Happy Leap Day on the Pinellas Trail

I had been intrigued by the Pinellas Trail since I learned of it several months ago. The Fred Marquis Pinellas Trail runs 34 miles from St. Petersburg to Tarpon Springs, pretty much the length of Pinellas County, along an abandoned railway grade. This clearly is an urban trail. I had been told that it crossed busy intersections and was not terribly interesting, but we were compelled to give it a try. We got up early and drove 50 miles to east Tampa and breakfasted at the Crown Club at Lazydays (any excuse to get to the Crown Club!). After breakfast we encountered our biggest challenge: actually getting to the trial. We had decided to do the the northern third of the trail from Curlew to Tarpon Springs. It is almost 30 miles from Lazydays to Curlew and it took almost an hour and a half to get there. Most of that time was spent on I-4 and I-275 in stopped traffic. We finally arrived at the trail and put on at Curlew Road at MP 25. Once we got onto the trail I was pleased to find that it was very enjoyable. There is a separate lane for pedestrians, so conflicts with the foot soldiers are minimized. There were a number of minor cross streets, but at most crossings motor vehicles were required to stop before crossing the trail. Most actually did stop. There were also a couple of major thoroughfares to be crossed. The end of the trail at MP 34.5 was fairly anti-climatic. The last mile weaved through a subdivision and then just ended. We reversed our course but took the spur into the North Anclote River Nature Park. The spur trail was a dead end, but we bushwacked through the preserve to the other side and pedaled to the Tarpon Springs Sponge Docks. Tarpon Springs has rich heritage in sponge diving by the Greek community. I had visited Tarpon Springs over 20 years ago and found it very quaint and interesting. As usual, things change, and today we found it to be very touristy and glitzy. On our return we also stopped at Wall Springs County Park, which was the highlight stop on our ride. It featured an historic spring, a nature trail and an observation tower overlooking Tampa Bay. After a total of about 24 miles, we returned to the car and endured another grueling cross-town drive to the Crown Club for dinner. It was a very enjoyable ride, and I can certainly recommend the Pinellas Trail, if you can get to it.

At TTO Again

We arrived at Thousand Trials Orlando about 1:00 Sunday afternoon after an uneventful drive from Port St. Lucie. We are set up in site D-131. D loop is our favorite in the park, because it is the most wooded and remote of the loops. This is our fourth and final stay at this park this winter. We will be here until Saturday March 9, then head to Mississippi to visit Mom.

In the meantime, we have no specific plans. I hope to play Pickleball about every day. Dorcas may start running again. We may spend a few days biking and canoeing. We have friends we want to visit. But mainly we will just take it easy. I have done a few coach chores and there are a few others on my list. We broke the handle off the washer/dryer (Dorcas the Supergrip) and have ordered the replacement part. This morning we defrosted the fridge, which was severely iced over. I am a little concerned about the fridge function, as it has not been cooling as well as I think it should. Ice cream is a good indicator of fridge cooling. The ice cream is not rock hard, as it should be, but it's not dripping out on the floor either. Now that the fridge has been defrosted, I will monitor the function and try to determine what, if anything, is wrong.

It has been hot and muggy for the past week, but a strong cold front is coming through tonight. It is extremely windy today. There will likely be some storms tonight then lows near 40 in the next few days. BRRRR!!!!

In the Lap of Luxury

Today we mainly hung around the resort and looked at all the lots. We had a list of lots for sale and walked around daydreaming. Undeveloped re-sales started about $120,000 and landscaped lots went up over $250,000. There are lots here I'm sure that go for much more. It's a buyers market, but I don't think we are ready to settle down yet. Too many good places left to see. We did find one lot we liked, however. It faces the right direction, is in a good location, has nice simple landscaping, and is reasonably priced. An investment opportunity??? Maybe in a few years.

Tomorrow we will return to Thousand Trails Orlando and camp with the commoners.

Surf's Up!

Today we did a little shopping and explored the greater Port St. Lucie area. The biggest part of our day was spent cruising the beach on Hutchinson Island between Jensen Beach and Fort Pierce. It was a balmy 85 degrees, but there was a stiff ocean breeze. Excellent winter weather. Much nicer than the sleet and rain we are currently having back home. At the southern tip of the Hutchinson there was a park with about a dozen windsurfers out. The amazing thing is that each sailor appeared to be over 60 years old. Geezer heaven.

We returned to the resort and visited with our friends Jim and Luci, who have been here a couple of weeks. Happy birthday Luci! We first met Jim and Luci at Lazydays and then saw them again at Thousand Trails. They have recently started full-timing and seem to be getting into it. Maybe that's what we will do one of these days.

The more we look at this place, the nicer we realize it is. Outdoor Resorts of America does rent sites by the night, but their real aim is to sell the lots. Naked lots run from about $130,000 to $190,000, based, I guess, on their proximity to the clubhouse. Most owners put another $50,000 to $100,000 or more into developing and landscaping their lots. We're talking palm trees, Disney-type stone work, fountains, etc. Kinda like Beverly Hills with 20' x 80' lots. Many places we go, our coach is the envy of the campground. But here, we are out of our league. I figure the median price of a coach here is $500,000. I don't think we'll buy just yet. We're not ready to settle down.

On the Ocean Side

We are set up at Outdoor Resorts of America at Port St. Lucie near the Atlantic coast. This is perhaps the ritziest place we have ever stayed. The sites normally run $70/night, but we are here on a coupon that allows us to stay 4 days and 3 nights at no charge. We would never pay that much to stay in a campground, even one this nice, so it seemed like a good opportunity. Best of all there is no mandatory sales presentation to attend. Internet access is an additional charge: $2.95/hour or $5.95/day. And that's for a crappy signal, at least it is at our site. If we were paying for the site I would be pissed about the internet charge. As it is I guess we will just have to vow to never come back here again. The resort encompasses an 18-hole golf course and most sites are designed to pull straight in and face the course, rather than back in, as is more common. It looks dangerous. I wonder what happens after a golf ball goes through the windshield.

This is a part of Florida unfamiliar to us. The NY Mets Spring Training Facility is just 1/4 mile down the road. Unfortunately their first game is Feb 29 and we are leaving Feb 24. Maybe we can catch some practice. We are looking forward to exploring the area. Perhaps we will hit some of the beaches. It was almost 80 degrees today, but it is spitting rain now and there is a chance of storms. Rains should diminish tomorrow and the temp is forecast to be 86 degrees.

An Astronomical Day

The space shuttle Atlantis landed safely this morning. We were not able to see it pass over from our camp near Tampa, but faithful readers will remember that we did view it's launch on Feb 7.

The US military shot down a rogue US spy satellite over the Pacific Ocean today. Hit it on the first whack. China is worried. Let 'em sweat. After all, they've been sending us toxic toys and toxic dog food.

There is a lunar eclipse this evening and Dorcas and I are watching it as I write. It started at 8:43 PM and is currently in its totality. The eclipse will end about midnight. It was mostly cloudy all afternoon, but the clouds magically cleared shortly before the start of the eclipse.

Our Country Coach rally ended this morning. Country Coach service technicians spent several hours working in our coach. One tech performed a much-needed wiring repair. There was a completely severed cable serving the security system, and now that system is functioning again. While one technician was working on the security system I consulted with the other technician and received excellent guidance and advice on about a dozen other projects and repairs that I will perform at a later time. A stellar accomplishment.

In the morning we will move about 150 miles to the Atlantic side of the Florida peninsula and camp near Port St. Lucie.

Rally Ho!!!

Today we moved from Thousand Trails Orlando and are camped at Rally Park, an on-site campground at Lazydays near Tampa. We are attending a Country Coach owner's rally here. The rally is hosted by Country Coach Inc. but is also considered as an area rally for three Country Coach area chapters: the Florida Coast-Alongs, the Nor'easters and the Country Cousins, to which Dorcas and I belong. An early count showed 82 registered coaches. Rallies are a lot of fun. Good companionship, good food and drink, and good entertainment. Country Coach Inc. is subsidizing the rally to the extent that the rally fee is approximately equivalent to the camping charges. Country Coach expects to sell 8-10 coaches to rally attendees. If you buy a coach, after you negotiate your best deal, you spin a wheel to earn an additional discount ranging from $2000 to $10,000. Great fun and excitement, but Dorcas and I will resist the temptation to buy a new coach. Another great benefit at this rally is the complimentary coach service. Factory technicians will come to your coach and fix up to three items and spend up to one hour. With RV service rates here at $120/hour this is a big perk. We hope to get our money's worth. The rally ends on Wednesday, but Dorcas and I will stay at Rally Park until Thursday.

Rub-a-Dub-Dub

We have been taking it easy here at Thousand Trails Orlando for the past few days. But today was a work day. Today we washed and waxed the coach. At 8:00 AM we started on the roof and washed the coach from top to bottom and stem to stern, finishing just after 10:00. In the middle of the day we took a break and did some easier chores. About 3:00 the real grunt work started. We had never polished the coach before, but we did today. Dorcas polished everything below the side molding about 3.5 feet high, and I did the rest. We finished up just before dark, and it's a good thing, because my arms were falling off. Today I was especially glad we had a 33' coach and not a 45 footer! The coach looks better than we have ever seen it. We will be attending a Country Coach rally tomorrow. Most of the coaches will be bigger than ours and some will be newer than ours, but ours will SHINE!

Happy Anniversary!!!

We are still at Thousand Trails Orlando and will stay here until Sunday when we will move to the Tampa area to attend a Country Coach Rally. Last night was a cool one, getting down to 40 degrees, but the forecast is for warming as we head into the weekend.

Today is Valentine's Day, but more importantly, it is Dorcas' and my seventh wedding anniversary. People have accused me of marrying Dorcas on Valentine's Day in order to kill two birds with one stone, meaning I had to buy only one gift for both events. In reality it was Dorcas' idea all along. There are a couple of other side benefits, however. First, it is difficult to forget our anniversary with all the Valentine's Day hoopla. Second, if (when?) I do forget Valentine's Day and our anniversary, I will only get fussed at once. But if that does happen, it will be one heck of a fuss.

Tonight we are going to dinner with friends to celebrate our anniversary and our friendships.

Disney Again

Faithful readers will remember our friends George and Jackie. We met George and Jackie while traveling in Montana last summer. They winter not far from our camp here, and Jackie works in the Magic Kingdom. Just before Christmas they invited us as their guests to several Disney parks. Today they invited us once again to visit Disney. We chose Animal Kingdom since we had only been there once, the year that Animal Kingdom opened in 1998. The weather forecast indicated rain, but we actually had pretty good weather. It did rain once pretty hard near the end of the day, but we managed to be inside during the worst of it. The highlight ride was Expedition Everest, a relatively mild roller coaster with a very fun theme and some interesting twists. At 200' "Everest" is the tallest "mountain" in Florida. We also saw some excellent shows. The Festival of the Lion King features music, high energy dance and acrobatics. Finding Nemo - The Musical features amazing puppets, original music and a strong story line. We had a great time. Can you not have great time at Disney? Thank you George and Jackie for showing us such a fun day!

Back to Thousand Trails Orlando

This morning our friends Jim and Ann departed for home and Dorcas and I departed for Thousand Trails Orlando. But prior to leaving Blue Spring State Park, I put the canoe in at the end of the spring run for one last romp with the manatees. Unfortunately, due to the recent warm weather, there were very few manatees in the spring, and none wanted to play. Dang.

We covered the 60 some-odd miles south and west on I-4 without incident and arrived at Thousand Trails Orlando just before noon, where we found a nice shaded spot in D loop. We will be here until Sunday February 17, and then we will move to the Tampa area to attend a Country Coach rally. In the meantime, we have no definite plans for the week. We probably will not paddle. We will likely bike a day or two, visit with friends, do a little RV maintenance (maybe give it a bath) and just relax for a bit. Retirement is good. We are getting into this snowbird thing.

Paddle: Rock Springs Run

Rock Springs Run and the Wekiva River is one of the finest paddles in Florida. Ironically, it is less than 15 miles from downtown Orlando. The "Real Florida" is not as remote as many folks would think. For the last paddle of their trip, we took Jim and Ann down the Rock Springs Run, just north of Orlando. We put in at King's Landing, about 1.5 miles below the spring head. We then paddled upstream about 1/2 mile along the recently cleared Emerald Cut. We stopped at the point where a downed tree blocked further upstream access. We turned around and enjoyed a leisurely float down the run. Near the end of the run we paddled upstream once more into Wekiva Spring. We took out shortly thereafter at Wekiva Marina. This a very popular run, but we were the only ones on the river this day. Heaven.

We saw a number of fair sized alligators. On one log, we saw three young gators stacked one on top of the other. Momma was watching from the bank about 20 yards back. We passed very close to another very large alligator on the bank. As we passed he slipped into the water, but instead of disappearing, he swam towards our boats and then stopped and waited for us to leave. This is fairly unusual behavior and not a little disconcerting.

We worked Jim and Ann pretty hard this week. We paddled 4 of their 5 days, and got up pretty early each morning. We did some upstream runs, some windy runs and some long runs. This practice is not unusual for Dorcas and me, but Jim and Ann are not accustomed to this kind of abuse. They thought they were on vacation. In recognition of their spunk and grit, Dorcas and I presented Jim, Ann and Sunshine with a certificate for successfully completing and surviving Myron and Dorcas' Central Florida Week of Rivers 2008. Congratulations!

5-4-3-2-1 BLASTOFF!

The launch of the space shuttle Atlantis had been postponed at least twice during the past three months due to fuel sensor problems. It had been rescheduled for 2:45 PM on February 7. It turns out that we would be camping only 40 miles from the launch facility on that day, so we put it on our calendar. According to news reports the fuel sensor problems had apparently been resolved. However, the weather forecast was less than ideal. Early in the week NASA had predicted a 60% chance that the mission would be scrubbed due to clouds and rain. Last night and this morning the weather had worsened such that there was a 70% chance of postponement. What the heck, we had not planned any other activities today. Jim and Ann had mutinied when I suggested another paddling trip. Dorcas plotted us a course to Sand Point Park in Titusville, where we would have a relatively unobstructed view of the launch. We arrived about an hour prior to the scheduled launch and parked our lawn chairs in the shadow of a cabbage palm. As the zero hour approached the clouds magically disappeared. Right on schedule the shuttle Atlantis departed for the International Space Station. What luck! Dorcas' power of positive thinking pays off again.

Paddle: Juniper Springs Again

Earlier in our trip between, Christmas and New Year, we had paddled Juniper Springs run. On that day there must have been 25 boats at the put-in waiting to put onto the run. Today there was only one other boat at the put-in. It was a beautiful day, but the park was nearly deserted. Moral: don't run Juniper Springs during a holiday week. The put-in is just below the spring head and is only about eight feet wide at the start. The crystal clear creek runs through a lush canopy of palm and fern, over a white sandy bottom. About 2/3 down the run, the run opens up into a grassy marsh called the Juniper Prairie Wilderness. We saw many turtles and numerous birds, but no gators. Jim and Ann got a lot of practice making tight turns in their canoe, and mastered the art of bow and stern draws.

Paddle: De Leon Springs SP and PANCAKES!

De Leon Springs State Park has a lot going for it. It is a pretty good paddling destination, but the Old Spanish Sugar Mill Restaurant also has all-you-can-eat pancakes all day long. What more could you want, you say? Well, there is also entertainment! Each table has a griddle built into it, and you actually cook your own pancakes. We took turns ruining each others pancakes. After gorging on ugly flapjacks, we put in for a paddle. We paddled down Spring Garden Creek and towards Lake Woodruff through Lake Woodruff National Wildlife Refuge. We saw a number of fair-sized gators and a multitude of birds. The most common birds today were coots, a funny-looking white-faced duck. There were thousands of them.

Paddle: St. Johns R., Hontoon Dead R, and Snake Ck.

We put in at the mouth of Blue Spring for a paddle down the St. Johns River. We could see about a dozen manatees at the lower end of the spring, so before leaving the spring we played for a while with the manatees. One young manatee stayed with us, rubbing the bottom of our boat and letting us pet him. Great fun! We then headed north on the St. Johns River. It was a beautiful warm sunny day, but alligators were scarce. We saw a few small ones, but no big ones. After about an hour we arrived at Hontoon Island State Park. HISP is accessible only by boat, but is not as remote as I expected, since it is only 100 yards across the St. Johns River to a major marina and resort. We talked to a ranger there who explained that most of the big gators had been killed during a recent hunt, where the state had increased the number of licenses issued. We lunched at HISP and decided to return by an alternate route. We turned south down the Hontoon Dead River and then cut back to the St. Johns via Snake Creek. This route had less motor boats and we did see a few more gators. We had a great all-day paddle of about 9 miles.

On the Move: Destination Blue Spring State Park

Today we moved about 60 miles north and east to Orange City. We are camped at Blue Spring State Park, one of the finest manatee viewing spots in all of Florida. Unfortunately it has warmed significantly during the past week and the number of manatees in the spring has dwindled. The ranger said that two weeks ago there were over 200 manatees in the spring, last week 50 some and today only 22.

Our friends Jim and Ann arrived about 4:00 pm. We will be here until Saturday then return to Thousand Trails Orlando.