Sunday January 1st 2023

It was another foggy start to the day. Unlike yesterday which had an element of rain, today the fog lifted by midday into a mostly cloudy afternoon and evening. Some filtered sunlight got through the cloud layer to warm the air into the mid seventies.

A Sunday New Years is a strange kind of holiday. Most of the things we normally associate with New Years day are put off until Monday. The parades and football bowl games are all moved to Monday. The normal Sunday sporting events dominate the TV along with a few strange marathons of repeats on the cable channels. I watched one of the NFL football games.

I was surprised to see many RVs depart the RV resort this morning. People I assumed were here for an extended stay were among those leaving. The families with kids are still here. Tomorrow is the last day of the winter school break in many of the Florida school systems. I expect a lot more RVs to leave tomorrow. At the same time many RVs continue to arrive. Many arrive in groups. The three sites beside me are all occupied by a group that traveled south from the mid west together. Tonight the park is slightly less occupied than last night, but I suspect that more snowbirds will be arriving every day this week.

Traffic on the local roads in the area was light today, but passing under Interstate 75 it was apparent that wasn’t the case with the interstate. The traffic was slowed to a stop and go rate on the bridge when I drove to the Ocala Wetland Recharge park. Traffic was moving again when I returned under the bridge an hour or so later.

The Wetland Recharge Park was a popular place today. There were more cars in the parking area than I’ve seen on previous visits. I passed a number of other walkers while I was wandering along the trails. There wasn’t a lot of wildlife visible, but a couple of birds were very accommodating of my need to take their picture. A couple of turtles covered in the green slime that lines the surface the ponds were also photogenic.