Big Change in Plans

After two days of biking we left Augusta, GA early on Saturday.  Our 250 drive to Mcclenny, FL, was through an off-on rain all day long.. We parked at another Super Walmart and would only be 30 miles away from our planned campsite at Ocean Pond Campground in Osceola NF. We got there at 8 AM and hoped to find a nice campsite.

When we got there we saw this big sign. "THE OCEAN POND CAMPGROUND IS CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE." I had checked a few days ago and it was not on their website. No reason was given. So we parked there and got on the internet to do some new trip planning since we had planned to be here for 10 days.

We quickly found a site for 3 nights at O'leno State Park north of High Springs. It was only a 45 minute drive away and finally we will have electricity and hot showers.

O'Leno is an old Florida State Park on the Santa Fe River where it disappears to go underground for a few miles before rising up again and confluences with the Ichetucknee River and then eventually empties into the Suwannee River

 

We found we could probably get into Juniper Springs, East of Ocala until the next weekend. We love to paddle the river and we have been coming here for 50 years.

So now this is our new Tentative Trip Schedule

We added 3 more days to our reservations at Silver Lake, Cypress Glen Campground. We contacted our friends Paul & Helen Tempesta who live near there in Inverness to see if they would be around on Saturday. Not only will they be there but they were having two friends, Rob and Shirley from Martha's Vineyard, MA over for a visit. We used to camp with all of them at Xpu-Ha in Mexico and it's been 4 years since we have seen them. So it will be a nice reunion.

 

 

Two Days Biking in Augusta

On Thanksgiving morning we made it to Augusta, GA Savannah Rapids Park at 12 noon. This park has large parking lots and trails to view the river locks and canal.

The gravel/dirt Towpath Trail starts here. Because of last nights rain there were some puddles and soft surface but it was fine.

It’s a scenic trail with walkers and bikers with the river on one side and the canal on the other side. They rent bikes and kayaks here for those who want to paddle canal.

We picked up the paved River Levee Trail and made a 12 mile round trip. It turned out to be a partially cloudy a 75^oF day.

    

So we were two turkeys on a tandem

When we finished we went to a Super Walmart about 7 miles away. Everything in the area was closed for the holiday, the parking lot was totally empty but we still parked on the side away from all traffic noise.

We had some leftover Eggplant Parmigiana for dinner and Peggy read her Kindle while I planned our next day bike trip and route south on Saturday.

On Friday, we started at the same place but added the Lake Olmstead and Mill Village Trail.

It was clear and sunny and it got close to 80^o, we haven’t been this warm for a while.

We peddled about 15 1/2 miles, there were a lot more walkers, bikers and kayakers today.

We stopped at Sam’s club on the way back to our quiet campsite and bought a Rotisserie chicken so we could have our Thanksgiving dinner a day late.

They are forecasting a big cool down coming and we expect it will rain overnight and early tomorrow morning.

Our plan is to drive 250 miles to near I-10 in Florida and again overnight at a Walmart. We will leave there on Sunday morning and try to get a campsite at Ocean Pond National Forest Campground which has a limited number of campsites with power, so when a weekend camper leaves we will snag their campsite.

Great Drive to South Carolina

We left Home at 7:30 AM on Monday 11/23 and had clear dry weather all the way to Weaverville, NC, about a 550 mile drive. We got to a Walmart  by 4:30 PM and had some leftover Mac & Cheese. After a good nights sleep we left at &:30 AM and got to our fiends Greg & Sandy Lewis by 10AM. The weather was still clear and dry but a cool morning.

Greg loves to cook in their beautiful kitchen and we stayed two nights. We really enjoyed the two dinners he cooked for us.

We had lots of fun remembering old kayaking, hiking, biking and camping trips.

The weather was cool but dry so we took a short hike near his house on a steep trail called the Granite Dome Trail. It was just the right length for Peggy and their two dogs, Asia and Lilly.

 

Peggy enjoyed resting by their fireplace when we returned. Greg & Sandy were great hosts.

We had a heavy rain on Wednesday night but by the time we left on Thanksgiving morning the weather had cleared and temperatures warmed to above 70^oF later in the day.

We got to Augusta, GA by noon and drove right to the Savannah River Locks and canal trails.

 

Still Packing For Our Winter Trip

We  picked up our Motor Home from the storage lot on November 1st. It was good thing we brought our RV home early. I found out that the both battery tray slides had rusted and needed to be replaced. Luckily I had two almost new slides left from my old 2006 Phoenix Cruiser. I had removed the single battery slide-out tray when I went to two batteries. Of course I saved it.  It took a while but I got it done, this time I will lubricate the drawer slides occasionally.

Then last Sunday we had a big storm which took some big trees down on our street, we just lost lots of branches. But we lost power for 48 hours. So for lights, refrigerator and TV we ran an extension cord to our house from the RV. We ran the generator for about 30 hours. We turned it off at night while we were sleeping.

On Saturday we had our annual family party at my daughter Joan's house. We had about 15 people counting all the kids that could make it this year.  Joan & Brian cooked a big Turkey Dinner with all the trimmings to celebrate both Thanksgiving and Christmas. We are not flying home for Christmas like we usually do.

 

We hope to leave early Monday morning and hope to make it to near Asheville, NC for the evening. As usual, when we travel. we will park at a big Super Walmart for the evening. On Tuesday we will drive straight through to our friend’s, Greg & Sandy Lewis in SC, home on beautiful Lake Keowee.