Thursday September 10th 2020

The more tropical weather that has been slowly moving in from the east coast finally caught up with me today. The day began partly sunny and humid and concluded with lots or rain and a little thunder and lightening. The rain arrived in two parts. The first heavy thunderstorms arrived shortly after 4PM with lots of thunder and lightening. The second wave arrived shortly before 9PM with less noise, but plenty of rain. It is still raining as I write this blog entry. The weather radar on my phone indicates it will be raining into the night.

I finished setting up for my two week stay this morning before exploring the park. The sixty five sites in the park are only sparsely filled. I expect it will be much busier over the weekend. There is a lot of open space between sites filled with green grass and an occasional tree. It is a very pretty campground.

Lake Seminole boarders the west side of the campground. Thus the name Eastbank campground. This side of the lake created by damming the confluence of the Flint and Chattahoochee rivers is filled with water plants. There is plenty of open water from the middle toward the west bank that supports recreational boat use and I think some commercial boat traffic. There was a USCG buoy tender cruising back and forth this morning. People fishing from boats seem to favor the edge between the clear water and the plant filled water. That is probably a drop off to deeper water where the fish gather.

Wednesday September 9th 2020

Today was moving day. I left Jennings Florida at the 11AM checkout time. The check in time at my destination was specified at 4PM. You can usually cheat that time as long as the site is empty, but I’d read a comment or two on the internet about that not being possible at my destination. The online reservation system indicated that the site I was destine to occupy was reserved for Tuesday night. I needed to arrive after the 3PM checkout time to minimize the potential for issues.

The Google maps route to my destination was only 120 miles long. To stretch a drive of little over 2 hour into 4 plus hours was my challenge of the day. I stopped at three different rest areas and two gas stations. At each rest area I spent from half an hour to an hour before I got bored and moved on. The two gas stations were at the same exit. The first one I tried was very busy. Getting to a pump was a real challenge. The gas station across the street was empty with a similar gas price, so I went across the street. I arrived at my destination around 3:30PM and had no problem getting checked in. For a short drive, it seemed like I’d been driving all day.

I’m at the Eastbank Campground on Lake Seminole in the southwest corner of Georgia for the next two weeks. To get here you need to drive through the middle of the nearest town of Chattahoochee Florida. This US Army Corps of Engineers campground is in a unique location on the east bank of Lake Seminole near the dam before the water flows into the Apalachicola river. The lake and the Chattahoochee River that flows into the lake form part of the boarder between Florida and Georgia. The east west boarder turns north south in the middle of the dam. The lake and rivers also form the dividing line between the eastern and central time zones. I’m in the eastern time zone, but the cell tower my phone is using is in the central time zone. Consequently, the time on my phone is off by an hour. The other temporal confusion is caused by the TV stations I can receive. Most of them are from Alabama in the central time zone. Oh, the little challenges life on the road creates.

Tuesday September 8th 2020

Today began earlier than I wanted. An older diesel pusher motorhome parked on the site beside mine last night just before dark. Just before seven this morning they started the loud diesel engine on the motorhome. They ran it for a few minutes then shut it down. The brief quiet was broken by the sound of doors slamming and other loud banging. A little later the loud diesel started up again. They ran the motor for about fifteen minutes before they pulled out of the site. I was wide awake and out of bed before 7:30AM.

This was another big departure day from the RV park. Most of the weekenders left yesterday, but a few stayed until today. When combined with the overnight residents, there was a steady stream of departures this morning. By checkout time there were only six rigs left in this part of the campground and two of those were long term park hosts. I expected to see more people arrived late in the day for an overnight stop, but it didn’t happen. There are only six RVs in this area of the park tonight.

One of the scattered showers in the forecast found the RV park this noon. It happened while I was out, so I only know about the storm from the aftermath. When I got back to my RV home from a grocery run, there were small branches on the roadway and lots of big puddles. Just getting into my front door required tip toeing through standing water. It was almost sunny when I left and when I returned. Sometime during the two and a half hours I was away it must have really poured.

I stocked up on groceries today, because I don’t know where I’ll find supplies at my next stop. Tomorrow is a travel day. I’m moving about 120 miles west on the Florida Georgia state line. It’s one of those days where the travel time is much shorter than the gap between check out here and check in at the new place. I’ll be looking for rest areas and other easy parking areas to kill time during the trip.

Monday September 7th 2020

Today’s weather was very similar to Sunday. Thunderstorms were in the forecast for late in the day. Instead of rain the sun broke through the clouds when the thunderstorms were expected to arrive. This area didn’t get the scattered thunderstorms. They are in the forecast again for tomorrow.

Since today is Labor Day summer must be over. Growing up and living most of my life in the northeast that thought was deeply entrenched. School always started right after the holiday and the temperature started to drop a little everyday. In other parts of the country it isn’t as cut and dry. School starts as early as the first week in August and the temperature doesn’t start to drop for another several weeks.

I’ve managed to experience a form of fall every year I’ve been on the road except 2016. I was in this area that year dodging hurricanes and sweating in the heat. In 2017 I was in Utah and Northern Arizona where altitude substituted for latitude to produce a fall like experience. The following year of 2018, I was back in New York and New England for a real fall experience like I experienced every year of my life through 2015. Last year I started to experience fall right after Labor Day in Oregon and out ran the weather heading south to Las Vegas. Fall caught up with me in Las Vegas after a couple of weeks.

I don’t expect to experience anything identifiable as fall this year. Before the temperature starts to change in northern Florida, my plans have me located in the Florida Keys. The tropics begin only a couple of degrees of latitude south. It’s not going to get very cool until I’m back in central Florida in December. Next year I’ll have to find some form of fall.

Sunday September 6th 2020

The weather was in transition today. The day started cloudy and ended with thunderstorms. A little bit of blue sky was visible during the day, but the sun never managed to cast any shadows. Clouds and thunderstorms are in the center of the forecast for most of the week.

Other than a less than exciting drive north into Georgia, most of my day was spent reading and watching TV. It was a lazy day.

Saturday September 5th 2020

Today was the hottest day of the week. The temperature reached the upper nineties with enough humidity to have a reported heat index of 106. It really wasn’t as uncomfortable as other days I’ve experienced this summer. The difference is all in my head. I spent most of the day inside my RV home enjoying the AC.

The time I spent outside was on walks around the pond checking out the birds and swatting at the swarming bugs. There are several different kinds of bugs ranging from tiny to dragon fly size. None of them seem to be inclined to bite, but the little ones want to land on you and crawl around. It’s the worst when I stop moving to take a picture of the birds. There are bench seats all around the pond, but sitting for more than thirty seconds isn’t practical.

A few of last nights campers departed this morning, but even more arrived this afternoon to replace them. The people staying for the weekend seem to out number the travelers, but not by many. Last year I was in Corvallis Oregon for the labor day weekend and the year before I was on the side of Lake Ontario in New York state. Both of those campgrounds were further from the interstate highway. They were full for the holiday weekend. The attraction in Corvallis was a college football game and Lake Ontario was the attraction in New York state. This park doesn’t have similar draws, at least not this year.

Friday September 4th 2020

Mother Nature added a couple more degrees to today’s high temperature, but according to the TV weather talkers it was a little less humid. It was still hot with a high temperature above the mid nineties.

After another slow start to the day, I finally got in the car for a little exploring of the area. I drove around a lot, but only stopped once. I needed to buy gas to facilitate my exploring. Even in a pandemic the price of gas goes up for holiday weekends. My route of exploration crossed the Swanee River several times, but never in a location with a place to stop and explore. A little research after I got home identified where I should have gone to explore the river. Maybe another day while I’m here.

When I got back to the campground it was starting to fill up again. There seem to be two parts to the campground. A long term area toward the back and the shorter term area with about forty sites I’m staying in. That area has been close to full every night I’ve been here and near empty by eleven every morning until today. This morning the sites right around me stayed occupied. I’m guessing they’re here for the weekend. Tonight the area is near full again. How many more will be staying for the weekend remains to be seen.

Once again today I took a couple of walks around the campground pond for exercise. I saw the same two egrets and five ducks that I’ve seen every day. The ducks I understand. They live here. Why the two egrets hang around is more difficult to understand. They are clearly very wild. If they even catch you looking at them they fly away to the other side of the pond, but once you move on they return. The pond doesn’t look like it has much to offer, but I’m not an egret. Who knows what they see in the murky pond.

Thursday September 3rd 2020

The temperature climbed another couple of degrees into the mid 90s. In all other respects, it was a clone of Wednesday. It was a hot and humid stay in the AC kind of day.

I kept finding things to do inside my RV home today. It was well after noon before I ventured out. A walk around the pond in the center of the campground resulted in lots of sweat followed by a retreat into the AC until supper time. I’m really wimping out to the weather. The daytime conditions really are not much different than the weather I’ve been experiencing since the beginning of August. The difference is somewhere in the last week or so I started running the AC around the clock. Earlier in the summer I only ran the AC late in the day until bed time. The overnight conditions were fine with the windows open and the fans blowing. Once I committed to the AC I became addicted to it. It’s going to take a cold front to break the addiction. Maybe next week.

The mental list of inside chores is getting shorter. I got the floor swept and some of it washed today. The layers of desert dust from early this summer are starting to disappear. I need to take the bigger throw rugs outside before I can finish the job. It is a very fine dust that was hiding until the humidity started to make mud.

The campground is filling up tonight. For the first time since I arrived I have neighbors on both sides. I don’t know if they are here for the weekend or only the night. If they don’t leave in the morning, I’ll assume they’re here for the weekend.

Wednesday September 2nd 2020

Today’s weather was a clone of Tuesday. The high temperature was in the low 90s and it was very humid. Unlike yesterday, I didn’t have to pack and unpack today. After finishing some of the camp setup tasks this morning, I relaxed most of the day.

I took a couple of walks around the RV park getting familiar with the lay of the land and the local wildlife. The pictures in this blog entry are some of the things I saw on my walks.

Tuesday September 1st 2020

It was humid again today. The difference was sunshine. While there were a few scattered thunderstorms in the area, it was bright sunshine where I was. The temperature reached the mid 90s. It was not a comfortable day.

By the time I finished the outside travel preparation tasks this morning I was drenched in sweat. I sat in the driver’s seat of the motorhome letting the dash air conditioner cool me off for a few minutes before departing just before the 11AM checkout time. Traffic wasn’t bad allowing me to make good time on the 135 mile trip. The only problem was I didn’t need to make good time. I ended up stopping at both rest areas along the way to kill fifteen to twenty minutes at each stop. It was about 1:30PM when I arrived at Jennings KOA Holiday in Jennings FL. The RV park is along side Interstate 75 not far from the Georgia boarder. Other than the road noise which I expected the park is much nicer than I anticipated. It will be a good place to stay until after the holiday weekend.

Getting setup in the midday sun was even more sweat inducing than the packing this morning. I still have the usual day after arrival tasks to complete in the morning, but I got inside with the air conditioning going as quickly as I could. Travel days are always tiring and today was worse than normal. I should sleep well tonight.