go for a short ride in the car and a short hike today.

This is December and all across America non-profit organizations are hoping to raise a little extra cash through craft and bake sales. The Wildlife Center here at Oak Mountain State Park was doing that very thing this morning. Since it was only a couple miles over there, Gene thought his back felt strong enough to give it a try. The walking around and buying stuff was not the problem, the hurdle was getting in and out of the car. All went well and we supported the effort by purchasing a buttermilk pie.

Let me sidestep a little and answer a question we got yesterday. Nan wanted to know what type car we have. We have a Honda Fit. It’s the smallest of the Hondas and one of the two Hondas that can be towed with 4 wheels down. The other one is the Honda CRV. After riding for five years in a Ford F250 diesel, and struggling with parking that monster, we wanted a small car. We love it. It is easy to tow and wonderful to drive around in city traffic and back roads to trailheads. It isn’t so comfortable on a long trip, though. We drove it up the Dempster Highway in the Yukon when we went to Alaska this past summer. It got great gas milage, but it was small with camping gear, clothes, food, and the cat for a 3-4 day trip.

It also sits very close to the ground. That’s the real issue of getting in and out with a bad back. It’s also an issue on unimproved roads like we often encounter driving to trailheads. We’ll drag on deeply rutted roads. We just have to be careful. Hope that answers your question.

Okay, back to today. After the bake sale, I brought Gene home to rest while I headed off to Wal-mart for a few things. Once I got out of the park and back to the main highway, traffic was crazy. Wal-mart was busy, too, but nothing like Hobby Lobby. That place was like a zoo. ‘Tis the season, I guess.

Since the ride in the car worked out so well, after lunch Gene wanted to go for a short hike. He wasn’t going to push his luck with too many car rides today, so we walked around the campground road to the Light Trail. One of the local Eagle Scout troops built this trail this summer and it has just opened. The trail looks like an old road bed, so they weren’t out there moving rock and digging side-hill cut trail, but they did an excellent job of clearing brush and installing water bars and pipes to help drain the wet areas. They’ve also built and placed three nice benches for resting. Good job, guys. Thanks a million.

Light Trail is a really easy woods walk; thus a great trail for this family campground. It would be a good one even for small children.
The trail is about three-quarters mile in length one way so that was a nice, easy, short hike for Gene. The 1.5 miles was plenty for today especially after the morning outing to the bake sale. He thinks tomorrow he’ll be ready for 4 miles.

That’s all for today. Thanks for tagging along.

Moccasin Wildlife Trail or Oh, My Aching Back

2011-12-09T19:07:00.000-06:00

Well, this has been an unplanned and unintentional day of rest. Gene is down with his back.

This all got started yesterday as he was connecting our utilities after we arrived at Oak Mountain State Park. We are both prone to back issues so this was nothing out of the ordinary as far as that goes. He bent over to get something out of one of the storage compartments, and, wham, there goes that muscle. It doesn’t happen often. For him once every couple of years. For me, I may go for four or five years. But all it takes is one wrong twist or turn and you’re done for.

Sometimes, it’s not so bad. A few back stretches and a couple laps around the campground and you’re almost like new. This time, however, it was bad. He spent the rest of yesterday afternoon in the bed with heating pad and a prescription muscle relaxer (leftover from the last episode). Walking is good, but he couldn’t even do that yesterday.

Today has seen much improvement. He was able to be up much of the day and has made several laps around our area of the campground. With his back brace on, he can sit at the table and surf the internet. He’s talking about doing a little hiking tomorrow.

With him down with his back, I’ve been left to entertain myself. No problem there. It was so cold this morning I really didn’t want to be outside. After morning chores, I finished a cap I’ve been knitting on for the past couple weeks. Thin I started a festive holiday party scarf. I’ve also been reading Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. Not very far along, but so far it is a very compelling story. After lunch, I went out for a walk.

Yesterday, as I was making photos down by the lake, I noticed a sign for the Moccasin Wildlife Trail. This trail is not on the maps we have, however, I suspect it is what is the beach and lake trails which are listed on the maps. I followed the well-trodden path which meanders along the lake shore. I was more interested in photos than making miles. Gene will stop anytime I’m busy photographing something, but he’d really rather keep moving. I was taking advantage today of being alone to do my own thing.

I spotted a heron right away and crept along trying to get as close as possible. I was surprised at how close he let me get--probably within 20 feet. After that, the only real wildlife I saw on the Moccasin Wildlife Trail were a couple squirrels. The lake was there, though, with its reflections. I just had to wait for the wind to die down and the water surface to become calm. Also saw a few red leaves and an interesting fungus.

I didn’t go to the end of the trail. I was afraid Gene would be worried about me since I was taking so long. The trail doesn’t go completely around the lake, but I’m not sure how far it does go. I’ll check it out, perhaps tomorrow.

There are several short trails along the perimeter of the campground. If Gene is feeling up to hiking tomorrow, we’ll select one of those. Can’t do anything too difficult nor anything requiring a ride in the car. Our car sits so low to the ground it is very difficult to get in and out of when your back is acting up.

That’s what we’ve been up to today. Thanks for tagging along.

Oak Mountain State Park

2011-12-08T19:46:00.000-06:00

Today was a moving day. We’re now settled in at Oak Mountain State Park. We paid for three nights, but who knows how long we’ll stay.

We had a beautiful day for traveling even if it was on the cold side. Because overnight temperatures were forecasted to be about 27 degrees last night, Gene unhooked our water and sewer lines late yesterday afternoon. That only left the electricity for this morning. Getting the car hitched was a cold job. We definitely needed gloves to handle all those icy tow bar parts.

We took I-65 the 60 or so miles to the Oak Mountain exit. There were a few rough spots, but for the most part I-65 is in good condition except in Birmingham. Through Birmingham was the roughest ride we’ve had in a long time. Plus there were a few miles of construction. By the time we got to our exit we were more than ready to be off the interstate.

Oak Mountain State Park covers nearly 10,000 acres just on the outskirts of Birmingham. It seems this park has it all--hiking trails, mountain biking, horse trails, golf course, a lake for canoes, kayaks, and pedal boats, swimming, and two fishing lakes. They have cabins as well as a large campground for overnight visitors.

The campground has over a 100 sites, most of which are RV sites with full hook-ups and free WiFi. The campground is wooded, but there are sites that are more open than others. The sites are spacious like you would expect in a state park and this campground will accommodate big rigs. The interior roads are paved and the parking pads are gravel and most are pull-thrus. I didn’t walk around the campground too much, but of the few sites I saw many had pretty good sized ruts in the parking pads. The site we’re in does, as well, and it’ll be a rough spot to get over when we’re ready to leave. The sites are nearly level.

The campground is situated on one end of Beaver Lake. I walked down there this afternoon to check it out. With the rain this week, there seems to be plenty of water in the lake. Some sections of the lake trail are too wet to walk on. We’ll save that trail for a few days.

At the very end of the lake it looks like it may be out of bounds a little.

I think that’ll do for today. Thanks for tagging along.

Budgets and Vacuums

2011-12-07T19:14:00.000-06:00

I think the rain may have moved on out of here. It sure has been a drab and wet couple of days. We’ve gotten a lot done inside, though.

Our little Christmas Tree

Last week I got a new vacuum. Since moving into an RV 6 years ago the vacuum cleaner, a mundane thing that I really never gave much thought to, has been an ongoing issue. In our first 5th wheel (Montana) I brought my house vacuum with me. There was a real coat closet right by the door and that’s where I stored that huge upright vacuum. I liked that vacuum and it did a good job of cleaning the carpets, but it was large for an RV. Plus, it was heavy to lift of the steps to the bedroom and cumbersome in tight corners. But, I had attachment galore that would clean every nook and cranny.

When we moved into our Everest 5th wheel, I didn’t even wait to be asked. I ordered a central vacuum. I thought I’d love it, but that affair never got off the ground. My main objection was the lack of suction. Then there was the hose which was about a mile and a half long. It plugged in at the steps to the bedroom and would reach all the way to the back wall. While I vacuumed, the hose banged into everything, cabinets and furniture alike. I didn’t have a coat closet in the Everest, either, so I stored that massive hose in the basement. That was a pain to get in and out two or three times a week.

Then we moved into the Class C. Now, there’s really no space to store a vacuum. I asked around of other Class C owners and finally purchased a small hand-held, cordless Shark vacuum. It worked great for vacuuming the upholstery, but crawling around on hands and knees to vacuum the carpet got old quickly. Being cordless it had to be charged all the time. That vacuum was out in the way more often than not. It finally got to where it wouldn’t hold a charge, so we were in the marked once again for a new vacuum.

Friends told us about a Shark hand-held with an electrical cord. That sounded better than cordless, so we searched around until we finally found one. It had a powerful motor and a larger beater brush and was far superior to the smaller shark. I liked it better, but I was still crawling around on the floor.

My new Eureka Quick-up

For several months I’ve been thinking about a tiny upright, but we really don’t have a place to store even a small upright. Nevertheless, that thought has been in my mind. Last Friday, the motor in the second Shark burnt up. We headed over to the vacuum department at Wal-mart. I found a Eureka upright with a removable handle which just snaps into place. Perfect. The vacuum part is not much larger than the first Shark I had. And it was only $22. It is so easy to use I’ve vacuumed every day. I love it. It might not last long, but for $22 it doesn’t have to last a lifetime.

Gene’s big project for the day has been the budget for next year. That always leads to interesting discussions. Most categories stayed the same. We increased groceries, but lowered gasoline. Of course, 2011 was the year our gas budget was $800/month to get us to Alaska and back. We have a more reasonable $450/month for gas this year. At the beginning of 2011 we had lowered our campground fees to $22/night. We were slightly under that budget for the year, so we’re leaving it at $22 for 2012. Of course, we had several boondocking nights this year and will try to do that again next year. Besides gas, groceries seems to be the thing we are consistently over budget on. We’ve increased groceries by almost $100/month. Lipitor has just gone generic and we’re really hoping to see a reduction in that big bill each month. In the end, it looks like we’ll be able to continue this lifestyle for another year.

Well, I’ve rattled on plenty with nothing much to say. We’re moving tomorrow to Oak Mountain State Park just south of Birmingham. They’ve got trails there, too.

That’s it. Thanks for tagging along.

The Rest of the Story

2011-12-06T19:47:00.000-06:00

Well, the rains came. Once started, they didn’t stop all night last night. Today, we’ve had sprinkles off and on, but mostly just a dreary day. Late this afternoon, it started raining again and, if we can believe the forecast, will rain all night and throughout tomorrow. It’s cold, too.

Found this on one of our hikes this week.

The rain has given us the opportunity to stay inside and get some real work done. Gene had computer maintenance to do and kept himself occupied while I did the laundry. Right after lunch we got out and got our errands done before the next round of heavy rain started. We buzzed through Wal-mart, Lowes, and Hobby Lobby and were back at home within a couple hours.

This hawk hangs our on this utility pole next door. We see him nearly every day.

We haven’t just been hiking since we got here, although that’s pretty much how it seems. I’ve decorated our humble abode with the few Christmas decorations I have. Like last year, I stopped in Hobby Lobby and picked up one of the smallest trees they have. It’s about 2 feet tall and sits perfectly on the large shelf we have over the cab. I put on one strand of lights and about 40 miniature ornaments. Even has a star on top. So far, Peanut has left it alone. There’s no storage space to keep it, of course, so after Christmas I’ll give it away. I think Kayley may have last year’s tree in her room this year.

Peanut got in some big trouble his first Christmas. We were living in the Montana 5th wheel then and I put up a small tree, maybe 4 feet. We came home one afternoon from work and found the tree toppled over, ornaments everywhere, and Peanut in the middle of the tree. After that we did things a little differently when it came to Christmas decorations.

We decorated the garland above the slides; well out of the reach of a certain CAT.

I continue to enter a few posts from the old Trip Journal into Blogger every day. I’m about halfway through 2008 now. That was the year we went to New York for the summer. It’s been fun rereading those old posts and especially looking at the photos.

On our way to the trailheads, we’ve been seeing some of rural Northern Alabama. It’s farmland planted in the summer with primarily corn, cotton, and hay. Of course, the fields are empty now. Most have been cut and are ready for spring planting when the time comes. There are a fair number of dairy farmers with large herds of cattle. It seems like poultry farms were big business at one time. There are many of those long, low barns used by poultry raisers. They’re dilapidated and falling down now. The communities we pass through are small with a church or two, a gas station, a small market, and a few houses.

We came across this old store one day. Looks like they used to sell gas, too. There was a small shed on one side and an outhouse on the other. I loved the outhouse with the galvanized tub hanging on the side. When I was a small child and visited my grandparents, I’d get a bath in a tub just like that on Saturday night. This outhouse, complete with its bathtub, reminded me of Judy, Emma’s mama, and her post a few days ago (Nov 24) about her first shower. I’m not sure I could even get in a tub like that anymore. One thing I’m pretty sure of--if I got in, I’d have a tough time getting out!

So, that’s the rest of what we’ve been doing this week. Thanks for tagging along.