Our Hitch is Itching

We managed to entertain ourselves close to home today.  We just didn’t have the enthusiasm to wander off.  I think hitch itch is setting in.  This usually happens about the third week of a month long stay.  Three weeks is about our limit in any one spot.  In that amount of time, we’ve seen the area attractions and still had plenty of down time.  The big discount in renting by the month instead of by the week is significant enough to keep us signing up for month long stays.

That being said, we still didn’t want to just sit in the house on such a beautiful day so we found our way to a trailhead.  Nothing like a 7-mile hike to make you rethink sitting in the recliner all day.  Every time we have hiked during our stay in Ocala, we have done a different section of the Florida Trail.  There are a few gaps along the way, but we have completed almost all the trail from Marshall Swamp to CR 484, a distance of about 15 miles.  We’ve also done nearly all of the 8 miles across Juniper Prairie Wilderness in Ocala National Forest.  We can definitely tell the difference the exercise has made.  We have a way to go, however, before we are ready to tackle those 12+ mile days we expect to do on the Appalachian Trail in May.

Even though we are ready to leave this area, there is still one place we just must see--Cedar Key.  The forecast for tomorrow looks great, so we’ll be heading west early in the morning for the 100 mile drive to the Gulf coast.

Until then, safe travels and hike light.