January 31

 Today was a leisurely day for the most part. I talked with Ginger Lewis early this morning. She is the current Treasurer of VCTM, having taken over the job from me in 2013 or 2014. The current bank, Wells Fargo, has somehow messed up the account in such a way as to include my name on the name of the organization. That was totally their doing and Ginger is having great difficulty getting my name off of the account. We thought all this was taken care of 10 years ago when she and I visited the bank for that purpose and they assured us all was taken care of....NOT SO!!! Hopefully Ginger can get this straightened out in the next few weeks. 

Gus and I took a long walk around noon, visiting No Name Lake where he got his paws wet. It's more of a pond than a Lake. We walked a full 2 miles on today's exploration. 

After a little break, Jim and I took the bikes out for a ride to the Lake and then to the beach. I actually put my toes in the very cold water at the beach. Today it was a bit windier and the RED flag is flying there. 

Throughout the day we keep hearing BOOMS from some kind of bombing training going on at Eglin Air Force Base, and jets are regularly flying overhead throughout the day as well. It seems to be a daily occurrence.  

  

 

Fun day-Sunshine!

 Yesterday , the day started chilly at 45 degrees, but warmed up to 63 by early afternoon. We are still adjusting to Central Time, especially Gus, who is getting us up between 5:30 and 6:30 to go out. We enjoyed a relaxing morning followed by a long 2+miles dog walk. After Gus got tired, Jim and I rode the bikes down to the beach, found some benches to sit on, and enjoyed the view of the Gulf. 

We were there for quite a while before heading back to our site for some "honey" time and a relaxing evening. I took Gus out for one last walk about 8 pm but he was still crying to go out this morning at 5:30. We got him to join us on the bed for almost an hour before he started up again. It was my turn this morning to take him out. 

Today we are meeting Joanne & Mike for lunch at 1 pm in Destin. We have no other plans except to enjoy the sunshine, maybe take a bike ride and definitely take a long walk with Gus. 

Settling In at Topsail

 Topsail Hill Preserve State Park is located east of Destin, near Miramar, FL on the Gulf Coast. The park used to be a private RV Park but was bought by the state in 2006 and converted to a state park. It used to have free cable TV but that has been removed in favor of a pay as you go system for those who choose to do that. We just use the antenna and my hotspot to access channels. ...much cheaper and simpler. Our site, site 143, has plenty of room for the RV, the car, and the Clam, as you can see in the photo below. There are lots of trails to explore and plenty of roads to ride the bikes on, although it's still no competition for Gulf Shores State Park. 

TV and cell reception are good here so we will enjoy the two playoff games today. In the meantime, I am enjoying sitting outside (60 degrees and sunny) and reading a book by Heather Graham called THE FORGOTTEN, that I picked up for $1 at a used book store.

Travel Day

 Yesterday we had a relaxing day, watching old cowboy shows/movies, taking Gus for walks, and sitting outside until the mosquitoes started biting. The temperature reached 85 in the afternoon. I stitched up a section of the awning that had begun to come apart at the seam - not an easy task. We took down the Clam and packed up a lot before turning in for the night.

This morning we still had a few things to do including pulling in the slide.  It took almost an hour for Jim to get it to work, after adding transmission fluid.

We got on the road by 9:30 am EST, headed north through Chiefland, and Perry on our way to pick up I-10 west. We crossed the Suwannee River which was not flooded but still high. 

It's a long drive to Topsail Hill Preserve State Park, 317 miles, but we gain an hour along the way. The rest of our trip will be in Central Time Zone. Unless we are driving through a town, the roads all look the same, lined with trees. They are well maintained, just lacking in "color". 

Then the rains came...it poured for almost 3 hours on our drive. We saw several accidents along the way, mostly when we got off I-10 to Rt 331 headed south. 

We finally arrived just after 3 pm CST, checked in and found our site with no problem. Jim even got the slide to work after several failed attempts. We have to hope we can get it back in when we leave here on Feb 9. 

Cell service is better here and my hotspot makes it possible to access YouTube TV and other streaming apps. Jim was happy to watch a little Fox News.  

WORLD Equestrian Center

 We visited the World Equestrian Center in Ocala today. It is an incredible place with indoor and outdoor arenas for dressage, jumping and hunter classes. We enjoyed watching some of the competitions, especially the jumping competition in the main arena.  Enjoying 80s today and tomorrow.

Visit to Rainbow Springs Park

 The main state park is about 8 miles from the campground which sits downstream from the headwaters at the main park. Here are photos from our visit to the headwaters.

Enjoying time with Maryanne

 Yesterday I left Jim and Gus at "home" while I drove to Maryanne's and then she guided me to the Markets of Marion. It's a combination flea market and farmer's market. We sampled several oranges from vendors before settling on the ones we thought were best. I also bought a bag of grapefruit for Jim as well as tomatoes, potatoes, brocolli, and green peppers. We wandered through the flea market as well but made no purchases there. Afterward Maryanne treated me to lunch at Pasta Faire where we both enjoyed delicious salads and more good conversation. 

After returning to camp I found out that Jim had fallen on the RV steps and messed up both knees with cuts. He is fine but a little bruised....mostly his ego.

Today we are going over to the main part of Rainbow Springs to wander around. The temperature is expected to be in the 60s this afternoon with 70s and 80s coming for the rest of the week. 

HOMOSASSA State Park

Today's visit to Homosassa Springs State Park included lots of animal sitings and even some leftover Christmas cheer. It is only about 50 degrees but that is a good temperature for seeing manatees. When it gets warm they head out to the Gulf. 

We even saw an alligator catching some rays (of sun).

 

They added a bear to the animal population this past year. He was resting surrounded by vultures.