Sunday September 21st 2025

Today turned into a day for a Sunday drive. It wasn’t in the original plan, but I ended up driving up the center of the Florida peninsula to Ocala and back. The original plan was to take a hike along the Van Fleet rail trail. It seems like a lot of other people had a similar plan. The parking lot and nearby road shoulders at the trail head were filled with cars. With no place to park, I continued north to another trail head that had a similar pattern. There must have been some sort of event going on.

Instead of hiking my day turned into a driving day. I continued north on county roads I hadn’t been on before. Traffic on the county roads was typical Sunday afternoon stereotype; slow and meandering. The occasional main routes I used were filled with traffic. Eventually I decided on a plan to visit the Ocala Wetland Recharge Park. I visited the park several times in 2021 and 2022.

The park had changed significantly since my last visit. A large section of the park was fenced off. It was clear why. I didn’t see any sign of damage or construction. In other areas of the park many large trees had been removed. The area was much more open to the new apartments that the construction of had now been completed. On the upside there were plenty of birds and water foliage.

After my visit to the park I decided to take the highways home. Interstate 75 was filled with traffic heading south. Only a couple of miles after getting on the interstate traffic slowed to a crawl. For the next fifteen miles traffic was stop and go. The cause seemed to be an accident between a car and a semi truck. It had been over for a long time when I passed. The only emergency vehicle left was a DOT truck with a big arrow light. Who knows what actually happened.

I got home after a Sunday drive and walk in a park of about 6 hours. It was a fun excursion.