Saturday October 15

Today started with rain and end with clouds and wind. In between it was a partly cloudy day in the 80s. Overall a good day to do very little.

As is common for my first day at a new location, today was a slow day focused on getting acclimated to the park and the area. I took a couple of walks around the resort and encountered some of the resident wildlife. There are several bodies of water in the park that birds hang out in and around. Why am I seeing more birds here than earlier in the week at the larger lakes in Lake Lousia State park? There are also a high volume of warning signs about alligators and snakes that would indicate either now or at sometime in the past an alligator or two was in residence. Of course they may have been put up by the parks lawyers when Disney had problems with gators last spring.

Some of the bird residents at the campground

The big trip for the day was to the grocery store. Around noon I went to one of the nearby Walmart Superstores to stock up on meat, bread and a few other essentials. I’ll have to try another one next time. This Walmart appeared older. The aisles were barely wide enough for two shopping carts to pass.

The fun part of the day was this evening. I walked up to Old Town and the Fun Spot Amusement park. Saturday nights at Old Town are for Cruisers. Many antique cars and hot rods were on display along with their proud owners. Several were decorated for the Halloween holiday with skeletons, spiders and other seasonal elements. The cars were getting a lot of attention.

Next door to Old Town at the Fun Spot Amusement area, the go-cart tracks were getting as much attention as the antique cars. There are two fancy go-cart tracks that climb spiral ramps 30 or 40 feet in high then descend on wide sweeping turns. I watched about 8 rounds of rides on the two tracks. Every round had a major crash or traffic jam. The more cautious drivers aren’t moving fast enough to make it up the hills without bogging down. The slow drives get rear ended by the faster go-carts. The collisions are loud, but nobody got hurt. It sure kept the guys manning the ride running up and down the track.

Friday October 14th 2016

It was another mid 80s partly cloudy day with an occasional very brief rain shower. This has been the weather pattern all week. The only difference is it is getting a little more humid and a couple of degrees warmer.

Today was a travel day to the Tropical Palms Resort and Campground on route 192 in Kissimmee FL. This is a big resort with campsites and rental cottages. I’ve stayed here a few times in the past for a couple of nights. This time I’ll be here for two weeks thanks to a good Passport America rate.

Tropical Palms is located behind Old Town and the Fun Spot America amusement park. I visited these attractions a number of times last winter. I’m now in walking distance so I will be over there more than once during my stay here. The down side of the location is the congestion on route 192 every time you leave the park.

I only had about 30 miles to travel today. I tried to take my time getting packed up and into travel mode this morning. My goal was to leave between 12 and 1 so I’d arrive after the 1PM check in time. It is very difficult to complete my travel preparations slowly. I need to keep going at a steady pace so I don’t miss any significant steps. I was ready to go shortly after 10. I took another walk around the campground and watched some more TV to kill time. I moved the RV to the Dump station at noon and took my time dumping the tanks. I was on the road at twelve thirty. Even with heavy traffic I was setup on my new site around 2PM.

Site 749 at Tropical Palms Resort and Campground.

This campground has several groupings of camp sites interspersed with areas of rental cottages. Other campgrounds intermix rental cottages and RV sites. I like this approach better. The cottages are all different colors in a pastel color pallet. Along with plenty of Palm trees, it really gives a tropical look to the area.

The campground is all decorated for Halloween. Events for the holiday are beginning this weekend and ramp up to bigger events at the end of the month. Thankfully, I will have moved on by the time the actual holiday arrives. Rig decorating, haunted houses and trick or treating are not my ideas of a good time.

Thursday October 13th 2016

This afternoon I went east to Disney Springs. This shopping and entertainment center formally known as Downtown Disney has opened a new section called Town Center since I was here last winter. It was about 25 miles through construction and heavy traffic.

Disney Springs is decorated for Halloween.

My first observation is that the road construction on Disney property continues. New bridges and access ramps for Epcot Center Drive inbound from I-4 over Buena Vista Drive are much closer to completion, but I’d guess they have a few months more until they are completed. New road construction has been started over near Hollywood studios. They are building a pedestrian bridge over World Drive. It looks like cast member parking is moving to the other side of the highway.

At Disney Springs my first observation is that the second parking garage called “Lime” to go with the previously finished “Orange” has opened. Between the two garages a massive Disney transportation hub has been opened. The completed landscaping around the bus loading areas looks nothing like the muddy construction site of last winter.

One of many mosquito kiosks.

As you enter the Springs from the parking garage, you’re meet by the first of many opportunities to fight back against the mighty mosquito. Disney has established kiosks with information pamphlets and bug repellent. I’m not sure if this is just PR to help with tourism in light of the Zeka virus or if it has an actual positive impact. I saw 5 or 6 stations at Disney Springs none of which were getting any business.

Remodeling of the Planet Hollywood restaurant into the Hollywood Observatory is almost finished. A brick entry building has been created and the outside has been almost completely wrapped in futuristic gray vinyl or fabric. It closed at the end of last year and is scheduled to reopen in the fall of 2016. It looks like they may keep to the schedule.

The new Hollywood Observatory restaurant looks almost ready to open.

The center section of the globe is ready for its gray wrapper.

The new Town Center section is separated from the Landings section by a river with a blue painted bottom. The river is filled with lamps and multicolored globes. I imagine it looks very nice at night. The shops and restaurants in the Town Center area in brick and stucco buildings are more upscale than the other areas of the Springs.

Water area that separates the Landings from the Town Center section of Disney Springs. The objects in the water are “floating” lamps.

Closeup of one of the lamps in the river.

In the other sections of the park work has begun on updating some of the older venues. The former Fultons Crab House is being changed into The Paddlefish restaurant. It looks like it was stripped to the studs and re-assembled. All of the insulation and interior wall board is currently visible.

The new Paddlefish restaurant under construction.

Tomorrow I’m moving to the Tropical Palms RV resort. This is right in the middle of the action on highway 192. I’ll be able to visit Disney Springs and the other parts of Disney with less travel than today.

Wednesday October 12th 2016

It was a changeable day with the high temperature around 80. One minute it would be sunny and the next it would be raining. It never rained for more than a minute or two just long enough to make you seek cover. One good thing about the rain was a rainbow in the eastern sky late in the afternoon.

Rainbow in the eastern sky.

This morning I took a couple of walks around the park. The campground is located about 3 miles into the park between Dixie Lake and Hammond Lake. Both lakes have fishing piers accessed from the campground area. A couple fishermen were using the Dixie Lake pier this morning, but they hadn’t caught anything.

Shoreline of Dixie Lake.

When I’m out exploring the park, I’m looking for birds, ground animals, even alligators anything animal not human. I’m just not finding any. I hear birds, but they are staying in the trees. My guess is the migratory birds haven’t returned yet and other types of animals are deeper in the woods. This area looks ideal for deer, but I’m not looking at the right time of day.

Dixie Lake with the State Park Cottages on the far bank.

Late in the afternoon, I went out for a drive to check out the area. This is not new territory. I was in this area for four months last winter. The biggest difference is the traffic. The volume of cars on the road in October is significantly less than January. During the winter it seems like every other car has an out of state plate. This time of year very few non Florida registered cars are on the road. I bought groceries on my tour and returned to the campground.

As I’m finishing up writing this blog entry, the sound of fireworks from the nearby theme parks can be heard. The sound really travels a long way, but you’d need to be at altitude to see them.

Tuesday October 11th 2016

It was another cool morning followed by a mid 70s day. Today was a travel day to Lake Louisa State Park in Clermont FL. I got started at about 10AM this morning. This seems to be my natural unhurried departure time. I need to get up earlier to leave before 10 and there is a lot of sitting around to leave later.

Site 10 at Lake Louisa State Park.

The trip south on I-75 was uneventful. Traffic was heavy all the way down. I-75 seems to be much more utilized than I-95 on the eastern side of the state. I arrived at Lake Louisa State Park around 1:30. The campground has many vacancies until the weekend. Many of the sites that are listed as occupied are also empty. The park was evacuated during the hurricane and only re-opened Monday. My guess is many of the evacuees won’t return. Despite the apparent available sites, I was only able to book a site until Friday.

I am still west of Orlando. The majority of the storm damage is east and north of Orlando. The news is still reporting a great number of tree issues and power outages in those areas. One sign that the area is recovering is the resumption of school. The last of the counties to resume regular classes will do so tomorrow. I haven’t seen any signs of hurricane damage in this area.

A little bit of sunshine on a cloudy day.

One of my goals in coming to the state park was to get back into nature. I’ve been staying in RV Resorts to much lately. Most of the time the term RV Resort is a synonym for parking lot or trailer park. So far I’ve walked around the campground and checked out a couple of the fishing docks. With the exception of a couple of lily pads, I haven’t seen anything remarkable. I’ve heard birds, but I haven’t seen any. As far as gators go, I’m satisfied with the warning signs. The real ones can stay wherever they are.

Over the next couple of days I will explore the park. There are a number of hiking and biking trails. With any luck, I’ll see some wildlife. I also need to figure out my next camp site. I’m guessing it will be back in an RV Resort, so I really need to get my nature fix quickly.

Monday October 10th 2016

It’s a good thing I’m heading south, because the temperature in middle Georgia is dropping. This morning it was in the high 40s. When I stopped this afternoon at the Florida Georgia boarder, about 180 miles south, it had reached the mid 70s. The forecast is for another couple of days of cooler than normal temperatures.

Site 1 at the Eagle Roost RV resort.

One of the things that I am missing is the New England fall. This mornings low temperatures were my first real indicator that the season is changing. I haven’t seen any foliage or other traditional northern fall indicators. Curiously, the campground I’m staying at has an artificial Christmas tree decorated with fall objects like pumpkins, dried corn and hay. It was strange to see, but surprisingly decorative and pretty.

I got started this morning at about 10am. The coastal evacuees were all staying at least another day. Savannah and the low country are still not allowing residents to return. I hope they all get home soon and don’t have significant damage.

The drive south on I75 was hectic. The road is in good condition, but the traffic volume was very high. Similar to the north bound stretch, I played hopscotch with the trucks. It gets complicated when you run up on a vehicle going slower than the me or the trucks. Competition for the passing lanes with the trucks requires patience.

The Georgia National Fair grounds were a bustle of activity when I went by in late morning. Cars were backed up on the exit ramp all the way to the parking fields across the highway. I’m glad I didn’t attempt to go to the fair over the weekend. If it’s so busy on a Monday morning, it must have been a real zoo over the weekend.

I’m stopped for the night at the Eagle Roost RV Resort about 5 miles north of the Florida Georgia boarder. It is an older campground with pull through site under trees heavy with Spanish moss. It’s very pretty, but I wouldn’t want to be here in a strong wind.

Sunday October 9th 2016

A front went through overnight cooling the temperatures down. It was in the low 60s to start the day. The temperature topped out in the 80s with lots of sunshine.

I finally got motivated to do some touring in the area. Today I drove south about 50 miles to Robins Air Force Base and the Museum of Aviation. This is the third museum of military equipment I’ve visited in a little more than a week. While I always enjoy these museums, it probably would be more enjoyable if I spread out the visits a little more.

The Museum of Aviation has aircraft and exhibits in four buildings and the surrounding grounds. The outdoor displays are the bigger aircraft and a few smaller ones waiting for restoration. One of the buildings has some restoration work on a B-17 and other aircraft taking place in between other exhibits.

Robins AFB has been a logistics and maintenance facility since it was first built during World War II. The Museum of Aviation is influenced by that history. Many of the displays show aircraft being serviced with various internal parts visible. Test equipment and support devices like power carts and bomb trailers get featured prominently in the exhibits. It provides a unique flavor to the museum’s narrative.

A B-1B Lancer in front of the main entrance sets the stage for the exhibits to follow

A-10A Thunderbolt II often called the Warthog

Main entrance hall of the Eagle building as seen from the second level. The F-15A Eagle dominates the hall. Note the open panel at the front showing inner mechanisms. This is one of the common characteristics of many of the exhibits.

B-52D Stratofortress on display outside. This is the second B-52 I’ve seen on display. The first was last Sunday at the Battleship Alabama park.

C-124C Globemaster II transport used from 1950 until the mid 1970s.

B-29B Superfortress squeezed into the Scott hanger.

F-16A Falcon in Thunderbird paint scheme.

F-111E Ardvark fighter bomber

SR-71A Blackbird high altitude observation plane.

Tomorrow I plan to leave  Middle Georgia in the direction of Florida.  I may stop for an additional night in Georgia.  I’m not in any rush.  There are still many people evacuated from the coastal communities.

Saturday October 8th 2016

It was a sunny day in the high 80s with lots of wind. Despite my intent to get out and see the area today, I spent the day at my RV home.

Since I bought groceries yesterday, I had plenty of goodies to go with my morning coffee. I enjoyed a cinnamon roll with a couple of cups of coffee for breakfast. Slowly sipping coffee, catching up on my Internet reading and watching various things on TV had the morning over in no time. Switching gears and getting out of the campground didn’t happen. I spent the day watching college football games in tropical storm level rain. Something about the added dimension of bad weather makes the games more entertaining.

Avian residents of the park

On my late afternoon walk around the campground I noticed that a few of the evacuees have departed. I hope they are successful getting home and finding everything in good condition. Most of the people in this park have evacuated from the Savannah GA area or the South Carolina low country just to the north of Savannah.

The geese are getting fed.

The TV news reports that many areas of Savannah are still closed as they work to make it safe. Tybee Island the barrier island between Savannah and the Atlantic may not be accessible for a couple of days. The Hilton Head Island area just to the north of Savannah is still evacuated. The Beaufort SC area a little further north is still reported to have many flooded areas. All of these locations are significant to some of my neighbors. They are anxious for detailed damage reports and to get home.

Based on the checking I’ve done on the Internet, my plans for the rest of the month should be OK if I stay away from the coast. The Orlando area of Florida is recovering quickly from the down trees and power lines they experienced. Even the Florida coast from Titusville south should recover relatively quickly. From there north it sounds like there is significant damage to roads and infrastructure that will take time to fix.

Friday October 7th 2016

It was a cloudy and relatively cool day in middle Georgia with an occasional brief shower. For the second day in a row, I got caught up watching the hurricane Matthew coverage on TV.

Luckily the storm has stayed off shore so the extent of the damage has been less than feared. Watching the reports from areas I am familiar with and listening to the speculation on damage had a strange attraction. I think I was subconsciously hunkered down waiting for the storm to pass rather than being active 250 to 400 miles from the storms location off the Florida coast.

Safari field sites at the Forsyth KOA.

All of the damage reports and power outage reports have led me to the conclusion that I need to stay away from the Atlantic coast for the next couple of weeks at a minimum. I had originally planned to finish up in the Jacksonville area then move on to Orlando for the EPCOT Food and Wine Festival. Reversing that plan will allow the Jacksonville area time to get cleaned up. The down side is that it will involve more travel miles. I have reservations in the Fort Myers area in the middle of November. It appears I am destine to crisscross the state of Florida several times this fall/winter.

Late this afternoon I pulled myself away from the TV and the computer to make a run for groceries. I was down to the last leftovers or frozen dinners for meals. The Super Walmart at the next Interstate exit fit the replenishment requirement. I now have enough food for a few more days should I decide to continue to watch TV instead of exploring the area.

My current plan is to get out and see the area over the next couple of days. The aviation museum at Robins AFB is a few miles the other side of Macon and the Georgia National Fair is just a little further down the road. If I hadn’t been to two aviation museums in the last week, I’d be rushing to Robins AFB, but I’m a little bit in overload mode. As for the Fair, it has been a long time since I’ve been to one. So maybe …

Thursday October 6th 2016

The day started cloudy and cool. My energy level was similarly low. By afternoon the sun was out and the temperature reached the low 80s, but my enthusiasm for activity never recovered.

Pond at the Forsyth KOA.

This area of middle Georgia, as it is known, received more evacuees today. Interstate 16 that connects Savannah with Macon GA had the east bound lanes reversed for the first 100 miles. This doubles the number of cars the road can support. My location just a little north of Macon felt the impact of all the traffic. Interstate 75 in front of the campground had completely stopped traffic this afternoon when I started to head out for groceries. I returned to my RV home until tomorrow.

I spent most of the day keeping track of Hurricane Matthew on the TV. DirecTV has created a special channel that rotates between the storm coverage of a number of different TV stations from Fort Lauderdale FL north to Charleston SC. It’s interesting to see the live shots of the storm preparation and the early parts of the storm. All of the TV stations are focused on getting people to obey the evacuation orders. Several Florida stations delivered similar stories about the expected storm surge followed by interviews with someone who is going to ignore the risk and stay on the barrier island. If the waters going to be over your head, why wouldn’t you leave?

The Orlando TV station reported that all of the Theme parks closed at 5PM and will remain closed tomorrow. Disney also evacuated the Fort Wilderness Campground yesterday. There is great concern that RVs, mobile homes and other manufactured housing will not survive hurricane force winds. The Orlando area has shelters setup primarily for residents of mobile home parks. I’m happy to be in middle Georgia away from all the action.

If this storm does as much damage as they are talking about, I don’t know how soon I’ll get back to Florida. I may need to make some new plans over the weekend as the nature of the storm damage becomes clear.