I’m just not used to this kind of traveling. Usually I explore new places with Matey and stop and snap photos along the way…when I think of it. But Monday we went to meet an old friend from our boating days at a restaurant. She surprised us by bringing along two other couples from our old yacht club, Tuscarora Yacht Club on the Wilson harbor on the south shore of Lake Ontario.
It was great to see all of them. Sharon, Bob and Donna, and Marcia and her Bob, Bud and I all had a great time eating, reminiscing and catching up. Two hours later we had all gotten up and gone to our cars when it occurred to me, I hadn’t taken a single picture!
Then we drove to Rick and Tracey’s new house which is mid-renovation after flooding rains from Hurricane Ian, which had ripped off the shingles. It’s a lovely house. We visited briefly on their back patio, by the pool, in the screen house, which are all now intact and gorgeous.
We jumped in Rick’s Jeep and drove five minutes to Save Cove where Jim and Margaret were arranging for the repairs to their 44 foot Morgan live-aboard sailboat. These folks had never met, but had heard much about each other and were now practically neighbors, at least until the boat gets fixed and/or sold.
Margaret and Jim with their boat, Well, Why Not?, and in this view the boat looks scuffed up but sound.
And it would be except for the jack stand base it fell on that is now sticking out of the hull.
Yep, it goes all the way through! You will notice I did get pictures of the boat.
By the time the 6 of us old sailors got done talking (not done, really, never done) it was getting to be evening and Bud and I hurried off without even stopping back at Rick’s place, so no pictures of that!
Yesterday we met another couple, friends from TYC, for lunch. We were so happy to see Pat and Gay and to know that they had sold their house on Matlacha long before the hurricane. Matlacha was pretty much destroyed. Pictures of the wrecked homes even made it on the Weather Channel so you know it was bad.
Another great reunion and fun lunch and as soon as we got in the truck and were driving out it hit me, no pictures!
We’ve made it as far south as we’re going in Florida; we’re at Sunshine RV Resort in Lake Placid. Our intention was to go down to the Port Charlotte area, but after Hurricane Ian any campgrounds still operating are full of displaced residents or the workers in town to rebuild.
This place isn’t terribly picturesque, but it’s quiet and friendly and as close as we could get to some friends.
Saturday Rick and Trace came. They are living in an expensive little place while they oversee the restoration of their house. They only got one season to enjoy their Florida house before Ian ripped off the shingles and drenched the interior. But they are soldiering on with determination and good humor, which is standard operating procedure for them. It was great to see them again.
Today Jim and Margaret came to visit. They are in Florida just for a week to see to the repair of their sailboat. It was in a boatyard all tidied up and listed for sale when Ian dumped it on its side and generally wrecked havoc with it. Since our visits coincided they made the drive over to see our new house on wheels.
Margaret wanted a picture of Bud and me next to our travel map. She shared it with me, so I will share it, too.
Rick and Trace were some of the first friends we made sailing at Tuscarora Yacht Club on Lake Ontario. Jim and Margaret were about the last friends we made sailing; we were at a marina in Palmetto, Florida, just before we sold our boat. None of us are still sailing, but they are still our friends. Boating friends are the best!
We are now well down the center of the Florida peninsula at this small state park. Typical of Florida State Parks, the camp sites are close together, but there are nice trees. And we need the shade as it’s in the 80’s!
Hammock is a Florida Cracker term for a shady place, and I have walked trails that are very jungly.
My favorite has been the Big Oak Trail, even though only the trunk is left of the old oak that was here.
We also walked an uplands trail with the typical Florida plant community of pine, wire grass and saw palmettos.
These areas support a lot of species, including flowers in January…
and gopher tortoises, like this one we met. Third one I’ve seen this trip, a record!
I had sent my Uncle Al a copy of our itinerary, which he never got. So I called him to get a new email address and resent it. He commented that he’d like to get together, perhaps with my brother also. Two days before we left our last campground I sent another email to him and to my brother saying where we were and when we would be moving on to be near my brother and asking that they make a plan and let us know when they would like us to meet. Uncle Al got that email and called me.
Turns out we were only seven miles from him where we were at Lake Griffin State Park. So the last day we were there we met Uncle Al and Aunt Fran, went out for lunch then back to their place for an afternoon of Euchre. Al and Bud won three games in a row, but Fran and I won the last one, so she says we won overall. Sounds right to me. In any case we had a wonderful day and I forgot to take any pictures, so hence this description with no illustrations.
For the first two days with my brother I also forgot to take pictures, but Jim took some and sent them to me.
On our first day together we took a hike in Hammock Park near our campground in Palm Harbor. This is Bud, me, Matey and Goody on the hike.
Then they called their son, Gerry, to see if we could meet him where he works. He had left but went back and met us. He works with a crew that contracts to keep weeds out of the docks around Lake Tarpon. Here we are inspecting the boats they use.
Bud and Jim climbed aboard for a ride.
The boats are propelled by side paddle wheels driven by diesel engines.
The front end has blades and then a conveyor ramp to bring the cut weeds aboard.
Gerry told us they do over 150 homes every month to keep their lake fronts and docks weed free. He loves it.
We then all went back to Jim and Goody’s for dinner.
I finally remembered to take a picture the next night when we had them all over for dinner at the camper, so this is the only picture with Jim in it. That’s Gerry and Jim on the coach, Goody and Bud in the chairs. Matey was ignoring me.
We spent today with Jim and Goody playing disc golf and going out to lunch. It was hard to say goodbye, but made easier because they are planning to stop out and see us when we come back up this coast and stop at Hillsborough State Park.
We traveled south yesterday, skirting Ocala and driving down US441 through Lady Lake and the Villages. We aren’t used to this kind of traffic. The highway is four or six lanes and lined with shopping centers and subdivisions.
Our destination was Lake Griffin State Park. Our site was a bit tight.
And a bit slanted side to side. We parked the trailer as far to the right as practical and at a slight angle to minimize the tilt, but still needed three blocks under each driver side tire.
In the end we have a nice shady sitting area.
There is traffic noise and there are a lot of sirens, but the park is full of lovely old live oaks…
including this monster which is the second largest live oak in Florida. (I made Matey pose under it for scale.)
Trish braved the traffic yesterday afternoon to visit one more time. There were three accidents on I-75 making the hour and a half trip take three hours! Thanks, Tricia, it was great to see you one more time.
Bud took Matey and me on a much shorter drive to Palmetto Point Park to a disc golf course.
It, too, was in beautiful trees.
It made the game more challenging. If you enlarge this image you can perhaps see Bud’s green disc flying right down the middle of this fairway.
These beautiful parks are welcome oases in the overwhelming development here.
We also visited Gary and Karen Gaskill. We drove to their place on Sunday and had a fine day talking and laughing. We ordered out lunch from a nearby Mexican restaurant. It was only on the way home that I realized I hadn’t taken a single photo. Oh well, we hoped to get together again on Tuesday, I would take pictures then.
On Monday we moved. Here’s Bud pulling out of site 71.
And here he’s getting ready to back into site 73. We hadn’t been able to book four nights in one site, so had to move about 300 feet halfway through the stay. We did other chores during the day.
Tuesday we did go back to Gary and Karen’s. We needed to replace two pins on our trailer hitch so Gary drove us to Camping World, which didn’t have them, and then to Tractor Supply, which did.
Here’s one of the new pins in use. It doesn’t touch anything but the piece where it goes. And yet, after using this hitch for over 6,000 miles we lost both pins in the first 30 miles of our last trip.
We went back to Gaskill’s for another lunch and more talk and then it was time to head out. And I realized I hadn’t taken any pictures again!
Gary and Karen obliged me by posing in the afternoon sun on their back patio.
I tried out the portrait mode on my new phone and think I got a nice shot.
Then we decided we needed a shot of the four of us together. After a couple of tries we got this one, which proves that old people shouldn’t do selfies, but we all agreed it was too goofy not to go in the blog.
It was wonderful to see them again, I am so glad we came.
After being away for all of 2022, we are back in Florida for an extended visit.
Our first stop has been the Suwannee River State Park at the confluence of the Suwannee and Withlacoochee Rivers.
I remember now that state campsites are usually just sand, and soon there is sand in the trailer and sand in the truck.
I also remember that Florida is beautiful.
There are lots of really nice trails…
and big, gorgeous old trees.
I also remember that Florida, despite having people everywhere, has lots of wildlife; like this gopher tortoise that Matey and I encountered on our first walk in Florida. He was calmly munching on wire grass right on the edge of the trail.
We drove another 250 miles today to Frank Jackson State Park just outside Opp, Alabama. Happily this site was long and flat enough that we could leave the truck and trailer hitched, as we’re only staying overnight.
We got here early enough for Matey and me to take a nice walk. We crossed this boardwalk to the far peninsula,
Then took a second out to a small island.
One trail led around the perimeter of the island.
Another went through the tall trees in the center of the island.
It’s nice to be exploring again, even though I miss Jamie and Adler so much it makes my heart hurt.
On the Roam Again 