Thursday March 14th 2024

I like staying at Lake Manatee State Park because of its location near Bradenton Florida. When I first stayed here in 2016 the area along state route 64 east of Interstate 75 wasn’t as built up as it is today. The second half of the eight mile stretch of road was mostly dedicated to agriculture. The section of road now has two traffic circles, new gas stations, a Publix Supermarket and new housing developments. The last mile or so of road leading to the state park entrance used to be cultivated fields on both sides. Today it is under development as town homes and tightly packed housing.

All of the development diminishes the value of staying at this park. While it has plenty of trails, they aren’t filled with interesting wildlife and vegetation. It doesn’t make multiple walks along the same trail that enjoyable. The value of this state park is its proximity to other recreation opportunities. The increased development and resulting traffic congestion makes visiting those locations more difficult.

Today I was heading for Robinson Preserve. It is located west of downtown Bradenton along the south shore of the mouth of Tampa Bay where the Manatee River empties into the bay and gulf. It contains trails and salt marsh waterways. To get there from here it is necessary to go through the middle of the downtown Bradenton. It is always a slow drive filled with traffic. Today I didn’t even make it to the middle of downtown. Traffic was backed up beyond my tolerance level. I gave up after spending twenty minutes to go the equivalent of five minute in normal traffic. There was probably an accident, but it might just be spring break visitor traffic. I stopped at Tom Bennett park on my way back to get some exercise and my wildlife fix.

Wednesday March 13th 2024

The temperature is gradually increasing every day this week. The humidity is a little higher today and the wind is little calmer. The result is a high temperature in the upper seventies. Tommorrow is forecast to be in the eighties and Friday may reach ninety.

Today turn out to be a bust in terms of accomplishments, but I had a fun day walking around Lake Manatee State Park on the various trails. I took a few pictures of the foliage and a few small animals.

Tuesday March 12th 2024

Today’s weather was a repeat of Monday’s with probably a little bit of an increase in the high temperature. The temperature peaked in the mid seventies.

This is one of the spring break tourist weeks. The local schools aren’t out this week, but there are enough northern schools taking a break this week to add to the local population. The local public schools in this area are out next week as are other northern schools. The bottom line is an increase in traffic on the roads. Much of the traffic is made up of cars with out of state license plates.

Heavy traffic isn’t that unusual, but the quality of the driving is impacted by all the out of area drivers. Invariably someone is in the left lane when they need to right or in the right for a left turn. How they react is always a guess. Some will almost stop in the middle of the road until they can cross the lanes of traffic. Others will cut quickly between cars at high speed forcing everyone else to slow or swerve as necessary. Very few accept their mistake and continue on until they can recover by reversing direction or complete a detour. It is a dilemma.

While I was out today, I saw examples of all of these maneuvers. I didn’t see any of these events result in an accident, but I did pass one fender bender with police presence. You really have to consider the need verses the risk when you decide to go out on the roads. It also takes forever to go a short distance. The eight miles from the state park back to Interstate 75 takes twenty minutes or more if the traffic lights cooperate.

Monday March 11th 2024

Summer isn’t quite here yet. Last night I had to put another blanket on the bed. Starting with this stop on Friday I didn’t add an extra blanket to the bed. Luckily I hadn’t stored the blanket away. It was still readily accessible, but I did have to get out of bed at 3AM. Today’s high temperature was lower than normal. The temperature peaked in the low to mid seventies.

I was awake an hour later than normal this morning according to the daylight savings time clock. It seemed to set a very laid back mood for the day. I did a few chores around my RV home and took a couple of walks around the state park. The day use area and the boat launch were quiet again. The activity level was low enough that a gofer tortoise and a rabbit were comfortable enough to venture out in the open. They even posed for a picture or two.

Sunday March 10th 2024

The transition from standard to daylight savings time always leads to a confusing day. This transition was compounded by the sound of rain on the roof in the middle of the night. I really wasn’t ready to get up when morning arrived earlier than anticipated. All day long I was not able to guess the time as accurately during the day and this evening the added hour before sunset really caused more uncertainty. At least it was a nice weather day. Last nights rain took some of the humidity and heat away. It was a nice sunny day with the high temperature in the seventies.

The state park was a lot more active today. The weekenders seemed to be in a hurry getting out this morning. When I stepped outside around 10:30 all of my neighbors had departed. It was not long before new RVs were arriving to replace the ones who departed. The new arrivals seemed to be more active than the weekend residents. A lot more people were out walking and riding bicycles. Even the day use area was getting more use today. There were several families enjoying picnic style celebrations. At the boat launch area there were people fishing from the dock along with half a dozen empty boat trailers in the parking lot. Overall, there was several times more activity in the park than Saturday.

While I was out checking changes to the local area, I stopped at Tom Bennett County Park again. Today I spotted an alligator staking out the passing wildlife from the safety of a culvert entrance. At least that was my first impression. On closer inspection I noticed several young alligators swimming out in front of the adult. I’m not sure of alligator parenting techniques, but maybe mom was letting the kids play.

Saturday March 9th 2024

The power went out in the campground at 10PM last night. Under normal circumstances that would mean go to bed early. Unfortunately the inside of my RV home was still filled with the warmth of the day. I was going to turn the AC on to bring the temperature down from the mid eighties into the comfortable sleeping range, but with the power out that was not going to happen. While I tried to sleep, I was still awake when the power came back on at 12:40. Lesson learned; don’t let it get too hot inside for sleeping.

Today was also a hot day. In some locations in the area it was the warmest day since last fall. Here it was very humid with the high in the upper eighties. There was also a strong wind that mitigated the heat somewhat. Beyond anything else, for me it was the sudden onset of the hot and humid temperature. I’ve been living with Florida winter temperatures for the most part since December. These temperatures are nothing compared to what is to come as the seasons progress.

This was a finish setup, settle in and get reacquainted kind of day. The state park seemed to be very sleep today. I didn’t see many people out walking. The day use area didn’t have any activity and the boat launch only had a couple of empty boat trailers in the parking lot. Walking around the campground there were a couple of empty sites, but the park is labeled as full. Several of the sites are clearly occupied by spring breakers. They are young people sleeping in multiple tents on the site. I think I heard some of them celebrating the restoration of electricity last night.

I made a provisioning run to Walmart this afternoon. Following the pattern I established in December while I was here, I made a stop at Tom Bennett County Park to visit with the birds and other wildlife. The water level was quite a bit higher than it was in December. The stumps and logs the turtles used for taking the sun in December were underwater today. This park seemed sleep too. The number of other people walking the trails or playing Disc Golf was much less than I anticipated. The strong wind probably explains the lack of Disc Golf players, but what was the birds excuse for not being around the ponds.

Friday March 8th 2024

Today was another warm day and I was traveling south. It was even warmer and more humid at my destination. I had to setup camp in temperatures in the high eighties.

I pulled out of my site at Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park around 10:30 this morning, but I had lots to do before I departed the park. My first stop was at the dumping station. It is only a little above the functional level of quality requiring careful navigation on a dirt surface near the dumpsters. Once the tanks were dumped, I had to meet up with my car that I prepositioned in the overflow parking lot. There is much more room to maneuver in the overflow parking lot than along the narrow park roads.

My first stop was at the Mobil gas station near the interstate. As often happens the gas was ten cents higher today than when I scouted the location on Thursday. Adding to my frustration was the speed of the pumps. I had to wait for a pickup truck to fill up before I reached the pump. It seemed to be taking forever. Once I started filling the reason became clear. I timed the pump at 3 gallons per minute. To fill my tank I needed fifty or more gallons. When the pump clicked off at the credit authorization level of $175, I gave up with about 47 gallons of gas. It seemed like I’d been there for hours. Checking the time as I departed the station it was 11:47am. About three hours later I pulled into Lake Manatee State Park in Bradenton Florida.

The journey was about 150 miles south along Interstate 75 with another fifteen or so miles getting to and from the highway. Traffic was very heavy, but fast moving most of the time. I passed several fender bender style accidents that slowed the speed down to a jogging pace, but never really stopped. The longest period of very slow traffic was near the end of my Interstate 75 journey. The new bridge construction over the Manatee River had all lanes in both directions backed up. The drive took a lot of attention and anticipation.

I was last at Lake Manatee State Park in December. This time I’m in a new site. It is bigger than I expected. That made parking more difficult. I couldn’t decide where on the site I wanted to situate my RV home. I was setup by 3:30 and trying to cool off.

Thursday March 7th 2024

The bright sun with very little breeze allowed today’s high temperature to reach the eighty degree mark. An increased humidity level made it feel a little uncomfortable. It is time to switch back to warm weather clothes.

This was my last full day at Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park. I am at the end of my two week limit, but I wouldn’t mind a longer stay. This park has the right mix of hiking opportunities and proximity to services in Gainesville. I am leaving several things on my to do list for my next visit. I didn’t get to the end of the Cones Dike Trail out onto the prairie despite trying three times. The other miss on this visit that probably wont be around on my next visit is seeing the Bald Eagles on their nest. I caught a brief glance of an eagle early in my visit, but even though I checked just about every day, I didn’t get to see either bird again. They supposedly had at least one chick.

Today I got in two walks to the day use area on Lake Wauburg, one drive to the observation tower on the prairie and a visit to the prairie viewing boardwalk off US 441. Lake Wauburg has been quiet all week. Last week there were sailboats or other water craft on the lake whenever the sun was out. This week the University of Florida is on spring break. The UF facility on the far side of the lake may be closed or the students that use it are just gone for the break. There continue to be lots of people fishing from the pier on this side of the lake.

I have about one hundred and seventy miles to travel tomorrow. I’m heading back to the Bradenton Florida area for two weeks followed by another two in the Sarasota area. My plan is to be on the road by ten or eleven. I have to buy gas before I go very far, but then it is a straight run south on Interstate 75.

Wednesday March 6th 2024

The rain ended around midnight in this area. The line of storms from northeast to southwest moved across the Florida peninsular from west to east. It was very noisy with thunder and the sound of the heavy rain on my roof while the storms moved through the area. Today started overcast and got lighter as the day went by. At sunset the sky was mostly clear, but the wind was blowing hard out of the west to southwest. The temperature peaked in the upper seventies.

While I was in the Ocala area today I made a return visit to the Ocala Wetland Recharge Park. I discovered this park in the summer of 2021 and have returned a number of times since. It is a park area that is design to collect run off from the area and allow the water to sink into the earth to recharge the underground aquifer. My last visit was late last summer.

Since my last visit a pavilion area has been constructed in the park and the new apartments next door to the park have been largely completed. The recharge park is made up of several cells or ponds that water is cycled through. One of the cells has failed since my last visit. It is mostly dry and a large sink hole exists in the middle of the pond area. I guess a little too much water found its way to the aquifer and took the soil with it.

The rest of the park seems to be the same as I remember it. Water birds, turtles and plenty of color flowers could be spotted all around the park. Surprisingly, there were not a lot of people walking the paths in the park. I was pretty much alone for the hour or so I was there.

Tuesday March 5th 2024

I wonder when I started to fear melting in the rain. The prospect of rain seems to be controlling my plans. Most of the activities I look forward to each day are outdoor activities. Here at Paynes Prairie State park it is the walks along the trails and my visits to the observation tower along the prairie. These would be miserable in a full blown rain shower, but taking a chance on the conditions shouldn’t be feared. I need to remember that I own a couple of rain jackets.

Today the forecast of rain played havoc with my plans. This morning the forecast called for the rain to begin late in the afternoon near evening. I headed out on my first walk shortly after midday. Paths were dry and I didn’t feel any rain, but it sounded like rain in the trees. When I got out into the open of the parking lot at the day use area, it still didn’t feel like rain. I checked the weather app and radar on my cell phone only to find that it thought I was getting rained on too. My only guess is that it was light and high altitude rain. Not checking the app before going outdoors saved me this time. I also got a drive to the visitors center to climb the observation tower in before any real rain fell. Another view of the wild horses was my reward.

The real rain finally arrived around 5PM. It is forecast to continue off and on until noon tomorrow. Sometimes it will be heavy rain and others light. It managed to keep me inside for my second walk of the day to the day use area. Now I’m planning rainy day activities for tomorrow morning. Any bets if it actually rains?

The campground got quieter today. The guy on the site three away departed this morning. He has one of those voices that carries way too far. I heard many one sided conversations. His voice was loud and clear as day, but the person he was talking with was completely silent. One of the things I enjoy about state parks like this is the quiet. Even when it gets noisy it is usually the sound of fun like kids playing. This guys voice was just something else.