Thursday February 29th 2024

Happy Leap Year

The sun was in hiding today. The cold front passed through overnight without spilling any rain. The wind is now out of the north and the temperature is having a hard time crossing the seventy degree mark.

I started the active part of my day with a trip to the observation tower on the prairie. It was a disappointing visit. None of the wildlife on the prairie was visible. I wonder if the wind direction was part of the reason. There would have been more sheltered areas than those visible from the observation tower.

My first and only walk of the day to the day use area on the lake was near sunset. Other than a fisherman and a couple of other hikers, the area was almost deserted. The cloud cover prevented any kind of sunset viewing and it really wasn’t warm enough to sit around. I was back in the comfort of my RV home soon after.

The campground had a lot of turnover again today. I don’t know if the campground filled last night, but I think it will tonight. Some of today’s arrivals have the look of weekenders. I’ll have to check tomorrow to see if my guess is correct.

Wednesday February 28th 2024

The mold was pattern with today’s weather. The sky wasn’t all blue. The sunshine was filtered through a thin layer of clouds. It was a much more humid day. The wind was very strong out of the south. These changes resulted in a little less comfort to the outdoor experience. The temperature climbed above the eighty degree mark for a little while during the afternoon.

My daily activity changed a little as well. I didn’t drive to the observation tower at the side of the prairie this afternoon. Chores around my RV home got in the way. I still got in two walks to the day use area and back. The day use area is about half a mile around the camping loop and through the woods. On my first hike at the lunch hour there were a few people enjoying lunch at the picnic tables and a couple of boats getting launched. Overall it was much quieter than the last few days.

The wind was the key element today. Keeping your hat on was a challenge. Out on the lake there were a few hardy souls taking advantage of the wind. There were two sailboats, one sailboarder and a stand up paddle boarder. I think the wind was too strong for the sailboarder. It looked like the sail got knocked out of his hands often. The sailboats would spend half an hour tacking to the upwind part of the lake only to cruise back to the other end in three minutes or less. I guess that’s fun.

The campground was quieter today as well. Many campers seemed to leave early today. The last few days new campers were flooding in at the 1PM checkout time to start filling up the empty sites. Today there were still empty sites late in the afternoon. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn there were empty sites overnight, but I’m not taking a late night inventory.

Tuesday February 27th 2024

The great weather continued today. It was a little windier and a little warmer. The temperature peaked in the upper seventies near eighty. They are now forecasting the weekend to be the beginning of a rainy period.

My mission today was to walk the Cones Dike trail out on to Paynes Prairie. Shortly after the noon hour I drove deeper into the park to the visitors center. The crowds were down today. I had a few minutes on the observation tower to my self. The horses were in a new location. My luck was strong. They were a close to the trail I was going to walk.

Getting to the start of the Cones Dike trail either requires you to back track toward the parking lot from the observation tower, or test your luck with the water and mud in front of the visitors center. Since it has been four days since it rained, I tried my luck in front of the visitors center. I almost made it. Getting across the last section of muddy ground walking from stick to branch to clump of grass I started to loose my balance. To steady myself I put my left foot down in the muck. It only went to the top of my hiking shoe, but my foot was squeaky for a while after that.

The Cones Dike trail follows the park boundary and prairie edge for the first part of the trail. It is a gravel path suitable for trucks with a couple of square corners. The wild horses were near the first right turn. The second turn is to the left about a half a mile away I’d guess. Between the two turns the area on both sides of the path is filled with water. I spotted five small to medium alligators near the culvert that connects the two sides.

Just as I was approaching the second turn, a deer stepped out of the brush about fifty feet in front of me. I stopped and waited for her to move along, but she was soon joined by two other deer. They knew I was there, but didn’t really care. I stood and took pictures for about ten minutes. If I moved on they would probably run, but it is there home. I turned around and headed back toward the trail head. On my way back another deer came crashing down the prairie splashing up all kinds of water. This deer was bigger and alone. It was probably a buck. I’ll try the hike another day.

At sunset I took my second hike of the day to the day use area. There were still quite a few cars in the parking lot. The only people I saw were gathered for the sunset across the lake. The park clearly seems to be getting more traffic than previous years.

Monday February 26th 2024

The trend of sunny days with highs in the seventies continued today. The peak temperature climbed a couple of degrees to the mid seventies. The forecast for the next couple of days calls for similar weather with daily increases in the high temperature.

My day followed a similar pattern as the last couple of days, but I added a twist. After visiting the observation tower overlooking the prairie I ventured out of this area of the park to a couple of the park areas along US route 441. After which I managed to get caught up in rush hour traffic in downtown Gainesville. It all came from trying to reverse direction without simply making a U-turn. I knew that Interstate 75 was to the west, but I didn’t think about downtown Gainesville being in the way. The city has the elements of a typical college town and a busy city. In addition to a lot of tall buildings and businesses, there were many people walking around, riding bicycles and scooters and motor bikes and motorcycles. I looped around a block and headed back the way I came before I got into the traffic on the University of Florida campus.

My stop at the prairie viewing area along the side of US 441 helped me find some of the water birds I haven’t been finding on my other adventures in the park. There were Egrets, several Anhingas and a Great Blue Heron that might have thought it was an Anhinga. The bird was spreading its wings to allow them to dry just like an Anhinga.

Walking to the day use area this morning, I was surprised to find the area still busy. I expected the weekend crowds would have gone back to work and school. It was a little less populated, but it was still more occupied than I have seen in the middle of the week on previous visits. The campground also has a different usage pattern than I’ve come to expect. There seems to be a lot of single night stays. In the evening the park is full and active. By noon the next day, over half the sites seem to be vacant. Even the tent sites follow the same pattern.

On today’s visit to the observation tower at the visitors center along the side of the prairie, I found the wild horses in a different location. They were still a long way from the observation area. I didn’t venture out onto the prairie today. My next venture out needs to be planned, so that I have everything I need, especially water.

Sunday February 25th 2024

Today’s weather was a clone of Saturday and my activities were pretty much the same as well. Even though I did the same things, I had different results and observations.

Near noon, after a very leisurely breakfast I walked to the day use area on Lake Wauburg. There were fewer boaters than yesterday, but more people around. Today seemed to be a day for family hikes with the family dog. I saw several group of mom, dad, a grand parent or two along with two or more kids and a dog on the trails. It gets a little interesting when some of the dogs meet.

The turtles were in the same location as yesterday. One additional turtle had joined the sunbathing experience. Along with the turtles were two black water snakes. An “expert” looking at the snakes while I was there declared them to be venomous cotton mouth snakes. I have no reason to dispute the identification. All I know is they were black snakes that swam in the water. I am not getting near them either way.

During the afternoon I drove to the prairie again. Today, the wild horses were in view from the observation tower. They were a long way away and binoculars or a camera zoom were required to identify that the brown and black spots were actually horses. I’ve included a well zoomed and cropped picture in this blog entry.

After a few minutes on the observation tower, I ventured along the trail out onto the prairie. Keeping to the trail on the high ground, I walked along the edge of the prairie to an area where the water on the prairie passes under the trail. As is the case elsewhere in the state park, the water level is high on the prairie. Where the water passes under the road, the channel of water is deeper than the general prairie area. There were three young alligators trying to catch some sun.

My last adventure of the day was another walk to Lake Wauburg just before sunset. There were still a lot of people fishing and a few waiting for the sunset. All of the basking turtles and the snakes were below the surface. I still haven’t seen any of the typical water birds. The egrets and herons must be hiding somewhere else.

Saturday February 24th 2024

Yesterday’s rain was in the rear view mirror today. It was a bright sunny day with a moderate west wind. The thermometer managed to creep up into the low to mid seventies. The forecast seems to indicate a few nice days to come.

I got a slow start to the day. For some reason, yesterday was a particularly tiring travel day even though it was a short distance. This morning I finished the setup chores for my stay. Inside, I dug out the coffee maker and the other conveniences stored away for travel. Outside, I took my bicycle and rack off the car, so the car was ready for touring or errands.

My first walk of the day was to the day use area on Lake Wauburg. There were more people than I expected using the area. Kids were using the playground and some families were using the pavilions for a picnic. Judging by the number of empty boat trailers in the parking lot there were a lot of people boating on the lake. Further along the shore line, several more people were fishing from the purpose built dock. There were also many other people taking advantage of the nice day to walk the trails.

Elsewhere on the lake are recreational facilities for the University of Florida. Those facilities have kayaks, paddle boards, sailboats and other things for use by students. The lake was dotted with all of those crafts today. It looks like everybody were having fun.

The water level in the lake and the marshlands around the park is higher than I remember it. Today I saw three small turtles in one of the marsh areas taking the sun. There weren’t any alligators or water birds in the marsh or the lake, but conditions looked good for them. Given that the University of Florida has a lot of activities in the lake, I wouldn’t be surprised if they actively relocate alligators.

Later in the day I drove two miles deeper into the state park to the observation tower overlooking the prairie. This area was also very busy. Despite looking for fifteen to twenty minutes from the top of the observation tower, I didn’t see any wild horses or bison. The water level on the prairie was also higher than I’ve seen. That may be why the horses and bison are not visible from the observation tower. Dry ground is further from the viewing area.

Friday February 23rd 2024

Today was a warm, windy day with rain thrown in at inopportune times. Wouldn’t you know it, it was a travel day. The first bout of rain lasted about half an hour while I was packing for travel this morning. I was able to work on inside tasks during the majority of the shower and stayed dry. The second and biggest rain shower was late in the afternoon after I was already setup at my new location. The wind was the biggest problem during my travel today. The sustained winds were more then 20mph out of the southwest with gusts well above. Whenever I was driving through open areas it was a two hands on the wheel exercise.

I departed the Starke KOA just before the 11AM checkout. My destination was the Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park. It is only about a thirty mile trip including a drive through the outskirts of Gainesville. I arrived well before the 1PM checkout time for campers in the state park. The gate ranger allowed me in, but asked me to wait in one of the parking lots until after 1PM.

Since I am familiar with the park from previous visits I chose to wait in the overflow parking lot near the campground. I usually unhook my car there anyways. Once I pulled in and got the car disconnected, I walked to and around the campground. My site and most of them for that matter were all empty. By the time I finished my walk around the camping loop and returned to my waiting motorhome it was 1PM. I was on my site shortly after that. Of course, I still had to walk back to the overflow parking area for my car.

I am on the same site I was on in January of 2023. It is a nice site in a decent location. The only down side is that I don’t have clear access to the sky for my satellite TV. I knew that was likely since it didn’t work last year either. Getting a satellite signal through the trees in this campground is pure luck. It is full of tall trees. I’ll just have to live with over the air TV for a couple of weeks.

Thursday February 22nd 2024

Today started out just as cold as the last couple of days, but the thermometers say it warmed up a little more. The high temperature was in the low to mid seventies. For some reason it felt colder than yesterdays mid sixties to me. Must be confused expectations or something.

I was a little more active today than yesterday. In addition to my daily walks around the campground and surrounding area, I accomplished a few domestic chores. The campground laundry rooms were functional again allowing me to create some clean clothes. I should have washed some bedding and towels, but they will have to wait for another time. Inside my RV home, I got a little more complex cooking accomplished. I roasted a piece of pork loin for dinner today and subsequent meals. It makes good leftovers and sandwich meat going forward for a few days.

The campground seems to be full tonight. This must be the day that was causing my initial attempts to reserve my stay to be indicated as full. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights all had several empty sites. The fact that I got a cancellation has always been clear. I’m not complaining. I got lucky. Trying to figure out booking patterns and campground policies is a fun mystery for me to try and follow.

I am moving on tomorrow. It is only a short twenty five to thirty mile drive. My next stop will be longer and back in my two week state park stay mode. The issue is the inconsistent checkout times. I need to be out of here by 11AM, but my destination has a checkout at 1PM. It is very possible that I will arrive before my site is empty. Often I will kill time along the way in a rest area or some place similar. For this journey, I don’t know of a good stopping place.

Wednesday February 21st 2024

It was another Florida cold start to the day. The inside temperature shortly after sunrise was 48 degrees. I turned on some heat and went back under the covers to stay warm. There was a little more wind today than the day before. Still, the temperature managed to reach the mid sixties under a blue sky completely devoide of clouds all day.

I planned for today to be a “Do Nothing Kind of Day”. It pretty much went to plan. I did some reading in between walks around the campground and the neighboring areas. This campground has a lot of snowbirds from the northeast and a few from the northern midwest. I don’t really understand the attraction of this area. There isn’t a lot of recreation or tourist type locations nearby. One possible explanation is directly related to the location. The cost of a site at this park is far more reasonable than the rates at parks in popular areas.

I checked on the progress of the laundry facility updates. It looks like they finished up changing out the machines today. The machines didn’t look any different than I remember from previous visits, but I saw them getting taken out of their boxes. So, I know they are new. I should be able to get the laundry done tomorrow.

As I am writing this blog entry, the temperature is already dropping. I had to add a layer and turn up the heat before I typed the last paragraph. The forecast calls for another overnight in the thirties.

Tuesday February 20th 2024

It was 47 degrees inside this morning when I rolled out of bed for the first time. The TV reported the outside overnight lows were in the upper thirties. Once the sun rose in above the horizon it brought the temperature into the mid sixties. Tonight the low is forecast to drop to similar levels.

I had two things planned for today. They were both put off because of the weekend rain. One was grocery shopping and the other was laundry. My knowledge of this campground and the area from previous visits lead me to believe the tasks would be easier here. Right now, maybe not. They are in the process of replacing all of the washers and dryers in both of the laundry facilities at the campgound. This morning a large box truck arrived with new machines. The old ones were brought out and new ones were installed. As of the end of the day, all of the machines have been swapped. I don’t think they are hooked up yet. Hopefully I’ll be able to do a load or two before I leave on Friday. My next stop doesn’t have a laundry facility.

The grocery shopping was successful, but disappointing. I managed to get everything I really needed. In several cases I needed to alter my choice to accommodate low inventory. Usually that meant buying a name brand rather than the store brand. In a couple of other cases I took the last of a product on the shelf. The issue is the size of the store. While it is a full service grocery store, it only has room for less stock on the shelves and fewer selections of size. For example, at bigger Walmart, cold cereal is spread out over one and a half sides of an aisle. At this Walmart the cereal only spanned about three quarters of a side of the aisle. On a positive side it wasn’t very busy in the afternoon.

From the difficulty I had getting a reservation at this campground for four nights this week, I expected it to be very full. I wasn’t surprised that there were a few empty sites last night, but there are even more openings tonight. My guess is that one of the next two nights the park will be full. There are snowbirds occupying most of the sites. It is much louder, party oriented group than I’m used to seeing here.