Leaving on Winter trip tomorrow - 11/11/23

I posted a more detailed trip plan, which could vary depending on the weather. I don't like to bike in the rain. Trip plans are very similar to my past FL trips and hopefully I won't have any trouble getting into the campgrounds that don't take reservations.

Cleveland Script Signs

I bought a new bike jacket and padded under shorts for all my expected bike riding when I head south. So I decided to take a short 14 mile ride around Cleveland to see the different views by the Cleveland Script signs near downtown.

Edgewater

Shoreway Overlook

Near Sokolowski Overlook

Columbus Road

Rock Hall

 I have a plan for my 2023-24 RV trip to Florida. I made reservations at the places I could and hope to be able to get a campsite in the campgrounds that do not take reservations by getting to most of them early on a Sunday morning. I do not drag a car so anyone that wants to share a campsite with me that has a car, van or small camper, I'm sure I can fit you on the campsite. Tents are also OK but no RV's. Only one per site.

Updated - 11/01/23

If you want to camp or visit me call me on my cell. I plan to do a lot of biking on the nice paved trails and I plan to kayak the rivers that I camp next to.

Ready for Florida

After 100 days, I'm back home

 As I described in my last blog I was at Ocean Pond Campground for the past 6 days. No kayaking but I biked the four big loops shown on the map posted on my last blog. So this year I ended up biking 780 miles on my new gravel bike and paddling 110 miles in my kayak. I got lots of cardiac rehab and gained a couple of pounds, hopefully all muscle.

I always watch the weather before I commit to the long drive home. I was ready to come home after my 100 days on the road and it looked like spring-like weather was coming to Cleveland starting with the first day of spring on Monday. But the forecast for Saturday in FL was lots rain all day where I was camped. I was surprised when I awoke that it was still dry but rain was coming in an hour. I quickly broke camp and was on my way by 7:45 AM. I did drive through a little of very light rain in southern GA. Traffic was light and I made really good time. I entered SC at 1 pm which was way too soon to stop for the night.  So I pushed on through Columbia & Charlotte which was slow but still made it to a nice quiet Walmart in Elkin, NC by 5:30 PM.

When I looked at Sunday's forecast I saw that it was snowing back home but would stop in the morning and there was some snow in the mountains of WV. It was a sunny but a cold day. When I reached southern WV there were dark clouds and snow flakes, but no travel problems.  I made it home at 3 PM, Westlake was the only place I saw any snow on the ground for my entire trip. 

My daughter's Joan and Pam came over and helped me unpack the RV. It was so fast it would have taken a few days with me unloading by myself, I really appreciated their thoughtfulness.

Finished another week at Silver Lake and now at Ocean Pond

 

During my last week at Silver Lake I biked twice and paddled twice.

I paddled upstream for 3 miles and stopped at this nice beach for lunch and then headed back to camp. I don't know if this is private property or not but it doesn't look like a good place to park.

I kayaked upstream twice this week. I didn't see any gators or birds like my downstream paddle and you also pass some homes along the way. But you will see a lot of turtles sunning on the logs.

In all my bike rides to Brooksville over the past 4 years on the paved 10 mi long Good Neighbor Trail, we usually stopped at the train museum and park at the end of the trail. There is not much else around there. 

I was wondering where all the stores in Brooksville were. I looked on the map and saw that if I just biked through a few quiet neighborhood streets I could make my way over to all the stores and restaurants and even a Walmart. It did make it a 30 mi long bike ride.

I got a nice early start from Cypress Glen campground at sunrise, 7:30AM on Sunday morning (3/12). I stopped at a Walmart and Aldi’s near Starke and got to Ocean Pond campground in Osceola National Forest near Lake City, FL by 11:15 am. They do not take reservations and have a 14 day camping limit. 

I was hoping to get one of the 19 sites with electrical & water hookups and lucked out, someone had just pulled out of #6.  It's a nice big site with lots of shade and trees to tie up my hammock.

The power sites are normally full everyday but from Sunday to Thursday if you get here by 10-11 AM you can usually get a site. All the campsites are always full on the weekends. There are three different camps at Ocean Pond, the second one has about 20 water hookup only sites and the last one is in a nice woods but no water hookups, it is better for tent campers. They raised the price this year so the sites with senior discounts are only $20, $10 and $6. The extra $10 for the power sites makes the non-power sites more popular than in the past.

On Sunday night I finally got the first heavy rain on this whole trip. A cold front also brought a tornado watch but it never got that windy but it didn't stop raining until noon so I took the time to write this week's blog.

Ocean Pond is a 2 mi diameter round lake and if it were not windy you could do a nice 6 mile paddle along the shore line. I have never paddled here. I have biked all the forest roads in the area shown on the above map. The best ride is the one over to Olustee Battlefield State Park, it is the site of the biggest civil war battle in FL. There are a couple more rustic campgrounds in the area, Hog Pen and Cobb.

I don't have a date yet when  I plan to leave and head for home. It mostly depends on the weather. I have usually made it home from here in 2-1/2 days.