Saturday March 5th 2016

I didn’t have anything planned for today, but hanging around the rig all day was not an option. After breakfast and catching up on my Internet reading, I went to the Post Office to post some mail. Upon leaving the Post Office, I turned left instead of right toward home.

This is an exploration technique I’ve often used. Head out in a general direction, then turn in the direction the traffic seems to be coming from. In this case I knew there was a large lake in the general direction I was heading. I went through swamp land, new housing developments, old housing developments, cattle land and citrus groves. The roads I followed came to several “T” intersections forcing me to make a decision. I always went in the direction the traffic was coming from. If there was no traffic, I went in the direction my car’s compass said was away from my home location.

Some of the citrus groves were being picked.  I don’t know what variety, but the fruit was orange.   I have only seen a few trees that I could identify as being grapefruit and they weren’t in this area.   Most of the trees I’ve seen do not have any visible fruit having already been picked.

I never found the lake, but traveled about 40 miles in a large half circle. I returned to areas I was familiar with in the Lake Wales area about 25 miles south of the RV Resort. It was an enjoyable ride.

I didn’t find anything remarkable on this drive, but in the past I’ve found parks and attractions that I did know about. I’ll continue to use this technique as I travel. I’m not going to get lost as long as I know the major roads that bound an area. Once you reach one of these roads you know where you are located. Of course, my phone has Google Maps as long as I’m in cell phone range which isn’t a problem here in Florida. Cell coverage will be a concern as I move out west later in my Rambling Road trip.

The rest of the day was spent with a little shopping and a lot of television.

Friday March 4th 2016

This afternoon I went to the EPCOT Flower and Garden Festival. It began on Wednesday and runs until May 30th. The park is decorated with flowers and topiaries for the festival. There are also special demonstrations and entertainment.
I went to see the flowers and related displays, but I did have a couple of other adventures. I went on the Mission Space ride. I had never been on this ride before, but based on recommendations I tried the tamer side of this motion simulator ride. In general, I don’t do well on motion simulators. The green side of this ride does not have the severe motions of the orange side. I survived the ride and enjoyed it, but will probably not do it again.
The other adventure was eating supper at the UK Pavilion. I was attacked by a sea gull that thought my fish and chips looked like his dinner. It dived in and garbed the fish right out of my hand. Another bird followed it in to pick up the rest of the fish that dropped on the table. For a few seconds I was surrounded by attacking gulls. Luckily I was just about finished and didn’t get hurt by beaks or wings.
The flower displays in the park are very pretty. It is a big improvement from January when very few flowers were in bloom. Some of the displays, like the floating flower beds haven’t fully bloomed yet and the butterflies in the butterfly house aren’t out of their cocoons yet. I will have to return later in the month to check on progress.
I was at the park in the late afternoon. This is not a good time for taking pictures. The low sun angle washes out many of the colors. It is not always possible to take the picture from a good angle. A trip to the park earlier in the day is in order.
A couple of things that stood out were the beds of purple geraniums and the sheer number of creative topiaries. I’m not sure how long purple geraniums have existed, but this is the first time I’ve ever seen them. They really stand out.

Flowers line the water’s edge with floating gardens in the center

Purple Geraniums. Who knew?

Buzz Lightyear topiary

Daisy Duck Paints the welcome sign.

The entertainment was “The Orchestra starring former members of the ELO”. I didn’t get to the theater in time to get a seat so I only stood to watch the first song. They weren’t playing music that I recognized and didn’t seem to be doing anything interesting on the stage.
I was only at EPCOT for about three hours. I didn’t come prepared for cooler temperatures and once the sunset that’s exactly what we had. An enjoyable outing with more to see on future trips to the park.

Thursday March 3rd 2016

I found another section of the Van Fleet Trail today. I didn’t have the bicycle with me so I walked about 2 miles of the trail. Now that I know where it is, I’ll return with the bike another time. This section is much further north than the other sections I’ve been on. It’s about forty miles from the RV resort.  The trail head is accessed by winding 2 lane roads about 7 miles from the main route.
This section of trail is primarily through heavily forested wet lands. Other than a few groups of fast moving bicyclists that appeared to be practicing for a race, I had the trail to myself.
On all of my adventures on this trail I am look for wildlife. It is easier to spot things walking than on the faster moving bike. Today I wouldn’t have seen most of the birds I took pictures of if I was riding. They were very well hidden. Below are three pairs of photos. One as the camera and eye see the scene and one well cropped to magnify the image. The owl in the first set of pictures called attention to itself by swooping in low over my head before it landed on the branch in the picture.

Owl on branch in the center of the picture.

The owl from previous picture magnified.

Anhinga drying its wings in the middle of this picture

Anhinga from previous picture magnified

The white spec in this picture is probably a Florida Wood Stork

Florida Wood Stork from previous picture

The other major activity for the day was the laundry. This time I had to do two loads since it included the bed sheets. The hardest part of that is putting clean sheets on the bed. I have to pull the mattress forward from the headboard to have easier access. It’s not really difficult just complicated.

Wednesday March 2nd 2016

One of the things I wanted to do this winter was see a few Spring training baseball games. The season began yesterday and today I saw my first game.
I went to see the Atlanta Braves play the Baltimore Orioles in Sarasota. The Braves scored 7 runs in the first inning. One Atlanta prospect, Mallex Smith, had two triples in the inning. Baltimore was playing catch-up from that point forward. The final score was 11 to 4. It was a good game to watch, but was obviously an early spring training game; not very good pitching and lots of players used.

Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota FL

I plan to see more games. Most of the teams are on the west coast of Florida or the extreme south east. Only a few teams are near my location here in Central Florida. I will be traveling to the coast a few more times for games.

Tuesday March 1st 2016

I went back to Disney’s Animal Kingdom today. The goal was to see if the warmer weather brought more animals into view. When I was at the park in January, I had the sense that the number of animals was down. It was a little better today, but I think they have fewer animals on display overall.
I didn’t speed a full day at the park; just the morning. My focus was on the Kilimanjaro Safari ride and the two animal treks. The only other attraction I went to was the It’s Tough to be Bug show.

Pair of Parrots near the entrance to the Animal Kingdom. There used to be a lot more animals in this Oasis area.

Some pictures from the Safari.

Hippos taking the sun. They are usually under water.

Giraffes grabbing some lunch from the tree.

Elephants.

Zebra

Cheetah in bad lighting.

On the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail in didn’t take as many pictures.

Meerkat and friends. Picture taken through glass window.

Male Gorilla

On the Maharajah Jungle Trek I got a good picture of one of the tigers.

Tiger

This is probably my last visit to the Animal Kingdom this winter. I will try to visit again later in the year.

Monday February 29th 2016

It was another great day with temperature in the high 70s. I took a drive down to the Winter Haven Florida area. My goal was to explore some of the lakes in the area.
Winter Haven is the home of Cypress Gardens. This was a theme park from 1936 to 2009. The area is now Legoland Florida a theme park oriented around the theme of the building block. The actual botanical gardens that made up the bulk of the Cypress Gardens park are incorporated into Legoland. This is because the botanical gardens have been protected by conservation easements and public ownership.
I’ve been to the original Cypress Gardens three times or more. My first visit was in the 1960s. It made a strong impression on me as a boy. The gardens with girls in antebellum style gowns and the water ski show are strong memories. I don’t have any desire to cloud those memories with Legoland so my mission was just the area not the place.
I stopped at several lakes in the area looking for walking trails and animal life. Mostly all I found was boat launching areas. Each of these had nice views of the lakes, empty boat trailers, and an occasional fisherman but no significant wildlife. The warm weather and gentle breeze were nice for sitting and enjoying the views.

Florida Turkey

Turkey at the 7-11

The best of the wildlife I saw today was from the car window on the way down to Winter Haven. While stopped at a traffic light waiting to turn onto the busy US 27 a turkey was walking along the grass strip in front of a 7-11 convenience store and gas station. It was a lone bird not a rafter of them. It was wary of the people, so I don’t think it was a common occurrence.
Since I started this blog I’ve been wearing my Canon PowerShot camera on my belt. I was able to pull out the camera and zoom in on the turkey to get a couple of pictures before the light changed. My cell phone would not have been able to capture the picture as well.
Having the camera with me all the time is just one positive example of how writing this blog every night has enhanced my travel life. The biggest value is that needing to find something to write about every night forces me to get out and look for things to do. I think I write about the weather and grocery shopping to much, but it is what it is. I plan to continue the daily blog.

Sunday February 28th 2016

I got a better start to the day today. I got up, ate and got out of the RV. My destination was the trail around Lake Minneola in Clermont about 30 miles up route 27. Sunday morning traffic was not bad compared to a week day.
I found the trail by the lake. It was a very active trail. There were walkers with and without dogs, runners, skate boarders and bicycle riders of all ages. It was a busy multi-use trail around part of the lake. I walked the section along the lake shore. When the path turned inland among the houses I turned around. My guess is I walked three miles or so round trip.
The day of full sunshine in the low 70s with only a gentle breeze were perfect conditions for viewing the lake and the birds around the shore. In the middle of the lake was an array of buoys that broke the water surface into a grid or possibly lanes. It appears to be for some sort of regatta, but I heard one couple speculating it was for aqua-farming. The buoy array can be seen in the background of the picture of the Great Egret landing below.

Great Egret ever alert

Great Egret taking off

Great Egret landing. Note the buoy array in the lake.

This trail is in a residential area. Houses and town homes surround the lake, but there were a few birds in the trees and water along the trail. The most pronounced of the lot were the great egrets, but there were ducks and ibises in the water as well. At one point on my walk I heard a pecking sound. A closer look at a near by tree found a red-bellied woodpecker suspended under a branch digging away for insects.

Red-Bellied Woodpecker

I’m glad I didn’t bring my bicycle. It was far to crowded. If I decide to ride this trail it will be a week day. What would hold me back is the likely hood that there are significant hills leaving the area around the pond.

Saturday February 27th 2016

It was a beautiful day today, but I didn’t leave the RV Park today. I got caught by the schedulers at NBC Universal. I seem to have ended up binge watching the first half season of the new series Blindspot.
The day started with indecision. I didn’t have a real plan for the day. As usual the TV was on for background noise as I search the Internet for details on possible destinations for the day. By noon I still hadn’t gotten in gear to leave the RV when a marathon of Blindspot started on the USA network.
The series premiered on NBC last fall. I had heard the promos and was mildly interested in the premise. A woman found naked in New York’s Time Square completely covered in tattoos. She has no memory of her identity or the origin of the tattoos. The FBI discovers the tattoos are clues to various crimes and government corruption. I wasn’t interested enough last fall to begin watching the series, but I got sucked into today’s marathon.
It is an interesting mystery story with some fun code breaking thrown in for good measure. The plot is complicated with bad good guys and good bad guys plus a little romance thrown in for good measure. The early episodes that deal primarily with following the clues of the tattoos are better than the episodes that get hung up on the subplots. The marathon did serve its purpose, it will get me to watch the new episodes on NBC starting on Monday, but if they don’t go back to solving the mystery of the tattoos as the primary plot mechanism, I won’t watch for long.
During one of the marathon’s slow periods I took a walk around the RV resort. A few more sites are filling up with new arrivals for the month of March. The regulars tell me that it is normal for March to be the busiest. The only complication might be the early date for Easter. Many winter Floridians are expected to head north before Easter which is at the end of the month.  I won’t be heading north until the beginning  of April.
My other accomplishment during the marathon was my planning for the next few days. I found some new places to visit including state parks and bike trails.

Friday February 26th 2016

It was a bring sunshiny cool day in central Florida. The temperature never got out of the 60s. From a northerners perspective it was a beautiful day. The natives were cold.
Today was a day with a lot of driving. When I filled the gas tank this morning, I was serenaded by a lone bird on top of one of the pumps. The acoustics were such that the bird overwhelmed the piped in music and the engine noises. I’m not sure what kind of bird it was or why it was singing. I didn’t see any other birds around that might have been the subject a mating ritual. It was the middle of a busy street area.

Singing Bird on a gas pump

The highlight of the day was lunch with friends at Disney Springs. We ate at Cookes of Dublin. It was a nice day to walk around and observe the things that have changed with other people familiar with the area.
While at the Springs I had the opportunity to get some pictures of the Amphicars in action. They were doing a brisk business today.

Amphicar afloat in the lake

Amphicar coming out of the lake

Looking at the cars in the water you wonder why they don’t sink. The passenger compartment appears to be reasonably water tight and the fat tires add buoyancy, but they only sit a little over a foot above the surface of the water. I would think a good wave from a passing boat or the wind would flood the car. However, according to the “always accurate” wikipedia, Amphicars have survived ocean voyages.

Thursday February 25th 2016

Today I did some reconnaissance. That means I drove around looking at things I might do at some future time. This was a good day to be in the car. It was very windy and not warm in the 60s.
My first destination was Lakeland Fl. I wanted to see what the spring training facility of the Detroit Tigers looked like. Joker Marchant stadium is an older stadium built in 1966. The facility called Tiger Town is being upgraded with a completion date of 2017.
As I drove around the facility I noticed a crowd along the fence for one of the back practice fields. There were players taking batting practice. The spectators lined the outfield fence. Some were using binoculars to watch the action. I’m guessing other watchers expected the players to eventually come out to the outfield. I didn’t see a good place to park, so I kept driving. I may try to see a game toward the end of March.
The other destination that I checked out for future reference was the southern trail head for the Van Fleet Bike Trail. This location is right in Poke City. I had checked it out once before, but this time I had a specific purpose for my visit. I wanted to see if the landscape was anything other than cattle range. The half a mile or so that I walked was through marsh land with spanish moss draped trees. I didn’t see any wild life except for a few small birds.

Moss draped trees lined the trail.

I’m not sure I’ll ride this section of the trail. It doesn’t have anything different than  areas of the trail I’ve already experienced.   I will either have to do the northern end of the trail or find another trail.