Thankfully, the weather broke today and while it was still cool, we finally got to see that elusive, hot ball in the sky. So after taking care of our usual morning routine we headed to Fred O. Drake Park at Lake Ella this afternoon for a leisurely stroll.
It seems we have been cooped up in the trailer for a few days thanks to the rainy weather, so being outside was a welcome change. It is still relatively cool here today with high temperatures only reaching 56, which by Michigan standards is warm, but not so much by Florida standards.
The .6-mile walk around Lake Ella was very nice with plenty of birds and interesting plants and trees to look at. I was particularly focused on the Cypress trees (not the California Cypress, I’m familiar with) and their unusual root structure that sticks up out of the ground.
We did the circle more than once and also visited some of the quaint little shops that are housed in former lake cottages. We are trying to find more and more things to do that don’t cost an arm and a leg so taking a free walk around a lake was really nice.
Although the signs around the park warn people not to feed the birds, several people were and it created some disturbance among the winged wildlife as they chased and attacked ducks that had grabbed pieces of bread and food from the tourists.
Also along the walk there was a nice memorial to Vietnam veterans. In addition to a stone marker, the names of Vietnam veterans who were killed in Vietnam or as a result of their service there were engraved on the window of a Huey helicopter as well as on a ground plaque.
There was a man who was playing a guitar at lakeside and singing only to a duck. Kid you not.
We spent about 90-minutes at the park and may go back.
After our afternoon walk we stopped at Walmart to pick up a few things and cash a traveler’s check and then we returned to our campsite about 4:30 p.m. Each day the camp has gotten more and more crowded and mostly with those shiny Airstream trailers arriving. We are thinking there is some kind of gathering that is going to happen.
With the sun to warm us we set up our folding chairs and sat outside and read awhile before we came inside for dinner.
I wanted to give a quick follow-up on our young neighbors who had the electrical problem with their RV. This morning I talked with the young man to see how they were coming and he told me that Camper World told him that they could not even look at his RV for three days and it would likely take 3-5 days for them to order and get in the parts they would need to fix the unit.
The young man is a former police detective sergeant from Maryland who was forced to retire because of a non-duty related back injury. They are, as I suspected, on a very fixed income and he is unable to work right now so they came south to get out of the cold.
Of course we spent some time talking cop shop and I was able to help him store some of his tools and equipment away to save
his back a little pain.
It seems we have been cooped up in the trailer for a few days thanks to the rainy weather, so being outside was a welcome change. It is still relatively cool here today with high temperatures only reaching 56, which by Michigan standards is warm, but not so much by Florida standards.
The .6-mile walk around Lake Ella was very nice with plenty of birds and interesting plants and trees to look at. I was particularly focused on the Cypress trees (not the California Cypress, I’m familiar with) and their unusual root structure that sticks up out of the ground.
We did the circle more than once and also visited some of the quaint little shops that are housed in former lake cottages. We are trying to find more and more things to do that don’t cost an arm and a leg so taking a free walk around a lake was really nice.
Although the signs around the park warn people not to feed the birds, several people were and it created some disturbance among the winged wildlife as they chased and attacked ducks that had grabbed pieces of bread and food from the tourists.
Also along the walk there was a nice memorial to Vietnam veterans. In addition to a stone marker, the names of Vietnam veterans who were killed in Vietnam or as a result of their service there were engraved on the window of a Huey helicopter as well as on a ground plaque.
There was a man who was playing a guitar at lakeside and singing only to a duck. Kid you not.
We spent about 90-minutes at the park and may go back.
After our afternoon walk we stopped at Walmart to pick up a few things and cash a traveler’s check and then we returned to our campsite about 4:30 p.m. Each day the camp has gotten more and more crowded and mostly with those shiny Airstream trailers arriving. We are thinking there is some kind of gathering that is going to happen.
With the sun to warm us we set up our folding chairs and sat outside and read awhile before we came inside for dinner.
I wanted to give a quick follow-up on our young neighbors who had the electrical problem with their RV. This morning I talked with the young man to see how they were coming and he told me that Camper World told him that they could not even look at his RV for three days and it would likely take 3-5 days for them to order and get in the parts they would need to fix the unit.
The young man is a former police detective sergeant from Maryland who was forced to retire because of a non-duty related back injury. They are, as I suspected, on a very fixed income and he is unable to work right now so they came south to get out of the cold.
Of course we spent some time talking cop shop and I was able to help him store some of his tools and equipment away to save
his back a little pain.Because of the RV troubles and now the delay they moved to another less expensive park in Tallahassee this afternoon. I pray that they get the issues with the RV resolved and move on with their trip. The young man said they usually stay in Cracker Barrel or Walmart parking lots to save money, but without electrical and battery service they have been forced to rent space in RV parks, at least for now.
Joan and I were pinching ourselves today on our walk thanking God for all the blessings we have. Neither of us ever imagined that we would be able to escape winter for this length of time. For sure we are not doing it as luxurious as some, but with our trailer we are able to save money by eating in and not having to rent hotel space or condos.
So while we are surrounded by rigs much more lavish than ours we are by no means deprived. Exactly the opposite in fact.
This trip has been a dream-come-true, even with the occasional weather setbacks and we appreciate the wonderful opportunity that we have been given.
Tomorrow we are meeting with an old boss of mine for dinner. One of my all time favorite editors spends his winters down here and we are only about 100 miles apart and will be meeting halfway. I’ll post more about that tomorrow
No comments:
Post a Comment