Sunday February 21st 2021

It was a big turnover day at Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park. Most of the campsites nearby were empty by the 1PM checkout time. My immediate neighbor must have bought an extra day, because they departed around 3PM and the site is still empty tonight. Many weekend campers at state parks use that approach so they have some time to enjoy the park on Sunday.

Today was my last full day at Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park. It was a nice, mostly sunny, day with a high temperature around seventy. Many people seem to share my view about the quality of the day. Coming back into the park after filling the gas tank in my car there was a long line at the rangers station. When I stopped at the visitor’s center parking lot to climb the prairie observation tower, the parking lot was full. I had to loop through the lot a couple of times before I got a spot. It wasn’t worth the effort all I saw from the observation deck was grass on the prairie and lots of masked people on the tower.

I got in a couple of walks to the day use area at Lake Wauburg and did some packing for tomorrow’s travel day. In between the walks I also did some cooking and eating as well as watching the NASCAR race form Daytona. My last walk to the lake was at sunset.