Never did like it when we had to change the time on the
clocks! It’s not so bad in the spring –
when we have more daylight in the evening so H and I can be outside longer – at
HOME! We’ve never had to change them
when we were on the road until now. And
having to change clocks the night before moving day – is the worst-est!!! After tossing and turning we finally gave
in and got up and hit the road an hour earlier than usual. The Sunday morning traffic up and around
Orlando on RT 436 was not as heavy as it could have been if it were a Monday
morning but it still took over an hour to leave Orlando in the rear view
mirror.
It’s the last official weekend of Bike Week and the first
official weekend of Spring Break in the 3 surrounding counties of Salt Springs
including Marion County. H was
concerned about getting a site in our favorite park so he had made a
reservation for one night. Luckily,
several folks had already left and we selected a better site with afternoon
shade where we would stay for the week.
Unfortunately – the site was near the bottom of the slope in the road
and as usual the TV reception was sometimes here and sometimes not. Cell service was nonexistent but – hey – we
are in the middle of a FOREST!
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| Salt Spring Park |
Our days have passed quickly in spite of the iffy TV
selection. Some evenings we got a LOT
of knitting and reading done or even went to bed early – hoping to catch up on
the time change loss of sleep. (It’s almost a week later and we are still
tossing and turning) Monday was
laundry day – the last time we’ll have to deposit quarters in a machine to get
clean clothes back! Tuesday we drove to
Ocala and enjoyed another fun meal with D&S at our favorite Logan’s
Steakhouse. My dear sister has shingles
–AGAIN. Luckily it was caught early and
is being contained to one small area.
Wednesday was skeet shooting day in Palatka! My email to the “gang” had a delayed
response back so our connection at the club was missed by a few hours. H did get to shoot with a fella from
Massachusetts tho, before the day got too hot and muggy! Anytime we are in Palatka it is mandatory
for us to have lunch at Corky Bells – Deviled Crab and Shrimp again! SO good!
A ride thru downtown to see the new murals came next. On the way back south to the campground, we
noticed smoke in the forest. It’s the season for “prescribed burns” to control
the dead undergrowth and help prevent even worse forest fires. As we approached and were waved thru by a
patrolman, fire trucks and more help were arriving. Then the road was closed!
Right after we went thru!!
Heavy, dark, rolling clouds of thick smoke began rolling across the
road. H pulled off the side of the
roadway a safe distance away and we watched the waves of choking smoke clog the
land behind us. At times you could see
the bright orange fire and at other times the smoke was so dark and so thick
that you could not see the flashing lights of the emergency vehicles that were
blocking the intersection!
Thursday was St Pat’s Day!
Our Amaryllis sat on the BBQ grill and displayed her 3 Irish flags. A green shamrock hung from the arm of the
awning! I wore green and even got to
bake a brisket in the toaster oven on the picnic table. Drove the neighbors
crazy! Cooked it low and slow – it was
SO yummy! “Top O the Morning to yah!”
was the greeting!
The springs have been peaceful all week and we’ve taken
advantage of the warm weather and the cool water on several days. Our bikes have been up and down the roads
and on paths that pass under a 200 yr old sprawling live oak! The weekend is
here now so the younger folks have taken over!
As Friday progressed the campsites filled in – all kinds of trailers
have unloaded their bikes and grills and all shapes of tents have gone up. Then, what we first thought was a big
diesel rig that had pulled in the park after dark turned out to be the biggest,
bad-est tow truck that we have ever seen!
H soon learned that a huge pickup truck camper (with a slide and full
back awning) had been unloaded from its truck and one of the front jack stands
had collapsed causing the camper to fall forward across the bed of the truck –
trapping it underneath! He grabbed my
hand and dragged me out of our trailer and up the dark road to inspect the
commotion. As we went around the curve
of our camp road – we saw THE brightest light! (Were we crossing over?) The tow truck had backed up at an angle to
the camper in distress and had a huge crane hoisted up over and several very
bright lights shining on it. There was
strong sling under and around the damaged fiber glassed white box that still
had 2 skinny support sticks attached to its lower backside. When the box was slowly lifted, the truck
was removed. Raised a bit higher, the truck was gently backed in under it again,
however, the angle of the parking pad was too steep. Finally, after several attempts, the air in the back tires was
let out! H was satisfied that the
outcome was going to be ok then, so we headed back to our site. It was well after the 11 o’clock news when
we heard the tow truck rumble past our site on his way out
