Wednesday September 11th 2024

There was a little more rain today than yesterday. It still wasn’t heavy rain and it was very scatterd. Overall it was very humid, but the temperature remained in the eighties.

This was an uneventful day. I got a few chores done in the first part of the day. During the second part of the day I managed to get stuck in traffic a couple of times. Most of the traffic was the result of schools getting out. Either I managed to be too close to the school at release time or I managed to get stuck in the traffic waiting for a school bus. It seems kids start getting out around two and continue to get out after four. Traffic seems to remain difficult until well after the end of the business day. Eventually I got to the Amazon Locker I had my purchases shipped to. The nearby locker I used earlier in my stay isn’t accepting deliveries anymore.

The rain kept me from my walk around the RV resort today. A steady light rain fell from around 6PM until after darkness settled in around the park. It has been a few days since I’ve checked out the local wildlife. I miss seeing the birds, squirrels and rabbits. Once again today’s pictures are from the garden center at one of my stops while out and about.

Tuesday September 10th 2024

Today’s weather forecast was similar to Monday with heavy rain possible from mid afternoon trough early everning. Today’s actual heavy rain seemed to be in other areas of the overall region. This area, southwest of Orlando, got lighter very scattered showers. I was in a few of them, but they were over in a couple of minutes.

Looking at the weather radar and based on my vast experience with local weather (NOT) I decided to visit Disney’s International Food and Wine Festival at EPCOT for dinner. It was dry when I arrived at the parking lot, but lightening was visible on the eastern horizon. All of the Disney cast members that usually assist with parking were missing. I assume they were taking cover from the potential weather. Some people didn’t know what to do without being directed how to park. I just found a space and parked. On my walk through the parking lot to the entrance I passed several cars that came in with me still trying to find the perfect place to park.

The rain was holding off as I entered the park. The crowd level seemed to be about normal for an evening visit. Since my primary purpose for visiting, my first stop was at a Food and Wine Kiosk that was selling Shrimp Cocktail. That was my first dinner course. The three large shrimp with cocktail sauce and a grilled lemon half was very good.

On my way to buy my next course it started to rain. I ducked into the Canada circle vision movie to get out of the rain. It has been a long time since I watched the movie. When the movie was over so was the rain. I continued on to the France pavilion to buy my main course from the kiosk. My main course was boeuf bourguignon. It was good, but it is a really small portion.

From France I continued around the World Showcase looking for a good choice for desert. I didn’t find one before it started to rain lightly again. I ducked into a few merchandise shops to stay out of the rain. My enthusiasm for the park was waning with the wet conditions. I headed for my car and home. It stop raining before I got to my car.

Monday September 9th 2024

I’ve written in this blog on too many occasions how I let the threat of rain or other inclement weather control my plans. Today I didn’t. My plans weren’t significant, but they were definitive. I had to get groceries at Walmart.

After the first heavy downpour or rain finished around 3PM, I thought I was safe to go grocery shopping before the rain returned. It was dry during my drive to the store and I safely got from my car to the store without seeing any rain. However, there was another big black cloud on the horizon. Shortly after I began my shopping the roar of rain sounded from the roof of the building. I continued my shopping at a slower pace waiting for the roar on the roof to subside. Eventually it quieted down and I made my way to the checkouts. I assumed the rain was over. Was I ever wrong.

When I emerged from the building all of the shoppers that had exited the building ahead of me were bunched up under the entrance overhang watching rain pour down. I can’t imagine how much worse it was when it was roaring on the roof. I waited with the masses for about five minutes. It looked like it was letting up and I wasn’t parked very far away for a change. I made a “run” for my car. There was more water falling on me than happened in my shower this morning. I was drenched to the bone by the time I had my groceries loaded into the back of my car. It was a soggy drive home where I waited in the car another ten minutes before I took the twenty foot journey into my RV home to wait out the rest of the rain.

I didn’t melt in the rain, but I was very uncomfortable. Today’s experience in the rain tended to validate adjusting my plans all the time to avoid the rain. The rain let up for about an hour before resuming this evening. The cold front that is stationary over the Florida peninsular is directing a lot of rain into the area. The current forecast calls for this type of weather to continue most of the week.

Sunday September 8th 2024

The rain forecast to begin around 1PM actually arrived at 7PM. Its intensity made up for the delay. The storm sat overhead for more than an hour dropping heavy rain with plenty of thunder and lightening. Leading up to the storm the day was mostly cloudy and very humid with a high around ninety degrees.

My activity today was dictated by a very comic book like activity. I woke up around 7AM and monitored a debate between a little voice on my left shoulder with a voice on my right shoulder. Mr left voice was in favor of getting up and going to Sea World after breakfast. The voice on my right was in favor of rolling over and going back to sleep. I don’t think either voice won, but I didn’t wake up again until 8:30AM. The voices were still at it. This time Mr left voice was mad at me for going back to sleep. The debate continued when I woke up at almost 10AM. Obviously the right shoulder voice for sleep won the debate, but my question is did I every really wake up or was I dreaming?

Once I did get the day underway with my breakfast of coffee and cinnamon roll, I drove north to Clermont. I visited a few stores and even bought a couple of things this time around. My real destination was the paths around Lake Minneola for a nice walk along the lake. There were a few more people around than during the week. This is a nice area with several piers out into the lake to observe the activity on the lake.

Back at my RV home I tried to get in a walk, but was scared back into the shelter of my RV home by the dark clouds in the sky. I could have gotten a walk in long before the clouds actually threatened the immediate area. The storm systems were moving very slowly today.

Saturday September 7th 2024

As is normal for a Florida summer day, there was rain in the forecast for the afternoon. I have learned that I should pay no real attention to the forecast. The only rain that fell today was a two minute shower around 8PM. The temperature is starting to show a more fall like tendency. Most of the day was in the high eighties with a brief period in the late afternoon in the low nineties.

One of my ideas for the day was a trip to Sea World. To my way of thinking an idea is less certain than a plan. This morning I was dragging my heels getting the day started. When combined with the uncertain weather my idea about Sea World turned into a maybe tomorrow kind of idea. Instead I took a drive off to the southwest late in the morning.

I drove around a few of the lakes in the Chain of Lakes in the Winter Haven area. The lakes are connected by canals and form a well know recreation area in the state. I was looking for a park with a boat launch area that I visited a few years ago. It was a quiet little area with a set of picnic tables and a beach of sorts. I have tried to find a place that equates to my memories a couple of times before without success. Today was no better. I am beginning to think I made up the memory or should I call it the confusion of age.

Late this afternoon I got in another walk around the RV resort. Today’s walk was longer than my rain abridged walks, but still didn’t stretch all the way to the other side of the park. The park is busier now than it has been for most of the summer. Clearly, some of the winter residents have returned. The other interesting thing I noted was the reduction in RVs from out of state. Most of the RVs have license plates from Florida.

Friday September 6th 2024

I thought today’s weather was going to be very similar to yesterday. The TV weather talkers seemed to confirm that thought during the morning news. The day started cloudy just like yesterday, but that seemed to be the end of the similarity. While the forecast called for rain beginning around 1PM, the sun arrived around noon instead. The showers that were supposed to continue all afternoon and into the evening haven’t started as of 9PM.

Since it looked like rain would interfere with a late afternoon visit to EPCOT once again, I headed for the Disney park in the late morning. I thought the cloudy weather would keep things comfortable during the mid day. It wasn’t long after I arrived that the clouds gave way to full sunshine. The park was more crowded than it was last week before the International Food and Wine Festival began.

My mission for the visit was checking out the festival and selecting one of the food kiosks to buy lunch. After walking around the entire World Showcase I narrowed my choice for lunch down to shrimp cocktail, a grilled lobster tail or fillet minion. I chose the beef. It came with garlic mashed potatoes and mushrooms and was very good. The only downside of the food from the kiosks is the small portion size. These are intended to be tasting size portions with the thought that you would buy from several different kiosks.

The only thing other than walking, eating and taking a few pictures that I did during my visit to EPCOT was listen to the Voices of Liberty singing group at the American Adventure pavilion. Their renditions of folks and patriotic songs are always enjoyable. The wait times for the park rides was long and most of the entertainment started later in the day.

There was a lot of humidity in the air and the direct sunshine make walking around the park uncomfortable. I was under the impression that the sky would cloud up and the rain would begin at a moments notice. Once I completed one loop of the World Showcase and had my lunch I headed for the exit to the parking lot. It wasn’t a long visit, but it was a good one.

The rain finally began around 9:30PM.

Thursday September 5th 2024

It is hard to believe that September is already five days old. Even the weather seems to be more aware of the season than I am. According to the TV weather talkers we are in a fall or winter weather pattern. A low pressure front has been stationary over Central Florida since the weekend. Rain both of the thunderstorm variety and simple rain storms have been more prevalent than usual storms resulting from the summer heating of the day.

Last night it rain lightly most of the night. At least the couple of times I woke up there was the sound of rain on the roof. This morning it was cloudy and gloomy. The forecast called for storms starting before the noon hour followed by another round toward evening. The second set was forecast to be heavy flood inducing rain. The first batch of storms held to plan. I was out running errands when they arrived. I took refuge wandering up and down the aisles of a Home Depot store until the rain let up. The flower blossoms in this blog entry are courtesy of Home Depot’s garden shop. The second set of storms weren’t as prompt nor were they as bad in this area. We have been getting light rain at my RV site, but to the north of here there are flash floods associated with several inches of rain.

I attempted to take advantage of the lull in the rain to visit the International Food and Wine Festival at Disney’s EPCOT, but mother nature had other ideas. The sun was trying to come out overhead and the horizon toward Disney only looked cloudy when I set out. Before I got two miles down the street it was starting to rain and there was a massive black cloud in the area of my destination. I returned to my RV home. The festival runs until November. I have plenty of time.

Over the last few weeks I watched the gradual increase in the amount of Halloween merchandise in the stores. Walmart has had an ever increasing supply since the beginning of August. Now that the back to school push is over, Halloween decorations have taken over the space. In Home Depot today there were all kinds of spooky lawn and porch decorations. The haunting music and creepy pronouncements were very distracting. Probably the most surprising Halloween thing I encountered today was Halloween greeting cards at Target. I guess they expect people to give Halloween cards similar to Christmas cards. The inscriptions didn’t seem to have any focus. Some were threatening Halloween evil and others seemed to be advising the reader to be careful and avoid haunting elements. What’s next?

Wednesday September 4th 2024

The sun didn’t make a big impression today. The morning was the better part of the day with a few gaps in a generally full cloud covered sky. In the afternoon black clouds were always threatening. A few heavy storms and periods of light rain found their way overhead. You really didn’t know what was going to happen next. The only real constant was the humidity. It was thick.

This was a day for errands. Chief among them was getting groceries. I needed a few things to keep my meal selection diverse. Having hot dogs and beans every night just doesn’t cut it. Walmart was not as busy as it has been. I think we are in the “off” season around here. Kids across the nation are back in school limiting the number of vacations ongoing in this area. It is also not time for the majority of the winter residents to return. The stores and the area theme parks seem to be less crowded. From the perspective of someone trying to get things done that’s a good thing. The businesses probably have a different opinion.

At the RV resort I’ve noticed that a few of the people that left their RVs on their sites for the summer have started to return. The slide rooms are back out, the golf carts are uncovered and everything looks a little more alive. The people are still not visible. I imagine they are staying indoors to take advantage of the air conditioning. The number of RVs sitting on sites that are not occupied still out number the ones that have returned, but the return has started.

I managed to get in an abbreviated walk around the RV resort this evening. I didn’t want to chance getting stranded on the other side of the park by a roaming thunderstorm. Tonight the rabbits were out in force. I saw at least eight. The ones that froze when I approached got their picture taken. The ones that I startled were saved the “horror” of getting their picture taken.

Tuesday September 3rd 2024

The rain was forecast to arrive shortly after 1PM. I planned my day accordingly. My intent was to get to Disney’s Animal Kingdom in the morning and depart before the rain arrived. Things went mostly to plan. I got delayed by replies to Emails and didn’t arrive at Animal Kingdom until around 10:30, but the rain also held off until well after 1PM.

The Animal Kingdom wasn’t busy today. The wait time for the Kilimanjaro Safari was only 25 minutes. It is often close to an hour or more. It was my first stop to see the animals. There weren’t too many to see. The low nineties heat had many of the animals hiding in the shade. Very few creatures were out in the savanna. Getting good pictures of the animals was also next to impossible.

In addition to checking out all the animals, I wanted to pickup the latest annual pass holder magnet. Periodically Disney gives annual pass holders magnets with Disney characters on them. The magnets are useful for decorating the rear of your car or maybe your refrigerator. A couple of mine decorate a lamp shade. The rest are in a draw. The magnet this time celebrate the anniversary of the release of the Lion King movie. Pumbaa and Timon are on this magnet.

Once my mission to pick up my magnet was complete, I walked around the park and along the animal trails. Once again the animals were illusive. Animal Kingdom is a very hot park. The trees and other foliage keeps most of the breeze from reaching the ground. It also seems to retain a higher humidity level making it uncomfortable. I was watching the sky for the forecast rain and decided to head home when the sky got a little dark. It was a false indicator, but I didn’t know until I was home.

Monday September 2nd 2024

After my weekend road trip the blog returns to daily form. I traveled 1438 miles from Friday morning to Sunday night. It was for a gathering in North Caroline on Saturday. A drive up Intestate 95 is the easiest way to get there when you consider waiting time at airports and the distance my destination is from the nearest significant airport in Raleigh. I also tried to manage the holiday weekend travel by traveling early on Friday and on Sunday rather than Monday.

The worst part of the drive was in the state of Florida. On the way north I had commuter traffic in the cities of Orlando, Daytona Beach and Jacksonville. The return trip was fine until I got to Florida. The afternoon and evening thunderstorms greeted me. Heavy thunderstorms started as I was leaving Jacksonville. When combined with the heavy traffic it was a very stress filled time. After a brief letup the storms returned in the Daytona Beach area. This one resulted in an accident that backed up traffic for several miles. The next downpour happened as I followed the GPS directions on Interstate 4 through downtown Orlando. I probably should have taken the toll road around the city to the west. Still, I returned to sunny weather once I got closer to home.

Travel on Interstate 95 through Georgia is a breeze. There is a little congestion as the road passes west of Savannah, but the rest is three or more lanes of easy driving. Traffic is not a problem in South Carolina, but the road in the southern half of the state is a problem. It is a combination of concrete and asphalt that is very rough and really needs repair. The northern part of the state has been updated. North Carolina is similarly divided except Interstate 95 in the southern part of the state is under reconstruction. Thankfully, the construction areas were not active on the holiday weekend.

I spent two nights in different hotel rooms. The rooms were nice and the breakfasts were filling, but I don’t sleep well in hotel rooms the first night. Once I got home on Sunday night I slept well and spent a relaxing day today.