Winter Travels 9

March 1-3: Going Home We stopped at a Walmart in central Alabama for the first night. As we drove along in the late afternoon that day we went through a little bit of rain and had a strong WNW wind, so in a few miles and about 30 minutes the temperature dropped from 87° to 64°! The second night we ended up at a Cracker Barrel in Scottsburg, Indiana after the Walmart there said they didn’t allow overnights anymore. The Cracker Barrel said that, because of liability issues, they couldn’t give permission but they wouldn’t kick us out either, and by morning we had one neighbor. Although there was a lot of development and building along the freeway, the area around the Courthouse in the town square was mostly abandoned when we went into Scottsburg to find a local dinner. There was one nicely decorated Bar on the square that was full of locals and we had pretty good sandwiches. Saturday morning we stopped at Sarah’s and bought doughnuts to enjoy as we celebrated Jordan’s 10^th Birthday and then went on to Ken’s to watch the Spartans lose to u/m in the Semi-final of the Big Ten Tournament. That made our return to the snow and cold of East Lansing that evening doubly depressing. But we had traveled many miles in safety and comfort and were grateful at least for that. 

Jordan opening his present as Analyn and Boppa look on.

He wanted to do his U.S. map floor puzzle right away, even before he opened his card.

He was really excited when he saw his special amount for reaching double digits!

2018 Take-aways to remember:

1.     We had sun and record high temperatures nearly the whole time we were gone, and had rain only the second night at Hillsborough River State Park and the second to the last night at Holder Mine, and none other. Even the natives and meteorologists were exclaiming that it felt more like summer in Florida. The only things that changed were the humidity and the wind.
2.     We left Michigan as the Larry Nassar scandal came to a head and we followed from afar as he was sentenced to many consecutive terms in prison, where he will live the rest of his life for abusing young girls as a gymnastics doctor.
3.     On Valentine’s Day we were horrified to hear of the massacre of 14 high schoolers and 3 teachers at Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school in Parkland, FL, and followed both the Florida and national debates on gun control and mental health issues.
4.     We found that we really, really enjoy our new trailer. It is easy to set-up and take down to move, and gives us a nice amount of living space during the day when the bed is folded up and we can be outside so much. My favorite thing is the bigger refrigerator with freezer which doesn’t require us to shop so often and I don’t have to be on my hands and knees to look into. The one bad thing is the very low gas mileage (around 9 MPG) we get when pulling it, even with our Ford 150 truck with Ecoboost.
5.       While we were gone we managed to watch all but one MSU Basketball game, and all but the last one were wins. We watched two of them from our campsite and most of the others at Beef O’Brady’s and were surprised that we rarely saw others who were interested in the game, on either team’s behalf. The first few games, in the midst of the Nassar troubles, when people would see our Green and White clothing, someone would always comment on the scandal but no one was ever nasty about it. Later it became a none-issue, I guess, as it faded from the News.
6.      For the first time in years. I got a cold that remained in my head and never went to my lungs. Since it was a really bad year for flu, I was so grateful to just be sneezing and blowing my nose and not feverish or achy. We took it easy a couple of days and I took Day-Quil and Night-Quil and managed to get through okay.

Winter Travels 8

February 25-March 1: Hopeful that the smoke would have dissipated by now, we returned to campsite #14 at Holder Mine on Sunday morning. As we drove in the nearly 2 mile drive we could still see smoldering spots along the roadside and they remained the whole time we stayed. When we got to the campground the smoke was definitely better but could still be smelled, especially as night settled and the wind died. 

We visited  Fort Cooper, established during the Second Seminole War.

There is a paved trail from the parking area into the area of the Fort, which helps
one imagine how it looked back in the day. We biked the paved trail.

We had the small State Park nearly all to ourselves while we were there. They have set-up a
short stockade (seen at the left center, above) to show where the Fort was located. This
area is left cleared and used for demonstrations, such as a reenactment that was being held
here in early March. There was a large picnic area on the shore of the lake nearby here.

We hiked the 2 mile Dogwood Trail and didn't see another soul.

Other than volunteering again for Habitat for Humanity, this time on Tuesday in Homosassa cleaning a recovered home which was going to be put on the market, we had a few days to explore the area on our own. We hiked a few miles in the large wooded City Park in Inverness, biked more of the Withlacoochee Trail, and spent time after the build in Homosassa and Homosassa Springs. 

The aftermath of the burn shows how the forest floor is cleared of debris and small growth.

The final campsite of our trip.

Other than the smoke, we really love this huge campsite at Holder Mine.

Crystal River, near the Gulf, at Homosassa Springs, from atop
the main Temple Mound at the Crystal River Archaeological State Park 

The main Temple Mound at the Crystal River Archaeological State Park

Luckily we had visited this sacred site before and knew a little about it,
because sadly the museum was closed and they had no information out.

We went into town to Coaches Bar to watch MSU clinch the solo B1G crown against
Wisconsin and do the last shopping we’d need before we headed home.

We got to know Florida native Roland at the first Habitat build we did.
He was a very friendly horse rancher who loves to bike and told us his
favorite part of the Withlicoochee Trail. So later we gave him a call and
took our bikes to his ranch, where he loaded all 3 bikes in his truck and took
us for about a 15 mile ride in the Croom Wildlife Management Area on the Trail.  

We stopped at a park along a lake made in a wide spot in the Withlicoochee River.

The water around the fishing pier is still high following Hurricane Irma in the fall.

One of several Gopher Tortoises we saw along the trail. We have learned that their deep
burrows are very valuable during forest fires, whether natural or prescribed. All manner of
wildlife will hide in them, peacefully together, until the fire passes and natural order resumes.

Cyprus knees along the Trail

River Ratz Cafe had surprisingly good food,
but horribly slow service as two poor waitresses
served everyone, inside and outside, in the busy cafe.

My peel-&-eat shrimp were beautiful and delicious!

We ate at on the deck right beside the river, very tranquil at this spot.
Note the reflections on the water, showing our lovely day for a bike ride.

Hard to see, but the ripples are a cooter turtle who ate her lunch
of water plants the whole two hours or so we ate ours.

Winter Travels 7

February 21-25: We got to our campsite at Withlacoochee State Forest-Holder Mine Campground Wednesday afternoon and found that the prescribed burn they had emailed/warned us they were doing today was going strong. But instead of being away to 

the north of the campground (where they expected little impact on it) it was on two sides of us, with the flames in plain sight. The wind was carrying clouds of smoke into the campground and the host said they were allowing anyone who was concerned about respiratory problems to move to the Tillis Hill campground, about ten miles away. Tillis Hill isn't nearly as convenient to Inverness, where we were volunteering with Citrus County Habitat for Humanity, so we opted to stay. We dropped the trailer without opening it, and went into the Library to do some things on the internet, including posting updates to The Savage Traveler.

This is how the burn looked from the truck window as we drove north into Inverness.

We stayed at the library about three hours. When we returned to the campground it was worse, not better. There were two fallen trees on fire into the road. White flakes of ash were drifting down. Black pieces of ash as large as two inches square littered the ground. And the flames were leaping ten yards away from our site. Thick smoke was everywhere. We were forced to move to Tillis Hill and set up again, this time in the dark. No smoke there but our clothes, skin and hair reeked of it. Also, I rechecked the email we had received about the planned burn. It said the fire would not be near the Campground but there could be “some smoke”. Sheesh!!!!

The fire had burned all the way to the road side on the east side,
only stopping when it hit the sand of the road.

This was one of two trees that fell into the road.

The line of fire was easy to see from the road. In places, standing trees
were flaming like torches. It's hard to remember that this is natural and
good for the forest and its animals.

This fence was directly behind our campsite. While we were gone, this
small patch had apparently jumped the fire line and burned but was put out.

The smoke and ash were heavy in the air and drove us to leave for Tillis Hill.

In some ways I prefer Tillis Hill because it is stretched out so much and has the added interest of being a horse park with about 32 stable stalls where campers can bring their horses and ride the miles of trails. We also had pretty strong phone and internet signals, unlike Holder Mine, where there is no signal at all. It was busier than we had ever seen it and, over the weekend, many campsites had ATVs and spent all day riding the sandy backroads through the forest. But, like all the rest of the campgrounds we had visited, the campground was completely quiet at night. All we heard at night were the ”Who-cooks-for-you?” hoot of the Barred owls and the deep, low hoots of Great Horned owls.

Riding a portion of the Withlacoochee  Trail between
Inverness and just south of Floral City. 

Our campsite at Tillis Hill had a wide open field behind it,
with the stables on the other side. We could hear the horses from here.

Marv getting artsy with the canopy over our trailer.

We helped put finishing touches on the tan house above on Thursday morning. We returned
on Saturday morning for the dedication as the owner, Kim, got possession, but since they
went right from a 9:00 Dedication to the 10:00 Dedication, arriving about 9:55, we were a little bit too late.

Winter Travels 6

February 11-21: Nervous about getting a spot at Lithia Springs County Park where we could stay through Presidents Day weekend (they don’t accept reservations), we ended up leaving Myakka a day earlier than our reservation. It was probably good that we did. We had our choice of 5 sites, none of them our favorite, and all of them filled by Sunday evening.  The person at registration was nice enough to look at the sites we prefer and none of them was going to be available while we were there so we went with an okay one (#7) in the first loop that had the advantage of lots of shade as the weather continued to be record highs in the 80s and no rain. The temperatures made a dip in the Spring especially welcomed and we went in more times than other years.

Relaxing at campsite #7

Hiking up the Alafia  River at the campground

Hiking up the Alafia  River at the campground

The nice thing about Lithia Spring is how centrally located it is. And being so familiar with it makes it very comfortable for us. We rode our bikes many miles again through the adjacent Fish Hawk neighborhoods, which we have watched develop over the years. We biked to Scrambled Eggs for a breakfast, and went to our favorite “Tony’s Café” for a breakfast and a lunch. The annual Tigers vs Central Florida spring training opener was happening after we left but we still arranged to meet Ross and Pat in Winter Haven at the practically historic Andy’s Drive-In for their hamburgers and shakes for lunch. We went to Redington Beach to see John and Brenda’s new house and took John out for lunch, missing Brenda, who was presenting at a conference in Washington, DC, and seeing Louise Sternberg at her apartment. After church at Faith Family UCC which we discovered last year, we returned on Sunday for a family bar-b-que where we met Christy’s family, Brenda’s son Russel’s family, and Rob Marshall, as we all celebrated Louise’s birthday together. And we made another trip west to Ybor City and took the historic street car to the Riverwalk in Tampa. We watched two MSU basketball victories at Beef O’Brady’s and one at our campsite. The last one was extra special because it clinched at least a share of the B1G title, and best of all Bob and Cindy Chalou joined us at the campground and at the game on their way to camping in the Florida Keys. 

John and Brenda's house, which John designed is magnificent! Three blocks from Redington Beach,
they tore down the modest house they had and rebuilt according to Hurricane standards. 

Back of the house

All the living area is on the second floor, which can be accessed by inside and outside stairways,
and an elevator, so they can live here for a long, long time and Louise can easily visit them.

The great room is open and airy and they have no carpet to trip them up or get moldy.

This second level screened porch, accessed by multiple sliding doors expands the living area a great deal.

Hiking down the Alafia River from the campground

This huge mansion has been in progress for at least 4 years. The exterior was being painted last year. This year
there didn't seem to be anyone working on it but the retaining wall to the left of the driveway was new. 

Tributary creek flowing into the Alafia River

I think we take a picture on this bridge over the creek every year.

We discovered Medard Park, another campground in Hillsborough River County, last year and found it was a great place to kayak. Because of the heat, we went in the morning this year and found the reservoir to be placid and not busy at all.

Leaving the boat ramp

We went into two bays and paddled around. We didn't see a lot of wildlife but the
birds were making such a racket of singing that Marv took at video to capture the sound.

The Anhingas spread their wings in the sun to dry them and to rid them of insects.

Help me out please someone--is this a cormorant? 

One can tell this is a female anhinga by her distinctive brown "turtleneck".

This Great Blue Heron flew in and posed for us on the gated-off boardwalk, closed because of
damage from Hurricane Irma, which pulled up a whole section from its moorings.

The renovated hexagonal sidewalk in Ybor City

Ybor City is the terminus for the historic street cars to downtown Tampa Bay.
We could park free and ride all day for $2.50 each! What a deal!!

We happened to take the same car going and coming.

We took our streetcar all the way to the last stop in Tampa, walked most of the
Riverbank along the Hillsborough River, and took the streetcar back. 

Remember the Hillsborough River picture at the state park? It looks very
different down here as it meets Tampa Bay.

We watched a pair of dolphins that were swimming up river and
wondered if that is a common occurrence.

A selfie as we enjoyed a cold beer at Sails along the Riverwalk.

Interior of our streetcar

Brenda's daughter-in-law, Valerie with Scarlet and Ari come to Louise's
apartment several times a week to help her with correspondence and to visit. 

Christie Marshall and her son, Tom

Rob Marshall and Christie's husband, Jeff

John and Marv look at pictures on Facebook from their 50th Reunion.

Louise directs the singing of Happy Birthday

Much of Louise's family is gathered around her
Back left: Brenda, Ari, Valerie, Russel,  Rob, Christie, Jeff
Front left: John, Louise, Scarlet, Tom

John, Marv, Louise, Peggy, Brenda, Ari

Watching MSU at Beef O'Brady's with Bob and Cindy Chalou. It was quite amazing
that their trip to the Keys worked out to bring them to Lithia Springs, where we got them
a campsite for the night, and then all had dinner and cheered on our Spartans.

We left satisfied with our stay despite the omnipresent campfire and cigarette smoke, partly due to our proximity to others. And we had two mysteries to occupy us: 1) the story of the group next to us for all but the last two nights, which consisted of two young men, who left pretty much all day and their anorexic/drug addicted? mom who stayed at the campsite all day long, doing nothing but chain smoking and squatting on the picnic table bench for hour after hour after hour, and 2) the story of the campsite next to that one with the tent camper set up and we never saw a person or vehicle, but the tableau changed with a TV running for 24 hours then a tarp thrown over most of the camper then things added and removed from the picnic table until two guys showed up Saturday morning who closed it up and drove away.