Thursday January 13th 2022

The latest cold front passed through the area without dropping any rain during the night. Today was a very windy day with lots of fluffy clouds moving rapidly across the sky. The temperature managed to climb to seventy degrees.

On my last full day at Lake Manatee State Park I spent time working on a few chores in addition to my routine walks around the park. I still haven’t fixed the problem with the front brake cable on my bicycle. Soaking the seized with rust cable in penetrating oil was unsuccessful. Today I got a little more forceful in my attempts to free the cable. It still won’t move. An online search hasn’t identified any simple replacements. The metal tube the cable passes trough and the source of the problem doesn’t seem to be part of the replacement parts I’ve found. It is looking more like I should just find a bicycle repair shop.

The bicycle is back on its rack on the back of my SUV as I transitioned from chores to travel preparation mode. It will probably stay there until next week. I got the outside day before travel tasks completed before taking my last walk of the day just before sunset. There weren’t as many walkers out today. The cooler temperature keeps more people inside. I did find one Gopher Tortoise brave enough to come out of the ground. It was taking advantage of the full sun at that point in time. Later in the day it was probably back in its hole in the ground.

This weekend is a holiday weekend. Last winter it proved to be difficult booking a stay at another state park for the weekend. My next state park stay starts on Monday back in central Florida at Lake Louisa State Park. I kept watching for a place to stay on the holiday weekend. There were sites available at the chain commercial campgrounds in the center of the state, but the rates were near $90 a night. Looking for more value for that high price, I checked Fort Wilderness at Disney World a few times. In September I found an opening for the weekend at a rate not much higher than the other commercial campgrounds in the area. I’ll be at Fort Wilderness for the three night weekend. I don’t have theme park admission tickets or an annual pass, but I’ll enjoy some resort hoping and watching the Fireworks across Bay Lake in the evening.