Friday June 16th 2023

Yesterday’s rain stopped before I went to bed last night. Over two inches of rain fell over about ten hours. Shortly after sunrise this morning another round of rain stated to fall on the roof of my RV home. The day didn’t look to promising at that point, but the rain stopped before 8AM. Around noon the sun was out for a couple of hours. Late in the day the clouds returned and it looked like rain, but it never developed. The temperature peaked around 90 degrees with a lot of humidity.

I finally got back to fully operational power in my RV home today. When I arrived here my inverter/charger wasn’t working. All I could use was the non inverter AC circuits and any use of 12 volts would drain the batteries. I finally got a mobile tech here last week. He was able to get all of the AC circuits to work, but the charger part of the inverter/charger was still broken.

I had two options sending the inverter/charger off to be repaired or buy a new one. The repair option had no real timeline. It would take two or three days to ship it off, two or three days to ship it back, and an unknown amount of time at the repair facility. There was also a chance they couldn’t fix it and there was no warranty on the outcome. A new one was likely more expensive, but it was probably quicker and had a warranty. I went with the new one and it got installed today. Now I have to get used to turning lights on without worrying about turning the battery bank on and then off quickly when I’m done.

The retention pond at the back of the campground has a little more water in it today thanks to the runoff from yesterday’s storms. It is still down from the level it was at when I arrived here three weeks ago. The water birds were more interested in the shore of the pond today.

Thursday June 15th 2023

As the saying goes, it was a dark and stormy day. The sun didn’t make an appearance all day, but at least it stayed dry during the AM hours. In last nights blog I wrote that the storms were remaining north of here. Shortly after I published the blog the sky opened up. It rained hard with a lot of thunder until around midnight. A little more than twelve hours later the rain returned with a vengeance. It has rained at a moderate to heavy rate since then. The wind comes and goes as does the loud rumbling thunder and the lightening. On a positive note, the temperature is down from near ninety to the high sixties.

Since the rain started, I’ve been pretty much in hibernation inside my RV home. I put my noise canceling earbuds in to listen to random YouTube videos and more importantly to mask the noise of the rain on the roof. The alternative is to crank the volume up on the TV so you can hear it above the roar of the rain hitting the roof. The noise canceling earbuds make for a much more relaxing environment.

I only got one walk in today. It was during the late morning after the mowing crew was through in the campground and before the rain started. There didn’t seem to be much turnover in the park today. The staff is getting ready for the Fathers day weekend. Several events are planned.

Wednesday June 14th 2023

The bad weather stayed north of here today. There are tornado watches and warnings just north of the Florida Georgia line. The forecast calls for the storms to be further south into this area tomorrow, but that was what they said yesterday about today. It’s just a wait and see type of forecast. Around here today it was overcast and very humid. The temperature climbed into the upper half of the eighties. Shortly afternoon we were subject to a cloud burst. It was filled with huge rain drops falling heavily for about five minutes.

This was the first morning this week that didn’t start with the sound of a chainsaw. I think that allowed me to get up in a better mood. Breakfast was a slow affair. I lingered over my coffee and bagels for a couple of hours while catching up on my internet reading. That was followed by my first walk of the day. More people departed the campground this morning than I expected, but they were replaced with new residents by the end of the day. I guess there are a lot of travelers passing through.

The cloud burst interrupted and provided me with an excuse to differ my next task. I’ve been ready to do the laundry since I bought laundry detergent on Monday. It just isn’t one of my favorite tasks, so it is easy to procrastinate doing the laundry. There isn’t a lot of competition for the machines during the day, so I’ll be able to get it done in the next couple of days. I cooked a more elaborate mid day meal than usual. I grilled a strip steak and baked a potato for my second and likely last meal of the day.

My second walk of the day was later than usual. Possible to offset for not getting three distinct walks in today, my second walk included two full loops around the perimeter of the campground. The perimeter is lined with park model units. At least half of them are not occupied right now. The residents are away for the summer.

Tuesday June 13th 2023

The summer heat arrived today. The temperature peaked in the low nineties. With the humidity the discomfort level was much higher. This area did not get any thunderstorms, but twenty five miles or so to the north there were severe thunderstorm warnings this evening. The severe weather is forecast to be further south in this zone tomorrow afternoon. Rain is needed. The grass is starting to look dried out and the retention pond at the back of the park has gone down more than a foot in the last couple of weeks. It is becoming a weed filled

The chainsaw noise was back this morning, but I ignored it, rolled over and went back to sleep for a few minutes. This was a chores around the RV kind of day. The biggest task was tracking down the source of a bunch of little tiny ants that have invaded my RV home. It happens from time to time when you park near an ant source. They follow the hoses and cords from the ground into the RV. In the past I’ve seen a parade of ants from the ground toward my RV home. That wasn’t the case today. The source remains a mystery. Inside I hit the ants with a sponge and hot water in food areas and bug spray on the floor. It is also a good excuse to clean things up a bit. Outside I move the various hoses and sprinkle bug killer around the new locations. In really bad locations, I have had to surround the tires and leveling jacks with bug killer as well. Hopefully I’ve dealt with the little pests. I still think I feel them climbing by legs.

On my walks around the campground I was surprised that the park was well occupied. Instead of emptying out in the middle of the week, tonight, the park seems to have a higher occupancy rate than over the weekend. I don’t get it. Is it the start of summer vacation travel? Is it early arrivals for the Fathers Day weekend? Either way there are more walkers, bike riders and generally active people in the park tonight.

Monday June 12th 2023

Today began overcast and cloudy. It was still warm, a little humid and windy. The temperature climbed into the mid eighties. Late in the afternoon around 4PM the sun made an appearance. With direct sunshine the temperature climbed into the low nineties.

The weekend is over so the campground staff was back at work on maintenance tasks this morning. Before I was out of bed they had their chainsaws powered up to work on disposing of the tree remains from last weeks tree service activity. Since I sleep with the windows open for fresh air, it was another rude start to the day. From their prospective the idea is to get the work accomplished before it gets too hot.

I have been putting off grocery shopping since last week. As I hoped, the Walmart wasn’t extremely busy this afternoon. This is a smaller store. The aisles are closer together and the volume of stock on the shelves is lower than the bigger stores. Still, I was able to get most everything I needed. I’ll be in the area of a bigger Walmart next week. Over the weekend I made a detailed grocery shopping list. I don’t usually make a list, but I needed to remember a couple of infrequent purchases. Guess what? I forgot the list. I shopped for all but one item on the list. The simple act of writing the list causes me to remember most of the items on the list. They didn’t have a couple of the items on the list, but I looked for them. I’ll find them at the bigger store next week.

The campground didn’t seem to finish emptying out from the weekend this morning. Most of the RVs that were here on Sunday night were still here tonight. That is different than last week. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights seem to be the low point for occupancy in the park. It will be interesting to see if the pattern holds tomorrow.

Sunday June 11th 2023

It didn’t rain today. The forecast had a twenty percent chance of rain late in the afternoon. All we got was the sound of thunder in the distance, but the sky overhead remained drenched in sunlight. The clear day allowed the temperature to climb to ninety. The next few days have highs forecast in the nineties with a low chance of rain.

Today was a very quiet day in the campground. I got a few chores done, but spent the majority of the day reading. On my walks around the park I didn’t see a lot of activity. All that changed at 7:15 this evening. The power in the park went out. Everything got even quieter. All of the ACs running full blast to keep the inside of the RVs cool went silent. People that haven’t been out of their RVs in days emerge to find out what was going on. People started to communicate with their neighbors if only to say “my power’s out too.” I learned that the RV beside me is occupied even though I haven’t seen anyone outside for the two plus weeks I’ve been here.

For the first half hour of the power outage the park remained very quiet. As people realized it wasn’t going to be a quick, the sound of generators broke the silence. Those folks returned to the solitude of their RVs, but others remained outside in the cooler temperatures of the arriving darkness. Others chose to get in their cars and drive around town in air conditioned comfort while they waited for the power to return. At 9:45 the power and normal activity returned.

Saturday June 10th 2023

The day began partly sunny allowing the temperature to climb into the mid eighties before noon. During the afternoon the clouds increased rapidly and looked and felt like it would rain at any minute. A line of storms formed just to the west of here and moved to the east late in the afternoon. This immediate area lucked out. There was a gap in the line of storms in this area. Only some light rain fell.

My exercise today was a walk along US 301 toward the center of town. There is a nice concrete sidewalk that is set back a good distance from the highway traffic. The campground is located in a gap in the line of retail locations. Right next door is a strip mall with a Tractor Supply, Aldi and a few other stores. North of that are more stores and another strip mall. The area appears a little more lively than it did when I took a similar walk two years ago. New businesses are opening and the ones open have customers. I was a little surprised at the number of businesses that are not open on Saturday afternoon, but that seems to be common in smaller communities.

The campground is filled with weekend activity. Kids are riding bike along the campground roads and folks of all ages are enjoying the pool. Several travelers arrived to today increasing the weekend occupancy a little. I know they are travelers because none of the ones I saw were from Florida or nearby states. One was from California and another from Illinois. There were also two rental motorhomes among the arrivals. I think the rental companies must give out KOA directories with the rental agreement. I always see them in KOAs.

As I’m finishing writing this blog entry I can here another thunderstorm in the distance. My first paragraph in this entry may have jinked me. From my weather radar app it looks like this one won’t miss. Time to close the windows.

Friday June 9th 2023

It was partly cloudy to start the day, but the weather went downhill from there. The temperature climbed to about 90 before the full cloud cover arrived. Shortly after noon the sky to the south started to darken. The first of today’s thunderstorms started to form. It sky got very black to the south and the weather radar showed very intense storms in that area. This area was spared any precipitation or wind. Our turn was around 5PM. A line of storms moved across the area from the west toward the east. This set of storms brought some wind, lightening and about half an hour of rain. Once again this area was spared the worst. According to the TV weather talkers most of the severe storms passed to the north and into the city of Jacksonville and St. Johns county. The good news is all the storms lowered the temperature into the seventies.

The last couple of days the tree service work has provided entertainment. Today the sound of a chainsaw before 9AM caused annoyance. I was awake, but was resisting the urge to get out of bed. The chainsaw noise pushed me into the start of my day. I don’t think the tree service company was back. Instead, I think the campground staff was attacking the logs that were left behind. Later in the day I saw a golf cart pulling a utility trailer filled with logs.

This evening the park is in weekend mode. There is a higher level of occupancy, more kids and a generally higher energy level. Most of the weekend visitors are from Florida or Georgia, but there are a few travelers in the mix as well. This is my second weekend here since memorial day weekend. The level of occupancy has gone down each weekend. I suspect it may be up next weekend since it is Fathers Day weekend.

Wednesday June 7th 2023

The day began with a light rain on the roof of my RV home about 7:30 this morning. There was no wind and it wasn’t heavy enough to come in the open windows, so I rolled over and went back to sleep. An hour later the actual rain was over, but it continued to spit moisture off and on most of the morning. During the afternoon the sun attempted to make an appearance. The temperature peaked in the mid eighties.

The entertainment in the park today was a tree service. They were here to cut down several trees. One tree was clearly almost dead. The others looked healthier, but may have been in poor condition as well. One of the trees was very close to a site with a trailer on it. The bucket truck had its bucket over the trailer to work on the tree. I am very glad that wasn’t my site. They still have work to do picking up the dropped big sections of the trees. Maybe they will be back tomorrow too finish up and possible take more down.

I’ve seen tree work in campgrounds quiet a few times in the course of my Rambling Road Trip. One reason is that the trees need to be kept cut high enough to allow thirteen and fourteen foot clearance motorhomes and fifth wheel trailers to pass under. The park also needs to make sure that old or damaged trees don’t fall on equipment or worst yet people. The most elaborate tree work I have seen in a campground was last February in Fort Wilderness. The staff closed two sites for two nights to provide plenty of time for a service to cut down a tree that was more than three feet in diameter. In addition to bucket trucks one of the tree service workers free climbed part of the tree with spikes and straps. I wasn’t there when the big sections came down, but I bet it made a bit of noise. Everything was cleaned up and gone by the time I returned from the theme parks that night.