Travels with Snowbirds 2016, January 18 to 23, Bushnell to Webster to Clermont, FL

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The one about catching up

I packed up and left Florilow Oaks at a leisurely pace on Sunday. I did a quick stop at Wal-Mart for a few needed items, and arrived at Mikey’s field at Webster Flea Market around 2. I was the first rig there. Mikey came out and greeted me and, once again, remembered me from years past and asked where my friends were this year……Ginnie, Joanne, Judy B, and Malcolm and Ginger, have all camped there one year or another. I told him I was, sadly, by myself this year. His fee is $15 for overnight parking in a huge field, with no utilities. No electric, no water, no sewer. I am well equipped to boondock, and don’t mind it occasionally. It was reasonably warm, and with the sun out, Moya stays nice and toasty warm. I spent a lot of time working on the fitbit goal, and easily met it. I guess $15 does seem like a lot to park in a field with no utilities, but I would have to pay $8 to park the RV while I shopped; this field is close to the side entrance, and I actually feel safe there, this old Mikey has eagle eyes and doesn’t let anyone come in without paying, morning, noon or night. Around 4:00, a Class B pulled in next to me, nice folks from NH who spend the winter going around from Flea Market to Flea Market purchasing Americana items for their antique store in NH. They don’t tow a car, but have two bicycles on a rear platform. She was hand sewing a quilt that looked like it was made from old and much worn and soft men’s topcoats with flannel lining. By hand. It was gorgeous. Did I mention BY HAND!! He was rearranging purchases in his limited storage compartments.

Mikey’s field is large, perhaps 5 acres??? Maybe 10? I am a girl, I don’t do size or distance that well, but it’s big. Along the back fence he has a few sites with electric, they look like they are more long term rigs there. There is also a bathhouse there, but from where I park, it is a long walk, so I just use my own. There are two permanently fixed mobile homes, one Mikey lives in, and the other appears empty. That’s it for this big field. Around 5:00 two monster Diesel pusher Class As pull in. One towing a toy hauler trailer, the other towing one of those boxy looking SUV types, black body, white top, sorry, I just don’t know what kind of car it is. One pulls on one side of me, the other pulls on the other side of me. About 10 feet away on each side. I was dwarfed and they blocked the sun. In this big huge field, they have to park so close to me?? WTF? I went outside to notice that Owner 1 unhitched his car and pulled it into the space between our rigs. If this dude deployed his awning, it would have hit my slide. My brain was telling me these two flunkies just left the RV show in Tampa and were used to tenement campground living and needed to be close. But, why didn’t they pull next to each other instead of sandwiching me. I take a casual stroll outside and Owner 2 saw me surveying the situation. He got it. He started back up and moved to about 30 feet on the other side of Owner 1. Owner 1 was just coming out of his front door and I said to him in my sassiest voice something along the lines like, “Oh, don’t mind me being so close. I am going to move my rig so when I turn on my generator later it doesn’t spew on your car. And, by the way I don’t want to listen to your generator all night long, as it is right next to my bedroom window.” He said I shouldn’t worry about my generator tailpipe smoking on his car, and his generator was so quiet I wouldn’t hear it at all. Really? What planet is this asshole from? As I was walking away, he followed up with…..”My generator only works when needed; it probably won’t go on at all.”

I moved Moya, getting closer to the NH Class B, but certainly not on top of them. The Mrs and I conversed again, and she was amazed that they parked that way and couldn’t understand it at all.

I turned my generator on and was able to watch Madam Secretary and The Good Wife and slept like a log. Owner 1’s generator hummed all night.

The traffic woke me up about 6:30 Monday morning. It was still dark! Sunrise isn’t until 7:20 or so. Generator back on, catch up on news, make coffee, take shower, and I was ready to hit the dirt at 8. I dressed in layers as I knew it would warm up rapidly, but continue to be cold in the outdoor covered pavilions. I walked 2.6 miles according to fitbit. Being MLK Holiday, there were extra vendors filling up fields I didn’t even know were selling fields, and using covered rows that I had never seen vendors in before. I was amazed at the prices some were charging for ordinary things. One merchant had a wonderful assortment of restored cast iron skillets and covered cookers, lowest price $35. I looked at lots of stuff; I would have bought a new bedazzled Florida TShirt if I had seen one I really liked. I would have bought produce, just didn’t. The strawberries, blackberries, and corn looked amazing. I bought a fresh made apple turnover, yummy, and a new white with purple flecks mini orchid for $4. My orchid collection is now 5, 4 with me, 1 at home. They really are very easy to care for, water no more than once a week. Put them outside in a tree during the humid summer months. I think I am ready to get a better quality one when I get home.

I perused the merchandise the Fiesta vendor couple was selling, but didn’t see anything I really had to have, and I thought her prices were high. For $5 more I can get first hand goods shipped to my house, in newer colors.

I was on the road by noon after a nice lunch in my snuggy warm, heated by the sun, rig.

I drove back to Bushnell to visit Par Gas and fill up with propane. It was 12 miles round trip out of my way, but they are the cheapest around. I took 2.5 gallons, my tank holds 10. I figured if the weather continued cold and I needed to turn on my furnace a couple of mornings, I would use up what I had left. The guy was surprised I only took 2.5 gallons, but I told him I was going to be a place where I couldn’t fill up easily, so was just topping off the tank. I don’t want to run out, then have to unhook and go to the office for fill up here.

Lake Louisa State Park was less than an hour’s drive over some of those back country Florida roads I love. Flat land, some rolling hills, cattle ranches, some horse farms, some orange groves, lots of ant hills. As I was checking in, I saw friends Larry and Judy from Hershey PA in their rig in the parking lot. They had been at the Thousand Trails Preserve in Wachula, FL, and got flooded out. They were fortunate that their rig didn’t end up in a foot of water, and they were lucky to be able to find another reservation. We spent some time catching up and I admired their new puppy, 6 month old Miss B, boxer, black lab mix. Sweet thing, just big and an active puppy. You need a car to travel around this park it is so big. I hear there are some world class trails thru the forests, but the trail heads are too far from the campground. I did my stepping on the campground roadways and chatted with lots of people who are always anxious to tell their travel stories. The big news was the flood at Wachula, about 60 miles south, displacing so many people.

I was up early Monday, anxious to be on the road to Thousand Trails Clermont, my home for the next 6 weeks. Many phone conversations were had with Ginnie and Kim who were driving around looking for empty sites and keeping me posted. I pulled into the registration office and was ready for the awful check in process to begin, when I was greeted at my RV door by sweet ranger Lynne. She told me they had revised their check in process, and as long as I didn’t owe any money, I could take advantage of express check in and be on my way to finding my campsite. Huh? This is one of the most dreaded procedures of the entire trip, and here I was being eligible for express check in? I proceeded to the gate, got my vehicle hang tag and map, and the equally helpful ranger told me 2 sites she knew of that were empty. Ginnie called at that exact moment and told me to step on it; she was parked in a great site. As I was driving to where she directed me, I saw a great site that I have used in the past, and I backed in (on the first attempt and did it well I might say,) and put my slide out and leveled. She suggested we ride around to see if there was a better site, and there was. Levellers up, slide in, on to 2^nd site, backed in on one attempt, levelers down, slide out. Phone rings. Ginnie. The site NEXT TO HER is opening up. Harrumph. Levellers up, Slide in, drive to her street (Easy Street), and was going to hang out while the folks in the site next to her packed up, when the site across from her opened up and I backed in, on the first attempt, but I didn’t put the levelers down or slide out. I waited. These campers were fine with me waiting, as long as I didn’t mind. They were leaving a few days early, due to the weather forecast and they wanted to be back to IL by Monday to be with their son as he gets a defibrillator inserted. He wanted to winterize his camper before he left Florida. They pulled out after an hour and I tried to back in. Here I had done it perfectly on one attempt 3 other times, and on this time I failed. I was aiming for the wrong thing. Ginnie was waving at my, I was screaming, I almost hit the picnic table, but finally I got into site E103 on Easy Street. It’s nice being next to Ginnie, our dogs don’t bother anyone, it’s easy to get to her rig, and it’s close to the laundry. What more could I ask for. There are a few trees for Winston and every other dog to pee on, and a sizeable piece of real estate. I made it. I am home. Despite the backup trauma.

E103 really is a nice site. The pad is asphalt paved and level. The asphalt has a bumpout for picnic table. No need to use my rug as the pad is in pretty good condition. I got out my bike, pumped up the tires, and I am home.

Kim was still unpacking her rig, she had just arrived the day before me, after fleeing Oceanport NJ just ahead of the storm. First thing we decided to do was go to Sea World! They have a great offer on annual passes after January 1. Kim got a BOGO email, and for $86 each we got full annual passes. It’s under 20 miles away. Ginnie’s annual pass includes parking. Kim and I split the $5 preferred parking fee and we get to park right up close. We can go spend a couple of hours, not walk too far, and be home in time for General Hospital at 2. It appears to me that they did some reorganizing of their animal areas. While nothing has changed, more items are color coded according to area, so each area has a theme color. More restaurants are open. We did not make it to the Orca area, next time, but they did some work over there. They are building a ginormous roller coaster that is supposed to go over and under an existing roller coaster. Not my cup of tea. Opens late summer.

Thanks, Joe Walker, for the comment/question about the differences between Seals and Sea Lions. We did spend some time at their feeding area, and they all are greedy little things, stealing food from all others. The strong always win. I always enjoy internet research and here’s what I plagiarized.

Both seals and sea lions, together with the walrus, are pinnipeds, which means "fin footed" in Latin. But seals' furry, generally stubby front feet, thinly webbed flippers, actually, with a claw on each small toe, seem petite in comparison to the mostly skin-covered, elongated flippers that sea lions possess.

Secondly, sea lions have small flaps for outer ears. The "earless" or "true" seals lack external ears altogether. You have to get very close to see the tiny holes on the sides of a seal’s head.

Third, sea lions are noisy. Seals are quieter, vocalizing via soft grunts.

Fourth, while both species spend time both in and out of the water, seals are better adapted to live in the water than on land. Though their bodies can appear chubby, seals are generally smaller and more aquadynamic than sea lions. At the same time, their hind flippers angle backward and don't rotate. This makes them fast in the water but basic belly crawlers on land.

Sea lions, on the other hand, are able to "walk" on land by rotating their hind flippers forward and underneath their big bodies. This is why they are more likely to be employed in marine shows.

Finally, seals are less social than their sea-lion cousins. They spend more time in the water than sea lions do and often lead solitary lives in the wild, coming ashore together only once a year to meet and mate.

Sea lions congregate in gregarious groups called herds or rafts that can reach upwards of 1,500 individuals. It's common for scores of them to haul out together and loll about in the sand, comprising an amorphous pile in the noonday sun.

We are anxious to go back and see what they have done with the Orca area. We were told they have done away with the show and have increased the viewing areas while they prepare a new exhibit. We’ll see.

Bingo was on the agenda for Wednesday night. Bingo is such a big deal here. There had to have been at least 300 people in attendance. I spend $9 on cards, others spend a lot more. Next week I will spend $11 and get an extra card for each of the big prize games. Apparently the state has rules as to what you must give as prizes for each game, and what percentage you must give back to players. Some games have 4 parts, for example, 4 corners, 4 corner stamps, first any bingo, and full card. In this way, they can give back the proper percentage of proceeds. There are 2 big games with $250 prizes. Would be nice to win one of them. Only thing wrong with bingo….The room is too hot, and there were a lot of people coughing. Not a good mixture for old peeps. BTW, I bought a Powerball ticket last week and had 2 numbers. Not a winner, but better than any I had when the prize was so big.

Kim spent some time researching free or cheap things to do, and looks like Barry Manilow could be on the agenda for Ginnie and Kathy (who arrives 2/1), Ginnie really wanted to go to see him. Tomorrow we might go to a Magic Dinner (only in this case lunch) theatre, and Blue Man Group next week. Groupon is a wonderful thing.

The weather. The weather has been on the cool side since arrival in Orlando. The sunny side of my RV, the side my dinette faces, is always nice and warm and toasty. But, the door side, where my chair and picnic table are, is out of the wind in the shade, and cold. I haven’t had as much time outside as I would like. Storm Jonas or whatever his name is ripped thru here yesterday like a lion. Lots of heavy rain, some thunder, but I didn’t see any lightning. The temp was 70 degrees. In the 24 hours since the rain stopped, the temperature has steadily dropped and the wind speed has increased dramatically. Everyone has secured their awnings and lawn furniture and small animals. Tonight the temp is supposed to dip below freezing for a brief time, and warm up quickly as the sun rises to highs in the 50s. Now, that’s not the worst thing, but that’s still chilly. I have spent a lot of time watching weather out of the northeast on TV, so sorry all. But now there is ice skating on NBC, so I will watch that for a while.



Kat Out

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Photos

Thousand Trails Wachula
This area is entirely campsites. The rigs in the back of the photo are surrounded by water and can't move