Tuesday January 24th 2023

It was at cool night again. This morning it was bright and sunny in the forties. During the day the temperature managed to reach the upper sixties. The forecast for tomorrow calls for warmer temperatures, but rain likely late in the day.

Today was a day to settle in and restock. This morning I did my usual day after arrival tasks. The biggest of these is getting the car ready for regular use. This involves getting the bicycle and towing gear stowed away. It only takes about ten minutes, but it is a necessary task. This morning I wanted it over with so I could get on with the restocking task.

It has been almost three weeks since I made a grocery run. While I was at Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park I enjoyed the park to much to take the time for the drive into Gainesville to shop at Walmart. I managed to use up some of the older items in my freezer and cabinets. The only items I really ran out of were deserts and snacks. Here in Starke, the Walmart is less than half a mile down the road, so it was time to restock.

This is a smaller Walmart, but it had everything I needed. The aisles are narrower and the “flavor” varieties are limited. For some reason I was noticing an increase in price for most of the things I purchased. Many of them probably went up long ago, but today I was noticing them. Things that were around a dollar per unit were now a dollar thirty to a dollar and a half. Items that were in the high three dollar numbers were now well over four dollars. The big gotcha were the eggs. Today they averaged out to forty three cents per egg for a dozen and half or more than forty five cents an egg if you only bought a dozen.

After I returned to my RV home and got all the groceries stored away, it was time for a walk around the campground. The last time I was here was at the end of May last year. It was very empty at that time by comparison. Today most of the sites are occupied by snowbird style residents. The remaining sites are used for nightly traffic. This campground is frequently the first stop in Florida for people coming into the state from the north. It causes some interesting activities.

Last night a big class A motorhome pulling a very large red box trailer pulled into the site next to mine. Both the motorhome and trailer were covered with road grime. This morning they unloaded a lime green Dodge Charger from the box trailer. Everything got hosed down, although not washed. It is against the rules to wash vehicles at your site. Then they changed all four tires on the Charger. Performance wheels and tires were installed. I assume, but couldn’t verify, that all season or even snow tires were removed. They were clearly getting ready for a winter in the sunshine state.