The beautiful weather continues. It was another sunny day with the high temperature in the mid eighties. There was a little bit more breeze than Friday, so it felt more comfortable.
Last nights severe weather in the middle of the country is my worst nightmare. Most forms of extreme weather have a few days warning. Tornadoes and severe thunderstorms give you a few minutes warning at best. I have learned to have an idea what represents potential shelter at every stop, but knowing when to head for shelter is another thing. Storms at night like yesterday’s in Kentucky would be particularly difficult to get ahead of. In my six years living on the road I’ve taken shelter twice. Both times a tornado warning was issued for my location, but missed. I’ve also delayed travel into an area that has a major front with severe weather possible heading through the area in the day ahead. There have been severe thunderstorm warnings that in hind sight I would have been more comfortable seeking shelter, but again nothing dangerous actually happened. My thoughts are with the people in the impact zone.
The state park and campground were very active today. During the week there is some activity, but the park is mostly quiet. The weekend campers were here to enjoy themselves. The concession service was doing a big business renting kayaks, canoes and bicycles. I met several people out on the trails during my hike. Usually hikes at this park are a very solo experience. There were even a few people on horseback. I’ve seen horse calling cards on the ground before, but not the actual animal and rider on the trail.
For the first time in the current stretch of above normal temperatures, it felt hot today. The fog to start the day was lighter than the last few days. By 9AM a bright sun in a clear blue sky was warming the air. The clouds stayed away all day and so did the wind. It was a very calm day. The temperature peaked in the mid eighties. Compared to summer standards, it was a mild day, but by Florida winter standard it was hot. Tomorrow is forecast to be warmer.
One good thing associated with the warm weather is the return of the wildflower blossoms. The temperature for most of the month of November was bellow normal. As a consequence many of wild flower blossoms died off and new ones didn’t take their place. Of particular notice was the absence of flowers on the lily pads in the lakes. Since I arrived last week more flower blossoms have appeared every day. The last couple of days I’ve even spotted a few lily blossoms in the lakes with more buds ready to burst open in the next day or two.
It seems like every area has a different shopping pattern. I seem to have the bad luck of finding the peak times. Early afternoon on a Friday has been a low shopping time in other areas, but in this area it was a really busy time today. My stop at Walmart started with parking at the back of the parking lot and continued with congestion on all of the aisles in the grocery section of the store. I ventured into the non-grocery area and found a lot fewer customers, so it was food that was causing the draw not Christmas shopping. Either way I got my shopping done with only a few items forgotten. I will have to do without Oatmeal until my next shopping trip.
Time to raid the dumpster.
The campground really emptied out this morning, but filled up again as the evening approached. It seems to be a symptom of the reservation system. People in local travel distance book the weekends, a few of us book the maximum two stay and people traveling fill in the week days.
There was a little rain overnight. This morning there was a heavy cloud cover that lasted most of the morning. In the early afternoon the sun broke through the cloud layer occasionally. As the day went on the size of the openings in the clouds got bigger, but it never really cleared. Surprisingly, there was next to no wind. The surface of the two lakes was very still. Another foggy start to the day is forecast for tomorrow.
A cloudy start to the day. A few minutes of blue sky late in the day.
I set the alarm to wake up early this morning. My goal was to reset my sleep pattern closer to normal. I got up early, but that doesn’t mean I got an early start to the day. Knowing it was early I spent more time preparing and eating breakfast. Combining my slow pace with the dull weather it was afternoon before I got the active part of the day started. When you only have three to four hours of daylight remaining the options for outdoor activities are limited. It turned into another day of walking around the campground, reading and general relaxation.
Creatures of the dayFlowers of the day
This campground is full every night, but has a few sites turn over each day. More than half the sites are occupied by Florida RVs. A good mix of travelers from other states are represented as well. A few of the RVs have been decorated for Christmas. It is really too early. With the exception of the work campers all of the RVs will be gone by Christmas. I’ll put up something at my next stop that overlaps the holiday. I imagine it is the same with many of the others.
Once again the day began with fog. It wasn’t as thick as yesterday morning, but it still slowed my start to the day. The sun and blue sky took over the weather by ten. The temperature climbed rapidly across the eighty degree mark, before leveling off when a line of clouds arrived from the north. Another front is passing through the area. The rain is forecast to remain to the north and the warm temperature is supposed to remain for the next few days. (They were wrong. It rained for a few minutes before I finished writing this blog entry.)
Shortly after noon I set out on a hike in the state park. In the past I’ve hiked the area south of the campground on the back side of Hammond Lake. Today I took a different path at a fork in the trail. While I had a general idea where the I was going, it turned out to be much longer than I anticipated. The trail when around Dixie Lake on the north side of the campground. The highlight of this walk was the rental cabins high on the bank along the north side of Dixie Lake. The state park has twenty two bedroom “cottages” for rent. My short walk turned into a hike of almost three hours.
Rental Cabins on the hill overlooking Dixie Lake. ECO tent for rent.
I took a closer look at the “ECO” tents they have for rent on my hike. They have five white canvas box tents lined up forty to sixty feet apart. They are along the side of field that I don’t think has access to power or water. For facilities there are three portable outhouses. They look to be at opposite end of the spectrum from the “Glamping” tents in the campground. The “ECO” tents don’t have electricity, air conditioning or the closeness to activities that the “Glamping” tents have.
The day got off to a very foggy start. The news reported that the entire central Florida peninsular was shrouded in heavy fog. It started to clear between nine and ten. By noon the temperature was well on its way to a high a little north of eighty. This is exceptional weather for the area. The usual high is in the low to mid seventies. The good thing is night time temperatures are in the high fifties to low sixties.
Wildflower blossom of the day.
When I saw the heavy fog this morning, I rolled over and went back to sleep. I’m still trying to realign my sleep pattern after Sunday’s late night. Breakfast was also slower and more leisurely undertaken this morning. It was just before noon when I took my morning walk around the campground. The local alligator in Dixie Lake was already sunning on its favorite log when I stopped at the lake.
Most of my afternoon was spent on chores around my RV home. There is always something that needs to be done. Today I had quite a few things to pick up and put away after only four days here. The dishes in the sink also needed to be addressed. Saturday was the last day I properly cleaned up after cooking.
On my second and longer walk around the state park just before sunset I saw several more Canadian RVs. It has been a month since the boarders reopened. The number of Canadian license plates I see on central Florida roads and in the campgrounds seems to be back to normal. Escaping the cold and snow is a powerful incentive to travel. Hopefully COVID concerns don’t close the boarder again. As I understand it, right now land crossings into the US are not even subject to the 24 hour negative test requirement.
The temperature is climbing out of the normal range for this time of year. Yesterday peaked in the high seventies. Today peaked in the low eighties. Tomorrow is forecast to be a degree or two warmer. It is not something to complain about, but it is taking some getting used to.
A day filled with blue sky and white fluffy clouds.
Yesterday was a very busy day. I left my RV home a little after 11AM and didn’t get home until well after 10PM. I was at SeaWorld Orlando for a little over nine hours. Taking time to decompress after I got home, I didn’t get to bed until 2PM. Today was a very slow day. I needed to get re-energized. Reading over the picture intense blog post I did last night, I realized that in my hast to get it published I might have given the impression that I didn’t enjoy myself. I had fun at SeaWorld yesterday.
In the twenty five years since my last visit to SeaWorld a lot has changed. In particular the number of huge roller coasters has multiplied. I think there was one the last time I was there. Today there are at least three with another one being built. They aren’t my thing, so I didn’t ride any of them or even make a careful survey. The roller coasters are above and around everything. The park feels more developed and cluttered than I remember. I really didn’t know my way around when I got there and still don’t after 9 hours of wandering around.
All of the shows I saw were great with the exception of the special show with a celebrity guest I wrote about last night. The Orca and Dolphin shows were great. Both focused on conservation and the habits of the animals in the wild. People in the front of the theater got good and wet with all the jumps and splashes the creatures executed. The Sea Lion show was also good, but the sea lions and otters were more like supporting players to the two costumed humans on the stage. The story focused on a tour of a marine science lab.
The best show of the day was the Ice Skating show. It began with a violinist playing Christmas music for the crowd as a pre show. The main show was a half hour with twelve a twelve skater troupe and some featured skaters performing to Christmas music. It was a continuous show with lots of costume changes and changes to the people on the ice. I attended the last performance of the day and stayed in my seat to watch the fireworks that closed the park.
SeaWorld goes all out on decorations. During the day you see lots of Christmas trees and Garland on the building fronts. As night came on the Christmas lights came with it. Everywhere you look, including the middle of the lake, were adorned with colorful lights. Christmas music played all day in the background. Kids could visit and get there picture taken with Santa Claus, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, the Abominable Snow Man and all of the usual Sesame Street Characters.
The worst part of the day was getting out of the park and home. I didn’t know any of the short cuts in the park so I had to follow the mob. Once clear of the entrance gate I it was a long walk to the back of the parking lot. In my car I had a car merging nightmare as all of the cars between me and the exit had a desire to be in front of me. Driving home I had to pass through the traffic leaving Walt Disney World. The state park was asleep as I drove to my site through a little bit of descending fog.
After all that activity and discovery, today was a day of rest.
The day began without yesterday’s fog, but the cloud level was still close to the ground. It cleared off by 9AM and eventually the temperature approached eighty. A front without any associated rain brought clouds midway through the afternoon, but it didn’t result in any real cooling.
Ever since I got back to Florida at the end of October I’ve been seeing ads for Christmas at SeaWorld. It has been more than twenty five years since I’ve been to SeaWorld in Orlando, so I have been planning a return visit. The Christmas celebration seemed like a good time to visit. I chose a Sunday to get the extra Weekend events without the extreme crowds a Saturday might bring. I was wrong on two counts. It was still very busy and one of the added events wasn’t worth the effort.
SeaWorld does Christmas in a big way. They have Christmas trees in the lake with light shows, an ice skating show, a Rudolph the reindeer area, plenty of Christmas lights all over the park, a Parade in Sesame Street Land, an Elmo Christmas Wish show, fireworks at the end of the night and a Sounds of the Season Performance Series. The Performance Series is a concert with “B” list celebrities singing holiday songs, or so I thought. Today’s celebrity was 80s “star” Tiffany. She started her set with one poorly executed Christmas song, then went into her “hits” from the eighties. I don’t know what she sounded like in her prime, but right now her voice isn’t up to it. By the start of her fourth “hit” from the eighties a third of the audience was heading for the door. I was with them.
I saw all the classic animal performance shows. Both the sea lion show and the dolphin show had “issues” with their performers. One of the young sea lions that was only supposed to make a cameo appearance wanted to linger in the tank. They tried a few things to lure him out, but eventually went on with the show. At the dolphin show they also had an issue. One of the dolphins didn’t want to return to the back stage tank when he was expected. The dolphin trainers also took some time to let the dolphin have her fun. The Orca show from all outward signs went off without any issues.
The first few hours this morning were shrouded in fog. Before the sun broke through around 9AM visibility was probably best measured in feet. It was difficult to see the RVs a few sites away. Once the fog lifted the sun took over and allowed the temperature to creep into the mid seventies. The next few days are forecast to be even warmer.
Wildflower of the day. A Little Fall Foliage
My day was spent finishing the setup tasks necessary to be comfortable for the next two weeks and discovering what’s new around the park. I’ve been coming here every winter I’ve been in Florida since 2016. It is a nice state park that isn’t overly developed near all the hubbub of central Florida.
The first thing I noticed while walking around the campground is the removal of a lot of brush. The area around the dumping station has been greatly improved. In other areas the changes is more subtle, but I have the impression that the campground just looks neater. The concessionaire or maybe the friends of the park association have also added some “Eco-tents” for rent to augment the Glamping tents that were added a few years ago. The Eco tents are away from the camping loops near where the horses are kept for the trail rides.
In Dixie Lake the turtles and alligators are still hanging around the fishing pier. During the day they were taking the sun on a couple of the downed logs and this evening the gator was lurking around the fishing pier watching the people fishing and others walking their dogs out onto the pier. In won’t be too long before the alligator gets big enough to be a real problem.
Today was a beautiful day to travel. It was a sunny day with very little wind. The high temperature was a little above the norm in the high seventies. It was just right for packing up and setting up at the other end of travel without working up a sweat.
I did very few of my usual travel prep tasks yesterday. This morning I loaded the bicycle on the car and rig the car for towing before returning inside to get the interior ready to travel. A little after 10AM I drove the car over to the day use area at the beach. I took a very circuitous route on my walk back to my RV home. Another “off schedule” cruise ship was arriving in port. The Royal Caribbean Independence of the Seas was returning to port long after the normal dawn arrival. I’ve gone from never seeing cruise ships enter port to watching two arrive in three days.
Independence of the Seas returning to port.
Once I arrived back at my RV home, I finished up the outside tasks and pulled in the slides. It was about 11:30 when I drove the motorhome over to the day use area parking lot to hook up the car. There is plenty of open space in the parking lot so I could take my time. The roads in the campground are narrow. It would have been very easy to cause a traffic backup while hooking up. I pulled out of Jetty Park on the dot at noon.
Site 10 at Lake Louisa State Park in Clermont Florida.
The first half of the drive to Lake Louisa State Park in Clermont Florida was easy with only light traffic. The second half of the drive was brutal. Traffic on route 192 through St. Cloud and Kissimmee in the early afternoon involved lots of traffic. I didn’t count the traffic lights, but I’m sure I caught everyone. The drive turned out to be 95 miles. Where I got the 75 mile number I wrote in yesterday’s blog is a mystery. I’ve driven the same route many times before. It hasn’t gotten any shorter. It took two and a half hours to reach my destination.
Sunset reflected off Dixie Lake.
I’ll be at Lake Louisa State Park for two weeks. It is a frequent stop on my Rambling Road trip in the central Florida area. I was here twice last winter and will be here three times this winter.
It was another day in the low seventies with lots of sunshine and a gentle breeze. There were only an occasional cloud during the day. More important there weren’t any clouds in the early evening during the SpaceX launch. It was a very nice day.
Sunset behind the beach.
This is my last full day at Jetty park for this stay. Five days is the longest window I was able to book. That may be a clue to what I find different about this park this year. There seem to be many more short term visitors rather than longer term occupants. The result is two fold. First the park looks very empty during the middle of the day. The other result is in the appearance of RVs at the park. Most people that are only here for a couple of nights don’t put out all of the outside furniture and decorations they might for a longer stay.
The port was moderately busy today. I watched one cruise ship depart this evening. It only cleared the channel a couple of minutes before a fuel barge made it into the harbor. I took a series of pictures to document its arrival.
The big event of the day was the SpaceX launch shortly after dark. There weren’t as many people here to watch as I’ve encountered in the past, but the cars and people lined the waters edge. From past experience I knew where to stand to get a good view. The launch occurs more inland than most people expect. My goal was to get a good picture of the launch. With limited opportunities, I haven’t had much luck getting a good picture of a night launch. My camera still didn’t produce a very good outcome, but my Pixel cellphone did a better job.
Tomorrow I have a seventy five mile drive to Clermont in the center of the state. Checkout here is at noon and the documented check in time at my destination is 3PM. I should be OK as long as I arrive after the 1PM checkout time at Lake Louisa State Park.
Rob's Rambling Road Trip 