Ocala to Mt. Dora

Christmas has come and gone and now so has New Years Eve!   I have got to get caught up!

Christmas Eve was pleasantly quiet at D&S’s home.  On Christmas Day H and I hoped to kayak further up the Rainbow again but unfortunately the weather did not wish to cooperate so we just “explored” more back roads.  While in Ross Prairie, we chatted with folks from our previous stays and this time we’ll add Bill & Carol and Kevin’s names to our list of travel friends!   Originally from Indiana, B&C are full timers who travel in a truck camper pulling a Jeep with 2 orange kayaks on top.  Kevin and his wife travel and write blogs and newspaper articles.   K interviewed both of us couples and wrote a VERY fine article in the Citrus County Chronicle, dated Dec 27,12!  C&B look good but don’t look at me – I was trying to lean back, OUT of the picture!   On K’s blog, he posted a picture of my patch-covered jacket, which has drawn a slew of good remarks!   IF you want to see it - go to:  Facebook and then to the page for VisitFlorida and scroll down to Dec 25.

Golf cart store at The Villages

One day that week, the Market of Marion flea market drew us down for our yearly visit to see what new treasures were hidden among all that “stuff” and this year we also drove a bit further to see how much the small community of “The Villages” has grown.   Let’s just say that the last time we visited, it probably had one zip code   - - Now it has several!  So much new construction and so many new housing developments!   One of H’s fun places to check out is the downtown golf cart store.  $20,000 plus for a golf cart but they are not your plain cart with 4 little rubber tires and a steering wheel, either!  

Fridays are not our favorite days to change parks but it was time to pull up jacks and move on!   H had ordered a new trailer tire from Wal-Mart but the wrong one got ordered – you MUST use the word “RADIAL” when asking for trailer tires.  And know that Wal-Mart does NOT touch travel trailers when it comes to changing tires - the customer must remove the old and must put the new mounted one back on.  Our next home was down US441 in Mt Dora and H was confident we would find someplace else where we could get the correct hunk of radial rubber to replace the one that was wearing out!   That place was PEPBOYS in Tavares!  Good price, GREAT service AND they did all the work!  We were in and out within a half hour. 

1957 DeHaviland Beaver

See several years past of Florida Blogs for Trimble Park in Mt Dora – its another one of our favorite Orange County Campgrounds besides Moss Park and Kelly Park.  This park has the smallest campground with only 15 sites which means it’s hard to get into.  Most sites are right on the water!   Our 1^st site was #4, on the small canal that was surrounded by Florida jungle - palmettos, palms and live oaks draped with more Spanish moss!  The park is also home to a million small gray squirrels that use the canopy above as their expressway.  Small black coots hoot and holler to each other.  Egrets and herons of both colors ply the reeds for dinner.  Jays and hawks and finches dart from bush to tree.   Each night we are serenaded by questioning owls (Get it? WHO??), bellowing frogs and chattering raccoons!    One day, H unfolded our little bikes and we rode them to town.  We were either straining to go uphill into the wind or riding the brakes to keep from going head over heels down the opposite side of that hill!  While downtown we snooped in several small shops and visited the beautiful 1887 Lakeside Inn that resides on the hillside of Lake Dora.   A 1957 DeHaviland Beaver Seaplane calls the dock it’s home.  For $50 a person we could have gone up in it!   H was tempted!

Christmas in Mt. Dora

Mt Dora decorates for Christmas to the NINES!   SPFB for several years ago to see the huge marina that covers all their buildings with more lights than the Toledo Zoo uses. The palm trees are even wrapped like big candy canes in red and white LEDs.  Downtown is draped with sparkling white icicles, and the lamplights were alternating red ones and green ones.  The palm trees were wrapped in white also but the tops had the “dripping” ice blue lights.  And the huge tree in the square - OH MY!   Set to music, it changed patterns and colors according to which Christmas Carol was played.   On New Year’s Eve we walked the brightly lit, peaceful little downtown and watched that tree!   We are not “party people” – we arrived as everyone was going to dinner and left before all the real “party people” came out to party!

Sunset at Trimble Park

New Year’s Day 2013 arrived and looked just like the last day of 2012 but everyone in the park knew it was time to pack up and go home!   Except for us!   But we still moved!    From #4 to #8 which was/is THE best site in the park!    Right on the lake – right by the fishing/boat docks, closer to the “facilities”(which are very good and very clean!) - and THE best views of the sunrise and sunsets! 

Travares is one of the other towns on Lake Dora.  Leesburg is on the west, Mt Dora is on the east and Tavares is on the north.  The town’s lakefront is mostly well groomed community park with picnic shelters, walkways, a seaplane for public rides over the lakes, a great play area for the kids, a water park with a large colorful seaplane mounted above and a train depot that is home to a 1907 steam train.   When we arrived, the train was just building up steam for it’s 2 hour run to Leesburg and back!

Ron and Nancy have arrived and are parked right next to us in the next best site in the park!   They are here and so is the rain!                 More adventures to come, tho!

Old Town to Ocala

Suwannee River Hideaway is a Passport America campground. It was H’s 2nd choice of places to stay at first but it turned out to be a great place to call home for a few days! Originally it was going to be an overnight stop but ended up being a 5-day stay! It is located just 3 miles outside the small town of Old Town. When you first turn onto the long entrance drive it feels as tho it had been a state park in a previous life, but according to the great camp hosts Bettye and Jay, it was built from scratch about 6 years ago. Basic facilities but very clean and a wonderful clubhouse with wifi were added perks. The best perks were the owners and the hosts – including Patsy and Billy! We were invited to their potluck Christmas Party and were made to feel right at home. Off exploring we went - one day to find Fanning Springs State Park and from there we found 2 more small Florida Springs – Otter Springs and Hart Springs. Another day we followed yet another back road and ended up out on Cedar Key for lunch. (Ready? SPFB!) Some of the previously occupied stores were now empty and one restaurant had burned down but the gang of local pelicans and cormorants still called the storm damaged old docks home. H has been having trouble with pain in his heel so we’ve had to limit our walking. One highlight of the campground was a ¼ mile long boardwalk, which lead across the cypress filled swamp to the wide dark Suwannee River. All the posted signs clearly stated NO BIKES! It was not to be experienced IF we had to walk it. H dug out our fold up bikes and we were given permission to ride. I did ride it but only one way! It was a really nice boardwalk – long and as wide as any normal sidewalk, but only had retaining WIRES strung thru the tall pylons pounded down into the muck. Speeding along the long narrow pine needle strewn planks on that skinny little bike was torturous. My shoulder blades ached and my knuckles were clenched tightly around the handlebars. Hence – I walked my bike back across the “skyway bridge” to the safety of solid, albeit sandy ground.

Ross Prairie State Forest Campground, just south west of Ocala is always one of my favorite spots and not just because it’s within 3 miles of my sister Sharon’s home. The park is also set up for equestrian camping but this time there have been only 2 horses and they only stayed 2 days. H likes the park because it is close to a lot of things – our friends R&J in Dunnellon, several great flea markets, shopping (OK – that’s mine!) and the always-beautiful Rainbow River! The weather most of the time has been in the 50’s at night and up to the mid 60’s, low 70’s during the day – those are the days we’ve gone exploring or to the various flea markets with our list of “needed” items. Sharon and I went girl shopping one day and managed to find a few things on sale that we didn’t really need! Such great deals tho! Of course, spending time out with D&S is always fun – especially when it’s Dick’s birthday! The warmest and sunniest day (79 degrees) we headed for the Rainbow with our little orange bubbles! The bright sun felt so wonderfully warm on our bare shoulders as we paddled upstream in the amazingly clear deep blue water. H normally wants to call it quits within a half hour of uphill paddling but this time he didn’t complain and so we kept on going. After 2 hours, that warm sun still felt good but our upper arms and shoulders were in agony even after a brief time out at the state park dock. Going back downstream was a breeze! We still managed to see lots of different fish, turtles and birds but no otters and no gators this time!



As most of you have heard, seen on TV or experienced for yourselves, there has been a named winter storm that has just charged across the country. We haven’t had snow here but early Saturday morning and Sunday morning were both cold enough for snow. 29 and then 26 degrees! Our poor little heaters have been working overtime. A warm up is on the way! So is Christmas!

Florida Panhandle

 

Twin Lakes Resort is a quiet, woodsy little campground in the panhandle of Florida, just 10 miles NW of DeFuniak, Florida. Lots of oak and pine trees that are dropping lots of leaves and needles! The park host had to use his heavy duty leaf blower strapped on his back to clear off the debris from our campsite so we could at least see the green deck and the edge of the parking pad! After 2 days it was covered again! See our amaryllis pot sitting on the edge of the pad? The park is wedged between 2 pretty little lakes – both full of tree stumps and fish (according to the many pictures in the office!) Flocks of bluebirds bounce from the leafy floor to the multitude of branches above. Robins, woodpeckers, very vocal egrets and the resident trio of domestic gray geese also call this spot home! Not far from this spot is Ponce DeLeon Springs but we were the only ones on that gray overcast day who were there to admire this pretty little fresh water spring. The water was clear and you could see the roots as they dug down into the sand. So we set out to explore. DeFuniak because it is full of small quaint shops and historic old buildings that surround an almost perfectly round serene lake. Their Christmas parade did not come anywhere near the small town of Ida Michigan’s parade, but it had its share of fire trucks and police vehicles! Oh, yes - - and candy thrown all over! H and I kept the good chocolate and gave all the stale bubblegum and tormented tootsie rolls to the youngsters who sat next to us with their mom! One day we even found the beaches of the Gulf coast! Straight down Rt 331 was Blue Mountain - - never saw any blue mountains but the beaches were snow white and the crystal sand crunched under our feet! The only “mountain” part of the area was the high banks of reinforcements to protect the houses that sat up on their “cliffs”. On we went, pausing at several public beaches to see if they needed closer viewing. Thanks to H’s good eyes we stopped at one to watch a fella strap what looked like a huge fan or a small airboat prop to his back and like a 2 legged burro – carry it to the beach. Once he was hooked up to the awaiting parasail laying out straight on the beach, he walked into the wind and then flew up into the breezy bay air! Quite fascinating! On west we went then, to drive thru Topsail State Park/RESORT, and revisit Henderson Beach St Prk. Destin was our objective for the day to revisit the harbor and then watch the fondly remembered boat parade of our last trip thru this area! OK - - - here it is - - SPFB!! When I first retired from State Farm, we came to the panhandle then followed the Gulf road to Texas and got to see the boat parade while we were parked at beautiful Henderson Beach St Prk. The harbor has been built up and the lowly boardwalk is now a fancy walkway surrounded by shops and boutiques. We were there way to early in the day to wait till after dark and then drive 50/60 miles back to the campground. And if the area was now that commercial - - - could the parade be any better than the one in our memory??? I think not! We headed back “home” via yet another back road. H was napping in his recliner by the time the parade did start!

From DeFuniak it was back to the Gulf coast and points east. A stopover in Panama City Beach at a brightly colored tropical looking mall was in order to stretch or legs before we settled in at the Rustic Sands Campground in Mexico Beach, east of Panama City and Tyndal Air Force Base. Once we were settled in for the day, we headed back out to investigate the small town and to find the beach and fishing pier but the already gray sky got even darker. You could easily see the rain streaking down from the low hanging clouds out over the gulf. We found the pier and the downpour found us! 15 minutes later it had passed over and we gathered our sweatshirts around us and stepped over the puddles to go out on the long wet pier!



Had the weather been better we might have stayed another day but it was not to be, so back on Rt 98 to follow the coastline road thru Apalachicola. We were done with the Gulf for a while and the landscape had changed from beaches to deep forests. Over several rivers on thru many tall pinewoods we were heading for Old Town and a place to park for a day or so.

South Again

 

It’s December! It’s time for us to be back on the road! Imagine - H drove across 3 states in one day - - - From Michigan, across Ohio and on to Lexington Kentucky. Once we reach Florida – it’ll be 3 months of driving in ONE state!!

Our favorite Kentucky Horse Park Campground was hosting a “drive thru” Christmas light display that started in the campground area and then wound around and thru the enormous Horse Park area. H decided we should WALK the part of the bright colored animated display that ran around the perimeter of the campground. As we carefully stepped on and off the campsites and roadways, admiring the bright lights and trying to guess what each design was to represent, H saw the road leading from the campground area out and thru to the paddocks and arenas. It was lined with even bigger and brighter displays - 12 of them! Each big bold bank of flashing LED brilliance represented the 12 Days of Christmas. And, Yes, we had to sing the silly song to remember the rhyme of each verse! Then H realized how far we would have to walk to get to the rest of the displays and knew his feet would not make it that far and still have to walk all the way back. Sadly we turned around and found our way back to the “condo”.



Clinton Tennessee is ALWAYS our Saturday night stopover on our way to Florida so I can visit with my oldest son Steve and his family. Steve had to work and even tho he was tired, he did stop over and visited with us before heading home. Sunday He also had to work but the rest of us still met at Golden Girls Restaurant. Kayla’s little guy, Ethan is still a sweet chunk of toddler. Still Charlie Brown! But H was getting restless so we headed down I75 to Chattanooga where we turned right instead of turning left at Knoxville. Off of hectic I75 and all of truck traffic and across the NE corner of Georgia to Alabama we went. The traffic was better but the roadway was pits - pardon the pun! Pits and bumps and cracks!



Once to Alabama, we left Rt59 behind and picked up our favorite kind of road – two lane and country. The road led by farms with already harvested empty fields. The fields looked like soybean fields but there was a dusting of white everywhere. There were huge round hay like bales lining the sides of the fields, but these behemoths were white! And the roadway was dusted with white as tho it had just snowed and the passing cars had blown the dry powder to the side. Yep, it was cotton! We were soon climbing the narrow winding roads of the Talladega National Forest. This mountain range is the highest area in Alabama and is their Smokey Mountains. Once at the top of the ridge, the road traversed from one peak to the next, from north to south and the views from the overlooks were spectacular! The Cheaha State Park is located just NE of the historic town of Talladega and the park buildings were built by the CCC men back in the 30’s. Near the campground were a small lodge and a handicap accessible boardwalk that stretched out and over a rocky outcropping of large boulders.



In Montgomery, we spent 2 nights in a Passport America campground – Woods RV Park. A huge big field with 3 small trees and a bunch of resident FEMA trailers on site. Full hookups and good facilities but no picnic tables. It was a good place to park because we could easily drive downtown and to the zoo from its handy location right off the expressway.



Montgomery is the capitol of Alabama and they were just decorating it and the other downtown historic buildings. We parked at the Visitors Center, which was also the beautifully restored old red brick train station and explored on foot some of that area. Another spin around downtown to admire more stately old homes, we saw the signs for Dexter Street where Rev Martin Luther King preached and led the Civil Rights March. The Montgomery Zoo is also a pretty good zoo with all the needed animals – lions, tigers, elephants, and a herd of giraffes! A North American pen had bison, deer and a bull elk with romance on his mind! We even splurged and rode on the cute little red train that ran around the whole zoo.



Three days in Alabama? It’s time we get to Florida!

Ride in a 1929 Ford

Ride in a 1929 Ford

As a little girl back in the 1950’s, I can remember my father Charlie and my Uncle Ned, flying from the Ohio mainland to a small island in the western basin of Lake Erie in a small rumbling 3 prop plane. The two men would load their service cycles and gear into the plane and spend days on end out on the island, fishing and riding their motorbikes. The small town they flew from was Port Clinton, just 40 miles east of Toledo and nestled among a multitude of canals, ponds and creeks that all fed into the lake which was lined with summer cottages. The island was Middle Bass Island, home to the famous Perry Monument, which commemorates Commodore Perry’s victory in the war of 1812. The city on the island was known as Put in Bay, home to the world’s longest wooden Tavern bar and the world famous singer - Pat Daley. The Ford Tri-Motor airplane was built in 1929 in Dearborn Michigan and was affectionately known by us all as “the Tin Goose”.




In last weekend’s Toledo Blade Newspaper was an article on another one of the Ford Tri-Motor Airplanes that had been restored. The Tri-Motor Heritage Foundation was offering flights out of Port Clinton at the Erie-Ottawa County Airport. H felt he/we HAD to go ride the “Tin Goose”! Tuesday, July 3rd was the chosen date and we gathered up B&C to share in this latest adventure. Bud was concerned about Carol tho, as she has a tendency to get motion sickness, but she bravely joined in. The weather was unsettled as we left home and was still hazy and overcast with a slight threat of a storm when we reached the airport parking lot and learned that all flights had been delayed till conditions improved. No problem - Jolly Roger Restaurant for fresh Lake Erie Perch dinners and a bit of exploring around the area filled up our vacant time! As we moseyed back to the airport – the Tri-Motor roared overhead! H hurried now in earnest- he wanted to fly! In the back of the hanger where the Tri-Motor was flying out of, was yet another skeleton of a plane. The proceeds from the all the local flights were to be used to restore that plane which will be parked in a designated hanger at the brand new Liberty Aviation Museum! As we waited for the plane to land and taxi to the hanger, we were given a brief history of the aircraft. We found out that there were only 199 planes made and the one we would be flying in was # 58. The plane that I flew in as a child was #38 and was sold for parts for the other 6 remaining Tri-Motors in existence! The narrow 9-passenger cabin area had one seat on either side of an even narrower aisle. The pilot area was open to the passengers who could see him work the 2 big foot petals that controlled the rudders and brakes and 3 knobby handles, which controlled the speed of the plane. On the ceiling was a pretty good-sized crank handle that was for the plane’s horizontal trim. It was interesting to learn that the original plane had NO brakes because they were landed on grass, as there was no cement landing strip back then. Due to passenger liability laws today – these restored planes must have brakes! Thank you VERY much! One by one the large engines that hung right outside the cabin windows, was coughed to life and began their roar as each prop spun faster and faster. As the knobby handles were slowly pushed forward, the plane also moved forward and rumbled out onto the runway. Holding our breath and hoping we didn’t run out of runway before the laboring plane lifted off, we all sighed with relief as she slowly reached for the sky - just in time! We never did “reach the sky” – we rose just high enough to view the scenes below as though we were looking down at a miniature train setup! You could see the tiny cars on Rt 2 and the miniature boats coming and going out of the never ending ribbons of water that lead from a million boat docks out to the calm waters of Lake Erie. The water tower looked like a dainty pearl balanced on a tiny matchstick! All four of us were snapping pictures as fast as we could press our camera buttons. H took time out to check the airplane’s speed on his hand held GPS - 65 mph at takeoff, up to 100 mph in flight and landing at 73 mph! Safely back at the hanger we continued to bombard the pilot and co-pilot with questions before sadly exiting the plane, ducking as we went because the doorway was a small oval opening just barely 4 feet tall.

Of course, the day was topped off with a stop for ice cream on our way home!



On July 5th, the Ford Tri-Motor was to fly to Kalamazoo, Michigan and then return to its home base in Oshkosh, Wisconsin the following week. If you want to learn more, go to:

trimotorheritagefoundation.org or libertyaviationmuseum.org

Central Ohio