February 13 through February 19, 2004

Friday February 13:

It is warm all night, and a light blanket is comfortable only toward morning.  It is 69 degrees under the RV at 5:20AM.  I experiment with the Kensington WiFi network detector.  I have detected no networks with it yet, and am surprised that the St Cloud Superstore would not have one, as most Walmarts have WEP encrypted networks.  I try my WiFi card, and sure enough 3 WEP encrypted networks show here.  They are of no use to me, so perhaps the Kensington unit detects only open unencrypted networks that might be useful?  We shop in the morning, and I even buy some clothing....not a lot of fun for me. We depart for Randy & Chuck's house around 11:30AM, finding driving slow on Rt 192.  As usual in this area, our computer maps still have not caught up with the roads on the ground....but these roads were all here two years ago, and the maps still have not caught up, although we have had two new versions since then.  :-(   The Walmart paper maps are more up to date, so we use those; they have enough detail for the major roads we need here.  We call Randy from 45 minutes away, he is running errands but expects to be home when we arrive.  We find his house, but are ahead of him; we call again, finding he is close.  He suggests we pull in to the driveway.  I drive and Claire pulls a few tree limbs from the back of the RV.  I notice a few light harmless appearing branches near the front roof, but think little of it until I hear the scratching on the roof.  We back up, and hear an ominous breaking sound.  This requires a look up top fer sure!  I climb the roof ladder and find the rooftop horns broken loose from their drivers, and see the hidden cut off 4 inch limb that had done the dirty work;  we could have avoided this damage easily by NOT BACKING UP before putting a person on the roof to look and lift the offending branch.  Well, although the horn mounting bracket is bent and some calking sealant is pulled loose, it appears to still be sealed from a water leak.  We need to reseal all the seams soon anyway, and have a gallon of two part mix material, so will do the whole job then. We do need to buy some easy to use emergency sealant in a tube though, and some emergency patching material as well.  This mishap might have torn the roof, and immediate sealing could have been required to avoid water intrusion and big damage!  We were quite lucky this time.  Randy arrives just as I determine no immediate action on the roof is required, and we are soon viewing pictures of their North Carolina mountain property which will soon have their new house under construction.  This looks like another beautiful place in the making!  Speaking of beautiful places, the lakefront home Randy and Chuck share is surely one.  This is the start of mating season for the waterfowl that inhabit the lake, so they are quite active.

 Purry enjoys a walk in the yard, and, of course grazing on the lush green grass.  

Randy and Claire enjoy the flowers somewhat more.....  We all enjoy snacks, and when Chuck arrives from work, decide to have late dinner at a Thai place within walking distance...but first Chuck must care for his orchids.  

It is hard for words to do justice to these delicate blooms.   We walk in darkness to the restaurant; dinner is delicious, perhaps made even more so by the late hour!  The hostess has a cute and very bright 4 year old granddaughter who is studying gymnastics, and is willing to demonstrate a few of her skills.  The lady plans to retire to travel back to Bangkok in a few years.   She does not look to be near retirement age yet, but good luck to her!  We walk back to the house, chat a bit, but soon retire.  It has been an active day, and we are ready to rest.

Saturday February 14:

I awoke early, and worked on the computer until Randy knocked lightly on the window; he and Chuck go for morning walks and I asked to join them if they went.    It is hard to resist snapping pictures of the flowers growing along the sidewalk.

 No film is wasted with digital photography either.  :-) Later, Chuck cooked breakfast.

We sure did enjoy the grits, bacon, and omlet.  In the afternoon, we visited cousin Charlie & Angie and their 8 month old son Chase.  

This guy is all set to crawl away given a little time!  Chase's great grandparents (and my uncle and aunt) were babysitting tonight; it makes me feel a bit old to think of my Uncle and Aunt as great grand parents....

They sure do not fit the usual image, so all is well.  :-)   Angie's mom found a way to show Chase's true smile.  :-)

I think her secret is FOOD.  :-))  Chase is such a happy l'il guy, and will go to almost anybody.

That says a lot when a big crowd like this gathers suddenly in his house. Here he cavorts with Claire, who he has never seen before.  Charlie and Angie have a delightful wooded 5 acre mini ranch with horse barn, pasture, and superb seclusion, but Angie's horse is away being trained for riding now and is not here to greet us. We enjoy a piece of Angie's father's coconut cake, then return to Randy & Chuck's house for dinner.  Rain is starting to fall as we start back.  This is a good night to stay in, it being damp and cool, and we thoroughly enjoy the heat from the cooking as well as Chuck's roast chicken, Randy's stir fried snow peas, and a large salad.  

 They have cable video on demand, and we chose an HBO movie "Bruce Almighty".  It was funny and entertaining.  When we retire late, having enjoyed the fellowship, the rain is falling heavy at times, and some time near midnight the wind comes up. Claire awakens me to tie a tree limb touching the RV back, so it will not rub and keep her awake.  

Sunday February 15:

I awake early, and the rain seems to be much lighter, or stopped.  Randy and Chuck are again ready to walk this morning; it appears we will not get wet. We find a beautiful lakefront park that is peaceful and serene on this gray morning.

When we returned,  I checked, and there were no leaks visible inside from the roof either!  :-)))  We should probably procure some sealant to temporarily repair this, perhaps new horns too, at Camping World before leaving the Kissimmee area. Chuck cooked pancakes for breakfast.  We visited cousin Monarcha in her Orlando home.

We enjoyed reacquainting ourselves with her totally black cat Pumpkin.  

 This neighborhood reminded me very much of how Orlando seemed to be when I first visited Monarcha's grandmother here as a youth; indeed, it is very close to that house.  We returned to Randy & Chuck's house, walked a bit, then watched the sun set over the lake with cheese, crackers & grapes.

This was followed by a steak dinner, bulgur with raisins & cranberries, asparagus salad, and a tossed salad.

We cannot finish it all of course, but the left overs will provide the basis for another meal. (no, we seldom do think about anything else but food....).  We part early to allow Randy to get his sleep before getting up for work in the morning. It is forecast to go down to the high 40s tonight; we may finally need the furnace.....

Monday February 16:

It's 52 under the RV at 6:15, but the furnace was not needed.  It is 59 inside, and not uncomfortable. Randy & Chuck tapped on the lighted RV window in the early morning dark, we walked, then I said goodbye to Randy before he left for work.  Chuck has this day off from teaching, as it is President's Day, and offered us coffee and showers inside; it seemed like a great idea a bit later, but for now I went back to bed for a bit.  When I awoke I found Claire had already availed herself of the generous hospitality, and I moved to do the same.  We needed to move out before 11AM, as we had agreed to meet Nadine and Gene at their place between noon and 1 PM.  The computer declared we would have a 1.5 hour trip to Umatilla, and we wanted to stop at a post office and Walmart on the way.  We readied for departure, and after 3 days in one place, there is stuff out of place all over.  We finally get ready, say goodbye to Chuck, and back out of the driveway.  Traffic is light, and we make good time.  South of Apopka we find a Walmart on the west side of US 441, and stop to replenish stores; this one does not seem to be at the address in the book either.  I guess things change too fast here for directories to keep up; either addresses change or stores move.  We find a post office and stop to mail letters and a package; ooops, it's a holiday (President's Day) and the letters go in a box, but the package must wait.  We wind our way to Nadine & Gene's place, and sure enough, it's just where the GPS recorded it two years ago when we visited here.  :-)  We have been negligent until recently about recording latitude and longitude of places of interest in the log; hopefully in the future we will not have to look in old GPS track files to find places we visit.  We drive in the driveway, pulling the newspaper box out to give turning room, and drive up the driveway. Nadine and Gene come out to greet us.  :-))  It's GREAT to see them again, but right now we must get the RV out of the driveway.   It looks like backing into the open RV parking slot will be possible this time; I recall last time we had to pull in forward after many maneuvers trying to back in...perhaps more experience driving this thing?  :-)  

We fit easily next to Nadine & Gene's Born Free motorhome, and hook up the sewer, dump, and fill water.  This place has all the amenities of a fancy campground and good friends too!!   Nadine says the weather is going to get bad tomorrow, and quickly suggests a plane ride this afternoon.  Gene volunteers to stay on the ground so the plane will not be fully loaded on the short runway, and Nadine will be our pilot.  The airport is very close...walking distance in a pinch, and hardly long enough to warm up the car.  Their Cessna is in an open hanger, looking eager to fly, and we pull it out.  Gene and Nadine do a preflight inspection.

Gene adds a quart of oil.  Soon we are taxiing to the end of the runway and run up the engine preparatory to take off;  Nadine gets us up very cleanly, long before the runway is exhausted, and we are flying; it is nice clear weather to view the many lakes here in Lake County, and there is much to see.

Some muck farm land bordering a lake has been returned to wetland state, and we look down on the resulting swamp.

The lakes have benefited from the change, with more swampland to purify the rain runoff, and less agricultural chemical leaching too. We fly south to Clermont, then loop back toward home base.  The amazing development taking place all over the area is both exciting and disappointing.

The economy of Florida has been too dependent on tourism for years, but the many full time residents moving in to occupy the sprawling residential developments is crowding roads, taxing infrastructure and permanently altering the Florida we have enjoyed for years.  Nadine is an accomplished pilot, highlighting points of interest while keeping the plane flying seemingly effortlessly;

We closely pass a hawk and some buzzards near our altitude of 1500 feet.  Nadine indicates the proper way to avoid the birds is to climb, as they find it easier to dive.  Hitting one could sure ruin a flier's day!  We fly over the new hospital, and observe the old one nearly demolished in Eustis.

 The remaining standing elevator shaft (center top of above picture) will require a crane and wrecking ball to demolish.  The pool on the lakefront is sure a pretty shade of blue.  :-)  Our airport comes into view, and Nadine indicates she must now concentrate on landing; the guided tour must be suspended.  We start the approach, line up with the runway, and......

..... land....faster than the camera can respond.  A puff of wind lifts us just before touchdown, but Nadine  expertly corrects and we hit the center of the runway.  Gene is not yet here to pick us up, but we push the plane back into the hangar and tie it down.  Just as we finish, Gene arrives with the car.  We convince him to pose....

The Cessna has no problems looking cute and perky...so the pilots must too.  :-)  As we drive back, Nadine informs us that the oven has started our dinner.  WOW!  This is a real use for automated appliances!  We chat a lot during and after dinner, and finally Gene suggests I get the card out of my camera so he can see if the new card reader he installed in his computer works. He had recently built a new machine with 1 GB of RAM intended for video editing. It was short work to get the pictures taken during the flight showing on Gene's beautiful big screen;  the brilliance of the big high resolution screen was quite impressive compared to my laptop.  We looked at pictures until the evening threatened to become morning, when it was certainly time to retire to the RV.  Sleep came very quickly in this quiet place.

Tuesday February 17:

It's 52 under the RV, 58 inside at 8:30 AM, very comfortable sleeping under our heavy comforter, and we arose VERY late;  the furnace is not needed. The weather today is heavy overcast with wind, and feels raw and chilling even though the temperature is not that low.  It is good we flew yesterday!  Today we would see little, and cloud ceilings might be too low to fly at all without instruments. We chatted a while in the house. Nadine then drove us to see Trout Lake Nature Center nearby.  Claire had visited this place with Nadine two years ago, and suggested I should see it too.  This organization currently controls 230 acres of land on the shore of Trout Lake, and has a full time paid naturalist supported by contributions. This lovely place receives a good portion of Nadine's volunteer time, and is focused heavily on educating school children about the local ecosystem.   They have a museum with a very nice collection of stuffed animals that can be found locally; this beautiful Merlin is among their collection.

They have this delightful "touch and feel" table that appeals to kids.

SOME "older kids" we know well like it a lot too...(don't check for fingerprints).    :-)     The nice meeting hall can accommodate up to 100 people in a comfortable and interesting setting.

 The local Audubon Society often meets jointly here with the Nature Center folks, with programs of interest to all. The boardwalk over the wetlands leads to the lake.

Currently an Eagle Scout is repairing and extending the boardwalk to accommodate rising lake water levels that have made the trail to the boardwalk somewhat muddy in the summer wet season. The view out over the lake is serene.

A pair of wood ducks are laying claim to a duck nest box erected for their comfort; I cannot see how birds of that size can squeeze through the hole in the box, but I see one pop in with seeming little effort.  Finally the chill of this raw day caught up with us, and we drove into Umatilla for lunch.  Stannas Family Restaurant served delicious New England clam chowder and an oyster roll overflowing with large succulent  fried oysters. Yummy good!  :-)   We then drove to Ocala NF, and gathered info on campsites at the visitors center, then visited Clearwater Lakes campground.  It looked to be a very pleasant place, and not crowded; we would enjoy camping here.  We drove a loop through the little towns bordering the National Forest and returned for dinner of Nadine's hearty ham vegetable soup.  This was delicious with crackers.  We were both tired, so excused ourselves relatively early for the RV and bed.  Tonight was forecast cold, so we set the furnace to keep it comfortable, and were off to snoozland.

Wednesday February 18:

We arose late again (do I detect a pattern here?), skipped planned showers and met Nadine and Gene at 8:30.  The day was bright and clear, but cool with a gusty breeze from the north. The morning sun playing on the Spanish moss hanging from the live oak towering in front of their house is pretty.

We planned to pick citrus fruit and visit DeLeon Springs before departing this afternoon.  Since it was cool, we thought it best to do the springs and their pancake breakfast first, then pick citrus prior to departing early afternoon for nearby Ocala National Forest.  We have touched on the forest and taken day trips in it, but never camped there, so want to do it this trip.  The 45 minute wait for seating at the Springs' Spanish Mill restaurant just gave us time to walk a few trails around the Springs.

 I was amazed to find a swimmer in the pool when we returned.

Divers were preparing to dive into the depths of the Spring's limestone channels too, but at least they had wet suits. :-)  We felt the water and found it quite warm to the touch; Nadine said it was a uniform 74 degrees all year long, and felt cool in summer.   The grounds here are truly beautiful, and well kept.

 When we checked, the restaurant had called us for breakfast when we were out of range of the loudspeaker; they sat us almost immediately.  The table surface included a griddle, and they served pancake batter in pitchers;  we received a multi-grain batter, as well as white, along with apples with cinnamon and blueberries to bake into the cakes.  

Our neighbors had trouble with their griddle, but a new control cord was soon provided;  ours was working perfectly, and we immediately poured 6 cakes to bake.  This is a fun place, and you get to eat your fill....perhaps overfill!  We ate enough to empty two pitchers of multi-grain batter, and I knew this was the main meal of the day for me!  We returned to the house by way of Nadine's brother Bill's house, and as luck would have it, he's in.  

It is great to finally meet Bill; he's a fine gentleman, and we've heard so much about him from Nadine.  We continue home, to pick citrus from Gene's grove of over 20 varieties;  we have limited room on the RV but we ended with two boxes piled high to store next to the bed on each side.  The heritage "Blood Orange" variety is interesting and delicious;  it's juice is red, almost beet colored, and the flesh alternates between dark red and more orange colored cells. We are convinced to take more of these than we planned...  :-)   The remaining butternut squash can rest on top of the citrus boxes until they get used, or spoil in the next month.  Each of the trees in the grove have water sprayer jets fastened on them about waist high pointing up, to be run when frost threatens, which has not happened yet here this year.  The water flow is set at 12 gallons per hour for each tree, and must run continuously during a freeze, to protect the trees from frost damage.  The flow must start at 34 or 36 degrees so no pipes freeze before the water flow keeps them open.  The house water pump runs continuously during these times with the 24 trees to protect.  Gene has done a beautiful job with the trees, despite bark eroded by windstorms and cooling weather patterns here that have frozen many commercial groves to ruin.  We see much citrus dropping from trees to rot on the ground; Gene reports that the cost of picking alone equals the price the crop brings, so many growers do not pick.  What a shame!  The kumquats look yummy, and hang heavy, but I enjoy my annual allotment of one from hand to mouth;

The round fruit actually is the best kumquat I've ever tasted....but we are not taking any along.  :-))  We have seen a number of lone trees bearing attractive fruit along the roadsides; these are shoots from rootstock of frozen out abandoned groves, and are un usably sour.  We need to prepare to depart; the dump hose and long sewer pipe must be rinsed generously, and stowed, the electric line pulled in, and we are ready to depart.  Gene says goodbye, he is off to help a friend with a balky computer.  Claire backs us down the drive to the road, then out into it after I pull the newspaper box.  I reset the box after Claire reaches the road, then we hastily say goodbye to Nadine and drive off before a car driving too fast can come over the hill and hit the RV.  We stop for propane at Ace hardware on the way out, then drive to Clearwater Lake campground in Ocala National Forest.  This is a pleasant place indeed, under the large overhanging live oak limbs with the lake in view.  We enjoy a short period of open windows before the evening cool says "close up".  Dinner is unnecessary tonight; the delicious pancakes are still very much remembered!  TV news, then off early to bed; sounds kinda boring, but it was just what seemed right to us this night!

Thursday February 19:

It was 44 degrees under the RV; the furnace ran from 3AM on.  Today is a day of sloth and relaxation, with steamy hot showers, and we decide to stay another day here.  Claire meets a couple in another motorhome with two cats they walk on leashes.  Purry is quite friendly to the woman, who has recently lost a 20 year old cat who died on their travels.  She pets him, and says he's old;  I guess the bony feel under his full long coat gives it away...  :-)  He can still give a tree a good clawing though....

We walk the one mile trail around Clearwater Lake.  It is quite pleasant and warm in the middle of this bright sunny day.  Our light jackets prove to be too much.  This is a pretty little lake.  

There is enough pollen in the air to discourage a second loop around the lake, so we relax in the RV.  This campground is far from full, although the lady with the cats says it was full this past 3 day weekend when they were forced to use Bass Lake.  Site occupancy in winter is allowed for 6 months,  while it is limited to 14 days in summer.  This is not a favored destination for snow birds I guess, (too cold perhaps?) and locals are not camping much during the school year.....  I heard that Ocala went a bit below freezing at times this winter, although this has been an easy winter for freezes in central Florida.  Purry wants a walk before dinner, and I take him, letting him drag the leash while I follow.  The lady from the other RV brings her large two year old black & white Himalayan close by;  Purry seems to know, and steps onto the RV steps.  The other cat crouches, watching.  As we chat, Purry walks toward the other cat; I am concerned a bit, as Purry does not always play nicely.  :-)   Suddenly Purry meows plaintively and retreats for the RV steps.  The other cat then starts dragging it's owner toward their RV.  We are both wondering what that plaintive "meow" means, when Purry turns and charges rapidly to stalk behind the retreating Himalayan....  Purry should realize his chances against that big cat are slim...but I guess that is why we have leashes.  The owners say the Himalayan is a wuss....but we will not test that!  :-)  Purry is quite ready to come in.  Dinner is left over bulgar rice as a stuffing for green peppers...quite nice and not too heavy; good for the day after overfill of multi-grain pancakes!  :-)  My dishes tonight, then TV news, then bed.  Claire stays up with TV for quite some time.  I know, as Purry is several times caught under her feet, screaming loudly and waking me.  She complains he will not get far from her.....cat insecurity syndrome, perhaps?  :-)

Plans:  Today we finished Claire's TaeKwonDo business in Florida, and now will move on north and west along the Gulf as the weather warms.  We want to see Apalachicola National Forest on the way, and any other points of interest that show up.

 Until next time, ENJOY!  We are...  :-)