Monday January 23rd 2023

Today was a travel day. I was up early, but really didn’t need the extra time. Checkout time was at 1PM and with only about forty miles to travel I didn’t need to rush. The temperature started off in the fifties, so I focused on inside tasks until it warmed up a bit. The temperature only reached a peak in the mid sixties during the afternoon.

Getting ready to travel from Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park is a little more complicated than most places. The campground roads are very narrow. It is not possible to hookup the car for towing without blocking traffic completely. I need to preposition the car in the overflow parking lot or the day use area where there is enough available space. Either one is a good distance away. This morning I drove the car to the overflow parking area and walked back to my site. It was a good ten minute walk. By the time I got the tanks motorhome holding tanks dumped and reunited with my car it was over half an hour later.

My destination for today’s travel was the KOA in Starke Florida about forty miles north of the state park. I booked the KOA to fill the gap between state park reservations. I was unable to get another state park reservation until Thursday. I’ve used this KOA for similar purposes in the past. Surprisingly the rates at this KOA are better than many of the other private campgrounds in the area. It is a nice park. This time of year most of the sites are occupied by snowbirds.

I arrived at the Starke/Gainesville NE KOA just before 2PM. Once I got through Gainesville traffic the drive was uneventful. After check in I got escorted to my site as usual. I’m in a different area of the park than I usually stay in. Maybe I booked a different category of site or more probably the sites I’ve been in before are occupied by snowbirds. I’ll be here until Thursday.