Tuesday July 9th 2024

It was cloudy and threatening rain all day. The sun didn’t make an appearance at all. The rain arrived around 2:30 and continued varying from heavy to light for the next four hours. I tried to roll with the punches and get a few things done. I had partial success.

After scarfing down a couple of ham sandwiches for lunch, I headed north to Clermont. My plan was to get in a walk along the shore of Lake Minneola before the rain arrived. I got there, but so did the rain. Outdoor activity was impractical in the gentle but consistent rain that was falling. I started my return trip with the intent of stopping at Walmart for bottled water. The current level of rain was much milder than yesterday when I let the rain change my plans.

Today’s rain had different ideas. Just getting to Walmart became a challenge. The moderate rain became heavy. The heavy rain became a deluge. By the time I was approaching Walmart was down to a crawl and visibility was based on how bright the other guys tail lights happened to be. Stopping at Walmart became the smart thing to do rather than something to avoid because of the rain. I waited in the car about twenty minutes before I could reach the building without becoming completely drenched. The rain was over by the time I departed the store.

My shopping wasn’t particularly successful. My intent was to be several gallon bottles of water. My supply of half liter bottles is holding up, but they are not what I prefer to use. Walmart was out of gallon bottles last week and they were out again today. I came home with one 2.5 gallon container of water. It was the only one I found. The heat must be causing a run on water.

I got my walk around the RV resort in after the rain and before dark. My route was a little abbreviated. I wanted to stay near my RV home in case the rain returned. The rain held off and I got back to my RV home dry. A few minutes ago, as I am writing this blog entry, it started to rain again. Tomorrow is currently forecast to be dry, but ten degrees warmer than today’s mid 80s.

Monday July 8th 2024

It was a little more overcast today, which allowed the air conditioning in my RV home to keep up with the above normal heat the area is experiencing. The rain also found this area during the afternoon. It brings the upper nineties temperature down to the eighties at least as long as the rain lasts. This weather pattern is forecast to continue most of the week.

Based on the forecast I didn’t think today would be a very good outside activity day. I needed to pick up a few gallons of drinking water to help keep hydrated. During my last shopping trip to Walmart they were out of water by the gallon. I bought 40 bottles of water instead. Twenty liters of water in half liter bottles seems to go faster than the 5 plus gallon equivalent in gallon jugs.

After driving around for about an hour, I planned to stop at Walmart on my way home. Mother nature had other ideas. The sky opened up with the first shower of the afternoon just as I was approaching the store. I didn’t have the desire to get drown walking from the car to the store or the store to the car, so I’ll have to go back tomorrow. These afternoon storms dump a lot of rain really fast. Parking lots go from dry to a few inches deep in water in the blink of an eye it seems. I still managed to get soaked going the ten feet from my car to my RV home, but at least my feet stayed dry.

My daily walk around the RV park was shorten once again. The second or third round of storms was approaching the area when I set out on my walk. I loop around along one of the nearby camping loops and got inside before the wave of rain arrived. Overall there have been four rounds of rain since mid afternoon. The first one was the only heavy one. A few more are possible overnight.

Sunday July 7th 2024

I knew it was Sunday today and it was a sun day as well. There were very few clouds in the sky today. The sun beat down all day and raised the temperature into the upper nineties. The humidity was extreme, but the feels like temperature was still around 105 degrees. The rain didn’t come to drop the afternoon heat.

With the sun baking in on the roof and sides of my RV home, one roof air conditioner can only keep the inside down to the upper eighties during the peak of the day’s heat. Running the second AC unit brings the temperature down to the low eighties. To really feel cool, I get in the car and go for a drive with the dash vents blasting cold air at me. That was this afternoon’s activity.

As the sun got lower in the sky, walking outside was more comfortable. My walk around the RV resort was longer than yesterday’s abbreviated trek, but still not all the way to Lake Davenport and back. The park didn’t empty out much today. I thought there would be more turnover as the holiday week concluded, but only a few rigs departed and several new ones arrived. The TV news has indicated that this holiday week hasn’t been as busy in the Orlando area as past years. They have expressed all kinds of opinions on the reason from the weather to the economy. My guess it’s a lot of things, but mostly just the natural fluctuation of travel desires. There are lots of places to travel, so you need to go to different places every now and then.

Saturday July 6th 2024

I slept well last night to the point of oversleeping. It was overcast outside hiding the sun when I woke around 8AM. I rolled over and slept for another two hours. The sun didn’t dominate the sky until the warmest part of the day around 4:30PM. The temperature peaked in the mid nineties with the feels like in the low 100s. There was no rain today.

Mid week holidays, even when my actions didn’t acknowledge it, really get my day of the week sense all twisted. Today was Sunday in my head all day. It was only when I opened the computer to compose this blog entry that I was forced to recognize the day as Saturday. I wonder what day I’ll think it is tomorrow.

Today turned into a chores day. I let a few things pile up the last couple of days. One thing you don’t need inside an RV is piles of anything. The vacuum cleaner and a mop still need to find their way into my hands, but not today. A little bit of reading and some actual cooking for dinner filled out the day.

Stepping out of the air conditioned interior of my RV home brought a wave of humidity today. My walk around the RV resort was cut in half based on how quickly my shirt turned from dry to wet. It was about a half route today. I didn’t make it to the lake shore as I intended. Consequently all of the flower blossoms I often take pictures of were not on my route today. I still managed to get one little bunny to pose for a minute or two.

Friday July 5th 2024

This was a bit of a lost day. I didn’t sleep well last night, so I had no energy for activity today and I kept falling asleep. The weather was a repeat of the other days this week. The temperature peaked in the mid nineties with lots of humidity. The forecast threatened rain all afternoon into the evening. We only got a few random rain drops around 6PM.

I pushed my self into one walk around the RV resort later in the day. The clouds were blocking the clouds at the time, so it was a little more comfortable outside. Even so, I didn’t take as long a walk as I usually do. I found myself dragging just visiting with the rabbits. They seem to see me and run away long before I spotted them.

There are a good number of occupied sites in the resort for the long weekend. With more occupancy comes more confusing campers. One site is occupied bu a small class C motorhome and an accompanying car. The strange part is the accompanying car stays parked at the site and they use the motorhome every time they leave the park. Two guesses; The car is broken, or they want the bathroom facilities of the motorhome to be close at hand all the time.

Thursday July 4th 2024

Happy Independence Day United States of America

Today’s weather followed the same pattern as the last couple. The high temperature was in the mid nineties with lots of humidity. Once again the feels like temperature was around 105 degrees. The threat of rain started at mid day and continued all afternoon. I caught some rain to the south of my RV home early in the afternoon, but the threat over my RV home was highest around 6:30. Heavy black clouds were close by to the east and south, but no rain fell on the roof of my RV.

Traffic in this area was terrible today. Every traffic light seemed to take multiple cycles to get through. Thankfully I didn’t need gas today. Gas prices were 40 to 45 cents a gallon higher than the middle of last week. The average price per gallon seemed to be $3.59. I think the price will be back down next week after the holiday period is over.

Last night and again tonight I watched YouTube streams of the holiday fireworks from Disney World. The crowds in the parks are not something I want to deal with. I can here the fireworks if I step outside, but I need the help of a little Internet technology to actually see the shows. For fireworks coordinated with music, lights and a continuity thread you can’t beat the Disney fireworks. Big cities around the country come close with big shells and volume of pyrotechnics come close, but it is a different experience.

Tonight there are fireworks in the sky in the neighborhoods surrounding my RV home. Stepping outside it is possible to see lots of fireworks in and slightly above the tree line. All of the fireworks tents in the various parking lots must have done good business. I’m not used to legal fireworks in residential areas. Living most of my life in the densely populated northeast, setting off fireworks was generally illegal. There were always some set off.

Tuesday July 3rd 2024

Today’s weather was a clone of Monday right down to the threat of storms early that didn’t materialize. The storms held off until 9PM. During the day the temperature climbed into the mid nineties with plenty of humidity and very little wind. The feels like temperature made it to around 105 degrees Fahrenheit.

Tomorrow is a holiday with most everything open, but for some reason I was operating under the theory that stores would be closed until Monday. I went grocery shopping at Walmart and bought more than I usually do. The supply was intended to last until the world reopens. I know this is all wrong, but it does represent my behavior.

Walmart was very busy. The food section looked as busy as the day before Thanksgiving. All of the aisles were full of regular shoppers, Walmart online pickers, and stock people refilling the shelves. In some areas it was very congested. At the checkouts an interesting inversion was happening. The self service lanes had a long line, but all of the “assisted” checkouts were open and many didn’t have any line at all. Given my impression that there was no shopping for a while I spent more on groceries today than I can remember.

Walking around the RV resort this afternoon I spotted more instances of Independence Day decorations. There are more instances of small American flags placed near some of the resort buildings. It is nice that they are decorating, but these little flags look a little strange.

Tuesday July 2nd 2024

I seem to be obsessed with lawn mowing. Over the years I have often commented in this blog about how annoying RV park lawn mowing activity can be. Recently I’ve been commenting on the need or lack there of for a good mowing in this RV park. A couple of days ago, in this blog, I asked when they would get around to mowing the grass in the RV resort. The answer was today.

This morning while I was preparing breakfast I heard the sound of a lawn mower. Sure enough a mower was cutting the grass behind my RV. My breakfast got delayed as I watched the guy mow the grass. Why? I don’t know, but for the next half hour or so I sat in my chair and watched the guy go back and forth across the field. Eventually, I got back to brewing my coffee and baking my muffins. The next thing I know, I was watching the lawn get mowed around my site and between neighboring sites. If the oven bell didn’t go off I might never of gotten back to breakfast. Later in the day a guy with a string trimmer came around to work on the edges near the RVs and what not. Still later a guy with a blower came around to clear the cut grass off the concrete pads.

Today’s fascination with lawn mowing really put an egg beater into my rough plans for the day. The morning was the only part of the day that dry outdoor activities were probable. It was shortly after noon by the time I was ready to leave my RV home and the black clouds were on the horizon. Today’s plans were made up if things I might do, not had to do. Inclement weather has a way of turning might do into some other time do.

As it turns out the rain never fell in this immediate area. The area toward Disney and the area south of here likely got clobbered. At the RV resort I was able to get in my usual walks. I was surprised to see one odd patriotic decoration. Someone, I don’t think it was park staff, put two small American flags along the walkway to one of the bath houses.

Monday July 1st 2024

It is hard to believe that the year 2024 is half over. I spent the first three months traveling around Florida and the second three mostly in one place here in central Florida. The remainder of the year will probably be a mixture of both sitting in one place and traveling on short hops. I really haven’t been making many hard travel plans, just a few nights here and there. This is the lowest level of travel preparedness I’ve had since before the pandemic.

Today was a very nice day. The humidity and chance of rain was much lower than any day in the last two weeks. The sky was blue without many clouds all day and the temperature only climbed slightly north of ninety degrees. There is the possibility of some rain overnight.

Walking around the RV resort today I saw several (4 I think) RVs from California. They are all new arrivals in the last week. Each of them are families with kids judging by the bicycles and other outdoor recreation paraphernalia. One is most likely a family relocating to the area based on the UHaul box trailer in their front yard. I started wondering about how long they have been on the road. It is about 2400 miles from here to Los Angles. At a steady fast, but not rushed, pace of three to four hundred miles a day that would take six to eight days. Most likely, you’d stop often and spend multiple nights in some places. That would stretch things out to close to a month. My quickest and longest relocation was from Florida to Phoenix Arizona in six days. That was a task for a solo driver that I haven’t repeated on other east west or west east trips. The next east west trip from Florida to Albuquerque New Mexico had eight stops over thirteen nights. Slower is always better.

On my second walk of the day, the friendly rabbit and the frighten statue of a rabbit were out and about. The friendly one lets me get within about ten feet before it gets ready to run and stares me down. If I stand still, it will eventually go back to its business of eating. The one I call a statue freezes before I even see it. From about thirty or forty feet away I watch it not moving a muscle. If I look the other way for a couple of seconds, it takes the opportunity to travel like lightening into the brush. They are still fun to watch.

Sunday June 30th 2024

I was expecting a similar weather day today to yesterday. The day began a little brighter, but the clouds moved in quickly and the afternoon rain approached as well. Once the rain began yesterday it continued into the evening. Today the rain stopped around 4:30 and the sky cleared. Soon the clouds were all gone and the temperature and humidity were down.

I spent a lazy day doing a few chores around my RV home and a little bit of touring around the area. Expecting that I wouldn’t get a chance for a walk around the RV resort with my camera, I stopped at the Lowes home improvement store to take a few pictures of the blossoms in the garden center. The pictures in this blog entry are from that stop.

It turned out I was able to get an evening walk around the RV resort in. This was the first full length walk around the park I’ve been able to complete in several days. The changes were subtle. Water from the storms over the last few days accumulated in some of the lower holding areas. The grass throughout the area has turned very green and is getting quite tall. Thursday is the usual lawn mowing day, but it is a holiday this week. I wonder when the grass will get cut.

In general there are more occupied sites than there were a couple of months ago. The extended weekend coming up starting on Thursday the 4th will probably bring more people to the park. A couple of long term residents took their rigs away for a short “vacation”. At least that’s the easy conclusion when you see a site without the RV, but all of the outside paraphernalia still in place.