Winter 2014-Ocala National Forest and Penney Farm

Sat. Feb. 4-Thu. Feb. 13: The drive to Juniper Springs in Ocala National Forest took us over 4 hours but the further we got the more it rained so we weren’t in any hurry. Janice and Lou Oien had reserved the site next to theirs for us and were hunkered down in the rain in their van and had told us there was no reason to rush. The GPS took us on some back county roads but the good part was that we found the rustic, quaint Dam Diner, where we had a great lunch. We then went to a Winn-Dixie for a few groceries, and it was only lightly raining when we arrived at Juniper springs and set up. The four of us went for a hike in the drizzle to the main spring. The big water wheel that had been on dry land to be repaired two years ago was now reinstalled and turning beside the old CCC mill that is empty but open to visit.  Lou had cooked a pot roast all afternoon so it was fork tender and tasted delicious with the carrots, rutabaga and potatoes he added later. Then we hung out together and caught up on each other’s travels thus far until bedtime. We ate breakfast separately the next morning before we hiked the nature hike and boardwalk along the creek and a number of other springs. The sun was quickly warming the slippery boards so that they steamed as we walked by. After our hike each couple packed a lunch before closing up our camps. We drove a short distance north to Silver Spring and ate our lunch before taking the two mile trail to Lake George through a magical forest of long needle pines and live oaks, both heavily draped with Spanish moss with the sunlight filtering through. It was lovely!

Juniper Spring

Draping Spanish Moss 

The Lake George Trail

Lake George

From there it was about a two hour drive to Penney Farm Retirement Community. J.C. Penney built the community, complete with cottages, houses, apartments, health center, rehab, memory unit, a golf course, church, post office, city hall, dining hall, assisted living, and more, to give Methodist pastors and missionaries a place to retire after their service to the church. It is also the home of one of the first P.E.T. Project facilities. On their trip to Florida last year, Oiens had met P.E.T. founders Larry & Laura Hills, who now live at Penney Farms and for whom the P.E.T. warehouse/workshop is named. While serving as missionaries in Africa they saw how paraplegics were ostracized and disenfranchised by their inability to walk or ambulate over the rough terrain. Because of land mines around the world the problem is only getting worse. With two other men, Larry helped develop hand peddled carts called Personal Energy Transportation units (P.E.T.). They are now made in 40 facilities around the US and in a few other countries. We camped in two of the five spots they have set-up next to the workshop to volunteer for the week, as Janice and Lou had done last year.

Marv, Larry & Lou in front of the workshop

 We were blown away with our reception at Penney Farms from Armand and Mary (who were the only other campers but had been there since November and will remain there to work in the metal shop until spring) to Sid (who did the orientation and training for Marv and me and is one of the workshop supervisors since Larry “retired” from that job) to Joan (whom Marv took to be about the age of our sisters but is actually 83 and is a regular in the paint shop, gave us a tour of the exercise center, and hosted us for lunch one day) to the incomparable Laura and Larry who fed us two lunches, had us to their apartment twice and took us to Clark’s Fish Camp (more later) for dinner. Everyone was overwhelmingly generous and welcoming and appreciative of our help. Marv and Lou did a variety of jobs all week. Part of the time they were assembling the boxes for the bodies of the P.E.T.s and, working together, they built 14. That was pretty impressive until 90 year old Mary Ellen came in on Thursday morning and did about as many all by herself. Jan worked on upholstering seats Monday morning and then joined me in the paint shop for the rest of that day and all day Tuesday and Wednesday. The first two days weren’t too bad as we painted on the porch with a nice breeze and some sun and talked and listened to the birds. But Wednesday was cold and rainy so we had to move into the close confines of the noisy shop. There the painting became oppressive and too repetitive so that we were sore and cranky. Janice and Lou made sure we had a more enjoyable Thursday by finding us new jobs. We each spent some time packing P.E.T.s and some time working the drill press for the seats. We managed to pack 6 units Thursday morning, which was all that were ready to be shipped so we felt a nice sense of completion. The rest of the time that week we ate huge lunchtime dinners (always hosted by someone else in the community), rode our bikes 2.75 miles around the community, visited Teddy and Carl Staser, who are residents, worked on the internet, and slept hard and well each night.

 Lou working a drill press

 Marv, Peggy, Janice & Lou on the bridge of the Garden Walk at Penney Farms

Rocky, who played football for MSU on Biggie Munn's 

National Championship team, assembling P.E.T.s 

 Armand, Lou, Janice, Mary & Peggy socializing in our camper

90 year old Mary Ellen making P.E.T. "boxes" 

Peggy shows Janice how to work the drill press 

Peggy & Marv with one of the P.E.T.s all packaged and ready to ship

Thursday evening Larry and Laura insisted on taking the four of us to Clark’s Fish Camp for dinner. It was a cool but sunny day and, since it is nearly an hour away and almost to Jacksonville, we left about 4:00 with Larry driving their car with Janice and me aboard and Marv driving our truck with Lou and Laura. The Fish Camp has been on the shore of the wide Saint John’s River since the 40s and, although it has had some upgrading, is still pretty rustic and sprawling. Larry assured us they do no advertising but word-of-mouth and there is usually a wait for seating. As you enter there is a large tank with a living alligator and live fish and directly in front of the doors is a bent over stuffed adult giraffe. Inside there are many rooms and porches and all are crammed with full-size stuffed (taxidermy) animals. The Clark family is committed to green living and protection of animals so they are all animals that have died in zoos or in other legitimate settings. One porch is birds, one is fish, and the main dining room is mammals from all over the world but especially Africa. That is the room where we ate, surrounded by bears, lions, tigers, kangaroos, ocelots, antelope, deer, and on, and on, and on. Adding to the surreal atmosphere are display cases of Mrs. Clark’s collection of over 3000 plates and platters, each one with a different fish pattern painted on it. It is impossible to describe this amazing restaurant but we enjoyed it immensely and had a wonderful dinner before driving back to Penney Farms. 

Main dining room at Clark's Fish Camp 

Peggy, Larry, Marv, Janice, Lou & Laura at Clark's Fish Camp 

Looking up in the dining room at Clark's Fish Camp

Winter 2014--Myakka River State Park

Sun. Feb. 2-Fri. Feb. 7: We got up a little early and the fog was still lifting as we got on the road before 9:30. Our drive was again all back roads with little traffic. John and Brenda Sternberg picked up Louise in Siesta Key and we all arrived at Myakka River State Park within 10 minutes of each other. They asked to see how the trailer goes up so we got set up on site 27 in Old Prairie campground. Then John drove the five of us around to see more of the State Park with stops at the bridge over the river where one can always find alligators sunning themselves on the bank, the Bird (board) Walk, and the Treetop Canopy. Louise waited in the car while the rest of us took short walks at each. Lunch was at Phillippi’s Creek Village where we all had seafood including blackened salmon for Marv and a Florida Cobb Salad (with mango, grouper chunks and queso fresco) for me. Louise’s place was nearby and she rested while the four of us walked on the fine sugar white sand of Siesta Beach. John and Brenda wanted to get home in time to watch the Super Bowl with Brenda’s son. They dropped us off at the campsite, where we made wonderful Cobb Salads to eat while we watched the Seattle Seahawks demolish the Denver Broncos 43-8.

Set-up on Site 22

Alligators on the bank by the park road bridge

Close-up of the bigger ones

John, Brenda, Peggy, Louise & Marv at Louise's apartment

There was almost no phone or 3G at our campsite so after breakfast Monday we rode our bikes to the Visitors Center near the main gate and got information on trails and other things to do in the park. From there we peddled to the concession area about 3 miles away, where they have free Wi-Fi. It turned out that their Wi-Fi wasn’t real strong. In fact, we couldn’t upload or download anything large, including the newspaper, but we did manage to get our email and send out some so that people knew we were doing well. While we were there we shared a yummy Caprese wrap and a side of their homemade chips. We rode on up the main road to the Bird Walk where we saw more birds than on Sunday and then took Fox’s Low Road to Fox’s High Road to Myakka Island Road to Ranch House Road to circle us back to the main road. Calling them “Roads” is giving them more credit than they deserve. Each is more of a wide mowed area with a fire break plowed alongside. Island Road is through wide open Prairie and was spongy enough from the recent rains that it felt like we were peddling uphill the whole time, with no coasting. The sun was beating down on us but there were some small wet areas where trees afforded a bit of shade and frogs cheerfully croaked a greeting. The other roads were in Oak Hammocks or Pine Flatlands and more hard-packed so it was easier to ride. 

The trail in the oak hammock

The trail through the scrub prairie

Where we rested and watched the birds before returning to the campsite

Back on the main drive we stopped for a rest at the side of the river and watched Ibis, Great Egrets, Anhinga, and Osprey wheeling through the air and roosting in nearby trees. Each time we crossed the bridge over the water we stopped to look at the 6-8 alligators that can always be seen sunning themselves there.  By the time we returned to the campsite we had ridden 12.6 miles. After resting a while we rode a mile back to the Nature Trail to walk it as the sun set. In a clearing there was a flock of turkeys and a wild hog that raised its head to watch us for a bit, then loudly snorted, turned tail, and trotted away. In a marsh area there were two roseate spoonbills and other water fowl. We came out at the Treetop Canopy and climbed it in time to see the sun set from its lofty tower. We had minestrone soup and fruit salad to complete our Meatless/Motor-less Monday.

Roseate Spoonbill roosting in a tree

Wild boar

Sunset from the Treetop Canopy

Marv hopped out of bed first thing Tuesday morning and rode up to the Ranger Station to get our required permit to hike in the Wilderness Preserve. After breakfast we made a lunch and drove to the nearby gated parking area. It is a 2.7 mile hike through scrub Prairie to get to Deep Hole at the foot of Lower Myakka Lake. Deep Hole is an ancient 134 foot deep sink hole. It looks like an ordinary lake on the surface but we learned it has a deep “dead zone” of oxygen deprived water partway down. No plants live there and fish or other aquatic animals that enter the zone can’t escape and soon die, sinking to the bottom to become part of the deep gelatinous layer of goo at the bottom. As we hiked in we saw two couples and a group of three heading back to their cars. When we hiked out we passed one couple hiking to Deep Hole. We were all alone the rest of the time, with only the wild life sharing the vast expanse of prairie and then water. On Deep Hole we saw more roseate spoonbills, Glossy Ibis, Great Blue Herons, and a large number of White Pelicans. Gathered around a small inlet between the lake and the sink home were at least 30 alligators and innumerable vultures, all sharing the shoreline without seeming to notice the other. We found a log in the shade of trees near the shoreline to eat our lunch, walked a little way around the lake until the ground was too wet, and then left the peaceful area. It was into the low eighties by the time we hiked back and we were grateful for passing clouds that gave us some respite from the hot sun. Along the way we saw an osprey, a red headed woodpecker, and an Eastern Towhee, the latter which we identified back in our camper with the birding app on Marv’s iPod. When we got back to the truck the GPS took us to a McDonald’s about 6 miles away where I drank two large ice teas and Marv had a caramel sundae while we used the Wi-Fi to get two days of LSJ, answer email, and catch up on Facebook. Afterwards we did some grocery shopping before returning to the park to grill spinach-feta sausages for dinner and relaxed in the camper, where we ran the air-conditioning for a while to try and drop the humidity a bit. It had been another great but tiring day.

Peggy hiking to Deep Hole

Alligators and vultures around a small inlet at the edge of Deep Hole

Red-headed Woodpecker with a treasure in its beak

Eastern Towhee

We could spend all day Wednesday within the park, enjoying activities offered there, so I made spaghetti sauce in the Crockpot. We started at a 9:00 coffee hour held at the CCC log pavilion about half a mile bike ride from our campsite. We talked to Frank and Sandy who were camping in Palmetto, across the main road from Old Prairie where we are. We pedaled through it on our way back since we hadn’t seen it. Back at our campsite we did some housekeeping and reading before we had lunch. Then, because it was threatening rain, we drove the truck to Low Fox’s Road to take a guided hike of a small area with Ranger Nikki. As we returned we stopped at the Bird Walk once again and found more birds than we had seen before, including harriers, ospreys, spoonbills, the ever present Great Blue Herons, egrets and ibis, and even a tri-colored heron. Since it was on the way we stopped at the Outpost for ice cream for Marv and a giant pickle for me to use their WiFi. After enjoying angel hair pasta with the spaghetti sauce we rode our bikes back to the log pavilion for a presentation of “Florida Stories” and more music from the “Cracker” couple who had entertained at the coffee that morning.

Ranger Nikki leading our small group

Great Blue Heron with a festooned alligator

Tri-colored Heron

It was cloudy and cooler Thursday morning, just as had been forecast. We got up in time to drive half an hour or so and meet Louise Sternberg at Oscar Schrier State Park for the wonderful blueberry pancake breakfast they cook each week. Louise had introduced us to it two years ago when we camped at the park and it was fun to be there with her again and see people who have come to know her greet her once again. Since the weather wasn’t great Marv and I left there without doing any hiking and instead drove north to Sarasota to spend the rest of the day at The Ringling. The legacy of John & Mable Ringling now includes The historic Asolo Theater, the Original Circus museum, the Museum of Art, the Tibbals Learning Center, stores and cafes all on the grounds of their mansion Ca’ d’Zan and surrounded by the lavish gardens that Mable loved. It took all day to do it justice and since the day remained mostly cloudy and cool it was a good way to spend our time. The miniature circus and parade in the Learning Center were highlights, along with the many short film clips that were available throughout the original museum. They also have Ringling’s original luxurious converted Pullman Car in which he traveled all over the east setting up the circus’s next stop.   It was surprising to hear that despite his millions that John earned and spent during his lifetime, he died with less than $400 in the bank and only saved the mansion and museum by willing them to the state of Florida. When we had seen all we wanted we had the GPS guide us to Snook Haven for dinner. Mary Anne and John Larzelere recommended it highly and we soon learned why. Started in 1946 on the banks of the Myakka River near Venice, the smokehouse is famous for its food and simple presentation at wooden tables on sprawling porches on cardboard platters with plastic silverware. We split a smoked fish spread with their homemade potato chips and then Marv had fish and chips(more of their homemade chips) and I had their pick 2 platter—my choices were ¼ smoked chicken and baby back ribs with fresh corn on the cob and black-eyed pea salad. Everything was absolutely delicious and the smoked meats were fall-off-the-bone tender. Outstanding!!! It was about 9:00 by the time we got back to the campsite, where we didn’t have enough signal to listen to the MSU/PSU basketball game. But about 11:00 we magically had a small window of signal in time to hear the wrap-up at the end of the MSU victory. We both wanted to watch Jay Leno’s final show as host of the Tonight Show so it was a late night at the end of a very long day.

Miniature Circus: "Back door" to Big Top

Miniature Circus: Midway

Miniature Circus from above

Peggy relaxing on the piazza by the water at Ca' d'Zan

We slept in a little bit after our late night and gathered our laundry together before making scrambled eggs with lots of veggies, bacon bits, and cheese. We spent the morning doing three loads of laundry and doing a little more housekeeping, including making another marinated salad for lunch. Before eating it we hopped on our bikes and rode to the picnic area near the front gate and then hiked along the river. There were quite a few alligators sunning themselves as best they could on a cloudy, cool day that wouldn’t make it above 70°. (As it turned out there were far more alligators along here than there would be at the bridge today.) Lunch was the marinated salad and a fruit salad as we try to use up some foods before we move on. Since it was our last day we agreed we wanted to go to the Bird Walk one more time so we rode our bikes there but were disappointed to find few birds there today. We also stopped at the Outpost one last time for Marv’s ice cream and my pickle and some time on WiFi. As it got cooler and sunset approached we took the Nature Walk again but the animals all seemed to be hidden away there too. Angel hair pasta and the last of the spaghetti sauce tasted even better in the cool temperatures and then we watched the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics from Sochi, Russia. We had ridden our bikes over 11 miles today and 28 miles during our stay at Myakka. It was really nice to spend a week here and get a chance to feel like we had really experienced this wonderful state park.

Winter 2014: Highlands Hammock

Thu. Jan. 30-Sat. Feb. 1: The rain that had been forecast moved in during the night and was to continue most of the next two days. We managed to pick-up camp without too many problems though and in a leisurely manner so we were on the road by soon after 11:00. Since it was raining, we weren’t in any hurry, and the GPS was taking us right past it, we decided to stop again at Tim’s Café and this time we both got the baked chicken special. We drove back roads with little traffic all the way to US27 and then it was only about 20 miles to Highlands Hammock. The rain was coming down in earnest as we pulled in so we did a minimal set-up in our rain jackets and hats and spent the rest of the afternoon doing more in between showers and reading, thankful for the room we have in our camper. We even took a little stroll during a lull in the rain. We are a couple of sites away from where Ross & Pat were last time we stayed here and have no one behind us, a single man living in a minivan on one side, and an empty site on the other.  The rain let up for a few hours at dinner time and we walked down to the Recreation Center for their Spaghetti Dinner for $4 each. It was a good dinner for a good cause and we sat with a couple who had lived in Detroit and now lived in Florida. It was their first visit to the park and they were as pleased as we have been. They were interesting people who now camp in a 23 foot Ford Motor Home but used to pull a larger fifth wheel, which they took on a 7 month trip to Alaska! It was a nice evening and the rain help off until we got back to our camper for the night.

Although the rain was supposed to blow away and give us a beautiful weekend the forecast changed constantly and we heard showers all night long and into the morning. Marv made a big batch of apple cinnamon pancakes using a Jiffy muffin mix and we ate a late breakfast with the intent of an early dinner for a two meal day. We took another walk around the campground and found the camper of our friends from the night before (we never got each others’ names) and talked to him about the large limb that had just fallen on their roof. There didn’t seem to be any damage but I’m sure it sounded awful as it fell! A loud squawking in the wooded area behind them drew my attention and I spied two pileated woodpeckers drumming away on dead trees there. 

Take my word for it--there are two pileated woodpeckers in this picture

Since the rain was now supposed to continue all day we drove to a nearby Cineplex and saw the movie “American Hustle”. Afterwards we found the South Florida State College Museum of Florida Art and Culture and perused their temporary exhibit “Crackers, Houses and Horses: Ron Haase, Mindy Colton, and Jon Krai”, and learned more about the prehistoric and Seminole history of the area in their permanent exhibit. Janice and Lou had told us about an historic hotel in nearby Avon Park called the Jacaranda where culinary students at SFSC prepare and serve a buffet lunch and dinner for the public. That seemed like a good place for an early supper so we joined loads of other seniors in the restored dining room. It was seafood night (unfortunately for Marv) and I had fried shrimp, crab cakes, a stuffed clam, and clam chowder. Marv had to make do with the fried chicken and so he allowed himself two dessertsJ. It wasn’t elegant but it was tasty and filling and we were happy to have helped out the local college. The rain had finally quit when we left there so we walked around the “Historic Downtown District” (tongue in cheek—we weren’t impressed) before returning to the campsite. The temperature was still near 70° so we sat under our awning and read for an hour or so before the smell of a nearby campfire that had had something unfortunate thrown on it sent us into the camper for the rest of the evening.

The Jacarada Hotel

It was cloudy but still in the sixties in the morning. The rest of the day was mostly cloudy with some peaks at the sun but the temperature went back up to 80° by the afternoon. The single man next door pulled out and we had a few minutes with no neighbors. Soon however a couple moved from another site into the empty one on our right. And eventually a big fifth wheel pulled into where the man had been, sandwiching us for the first time on this trip. We enjoyed coffee, corn bread and fresh strawberries from Lake City outdoors while we read the newspaper. I made a lunch to take in the bike pack, and a marinated salad for dinner. Then we headed out on our bikes. Over the next four-five hours we biked 5.5 miles on the paved road that circles the Hammock and walked 2.4 miles of trails. The water was much higher than the other times we’ve stayed here. We saw a frog, an alligator, two snakes, three ibis, and several pileated woodpeckers and little gray squirrels. Partway through we stopped and ate our wraps and veggies for lunch. When we got back to the campground we took a load of laundry over to wash and then listened to the Spartans lose to Georgetown at Madison Gardens in NYC. After I got a shower Marv grilled chicken and I made a rice mixture and added avocado and feta to the marinated vegetable salad and we enjoyed a great dinner. We need to make a quick get-away in the morning so we put away as much as we could and were happy we had when a light rain started up after we had finished. We got to bed early, having had a good, but very humid stay at Highlands Hammock. 

Walking through the new Hammock

Cypress Swamp

Reflections

A large but very still snake

Ibis

Our first alligator of the trip

Ribbit, Ribbit!

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

Winter 2014: Our fifth year of retirement!--Setting out

Wed. Jan. 22-Sat. Jan. 25: Planning on going only to Fort Wayne our first day opened up a whole new world for getting ready this year. I had two appointments in the morning and Marv began packing the truck. We had opened the camper and packed it Monday and Tuesday, while it was frigid but luckily not snowing. Temperatures all week were slated to be in the single digits to below zero range. We finished up and got on the road about 1:30 for an uneventful drive to Ken and Jen’s house. While we got things out of the truck (for three nights in a row we were going to have to remove all the canned goods and the cooler so they wouldn’t freeze) Jen finished getting ready for work for the evening. We hung out with Ken and Josh and Marv ran to Sam’s Club to pick up our free roasted chicken and apple pie for dinner. The evening went well and we enjoyed a late dinner when Jen returned, visited, and went to bed. 

     The drive the next morning to Carmel was pretty terrible with stretches of icy surface where vehicles were in the ditch or turned 180° in the road. When traffic slowed to a crawl and stretched in the distance with bumper to bumper semis, we got off the freeway and drove west a few miles and stopped to share a Subway $5 footlong before we continued west to US37 and took it south all the way to 116^th Street and on to Sarah and Craig’s. We enjoyed time with Sarah, Craig and Analyn until the boys came home. Then now three year old Analyn opened her birthday presents and we took everyone out to Bub’s Burgers for her birthday dinner. In the morning the boys had a two hour delay because of the below zero windchills so we played with them for a while and then packed up and headed south while they got ready for school. The road was clear and dry, the sun was shining, and it was -4° as we left town. Traffic wasn’t a problem all day and the temperatures rose into the twenties. We spent the night at a Days Inn in Clarksville, GA.

 Analyn opening our present

 One of our dress-up dresses

 Analyn and Mama

 Playing the VERY popular "pop-it" Princess Game

 Grandma Cookie & Analyn playing with Play-Do

Boppa & Analyn playing with Play-Do

      It wasn’t so much the Hogs coughing to life about 7:00 the next morning, nor even that they were left roaring to warm up for over half an hour. What bothered me was the group of people shouting to be heard over the noise as they apparently enjoyed their morning coffee before finally riding away. Before getting back on I75 we tried to wash the camper and truck at a do-it-yourself carwash but it turned out (after we put in a five dollar bill) to be completely frozen. Oh well… It was about 1:00 when we got to Rachel and Michael’s in Atlanta and no one was home. So we parked in front of their house and walked down the hill to a Starbucks until Rachel called to let us know they were home. It was fun to visit and play with Mikey for a while and then they took us to a South African restaurant called Yebo’s for a really delicious and unusual meal. We were back on the road by 6:00 or so and listened to Spartan Radio coverage of the MSU/Michigan basketball, which MSU sadly lost in the last few minutes of a close and exciting game. By the time it ended we were close to Florida in Valdosta, GA so we got a room at a Super 8 for our last night before camping. The temperature at 11:00 was 52° so we felt like we had finally found some warm weather.

Mikey jumping with Mommy Rachel

Dinner at Yebo's
Rachel, Mikey, Peggy, Marv & Michael