Monday February 8th 2021

There was no lingering in bed this morning. It was a travel day. The sun burned through the clouds by mid morning and allowed the day to warm into the low seventies. With only about 35 miles to travel, I took my time getting ready to depart Silver Springs State Park. I do a little bit before breakfast, then more after breakfast with plenty of breaks along the way. At 11:30 I committed to departure in earnest. By 12:30 I was in line at the dump station to empty my holding tanks.

The drive north to Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park was on state and US routes. I didn’t go all the way west to Interstate 75 only to come back east to the park a few miles north. It was an easy drive through horse country. I checked in at the gatehouse around 1:45PM. I’ve been to this state park twice before, so I know my way around. There is an overflow parking lot on the way to the campground that is ideal for unhitching my towed car. The campground roads are narrow and all the campsites are back in, so it was important to get the car unhooked in an area with plenty of room. I’ll use the lot again in two weeks to hitch up when I leave.

I am also on a campsite that I had during one of my previous visits. It is one of the bigger sites with 50amp electric service. Many of the sites only have 30amp power. This time I was unsuccessful getting a satellite lock for my satellite TV. Last time I was successful, but this time I’m positioned in such a way that a big tree blocks the dish. I may reposition the rig tomorrow or I’ll just live with the over the air TV channels.

Late this afternoon as the clouds moved into hasten the arrival of darkness, I took a walk to Lake Wauburg. There were several people fishing from shore and in boats. I also spotted a few large birds, so I won’t be in withdrawal right away. I really enjoyed all the birds, turtles and other wildlife over the last two weeks at Silver Springs State Park.

Sunday February 7th 2021

The overnight rain was impressive. The first round of rain stopped around 8PM, but the second round made up for it. At 1PM another round of thunderstorms arrived in the area. These storms had lots of thunder and lightening with very heavy rain. The sound on the roof of my RV home was a loud roar. You couldn’t make out individual rain sounds. I didn’t really sleep during the duration of the thunderstorms that lasted until around 5AM. All I was able to do was doze for a few minutes at a time. This morning the sun came out on a beautiful day. The temperature peaked in the mid seventies.

This is my last full day at the Silver Springs State Park. It was a combination of preparation for travel tasks, general chores and some final touring around the park. The most significant task was getting a load of laundry done. The machines here aren’t great, but they are cheap at a $1.00 per load. More significantly, I know there are no machines at my next two week stop.

After the laundry was complete I took one final walk to the river. The overnight rain made the journey a little more difficult. Some of the path was a little washed out and near the river the road had major puddles with more water in the swampy area beside the path. A little hopping and tip toe walking was required to make it to the river with dry shoes.

There were many walkers on the trail including a few carrying or dragging kayaks to the river. The launch area was popular this afternoon. On the river there were a few more kayaks and a power boat or two. Other than turtles the animal life seemed to be in short supply. I sat on the benches at the launch for about an hour before it got too crowded for comfort.

Saturday February 6th 2021

Later Friday night a light but consistent rain fell. This morning the rain was over but everything was wet. Most of the day was cloudy with the temperature reaching seventy. A threat of more rain remained all day. Late in the afternoon a severe thunderstorm warning and a tornado watch was issued for the area. By 4:30 a noisy thunderstorm with plenty of lightening and lots of rain was overhead. It continued strong for nearly two hours before letting up. More storms are forecast overnight.

I’m in a fringe area for TV reception. The heavy rain, fog and even strong wind diminish the digital signal enough that I can not watch the over the air channels. During the thunderstorms I have to switch channels a lot to keep a signal. During the heavy rain my satellite TV channels are also impacted. The result is that I pay more attention to the arrival and departure of the storms.

Before all the rain began I got in my daily walk to the river. Because of the weather it wasn’t a very busy Saturday. I only passed one dog walking couple on the way to the river. The rest of the walk was in solitude. The number of kayaks and canoes on the river was much less than a sunny weekday let alone a weekend day. There were still plenty of birds to take pictures.

Friday February 5th 2021

The day began bright, but not sunny. As the day progressed the clouds thickened and the breeze stiffened. Today’s high temperature was right around the average for this time of year in the low seventies. The next cold front is approaching. It is forecast to arrive tonight and stall out in this area. Rain is the operative word in the forecast for the next couple of days.

After putting it off for a couple of days, I finally got out for groceries today. The nearest Walmart is either an old store that’s been updated or some other big box store that has been converted to a Walmart. The building just didn’t look like a Walmart. Inside it was laid out close to normal. The only oddity was the deli location at the rear of the store. I did not find a few of the things I was looking for. I don’t think it was a pandemic related shortage as much as it was a shelf stocking issue. They were doing short cut stocking techniques. Many products weren’t removed from their shipping packages. The cardboard boxes were just cut down to expose the contents. You end up having to pick the can or jar up to read the label. How is that safe or sanitary?

After loading my refrigerator and shelves with my purchases, it was time for my daily walk to the river. Today I took the longer path along the Swamp trail to the river overlook. The wind wasn’t blowing very much while I was at the river and the surface was very smooth. I only saw one canoe on the river today. There were a few more people walking the trails.

For wildlife I was entertained by a couple of herons. One was a pretty Green Heron and the other, I think, was a Tri-Color Heron. They weren’t terribly comfortable in each others presence. The Green Heron really stuck out its neck and puffed up when the other heron approached. The pictures below are all of the same two birds.

Thursday February 4th 2021

The temperature inside my RV home was 42 degrees at 7:30 this morning. I turned on the heat and went back to bed. That was the downfall of any plans I had for the day. It was almost 11AM by the time I got out of bed. Despite the colder start to the day the temperature peaked about ten degrees warmer than yesterday around 66 degrees.

My whole day was delayed and slowed down. The extra couple of hours of sleep seemed to reduce my energy level rather than increase it. I wasn’t through with my morning reading and first meal of the day until nearly 1PM. My plan for a grocery run got postponed, but I still took my hike to the Silver river.

With the warmer weather boaters returned to the river. I saw several pontoon boats and many kayaks in the river. I wish all of the pontoon boat drivers followed the “idle speed” requirement. The wake from a couple of the boats was enough to wash the turtles off their logs. I’m sure it is hard to maintain control of the boat in the strong current without some forward thrust, but I don’t want to see the river bank destroyed or the animals disappear.

The hike to the river did have another interesting encounter with the local deer population. This time she saw me long before I saw her. She was frozen on the trail ahead watching my every move. My sudden reaction when I spotted her caused her to bolt into the woods. We were only thirty or forty feet apart. I didn’t have a chance to snap a picture.

This area has a number of troops of monkeys living in the woods along the river. They were released in 1938 onto an island in the river by a juggle tour operator to provide more interesting experience for his guests. He thought they would stay on the island, but rhesus macaques can swim. There was a lot of noise coming from the far bank of the river this afternoon. A few calls were clearly birds. Other sounds were a mystery until I saw a red brown animal come to the waters edge for a drink. In my camera’s zoom lens I could see a couple of monkeys. So I can now say I’ve seen the areas resident aliens.

Wednesday February 3rd 2021

The temperature this morning in my RV home was only 47 degrees. I was expecting a lower temperature given the freeze warnings for the area. The day remained about twenty degrees below the normal temperature. The high temperature in this area was in the low fifties. Tonight’s overnight low is also forecast to be below the freezing mark.

The local news media is playing up the twenty degrees below normal temperatures. It catches my attention on every news broadcast I hear. I need to remind myself that these temperatures are the same as I experienced every fall in New England for most of my life. Fall in New England is my favorite time of year. There is a lot of good to be found in the current temperatures. The bad is the failure to live up to expectations. The temperature potential is so much greater.

Today was a day for chores around my RV home. I got a few things cleaned and a lot of things picked up. My reward was another two hour hike to the Silver River followed by an hour cooking and eating the big meal of the day. Darkness followed soon after. The only evening task is editing a few pictures and writing this blog entry. The remainder of my day is reading and watching TV.

Tuesday February 2nd 2021

The Florida cold snap continues. The high temperature for the day was a few degrees cooler than Monday. The temperature peaked in the low fifties with a strong wind out of the north. On the positive side the sun was out in full force all day. The wind is forecast to go down overnight. The clear sky and still conditions will allow the overnight temperature to get down into the thirties all over central Florida. This area is forecast to be right around the freezing mark.

The cold conditions made me want to hibernate all day. Around noon I forced myself to get into the car and get out of the campground. I ended up just driving around the area for about an hour. I didn’t find any outside activities of interest, and this isn’t the time for random inside activities. When I got back to the campground I stopped at the River Trail trail head. It saved a little over half a mile of walking in the cold open areas coming from my campsite.

The forested part of the River trail is sheltered from the wind. The tree tops sway and crackle as branches touch and break in the wind, but the trail is relatively safe. At the river I found the birds were mostly scrunched up against the wind, but the turtles were out and a few of the swimming birds were in the water. The one thing I didn’t see today were any boaters in the river. Nobody was braving the weather conditions to kayak or canoe along the river.

Monday February 1st 2021

The winter storm in the northeast that is dropping a lot of snow is impacting Florida as well. The cold front passed through last night with a little wind and a fair amount of rain. The passing front started the temperature on a downward trajectory. The high temperature for the day was at midnight. It was in the mid to high fifties this morning and continued to drop to the high forties at sunset. It will be in the thirties by morning. There was not a sign of the sun today and the wind was strong out of the northwest.

The lack of sun is significant. When the sun beats down on my RV home it warms up quickly. The trees around my campsite slow the heating down a little, but with a full cloud cover there is no solar gain. When you trow in the wind, the inside of the RV needs continuous support to remain warm. The winters I’ve spent in Nevada are colder overall, but most days have full sunlight that heats the inside of my RV home nicely. Heat is only needed after sunset. Around here, this winter has been a real roller coaster. The twenty degree plus change in temperature from day to day requires a lot of change. Yesterday I was in short sleeve shirts and pants. Today I’m wearing more than one layer inside and even more outside. It is still much better than negative temperatures and a foot of falling snow.

Today’s walk down to the river was back to a solitary experience. All of the weekend visitors to the park were gone. The wind in the trees interrupted the quiet. Palm tree branches can be very loud when they hit and scrape other branches. Falling dead palm branches are also a real hazard. I heard and saw more than a few fall on today’s walk.

The turtles were not out of the water today and the birds were all scrunched up against the wind. Surprisingly, the human animals were still active. There were two or three groups of kayaks on the river and one guy all alone in a big canoe. The five mile length of the Silver River is a very scenic paddle. If you put in at the head waters of Silver Springs and take out at the wayside park near the confluence with the Ocklawaha River it is a strong current aided float. In normal times the concessionaire at Silver Springs even offers shuttle service. To paddle both ways it would be better to start at the Wayside park so you can fight the current up river when you are fresh. If I had a paddle buddy, I’d have rented a kayak by now. It has been a few years since I kayaked, so I’m not inclined to do it solo with the strong current in this river.