South into Florida Again

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Saturday, 5 January, 2013

We are on the road again. It’s cold in Tennessee and we are ready to head south to the Florida Keys for a couple of months.

It became apparent to us that we are not the well-oiled camping machine we once were; we are in need of retraining in campering. I’m sure we’ll get our rhythm going with this new camper.

It was cool and cloudy all day as we drove south. In Birmingham we ran into heavy traffic and were stumped as to why. Later we found out there was a bowl game taking place in the early afternoon and a basketball game later. We also ran into rain in Birmingham, after only a few sprinkles all day. We stopped for the night at Wind Creek State Park near Alexander City, AL. The campsites sit around Lake Martin, which was quite low, whether from the drought or normal winter drainage, we don’t know.

Sunday, 6 January

We cut across to I-75 at Tifton, GA and continued south, again under cloudy skies with scattered showers. At White Springs, FL we stopped at Stephen Foster Cultural Center State Park. We’ve stayed here before, and really like it. The campground is nice and the park very pretty, with Spanish moss hanging from the trees, and the carillon music from the tower to soothe. It rained off and on all night.

Monday, 7 January

A short day today, only travelling as far as Hillsborough River State Park at Thonotosassa, south of Zephyrhills and north of Tampa. There are quite a few campers here, and we noted the campgrounds looking more crowded the further south we came. We are getting more adept at setting up and breaking camp.

We met up with Linda Hillgoth Selbst and brought her out to the campground for supper and a nice visit. Linda introduced Kerry and me over 42 years ago. She is an old and dear friend to both of us. Kerry knew her from high school and I knew her because our mothers were great friends. It was so good to see her again and catch up after too many years out of touch.

Tomorrow we should be in Miami Springs, where we will spend some time with my mother before heading to the Keys on Sunday morning.

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Photos

Low water at Lake Martin
Wind Creek SP

Our camper and truck
at Wind Creek SP

Lake Martin
Wind Creek SP

Spanish moss
Stephen Foster SP

Carillon Tower
at Stephen Foster SP

Comments

[Barbara]

Great pictures, as always.....love the mossy trees!!! Love to your mom, Charlie.

[Gena]

Keys
So, you have a head start on us---okay---we'll catch up with you on Sunday. Kerry said the ball game starts at 2pm? We're planning on coming as far as the south side of lake Okeechobee on Saturday staying at the crooked hook RV park. So, Bob said we'll get to the campground by noon. See ya there---can hardly wait---gena