Friday November 25th 2022

The day began very similar to Thursday. It was cloudy and gloomy with plenty of humidity. Thankfully, it didn’t stay that way. The temperature climbed into the low to mid eighties under bright sunshine by afternoon. The humidity even seem to moderate some.

Traffic on the roads was terrible. I expected issues near shopping areas and on the Interstate, but there was plenty of traffic everywhere. The one major shopping area I passed was overflowing. I had no intention of stopping, but plenty of others were braving the mass shopping experience. When I crossed over Interstate 4 the east bound lanes were at a crawl. These were all expected, but Florida route 33 from Lakeland north toward Clermont was also filled with traffic. The road is more than twenty miles west of the Orlando metro area. It is usually has only a few cars visible at any time. My guess is other people though it was a good way to avoid the mess as well.

Activity has returned to the RV park. The usual motion of golf carts around the park resumed this morning. Many of the cart drivers were heading for the social scene near the pool. They aren’t there for swimming. They just pull up their carts near each other and have an extended conversation about the meaning of life or at least their thoughts of the day.

The ducks and sandhill cranes were back around the pond this afternoon. You can tell the birds that live here most of the time from the passers by. It is possible to walk within ten feet of the locals, but the strangers take flight as soon as they see you approaching.

I finished my futile search for a great replacement location for the middle two weeks of December. There were no available sites at any of the parks that came close to the nature experience at Myakka River State Park. Most of the places near the coasts or Orlando were full or cost eighty to one hundred plus dollars a night for a close packed site in a mobile home park like environment. Instead I booked the two weeks at the new RV park in Ocala that I stayed at in August. There isn’t much to do at the park or in the immediate area, but it is a nice park and the sites are well spaced with good amenities.