Tour de North Florida

I finally had the chance to start posting our blog of this trip. To view the pictures for this trip, go to this Picasa link:

https://picasaweb.google.com/107097369989809012646/TourDeNorthFlorida?authkey=Gv1sRgCKCSmcCkv_iEpAE#

Manatee River State Park – First Location

Monday, March 4, 2013

Already Gone left the house around 10am this morning. We drove north toward Ocala, where we had to stop at Camping World to have them remove our built in stereo, which had quit working. The technician removed the stereo system and will return to the manufacturer for replacement. They are hoping to have the new one when we are on our return trip at the end of the month.

We arrived at our first destination, Manatee Springs State Park, near Chiefland Florida. The park is beautiful and typical north Florida vegetation; hardwood forest, sinkholes and swampy areas. We setup the RV and were ready to play. We met our neighbors across the street. They are from New Jersey and they just retired also. They sold everything and bought a fifth wheel and big Ford truck and are just winging it with no set plans and looking to do some work camping. Very nice people, we will keep in touch with them. They have a beautiful yellow lab named Otis.

By the time we got everything setup, it was getting dark, so we decided to explore the next morning. We prepared dinner of leftover lasagna that we brought. The temps got down to mid 30’s overnight.

Tuesday, March 5

We got up early and had a quick breakfast. It was very chilly, but sunny. Then we took our bikes for a ride around the park trail to see what options for activities there were. We rode down to the spring to see about 20-30 manatees in the spring and the spring run. It was a beautiful, sunny morning, but still chilly. We inquired about kayaking on the Suwannee, but were told the river was much higher than usual and there had been a contamination of the Suwannee River from upstream in Georgia. We rode various trails around the park, which were awesome off-road bike trails. Later, we loaded Kirby and Kody in the truck and drove up to a boat ramp that was upstream of the park about 2 miles. The boys were allowed to run free there, since not too many people were around. There we spoke with a local man that was also letting us know that the water was about 5 feet above normal. Another boat ramp downstream was closed due to the high water. The kayaking options at this point were very limited.

We went back to the RV and relaxed for awhile with Happy Hour and prepared dinner. Kurt had collected some firewood, so he made a nice campfire and we enjoyed that until it was bedtime.

Wednesday, March 6

Overnight, the temps got down to low 30s and was very chilly. After breakfast, we took the dogs for a hike around the Sink Trail. This was a very pretty trail that looped around several sink holes in the park. The boys really enjoyed this hike, as we let them run off leash. We then walked down to the springs with the dogs to look at the manatees. There were some college kids in the water swimming with the manatees. It was still chilly, but sunny and the kids had to have been freezing.

We had decided since it was too cold to do much of anything, we drove down to Cedar Key, which is on the Gulf Coast. It was a Keys-like island, with many vacation homes and a small town near the water. The waterfront had a large marina (fishing is the major industry there) and many touristy shops and restaurants. It was very chilly and windy, so the wind chill was terrible. I had to buy a sweatshirt in one of the tourist shops; I had forgotten to bring a jacket. We walked around town with the boys and then decided to have lunch at a local restaurant. The boys stayed in the truck and slept while we ate. We had local seafood, Kurt had a fried oyster po-boy sandwich and I had a crab cake sandwich. It was all fresh and delicious.

After arriving back at camp, we enjoyed Happy Hour and prepared dinner. Again, Kurt made a large campfire and we enjoyed that until bedtime.

Thursday, March 7

This morning Kurt decided he wanted to paddle at least a small section of the Suwannee. After lunch, we drove to the boat ramp upstream of the park. Kurt took off in his kayak from there and would paddle back to the park where we were camping. It took him about 2 hours and I met him down at the dock to pick him up. He really enjoyed the paddle, despite the cold and wind. While he was kayaking, I took the boys hiking on the Sink Trail again, and they loved it. It was sunny, but still chilly.

We went back to the RV and chatted with some of the RV neighbors. Kurt met a couple, Lynn and Loretta, who were from Baltimore. He was a retired flight engineer, so Kurt asked Lynn if he had a soldering iron, as our space heater had a burned wire from the night before. Lynn loaned him the soldering iron and Kurt was able to fix the heater (MacGyver strikes again).

We began packing some of our stuff and getting ready to leave the next morning. After dinner, we hung out in the RV and watched some TV, until it was bedtime. Another chilly night was ahead of us.