Winter 2014--Lithia Springs

Sun. Jan. 26-Wed. Jan. 29: We ate a quick breakfast at the Super 8 and then found the do-it-yourself carwash the desk clerk had told us about. Because I was a “Lucky Time” winner when I put in our quarters we had more time than we could use to wash the filthy, salty, grimy truck and camper. As we drove along the temperatures rose slowly into the 60s by the time we got to Lithia Springs County Park, which we had found two years ago on our winter trip. It was nearly deserted and, even though many campsites are closed because they are redoing them, we had plenty from which to choose. We picked the very large pull-through on the point of the back loop from which we can’t see any other people and set-up. There was a lot to do since the trailer was winterized but since we arrived about 4:00 and had electricity and water at the site we worked at it throughout the evening and managed quite nicely. Partway through our set-up it began to drizzle very lightly but we were far enough along that it didn’t really matter. Marv even managed to grill steaks for dinner while I made mushroom rice mixture and salads so we had a really good “first” dinner. We let a few people at home know we had arrived, watched some of the Pro Bowl, and read for a quiet evening.

Site 22

It rained off and on all night long but stayed in the fifties so we slept really well. As we got up and made coffee and breakfast, the rain stopped, and the sun peaked out occasionally while the temperature rose into the low seventies. It actually got a little warm as we took our morning constitutional around the park, over to the deserted spring, and back. The Host couple (Beverly and Joe) on our loop comes from Shelby Township in Michigan and her sister-in-law, Sue Warren, lives next door to JoAnn and Bob Hubbard. Small world! After lunch we hiked up the river trail as far as it went. It is a very jungle-like area with patches of cypress swamp full of knees that look like miniature graveyards. Along the way there was a female Great Blue Heron settled in a tree contentedly grunting and watching the river flow by with no concern for our presence. When we returned to the camper a slight drizzle came on again. It was to continue the rest of the afternoon, off and on. We began to make plans to see Larzeleres on Wednesday and Marv continued to fuss with the camper. As we read outside under our awning the Netlife Blimp flew over the campsite!

Lithia Springs

Along the river

Cypress knees

"Our" Great Blue Heron

See Snoopy?

Tuesday was the day for which we drove from Michigan through dreadful weather. A slight cloud cover blew off while we ate fried eggs for breakfast and then it was sunny and warm enough to sit out and enjoy our coffee and read the LSJ on our tablets in the sunshine. When we got too warm we hopped on our bikes and rode over to see the spring, where the County Sheriff’s Dive Team was doing some training in the 72° water—just about the same as the air temperature by then. We took the trail along the spring outlet past other, undeveloped springs and circled around to the park gate, where there was a new parking area and an opening in the fence that led to a paved pathway skirting a very large dry holding pond and stretching into the distance. We rode a little ways and then decided to return to the campsite to have lunch and apply sunblock. After eating we spent the next two hours riding 8 miles of paved trail past oak hammocks and wetland areas. The first part opened into a huge area that will be filled with houses but is just being developed so there was nothing there for now. The model homes are being built at the front of the area. That opened onto the main road, which we crossed, and then continued riding through green areas for Fish Hawk Ranch that has mile after mile of small subdivisions that back up to the boulevard and trails. It was delightful to ride and, other than around the elementary school that was just being released, we saw hardly any other people. Back at the campsite we rested awhile and both showered before we made a rice and bean mixture to finish off our vegetarian day for the week. The perfect weather was in complete contrast to what we were hearing from home, where they had yet another day of sub-zero temperatures and more snow and blowing. Not only that, but the cold front extended all the way down to northern Florida. There was a little bit of rain during the night as the temperatures slowly fell into the fifties. We listened to the Spartans pull-out a win in a very close, exciting game in overtime at Iowa and went to bed happy.

Peggy enjoying coffee, sunshine and the newspaper

Wednesday we felt the brunt of the cold front. It was cloudy all day and the temperatures slowly fell until evening when it settled in the high forties. But we were prepared for the day. After I made oatmeal for breakfast I browned onion and ground beef. I used half of it to make chili in the little CrockPot and kept the other half to make spaghetti sauce another day. Mary Anne and John Larzelere arrived right about 11:00 and we visited for a bit before taking them over to see the spring. Then we all went to Tim’s Café for what one of the Rangers had assured us was the best southern cooking in the area. John had the spaghetti special, Mary Anne had grilled grouper (3 large fillets), I had a grilled chicken chef salad and Marv had the rib special and we were all mighty happy with our meals. Both couples shared strawberry shortcake for dessert. Then Larzeleres headed on to St. Augustine for a few days and we got some groceries before we returned to the campground. Because the expected rain hadn’t started yet we chose to hike along the river once again but this time there was no sign of our Heron friend. Soon after we got back the rain did start and it rained pretty steadily for the rest of the day and night. We read and Marv made corn bread which we enjoyed with the chili. The evening news had extensive coverage of the ice and snow that had shut-down Atlanta and Montgomery, where they had to keep thousands of school children overnight in their classrooms because the roads were totally impassable. We read on Facebook about friends who were stranded in cities across the south and were trying to make their way to Florida but couldn’t travel. And Rachel sent an email that said it took Michael 7 hours to get home from work! We had really dodged a bullet in our travels! We watched some TV and an episode of “News Hour” and went to bed, cozy in our little camper despite the rain and cool temperatures. We had had a nice stay at Lithia Springs again but will be ready to pack up the camper tomorrow and move 70 miles to another favorite campground at Highlands Hammock State Park.

Marv, John and Mary Anne