Thursday January 11th 2024

The day started cooler and gloomier than I anticipated. It was about fifty inside my RV home when I got up this morning. The cloud layer was very close to the ground most of the day. With the clouds was a high level of humidity adding to the cold feel. It was far from a nice weather day and it is getting worse. Another cold front is due tomorrow night.

The only task I had planned today was the laundry. Appliance gremlins had other ideas. The two washing machines in my camping loop were labeled as out of order. They were also unplugged. I walked to the facility in another loop and found the single machine to be in use with a waiting line. There is one other wash house in the campground, but it is long way away and I didn’t have high hopes. Laundry is put off for another day.

I did my entire three mile out and back hike along the river this afternoon. Once again there weren’t many people out during the gloomy weather. The alligators and turtles were all hiding underwater. I only saw one big bird. A great blue heron was very entertaining. Here is a sequence of pictures of the great blue heron.

The campground wasn’t full last night and more people departed this morning. I assume there will be a lot of arrivals for the holiday weekend tonight and tomorrow. So far the two sites behind me are still empty. Maybe I’m getting a reward for enduring the rather loud guy next door. His voice really carried. I could hear him from inside with the TV on. Possible he thought everyone was hard of hearing.

Wednesday January 10th 2024

Yesterday’s much discussed storm was complete clear of this area by 9PM last night. This morning was the time for checking out the impact and doing any necessary cleanup. My main observation was the amount of tree debris on the ground and the amount of standing water. On the plus side, the debris stayed clear of my motorhome and car. On the downside, my car was parked in three or four inches of standing water. By early afternoon it was just squishy ground, so I was able to drive into town.

Elsewhere in the campground I saw a couple of tents in puddles of their own and lots of things hanging or draped on branches to dry out. Camping in a tent yesterday afternoon and evening was clearly an adventure. The biggest challenge for everyone in the campground was the muddy roads. The gravel roads had many scattered pot holes filled with water. It was impossible to drive in or out of the campground without getting mud all over the sides of your vehicle. After I move on next week I may have to find a car wash.

The rate of flow in the Hillsborough River was a little more energized this afternoon. All of the runoff from yesterday’s rain was having an impact. The current looked stronger and there was a lot of debris floating down stream. The water level at the bank didn’t look any different, but there was water running into the river from back areas that were dry or just swampy earlier in the week. The place the river looked different was at the area called “the rapids”. Last week it just looked like an area with a few boulders in the river that the water channeled around. Today there was white water flow over and around the boulders.

I only saw one of the typical water birds along the river today. The timing of the walk was a little later than usual, so that could have been the reason for the scarcity. Yesterday’s weather might also have caused the birds to move to a more sheltered location. I think I’ve been seeing and photographing the same birds in slightly different locations each day.

Tuesday January 9th 2024

For the last several days the weather forecasters have been talking about a cold front arriving today. With each day the level of hype and paranoia climbed. Most of the counties in the state were under a state of emergency and many school districts had called off classes. This morning we had strong gusty winds out of the south as a precursor to the front. It drove the temperature to eighty degrees and a little beyond. It was a very cloudy day and a bit dangerous outside. Sticks, branches and Spanish Moss were falling from the sky with each wind gust.

Around 3PM one of the Tampa TV stations came on the air with full time weather. They provided continuous reporting as the storm front moved inland from the Gulf of Mexico. The entire state was under a Tornado Watch. As the storm front reached land severe thunderstorm warnings and a few tornado warnings were issued. One of the tornadoes would have passed very close to here if it continued for more than a few minutes. All of the storm warnings came up and were taken down within a very few minutes. The heavy rain and wind arrived here around 4:45 and was over within ten minutes. It has rained off and on for the three plus hours since. The temperature went from 80 degrees when the storm front arrived to 60 degrees as it departed. As the storm front continued across the Florida peninsular additional tornado warnings were generated including one in the Orlando area. For me, the storm turned into a none event. You really had to be in the wrong place at the wrong time to have had any significant impact from the storm.

Not knowing what exactly to expect from the weather forecast and not clear on the time line, I decided to stay at home today. I managed to get one walk in during the day. It was a challenge walking around all the debris from the trees and watching for additional stuff that might fall. Since I considered yesterday’s walk lonely, I’d classify today’s walk as deserted. I only passed a couple of people on the trails.

Monday January 8th 2024

The weather threatened rain all day. Yesterday the forecast was for a chance of rain in the afternoon. This morning there was a chance of rain in the morning instead. When the afternoon arrived without any rain in this area, the forecast returned to predicting afternoon rain. There was a lot of rain in the area, but it never arrived here. The temperature climbed very slowly from the forties overnight to a high in the mid sixties in the afternoon. It is forecast to continue to climb overnight tonight. Tomorrow will be warm before a line of severe weather passes through near nightfall, or so the current forecast goes.

The campground really emptied out this morning. All of the units I thought would depart yesterday pulled out this morning. I would estimate the campground was only half full at checkout time. This evening there are still empty sites. I’ve noticed this year that Monday seems to be a bigger turnover day than Sunday.

The fact that the kids are back in school and most people have returned to work was also apparent along the trails. The number of cars parked at the day use area was way down and I didn’t see many people along the trails. The threatening weather didn’t make it a very good day for a hike. I still managed to get in a morning and an afternoon hike.

The alligators and turtles didn’t have any reason to be out of the water on the banks. My theory that they were sitting on the bottom waiting for it to warm up was disproved when I spotted a gator swimming along the surface. It was clearly in search of food or mischief.

Sunday January 7th 2024

I woke this morning to the sound of rain on the roof. The forecast had indicated a chance of light rain, but his was heavy rain. The rain was shorter in duration than Saturday’s rain, but seemed to be more intense. There was more standing water after this storm than yesterday’s as well. Once the sky cleared the sun brought the temperature into the upper sixties.

The morning rain resulted in a slow start to the day. Breakfast was slow and deliberate as I watched the morning news conference shows on TV. Following breakfast, I fired up my computer and backed up the last year of photos and blog entries. I do periodic backups throughout the year, but in January I make a couple of USB “thumb” drives with all of the years photos and blog text. One USB drive stays in my RV home and the other travels in my car. That isn’t the most distant offsite storage, but it is better than nothing. I also have online cloud backup for specific valuable files. My internet bandwidth isn’t good enough to rely exclusively on cloud backups. I took around ten thousand photos last year. That amounted to a little more than 60GB of storage.

The campground didn’t empty out the way I expected today. School resumes tomorrow after the winter break, so I expected most of the families with kids to depart. As least one big group of six sites with related groups all staying in tents didn’t leave today. They did have to dry out a lot of bedding and other material after the second day of morning rain. In other areas of the campground there were empty sites late this afternoon, but they may have filled up later in the evening.

On my walk today the number of people along the trail was up a little from yesterday. Most of the people seemed to be walking dogs. My observation that dogs don’t like to meet other dogs on the narrow boardwalk was reaffirmed today. The confined space and wire fence sides of the boardwalks seem to put the dogs on edge. Maybe they think its their crates that are being invaded by another dog. For whatever reason dogs that pass on the open trail without issue seem to react when meeting other dogs on the boardwalks. Of course it could just be the people at the other end of the dog leash.

It was warm and sunny enough today that I saw two alligators out of the water taking the sun on the far bank. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen both gators before in the same openings in vegetation along the bank. The Great Blue Heron I took pictures of today was in a new location along the bank, but was probably the same bird I’ve seen at an area further up river. Does the fact that I’m recognizing the specific animals mean I’ve been here too long?

Saturday January 6th 2024

The low pressure system that is impacting the northeast as snow tonight, passed through here this morning as heavy rain. Sometime around sunrise it started to rain hard. There was even a chance of severe weather. The sound of hard rain on the roof of my RV home continued until about ten. The sun came out quickly after the rain departed. The high temperature this afternoon was around eighty.

I made a bad decision thankfully with low consequences today. Saturday is not the day to go grocery shopping at Walmart, but I convinced myself that it would be OK. The store was mobbed with shoppers. Many of whom needed lots of space and time to complete their shopping. The number of very senior citizens using electric wheel chairs or other mobility aids was excessive. Walmart mobile order pickup carts also filled the aisles adding to the congestion. On top of all that the store staff decided it was a good idea to leave pallets of goods in the main aisles making for one way traffic. It was a very busy Walmart, but I got a bad opinion about the quality of the management.

Traffic was the other reason not to go shopping today. Getting to and from the store was a solid line of traffic north and south on US 301. There was also construction to deal with, but it wasn’t active today. The cherry on top of the traffic issue was returning to the state park. I waited close to twenty minutes behind a line of cars at the rangers station coming into the park. It seemed most of the people in front of me were buying day use entries. They would prefer you buy them online ahead of time.

Once back in the park with my groceries stored away, I went for my daily walk along the river. There was a lot of standing water to dodge walking through the campground. Once I was on the trails it was a little easier walking. The warm day encouraged at least one alligator to enjoy some time out of the water on the river bank. There also weren’t as many people on the trail. This made the hike a little less challenging.

Friday January 8th 2024

Today warmed up quickly into the mid seventies after a cool start near fifty. The sun was out all day. Overnight and tomorrow morning another cold front arrives with lots of rain. The weather is on a roller coaster with a lots of steep climbs and quick drops.

While I was out exploring the area today, I found myself a little southeast of Tampa. I decided to take advantage of the location and go a little further south to the Tampa Electric Company Manatee viewing facility in Apollo Beach. Since it was a cold night there were lots of manatees taking advantage of the warm discharge water from the power plant.

I have been to the facility several times, but the last time was in 2019. They were closed during the COVID years and I wasn’t in the area during the cold months last year. Since my last visit they have expanded the facility a great deal. There is a new building near the overflow parking lot with new trails to the manatee viewing facility about a half a mile away. At the manatee view area along the canal to the power plant they have upgraded the boardwalks and added a new section of pier into the canal.

Today there were dozens of manatee in the canal. I would guess there were more than one hundred, but I only counted to twelve a couple of times before giving up. As you watch they gracefully move below the surface and pop their heads up too breath every few minutes. Once in awhile a manatee will come well out of the water showing lots of back before diving showing its tail as it dives.

I really enjoyed the viewing today. There were more manatee visible than I usually see. The new trails, facilities and landscaping were also nice to see. Many other people were there to see the manatees today. The overflow parking lot might well have overflowed at some point today. All of the kids out of school and along with the snowbirds combined with a nice day that started off cold made a near perfect storm of visitors.

Back at the campground this afternoon the park filled up for the weekend. There are a number of groups of friends on adjoining sites as well as lots of campers with kayaks for exploring the river. The day use area and trails weren’t as busy as they were earlier in the week, but I imagine they may be tomorrow and Sunday. The Great Blue Heron was in about the same place as the last couple of days.

Thursday January 4th 2024

It rained off and on all night, but by morning the rain was gone. In its wake was a cloudy raw morning. The temperature gradually climbed out of the fifties toward the sixties. Around 2PM the sun made an appearance allowing the temperature to peak in the mid low sixties, but the breeze kept the real feel raw.

Today was basically a chores around the rig day. I got stuff picked, did a little cleaning as well as some cooking. The vacuum cleaner remained in the basement storage today, but it needs to make an appearance before too long. I also need to visit the washing and drying machines in the park before I leave. Today I just filled the laundry bag to make room in the hamper. Life gets in the way of living.

There weren’t as many people along the trails today. This is probably because of the weather. It was nice not to have competition for each opening in the brush along the river. Unfortunately, the wildlife was also staying home today. I saw one Great Blue Heron and one turtle on my return hike. The turtle waited for the sun to come out and warm its favorite log.

The campground had about the same level of turnover as yesterday. The pattern should change tomorrow with the arrival of the weekend. Based on the car window tags that indicate departure dates, many of today’s arrivals are staying for the weekend and I suspect tomorrows arrivals will as well.

Wednesday January 3rd 2024

There was less than 3 hours of sunshine today. The day began cloudy with the temperature around fifty. Without any help from the sun the inside temperature in my RV home was slow to rise. The sun didn’t make an appearance until after the lunch hour. The temperature quickly climbed to the seventy degree mark, but by 4PM the clouds associated with the next cold front had arrived. Shortly after 7:30 in the evening light rain started to fall. The forecast calls for rain all night.

During the three hours of sunshine I took my longest hike of my stay so far. I didn’t cover any new ground, but rather did the entire south bank trails along the river in one session. The wildlife wasn’t as cooperative today. There were fewer turtles taking in the limited sun and I didn’t see any alligators on this walk. Today seemed to be the day for domesticated animals. Every other group I met on the trail seemed to have a dog or two. I saw everything from a little Yorkie to a Doberman.

There continues to be a lot of turnover in the campground. It looks like the volume of turn over from Monday and Tuesday continued today. Once again most of the sites were full by evening. There seems to be something different about the campground occupancy this winter. I think there are more short term stays this year. That might mean fewer people succeeded in getting long reservations on the first day of availability, which was my experience.

Tuesday January 2nd 2024

It should have been obvious to me. My campsite is in the woods. The sun doesn’t reach my RV until it is higher in the sky. As a result, the temperature inside my RV home doesn’t rise as quickly. This morning it still felt dark at 9AM. The sun didn’t start to warm the inside until after 10AM. Even with electric heat on breakfast was chilly. I refuse (for no good reason) to put the gas furnace on for a few degrees. On the opposite end of the day, the trees blocked the sun earlier than sunset. It was getting dark about an hour before the actual sunset.

Today I walked the trail along the river closer to the entry of the state park. I drove to the parking lot for the “rapids” and walked the trail from there. I saw more wildlife today. There were lots of turtles on logs and I even saw one small alligator on the far bank. Several verities of water birds were along this stretch of river and one interesting surprise. A Red Shoulder Hawk flew into a tree over the river and watched the world go by for a few minute while I took its picture.

There was a lot of turnover in the park again today. It may have even been more extensive than yesterday. By this evening the departing visitors had been replaced by new occupants of the sites. The site beside me was one of the turnover sites. The new residents arrived in a motorhome around 2:30PM. They started setting up outside more than you usually see with a big motorhome. In addition to the outdoor rug which is relatively common, they put a table cloth on the picnic table and started to string lights around the site. They even wrapped the lights around a tree. I don’t know how long they plan to stay, but I hope it is more than overnight.