Thursday September 8th 2016

The good weather continued today. Like the past few days it started out at an unusually low temperature in the low 60s and topped out in the high 80s. We have also had very low humidity. All this is forecast to change by the weekend. The tropical weather will be back.

The water level in the retention pond at the campground is also lower than it was when I arrived at this campground last month. Even though we had a hurricane go through last week, the area is several inches low on rainfall this summer. The return to high humidity with afternoon thunderstorms may help.

Egret on the bank of the RV park retention pond.

One of the things I enjoy during the winter in Florida are all the birds. This time of year there aren’t as many birds around. They are spread out over the entire continent. As it gets colder up north the bird density should increase. On my walks around the campground, I rarely see any in the retention pond. Today was the exception. I saw a couple of Egrets. I think during the winter there would be many more birds present. The brush on the far side would provide very good cover.

I don’t plan to stick around and find out. I am here for the proximity to the Jacksonville Airport. Once my need to travel north in support of selling my house is over I will move on. The facilities are nice enough, but I just doesn’t feel right. Whatever that means.

There are not as many travelers here tonight. The office closes at 6pm so if a traveler hasn’t arrived or made arrangements by then, they’re out of luck. Most of the people arrive around 4 in the afternoon. That’s pretty common for a stopping time. I try to be off the road by that hour when traveling too. The idea that a RV park along side an interstate would not have provisions for travelers arriving later than 6PM is unusual, but not unique. Many are only staffed to 8PM, but I have run across a few that close early, particularly during the week.