Monday December 10th 2018

The weather roller coaster is back at the bottom of the temperature hill. It didn’t get out of the fifties today and may get down to the high thirties tonight. Clouds kept the sun’s warmth from reaching the ground most of the day. It wasn’t until almost sunset that some blue sky was visible. Adding to the discomfort was a strong wind out of the northwest all day, but it was still a lot better than the snowy wet conditions up north.

It was a good day for a hike on some of the park trails. There are many intersecting trails in the mark with numbered trail markers at the intersections. The trail map shows 55 marked intersections and a number of spur trails leading off the main paths without numbers. I set out this afternoon without my trail map, but the huge area is pretty well bounded by lakes, park roads and the main highway. While I knew where I was relative to those boundaries, I didn’t know where any single trail came out.

I spent about two and a half hours wandering around on the trails without seeing any people or other mammals. There are supposed to be feral hogs, deer and an occasional Florida bobcat in the park. I wouldn’t mind seeing the deer from as close as they’d let me. The other two species I’d like a little distance between my observation position and the animals. All I saw today were a few birds and a turtle near the campground.

My wandering on the trails ended when I intersected the park road about half a mile from the campground. I arrived at the road on a part of the trail system that I didn’t know existed. The trail head was hidden behind a volley ball court and a horseshoe pit. This park is full of little surprises. I returned to my RV home along the park road.

Sunday December 9th 2018

It was a wet day in this part of Florida. The rain began around six this morning and continued until about 1PM. It was moderate to heavy with an occasional embedded thunderstorm. This area had a severe thunderstorm watch. Areas to the west and east had more severe warnings and weather events. I know as bad as it was here, it is going to be much worse to the north in the Carolinas and beyond.

About the time the rain let up the Patriots vs. Dolphins football game began. I didn’t have a good feeling about the Patriots chances throughout the game. They often have difficulty winning in Miami and today seemed to be one of those days. The Patriots offense in the first half was OK, but the defense wasn’t cutting it. I started to breath easier when the Patriots kicked a field goal to lead by five. Miami took over with seven seconds left in the game. Who would have though they could score a touchdown complete with one forward pass, two laterals and a forty yard run. The Patriots lost in Miami again.

Besides watching TV, I spent most of the day reading various things online. One of the articles I read was about a problem with the Yellow Monorail train at Disney World. Last night some people were trapped in the last car for three stations when the doors weren’t opening and the cast members didn’t notice. The people were scared, but no one was hurt. I road that train yesterday afternoon about four hours before the incident. I think I was in the second to last car, but it is a sobering thought none the less. It was so busy yesterday that I’m not surprised the cast members didn’t notice.

Saturday December 8th 2018

It was a warm mostly cloudy day, but it was dry. The rain is forecast for Sunday. I decided to check out some of the Christmas decorations at some of the Disney resort hotels and campground.

After a big lunch to forestall the need to eat on Disney property I drove to Disney Springs. With my car parked on the top floor of the Orange parking garage, I took the boat to the Port Orleans Riverside hotel. From there I took the bus to the Magic Kingdom to catch the resort monorail. I stopped at the Contemporary Hotel, the Polynesian Hotel and the Grand Floridian. When I got back to the Magic Kingdom I took the launch to the Fort Wilderness Campground. The residents of the campground are the masters of decorating. Many of the campers have gone over the top with their decorating. I took the bus back to Disney Springs from Fort Wilderness.

I’ve done similar resort hopping sessions in previous years. It is a little more complicated now. The monorail is inside the security perimeter. To board the monorail you need to have your bags searched and go through a metal detector. Since I didn’t have a bag it wasn’t too bad, but I still had to wait in moderately long lines. The biggest complication is the lack of space for the screening areas at the hotels. The monorail stations were not designed for the crowd management needed at the security screening locations.

Disney’s Port Orleans Riverside

Disney’s Contemporary Resort

Disney’s Polynesian Resort

Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort

Disney’s Fort Wilderness Campground

Friday December 7th 2018

The upward trend on the weather roller coaster continued today. It was another sunny day with a temperature around seventy five. That is about a five degree improvement over yesterday. The temperature is forecast to continue to climb tomorrow, but the full sunshine is not expected.

After yesterday’s high level of activity touring the Animal Kingdom, today was dedicated to more mundane tasks like grocery shopping. I went to the Walmart near the center of Clermont. Unfortunately it is doing a lot of pick up business. People that use this service do all of their shopping online then just come to the store to pick it up. Walmart staff with large rolling carts with blue baskets go up and down the aisles filling the orders. They take up more space than a normal shopping cart making it hard to navigate around them. When you throw in electric convenience vehicles, walkers and more than an average number of shoppers it’s a real chore.

The other downside of the pickup service for those of shopping in the store is the lack of staff at the registers. They all seem to be in the aisles. There were only about five registers staffed by real people. The rest were self service. The people picking up groceries don’t pay anything extra, but Walmart wants in store shoppers to do the work of scanning and bagging. It doesn’t seem right. I have plenty of time so I waited in one of the lines with a real person doing the scanning and bagging.

This particular clerk wasn’t the best. Anything out of the ordinary really phased her. An open bag of tomatoes caused a few minutes delay as she tried to figure out if she should weight them or call for a replacement bag. The customer ended up not buying them. The next customer had two transactions. One for his own groceries and another for a non-profit. It took her several tries to enter the tax free transaction information. Then it was my turn. She was bagging items without making sure the scanner got them. I tried to be a good guy and point it out, but she didn’t get it or didn’t care. Reviewing the receipt after I got home it looks like I didn’t get charged for three items totaling about five dollars.

Thursday December 6th 2018

Today’s temperature rebounded ten degrees from yesterday. It topped out at seventy degrees with sunny skies and not much wind. A good day for the theme parks, so that’s where I went. I spent some time at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.

I spent about four hours in the park visiting the animals. I left when my stomach started calling for lunch. The lines and prices for mediocre food were not to my liking, so I came home. I’d seen most of the animal based attractions and the wait times for the rides were longer than I wanted to wait. I took more than one hundred and thirty pictures. Here are some of the better ones.

Wednesday December 5th 2018

The temperature barely made it out of the sixties today, but it was a bright sunny day. The hour or so that it was in above sixty would have been a great opportunity to work or play outside if you were a few hundred miles north of here. Knowing that tomorrow or the next day will be much warmer makes you tend to want to hibernate when it is in the sixties around here. Everything is relative.

I was still lingering over my breakfast coffee when the TV coverage of the George H. W. Bush funeral started. I got caught up for the next three hours watching the pageantry and retrospective of the former presidents life. The man really lead a life of service to the country. It’s hard to believe that he left office nearly twenty six years ago.

Once I got away from the TV this afternoon I set about getting some exercise. I started with a walk around the campground loops with a stop at each of the lakes. The wind was out of the north today which changed the alinement of the lily pads near the waters edge. The gaps were different causing the people trying to fish between the pads a lot of grief. To me the wind was just cold.

After the walk and a sandwich for lunch I continued my exercise with a bicycle ride out the campground road toward the entrance. The campground is about three miles from the entrance. I had high hopes of traveling the whole distance, but I turned around well short. I still haven’t got my peddling muscles back in shape and the road is hilly. I’m going to blame the head wind.

Tuesday December 4th 2018

After yesterday’s record high temperatures near ninety today was a complete opposite. The high temperature barely broke seventy. There was a heavy cloud cover all day. The forecast clearing didn’t arrive before the sun set.

I kept busy most of the day working on various tasks around my RV home with a walk around the campground and a little bicycle riding thrown in for good measure. Late in the afternoon I decided to head over to Disney’s EPCOT to check out the Christmas decorations. I got a third of the way there before I realized I’d left my phone at home on the charger. Before the cell phone era that wouldn’t have meant anything, but in today’s connected world it caused a minor panic. I retraced my steps back home to get the phone off the charger.

I arrived at EPCOT shortly before dark, so I got the full impact of the lights getting turned on. I also got the full impact of the evening crowds. The Candlelight Processional was a very big draw this evening. The line for the people participating in the Candlelight Processional dining plan passed through three countries forty five minutes before the event. The line went from the American Garden Theater through Japan and Morocco into France. On the other side of the theater the standby line was more organized with a series of switchbacks in Italy. Most of the standby folks were still standing by for the next showing. I stood in the walkway behind the theater with hundreds of others and watched some of the show. It was very difficult to hear the quieter parts of the performance. After about a third of the show I moved on.

After about three hours I called it a night and returned to my RV home. It’s not easy filling time waiting for the Illuminations show at the end of the evening. A sit down dinner is not a good option for killing time when visiting the park solo. I may go back to Epcot next week with Fastpass ride reservations to fill the time waiting for the night time show.

Monday December 3rd 2018

The unseasonably warm weather continued for another day. The day began with a partly cloudy morning that allowed the temperatures to climb into the eighties. During the afternoon more clouds and threatening weather moved into the area. A few cloud bursts fell on this area, but other parts of the region had a severe thunderstorm warning. During the evening thunderstorms and heavier rain moved through this area.

Before the weather got too bad I took a hike around Lake Hammond. It is one of the smaller lakes in the Lake Louisa State Park. Fittingly, the state park is in Lakes county, so you know there are many lakes in the area. The trail I took leaves from one side of the campground and returns on the other after a few miles of exercise. There are many opportunities to extend the hike on connecting trails and spurs, but I didn’t want to chance getting stuck in the rain. The trails are wide and fairly flat. They are designed to accommodate people, bicycles and horses.

It was a nice walk, but other than one fleeting glimpse at a hawk as it moved back into the woods from the trails edge I didn’t see any wildlife. There is a lot of brush filled open land along the trail that would be good for observing deer at the right time of day. I understand they are often seen near the campground in the early morning hours. I think some of the park lands had a forest fire a number of years ago. Other areas of the park may have been abandoned or cleared citrus groves. In one area along the trail there were a number of wild or left to be wild citrus trees. I didn’t check to see if they were edible.

After the hike I left the campground to run a few errands and check out other parts of the area. As usual for this area the traffic was heavy. A good portion of the cars have out of state plates. The number will increase as the snowbird season moves forward. Builders are busy creating more houses, town homes and apartments to accommodate even more. Vacant land is either under construction or advertised for sale to a future developer.

Sunday December 2nd 2018

Today was a nice warm day without any of the predicted rain. The high temperature was more than twenty degrees above the average reaching eighty seven in the afternoon. The weather roller coaster is now on the down hill stretch. The forecast calls for highs around sixty in the middle of the week.

On my morning walk around the campground I saw many campers packing up to leave. This park is very popular with weekenders. It is nearly full again tonight, but I would estimate more than half of the sites have new occupants. To reserve a site over the weekend it’s necessary to book almost the full eleven months in advance. I’ve had this site booked since last spring.

After my walk I left the park to do some area exploration. Most of my previous touring in the Clermont areas has been along the two main routes US27 and FL50. Today I turned east off of US27 a few miles north of the state park on what looked like a major road. The first few miles were housing developments built on land previously used for orange groves. Once the housing ran out the road got twisty and narrow. Pretty soon I was back into housing developments and the upscale community of Windermere. The community occupies the land north of Walt Disney world up to Florida route fifty. It contains several big golf courses and is the home of a number of PGA professionals. Weaving my way through the area, I found myself on the backside of the Magic Kingdom at Disney. It’s a huge backstage area with massive parking lots and very industrial looking buildings. Indications that it’s Disney are very subtle. You need to look well back from the road to see any Disney signs. I needed to use Google Maps later to confirm what I suspected.

Since I was so close to Disney Springs I made a stop to checkout some of the Christmas displays. Once again my assumption that it wouldn’t be too crowded on a Sunday afternoon were wrong. It was very busy. I wandered through the remodeled World of Disney store. They have taken down many of the interior walls and moved stuff around.

I also walked through the Christmas Tree Trail. It is a path setup in the old bus depot with Christmas trees inspired by Disney Characters and attractions. The trees were a very popular attraction. People were getting their picture taken with every tree. I tried to grab a quick picture of each tree between photo ops, but some of my quick pictures weren’t framed well. I took a lot of pictures without the top or bottom of the tree. In the middle of the Christmas Tree Trail is Santa’s Village. The path ends at the Disney Christmas Shop so you can buy your own ornaments to replicate the trees you’ve just toured.

I’m going to have to go back to Disney Springs after dark to get the full Christmas impact. There was one High School Orchestra playing Christmas Music this afternoon, but there are a lot more acts performing in the evening. The entertainment combined with the lights at night make for a good reason to go back. If I could just figure out when it might be a slow evening.

Saturday December 1st 2018

It was a nice warm day with a high temperature around eighty. I shouldn’t complain, but it was a weird weather day. The area to the north and west of here got fairly heavy rain all day. This area couldn’t decide what it wanted to be like. The day was primarily cloudy, but every now and then the sun would find a hole in the clouds. Usually the sun was followed by a very brief shower. Occasionally both happened at once; the sun came out and the rain fell. The forecast is for more of the same tomorrow.

The plan for the day was to start exploring the park on my bicycle. The first order of business was to get the bike working. It spends most of its time bringing up the rear on my little vehicle parade around the country. The bike rides on a rack at the back of my Honda CRV which I tow behind the motorhome. When I stop for more than a couple of nights, the bicycle and the rack come off the SUV and are locked to the picnic table or some similar immovable object. The bottom line is it doesn’t get ridden much, but it picks up a lot of dirt and rust.

The last time I used the bicycle extensively was in July along the Arkansas River. It got a little use in October along the Cape Cod canal, but the weather wasn’t terribly cooperative. This time around, getting the bike into riding shape took a couple of hours. In addition to the normal task of topping off the air pressure in the tires, I had to get to work with the oil can, a rag and some brute force. By the time I was finished the brakes worked, the pedals turned and I could shift gears when necessary. It met my definition of operational. The tires are pretty heavily checked, but the tubes inside are fine. Sometime in the next few months it should get new tires and a complete tune-up at a bike shop.

The bicycle wasn’t the only thing out of shape. My riding muscles started complaining after only a few hundred yards on the bike. I got about a mile down the road when one of the brief rain showers gave me an excuse to turn around and head back to my campsite. I’ll increase the distance on the next ride.