Last Week at Lithia Springs

Our last week was a much cooler week. On Sunday the toilet water flush was leaking slightly since the blade flush valve was sticking slightly on the rubber seal. I had bought a new rubber seal a few years ago but I was not sure how to install it. Since Monday was a shopping and laundry day for us and we would be driving our RV up to Valrico. I looked to see how much further to a  Camping World.. It was only another 4 miles, so I called them, they said the seal and blade both have to be changed since the seals get hard and the blade rough. They said toilets were inexpensive and easy to install so I should just buy a new one but the cost added up to $275 with installation & tax. I decided not to do that. There is no shutoff valve for the fixture like at home so I bought one at Lowes, and it was easy to install. That way I can a least shut off the water if it is sticking on.

On our way back to camp we stopped and had a nice dinner at an authentic Mexican Restaurant, Lavilla, just 2 miles from camp. They now have doubled the size from last year so they must be doing well.

This was our last week at Lithia Springs but the weather turned colder. We took another 11 mile bike ride around the Fish Hawk Ranch trails. Our bike trips for the three weeks totaled 100 miles.

They were supposed to remove the log jams from the river on Wednesday. We checked on Thursday and they assured us that it was clear. I needed to figure out how to get our canoe and us up to the  Alderman’s Ford put-in. I talked the head ranger into throwing the canoe into his equipment trainer and taking the canoe up there. But he said no passengers were allowed so the campground host, Chris, offered to ride Peggy and me up there in his jeep. They really went out of there way to provide us another day on the river. The river had dropped to 250 cfs, but that is still a very nice level.

Friday was a nice warm day on the river and we saw lots of turtles and birds but when we got to the first log jam we found that the narrow path they cleared was choked with more branches that had floated from upstream. I tried for 30 minutes to open it up but when we tried to paddle our canoe through it was about 4” too narrow. So we had to do another portage. That was the only place we were obstructed.

Now back to the toilet story. I watched an on-line video about how to install a new seal, it looked really simple as the toilet top comes off by just removing two bolts and the base remains in place. I gave it a try, it was easy but I had the wrong rubber seal and the blade was rough so the valve was still sticking. Looking further into it I found a kit on-line for about $28 but didn’t know where to ship it, since we were leaving on Sunday. I went back to plan A, why not just order the toilet from Wal-Mart and then pick it up on our way to our new camping spot on Sunday. Free shipping to the store and it will be there when we pass by for about $160.

We were headed to another Hillsborough County Park called E.G. Simmons early on Sunday morning. We figured Sunday morning was the time most local campers leave but this was a MLK Monday holiday weekend and it may push things back to Monday morning. After picking up the toilet and shopping we arrived at camp about 9:30 AM.

We were #5 on their waiting list but they no longer have overflow campsites that we could stay in until a site becomes available. The check-out time is noon and there were 7 campers that may be leaving so we decided to wait and hope that the cooler day may convince them not to renew. While we were waiting I installed the new toilet in about 10 minutes. This place is popular since it is right on Tampa Bay and most of the campsites are on the water. We took a bike ride through both camp grounds, each with about 50 sites.  We saw a small motor home leave from site 25, and we liked the location on the water channel and the park road and hoped we could get it. We did get it and the weather is supposed to get warmer for a few days. Since we have been back in FL the only rain was last Saturday night while we were sleeping We spent the rest of the cool day Sunday watching the NFL football playoffs. We will stay here a least one week and possibly two. We can ride our bike to see the Manatees by the power plant outflow.

Last weeks actual weather

MON 1/14 Actual Temp 66° /46° Hist. Avg. 70°/51°

TUE 1/15 Actual Temp 61° /43° Hist. Avg. 70°/50°

WED 1/16 Actual Temp 59° /37° Hist. Avg. 70°/50°

THU 1/17 Actual Temp 73° /36° Hist. Avg. 70°/50°

FRI 1/18 Actual Temp 75° /41° Hist. Avg. 70°/50°

SAT 1/19 Actual Temp 79° /46° Rain Hist. Avg. 70°/51°

SUN 1/20 Actual Temp 68° /45° Hist. Avg. 70°/51°