2018 Back to Florida

We fly back to Orlando, FL on New Year’s Eve. No party plans, so we took advantage of cheaper air fare back to Florida.

The map shows our tentative travel plans for January. We will start at Lithia Springs County Park (16) which is on the Alafia River and adjacent to some nice neighborhood bike trails, We then will head to WP Franklin, Corps of Engineers campground for 2 weeks at a lock in the Caloosahatchee River (17) near Fort Myers. We will rough it for a few days in Myakka State Forest (18) and then head to Tampa Bay and hope to get a site at EG Simmons County Park (19), they don’t take reservations and are usually full.

Peggy and I are both over  our colds or flu which hung on for two full weeks. 

We had our big family Christmas party and got a couple of sweatshirts and T-Shirts to bring back to FL.

Hopefully Peg’s bright sweatshirt will keep the hunters from shooting us while we ride our tandem bike through areas where active hunting is going on.

Pam, Jeff , Meg and Joan

If anyone wants to join us anywhere let me know. We always have room for one more vehicle on our campsite. Or if you are nearby and just want to visit,  bike or paddle for the day, just call or text.

No paddling Rock Creek this year

We reserved a campsite at Wekiva Springs for two reasons. It’s only an hours drive to the KOA where we store our RV in a nice safe storage lot that is very close to the Orlando airport where we plan to fly home for the holidays on Tuesday (12/19) morning. And second there is a beautiful river Rock Creek Run, pictured above. Click this link to read about last year’s blog:  http://khflorida.blogspot.com/2016/12/rock-creek-run.html

But Two big problems. Hurricane Irma left so many trees in the river it will be impassable until they finally clear it. Peggy has not recovered from her bad cold. I felt a little better today, enough to ride my bike to a nearby pharmacy to get some cough medicine for her.

Maybe we will both be healthy for our big family Christmas party on Saturday.

It was a week of Cold . & . Colds.

It was a bad week. First of all for this far south in FL it was COLD. Lows every day in the high 30’s and highs in the mid 60’s.

Then I had a scratchy throat and started coughing on Sunday night. So on Monday I just took in a lot of fluids to try to get better, then Peggy started with all the same symptoms.

Our muscles were aching, I guess we both had COLDS. Each morning this week we hoped things would clear up but we are both still inside on Friday morning. We haven’t done any canoeing as planned or gone biking again. What a bummer.

We enjoyed our stay here. Last weekend, even in the rain, there were all sorts of families and tent campers. But during the week there were only about six campers, so it was very quiet. I hope we feel better on Saturday since we will be leaving early on Sunday morning to head to Wekiva Springs near Orlando after we do a month’s worth of laundry.

We left Juniper Springs (12) on map last week and we will be here at Silver Lake (13) until we head to Wekiva Springs (14) on Sunday and then on Tuesday we will head to Orlando where we will store our RV at a KOA (15) just outside the airport.

Now it’s only 4 more days until we head back to Cleveland for our 12 Days of Christmas. Because of the cool weather I didn’t get much hammock time. We are getting in a lot of book reading on our Kindles because we just don’t have a lot of energy to do anything else.

Silver Lake–Withlacoochee River & Bike Trail

It’s only 90 miles from Juniper Springs to the Withlacoochee State Forest, but we needed to get propane, grocery shop and enjoy the drive on all secondary roads.. It took us 3 hours to get to our campsite at Cypress Grove Campground. We picked site 47 which we thought was a close site to the canoe launch and not too sloping. Even adding 5” blocks we were still going downhill a little, maybe next time  we should pick site 50, still close to our launch. There is good cell service here with ATT 4G.

So the weather was forecast to turn bad for the weekend. Heavy rain were forecast for the first time in 2 weeks and then it was supposed to go down in the low 30’s.

On Friday we decided to take a 19 mile bike ride heading north toward Floral City on the 46 mi paved Withlacoochee State Bike Trail, while it was still sunny and 75^oF. Peggy does well on the Tandem bike and it is nice to be able to talk as we ride along and enjoy the scenery.

The last few years we visited Paul & Helen who live in Inverness, FL. This year they brought their RV and their kayaks over to paddle the river. But with the rain and cold weather we decided to go out to lunch on Saturday and since he couldn’t get his motor home’s furnace working, they went back home.

On Sunday it finally warmed to about 53^oF and was nice and sunny so we headed south on the trail to the end at Trilby. This ride was 20 miles long and had our big mountain climb over the freeway overpass. We made it up non-stop in both directions in our lowest gear. It is supposed to warm back to the 70’s on Tuesday, so we plan to canoe the river.

Juniper Springs

The springs hasn’t changed much since 1969 when we first visited the park with Jeff and Pam.

However hurricanes the past two years, dropped a few trees and damaged the nice boardwalk that parallels the first half mile of Juniper Run. The damage is not that bad but it’s been closed for two years. Excuses like no money, forest fire danger were ridicules. I’ll bet it could be fixed in one week if anybody cared to fix it. We walked past the barricades and explored the entire boardwalk. We found 3 or 4 small sections missing but the rest was perfectly usable.

The walk allows visitors to see the beautiful white sand bottom stream and watch the inept paddlers going by.

We decided to do an early paddle on Tuesday morning. They do a shuttle for private paddlers for only $10. I used to do a bike shuttle, about 8 miles on very busy state highways. Years ago unless you had a second car, this was your only option and early morning traffic was very light. But now, we just drive our RV to the put-in, drop Peggy off with the canoe and drive to the take-out parking lot where there is room for my RV, if you get there early. The park service then drives you back to the put-in.

The river was much higher than we have seen it in years, so the 3 mph current was great and there was more room to maneuver around all the fallen and overhanging  trees,

However they still tell paddlers the 9-1/2 mile run will take 4 to 5 hours. We saw no one else on the run, due to our early start. We paddled as slow as we could and it took only 2-1/2 hours. However when we watched the rental boats launch and the lack of any paddling knowledge, some of those paddlers may not make it in 5 hours. I guess that is why the put-in closes at noon.

The weather has been great for the past two weeks, High 70’s and sunny every day. On Wednesday morning we decided to do another early morning paddle on Juniper Run. They were predicting 80^o temperatures with sunny skies. One good thing about taking our RV to the takeout is that it gets more sun than our campsite so the solar panels charge our batteries better.

We saw about 6 deer standing next to the stream at several places along the way but no alligators and very few birds today. They are predicting rain tomorrow and we will leave in the morning to do some grocery shopping on our way to Silver Lake in the Withlacoochee State Forest. We like this campground since it is on a lake which is a wide spot in the Withlacoochee River, which is a nice scenic paddle. It is also next to the 46 mile paved bike trail that runs from Rainbow Springs to about 10 miles south of Silver Lake.

They finally started to repair the boardwalk on Wednesday but they said it would take another month, they sure are milking this job.

Palatka State Trail

We took our time leaving Ocean Pond on Saturday morning. Our next trail ride would be on a paved section of the Palatka State Trail which we read about on Trail Link. The various sections are paved, dirt or under construction. From the info on Trail Link we decided to do a 10 mile paved section from Keystone Hts. to Florahome.

We parked our motor home at the corner of “Happy & Healthy” in their large parking lot, right next to the trail. Our 21 mile round trip ride to a little trailside antique store (Old RR station) was very pleasant with temps in mid 70’s.

After the hurricanes in FL, one of the roadside lakes went across the trail.

Should we cross, Peggy asked?

Doesn’t look too deep, I replied.

Actually it turned out to be a foot deep, luckily I was wearing sandals because the water was above my pedals. Peggy stuck out her legs and keep her shoes dry.

Later we heard that an alligator likes to come ashore there, but we saw no sign of him on either of our crossings.

By 1 PM we were back to our start for a light lunch in our RV. Our plans were to overnight at Walmart in Palatka, shop & go out to eat dinner at a local Mexican restaurant.

We could have just continued on to Juniper Springs as it is only an hour away. But it’s tough to get a campsite on Saturday, so we will follow our plan and head there tomorrow morning.

Enjoying the warm weather at Ocean Pond Campground.

This National Forest campground is on the north side of a 2 mile in diameter round lake, which is what Peggy likes to call it. There are 3 different priced portions, Electric & Water, Water, and Rustic, all right in a row. It is usually full on weekends, so we got here on Sunday morning and had no trouble getting an Electric site, #8, which we like since it is next to the woods.

We have never Canoed here since it didn’t look that interesting. I guess you could take a six mile paddle following the shore line all round the lake, but we like biking on the park roads and trails. On Sunday we peddled over to Cobb campground, which was still full. It is very rustic with no facilities. We took a few side roads and made it back to camp, about 8-1/2 miles.

On Monday I did some computer programing for our KHCC website and the Vermilion River Race. On Tuesday we took our traditional 14 mile ride around the lake, with a stop at the RR Depot museum in Olustee.

Then on Wednesday we peddled over to Olustee Battlefield and biked around their trails reading about the biggest Civil War battle in Florida. It was a 11 mile bike trip.

Here is what we imagined the battle was like. They say 10,00 troops were involved resulting in 2800 casualties.

Peggy can’t hold them off.

A nice Friday after an all day rain in the Okefenokee

The rain started early on Thanksgiving morning. It never rained hard but it spoiled a lot of families big cookouts. We stayed in and read but this year we had no turkey leftovers, so we had chicken leftovers instead. South of here it rained over 2”. We are in the middle of nowhere but every once in a while we can access the ATT 4G network but there is no phone service. But they do have a TV cable service that gets the 4 networks and a few other channels.

So on Friday morning I went to sign up for 2 more days camping as planned but was told there were no sites available for Friday night, only Saturday night. That won’t work, we told them we will move in with another camper for the night and made a reservation for Saturday night. We didn’t move and it never really filled up, so we had no problem.

Friday was cool in the morning, so we planned to paddle around noon after it had warmed. This 7-1/2 mi round trip paddle was to the Minnie Lake shelter and return. On this trip we paddled a narrow slow moving river through the towering Cypress trees.

When we got to the day use platform, we found a young couple were all set up to camp overnight. They said the normal shelter was closed for camping so they used this platform instead. So we had our rest stop there and headed back to camp.

Saturday started out cool but quickly warmed to the 70’s, Sunday will be a shopping day on our way to Ocean Pond Campground, where we hope some campers will be leaving after the long weekend. It at least has good 4G service for internet access. This National Forest is right off I-10 and is very popular for snowbirds since it is only $12/night for Electric Sites and $6 for water hook up sites.

Back to the Okefenokee

It was an easy drive to Stephen Foster Park in the Okefenokee Swamp, and even though this was Thanksgiving week the campground was far from full. We enjoy this park because in late November there are very few mosquitos and the weather is cool and not humid which is good for canoeing.

We are camped again in Site 16 which is only a 0.3 mile walk from the site to the boat launch. We had no trouble dragging our new light weight canoe on our wheeled carrier from the campsite to the water.

The last time we were here  it was a little windy, this time the lake was like glass.

We started our 4 mile paddle to the west around 10 AM when the fog lifted. We saw dozens of gators.

Most just sunk out of site as we approached. A few stayed on top to watch us. We saw lots of Egrets, and other birds along with a few turtles.

One big gator had a really bad injury. The loser in a fight or did a motor boat hit him? It looked really bad.

We headed back to camp at noon but since it was so nice we took another 3.5 mile canoe ride east to Billy’s Island, where there is a short trail and explanation of how the early settlers in the area made a living logging all the huge Cypress trees. There is a nice landing here.

There were fewer gators but lots of Herons and Egrets.

They are forecasting heavy rain for Thanksgiving Day and then the weather is supposed to warm into the high 70’s. Our next planned camp is at Ocean Pond campground in the Osceola Nation Forest about 60 miles South of here near Lake City FL. But they will be totally full for the weekend, so we decided to stay here until Sunday morning.

Three Days at Laura S. Walker State Park

This small GA State Park is near Waycross and on the northern edge of the Okefenokee Swamp. We decide to relax here and just do a little hiking each day. On Monday we took a 3-1/2  mile walk around the lake that divides the camp from the golf course.

I played a round of golf on the nice 18 hole course about ten years ago. They have improved the 44 site camp with very level pads for your RV. On the weekend it was near full but very empty during the week, I’ll bet in the summer the place is packed.

On Tuesday we will drive to Stephen Foster State Park which is deep in the Okefenokee Swamp and we will have an opportunity to paddle our new canoe.

The weather has been sunny in the high 60’s, dropping to the low 40’s at night.

Augusta Canal National Heritage Area

We left Friday morning to drive to Augusta, GA. The 3 hour drive was all on 2 lane roads with very little traffic. We arrived at noon so we went directly to their Discover Center which had a nice movie and museum showing why they built the canal that made Augusta a great textile area in the 1800’s. More pictures of the Mill, Canal and Bike Path area are on this great website.  There are some great 360^o panoramic views and historic photos on that site. We again stayed overnight at a local Walmart.
We picked up this map of the bike paths, which are mostly hard packed dirt.
On Saturday morning we headed over to the Headgates where there is plenty of parking, since hundreds of people seem to love to come here to rent bikes or kayaks and jog on the trails.
We biked along the Towpath Trail to Mill Village and then tried the River Levee Trail which ends at a steep suspension bridge. The locals told me you can walk down some steps with your bike and bike along the river right down into the city, but we stopped at the bridge.

The 15 mile round trip took about two hours.

This is the Savanah River where the canal starts.

Peggy looking at the Love Locks that people place along the bridges.

Walking back down the suspension bridge near town.

We got back on the road about noon for a four hour drive on local roads with little traffic, to our first real campground, Laura Walker State Park in Southern Georgia. We will relax here a few days before going to the Okefenokee where we will be trying out our new canoe.

Enjoying our stay in Upstate South Carolina

We did try what was supposed to be a nice bike trail in Hendersonville, NC on Tuesday. It finally warmed to near 50^o around noon.

We decided to start at a park on the south end and head north since it was only a few miles from where we camped. It was a nice park with lots of parking, a nice paved trail that was about 3-1/2 miles long each way. We headed off and went around the corner and found the trail underwater. I know it follows a creek but not in a creek. We turned around and rode around the park and then packed up to head to visit our friends Greg & Sandy Lewis, Keel-Haulers from Cleveland, who built their palatial estate on a beautiful Lake Keowee north of Clemson.

To not to repeat myself, take a look at this link to my blog about our visit 2 years ago: http://khflorida.blogspot.com/2015/11/last-two-days-with-greg-sandy.html

View from their deck.

Greg & Sandy enjoying their view after a big oak tree fell - - - -Distant Island boat dock

Today got warm and sunny so I convinced Peggy to try a nearby Rail Trail from Pickins to Easley, SC called the Doodle Trail. Greg took us over there and peddled his mountain bike. It was a really different trail, 10’ wide asphalt in semi-rural area but lots of small road crossings and continuous up and down 3% grades. It is 7-1/2 miles one way. Our 15 miles trip took about 1-1/2 hours.

Our plan is to leave Friday morning and head to Augusta, GA on the Savannah River where there are supposed to be some nice bike trails and the Augusta Canal National Heritage Area

Biking & a Hike along Blue Ridge Parkway

It was a cool sunny drive to Galax, VA, a few miles off I-77. Our plans were to do a section of the New River Bike Trail that starts in Galax and goes to a long bridge over the New River. It was cold about 45^oF and cloudy. We decided we would try it anyway. We dressed warmly and had gloves, but being our first bike ride we felt we had gone far enough so we turned around at 9 miles, uphill back to our RV. We loved the trail, but I forgot to take pictures.

The weather report called for light rain on Monday so we decided to skip going up to the VA Creeper Trail, which we had done about 20 years ago.

We decided to go up to the Blue Ridge Parkway which we had enjoyed about 40 years ago. We got off when it started to drizzle and got foggy at Boone, NC and spent the night at another Walmart.

We got back on the parkway and stopped at the first craft shop and visitor center. We found out that all the other campgrounds and visitor centers had closed at the end of October.

The weather started to clear up so we took a short hike to Linville Falls.

The day got more sunny and the views were spectacular. Very little traffic and we did not see one RV. I'll bet this place is a zoo in season.

You can only average about 35 miles/hour, so it turned into a long day, we had only travelled about 120 miles to Hendersonville, NC and another overnight at a Walmart.

If it warms up this morning, Tuesday, we will try biking again on a local bike trail that follows along a local creek.

Later we will head over to our friend’s, Greg and Sandy Lewis, home in the South Carolina mountains.