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Published: January 17th 2017
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Hi.
My ride to Southern Palms RV Resort from Blue Spring was uneventful. I never tire of driving the back roads of the south. The trees are so drippy with Spanish moss and I like looking at the horse and cattle farms here in Florida. Many small towns consist of just a Dollar General, and a Baptist Church or Grange hall. Speed limits go down to 35 frequently, and I comply. There are beautiful mansions with poverty-stricken trailers right next door.
I have been to Southern Palms a few times before and it’s a lovely resort with 3 pools, large main rec hall, and a shuffleboard court area suitable for major competitions! It is almost 1000 sites, but spread out into 3 distinct areas. Our MidLow group was in the Palms area, kind of across the street from the main campground, but nice large site with full hookup, and access to a rec hall and kitchen. I am a member of this mid-Florida group of Loners on Wheels, but only see them once a year. I always make breakfast for the group, kind of my contribution to the club, since I am not with them often enough to be
an officer or campout host. At the highest, there were 11 or 12, but generally, we were a group of 9, including new friend Anita. We had lot of laughs. Happy hour was at my rig every day at 3. We did pot luck, and played hand and foot and Mexican Train, both good games for groups of varying sizes. I play these games at home. It seems every group you play with has different rules, and this was no exception. It is good to play under different rules, keeps me on my toes. No money exchanged hands, and some were newbies to both game, but we sure did laugh a lot and curse at some plays and moves. The campground had a yard sale, which I thought was poorly participated in for a campground of almost 1000. The county fairgrounds hosts a weekly flea market on Thursdays, and of course I had to go. I bought some produce and a pair of purple and silver earrings, to match a slide I bought last year from the same lady vendor. $10 for repeat customer. Some of the group went to the Yalaha Bakery, world famous German bakery that has music
on Saturdays. Me and the bathroom were having a togetherness problem that morning, so I stayed home. However, Kay Gleason brought me home a large loaf of wonderful sourdough bread.
Funny story about Kay. She is from Massachusetts, you can tell that from her accent. I have known her for maybe 5 years now? She spends her winters in a permanent structure at Florilow Oaks, and goes to the various LOW campouts and stays with another member, Lynda. She is a lot of fun, has a lot of energy and always up for something. When she came home from Yalaha she was missing her wallet. Now this is something Kay does quite regularly. She tells us she has left her pocketbook in grocery carts, on the back of chairs, in others cars, you get the picture. This particular wallet was not her main wallet, just her ‘go shopping’ wallet. It held an expired license and $15. She searched her car with no luck. She called the bakery with no luck. The next morning, check out day, she went back to Yalaha, and someone had turned the wallet in, complete with $15. There really are good people around. I feel
this loss was partly my fault…….after all she did buy bread for me and had to get her wallet out to do that……The group, now size 11, went to the Umatilla Inn for dinner Friday night, for all you can eat catfish, $10.99. I ordered it. It came with wonderful cole slaw and crispy French fries. Others ordered salads, liver and onions, etc, and all said their meals were great. I had second helpings, and I think that’s the reason I did not want to leave the bathroom the next morning. It was wonderful, just too much.
My ride to Webster Flea Market on Sunday was short but took 5 hours. I did laundry in Leesburg where I was the only person that did not have multiple tattoos and body piercings. I felt safe, just out of place. I was craving beef and sought out an Outback restaurant. The turn into their driveway involved going under a low hanging live oak, but once I passed that, I ended up in a Lowe’s parking lot. It was hot enough for me to put the generator on and turn the A/C on for Winston and he was happy, too. Bread, Caesar
Hudson on skiis
check out the length of those skis! His mittens are longer salad, 6 oz sirloin, loaded baked potato, water, $15 with tip and I was a happy camper. I found a Publix and bought a few groceries and arrived at Webster around 3. I met up with Joanne, and Malcolm and Ginger, friends from years past RVing trips, at campsites along the edge of one of the fields of vendors. This lot had 20 amp electric outlets for our use. I was nervous about using such an unsafe looking system without a surge protector, but I did plug in for a few hours to watch TV and make coffee in the morning. All was safe. The issue was the 3, yes 3, mini dogs in the adjacent RV. We were kind of close together and these 3 were awful yappy, constant barkers. They barked until 12:30 am Sunday night, and started when their owners left at 7 Monday morning. Every minute or so I could hear their owner going SHHHHHHHHH or QuiET….. Their windows were open. I closed mine, put the pillow over my head and slept until 7:00. I was meeting Joanne at 8; good thing I didn’t oversleep again. I walked 3 miles and my knee was throbbing by noon. Certainly not bad enough to use a cane, but 2 Tylenol were required. Anita drove over from her winter headquarters, Florilow Oaks, and walked around with us as well. My purchases included a Rada granny fork (3 tines, long and skinny) and a tomato knife (like those you see on TV that can microslice tomatoes), and a new neon green leash for Winston. I didn’t buy produce because I didn’t want to haul it around, then, when I was ready to buy, I was too far from that area. No orchids, either, I had all the colors the usual lady was selling, so I saved $5. I checked out the Fiesta Ware lady, she had nothing that I really wanted either. Total expenditures, $15.
I pulled out at 12 and the traffic to Bushnell, 7 miles away, was insane due to the large volume of people at the flea market. I filled up with propane along the way; I was down to under half a tank, $14. I arrived at Florilow at 1:30, my home for the next 9 nights. This is like home for me. I come here every winter and enjoy visiting with old friends….literally old. They are a very active community of over age 55 single folks, many of whom live here year round. There also are transients like me, and those that come for the winter season. Happy Hour every day at 4, Coffee at 8am, games every night. Kay Gleason is here, always good catching up, and that’s how I learned she found her wallet. Free wifi, Free Satellite, full hookup. I am not that wild about my campsite, it’s very close to neighboring rigs, but those neighbors are wonderful, and I border the farm next door with a mama goat ready to give birth any minute, chickens and horses right out my front window. I am parked nose end in, which does not give me a view of the goings on of the campground, but it is fun watching the wildlife next door.
The pictures I am going to try to attach are from the MidLows campout. Kay brought some wonderful masks and it was fun trying them and taking pictures. The other picture is 2.5 year old grandson, Hudson, on skiis. Check out the length of his skiis! His mittens look longer!!! The family was at Stratton for the holiday weekend.
Kat out
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