Friday August 19th 2022

It was a very changeable weather day. When I got up this morning a thick layer of fog blanketed the area. As the morning progressed the fog gave way to cloud cover. Shortly after the noon hour the sun broke through for a brief visit. By 2PM rain was threatening. Shortly after 3PM a light rain transitioned into a thunderstorm of potentially severe proportions. Rain was pounding on the roof and the north side of my RV home. Lightening was all around with almost immediate accompanying thunder. Around 4:30PM it had moved through and the drier conditions followed.

I made another attempt to book a campsite at one of the Army Corp of Engineers campgrounds along the Caloosahatchee Waterway in South Florida. My booking period that started at fourteen nights was down to four. There were five possible sites at the two campgrounds. I selected a suitable site as my target and hit the button with a second to go on my clock. Once again I was unsuccessful. There are just too many people trying for the limited number of sites. I have stayed at both campgrounds in March the last two years. There were never any empty sites and most seemed to be occupied for long stays near the two week limit. The difficulty of booking a site was a popular topic of conversation, so the difficulty I have experienced is not surprising.

With the outlook for available sites tomorrow looking worst than today, I have officially given up. I have book alternative locations for the middle two weeks in February. As I mentioned in a previous blog entry I have booked Fort Wilderness at Disney World for the first week. The next three nights will be at a KOA in the Orlando area and the last four nights will be at the Midway Campground in the Big Cypress National Preserve. I will enjoy these places, but they represent a different kind of experience than my original intent.

I also got some near term planning completed. I booked my next couple of weeks of travel after I depart here on Monday. I’m not heading inland as quickly as I expected. I’ll need to listen to the National Weather Service about conditions in the tropics. I don’t want to get surprised by a hurricane.