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.