KOA, Tallahassee, FL, to Birmingham South Campground, Birmingham, AL: Left this morning at 9:00 but we were soon back in the Central Time Zone, so we gained an hour. Stopped at a Flying J truck stop to fuel up and get something to eat. Continued on I10 which is such a pretty drive around the Tallahassee area—heavily forested rolling hills. Left I10 and took Rt. 231—a limited access four-lane highway—heading north through rural Alabama. Really pretty right now with red buds, dogwoods and azaleas in full bloom. But driving through the growing towns of Dothan and Troy was slow going. We switched north of Troy and Mike drove the rest of the way to Birmingham. We’re at a pretty nice commercial park just south of Birmingham. I was putting the slide out by the electrical box and I heard Mike yell. He apparently wasn’t paying any attention to how close the slide was to the electrical box and the slide hit it. He told me to bring the slide back in, which I did right away. But in all the commotion the cover to the electrical box closed on his finger and cut it pretty badly. It finally stopped bleeding, but I think he should have had some stitches. He’s fine but I’m pretty sick—don’t like the sight of blood. What a wimp. We leave tomorrow for Memphis.

The historic, old Capital building--Tallahassee

the new one is the high-rise behind the original

Clerbrook Golf and RV Resort, Clermont, FL, to KOA just east of Tallahassee, FL: Arrived at the RV dealer this morning by 8:00 and didn’t get out of there until after 12:30. We went to Friendly’s for some breakfast and to kill some time. When they finally put the new leaf spring on and we got out of there, I started out driving heading north on Florida’s Turnpike and then north on I75. The drive on I75 was really pretty with areas of live oaks and Spanish moss and the wild flowers along the highway were beautiful in shades of pinks, reds and yellows. Unfortunately, just south of Ocala we ran into a major traffic jam. Seems that some guy lost control and flipped his car. That took a long time to get through. But it’s a really pretty area of beautiful, large horse farms, so we didn’t mind too much. After driving for 3 hours or so, I pulled off at a rest area and Mike took over. Got off I75 and took I10 heading west. Staying at a KOA just east of Tallahassee. Not even unhooking. 82 up here today. Sure, now that we’re leaving the temps are warming up. Supposed to go down to 42 tonight though.

Bye bye palm trees

Clerbrook Golf and RV Resort, Clermont, Fl: Really cold last night. Stayed inside all morning waiting for it to warm up. When we finally ventured out it wasn’t too bad if you weren’t in the wind. Went for a walk and then sat outside reading for a while. Pork loin roast, southwest style mashed potatoes and vegetable for dinner. Tomorrow morning we have to get up early and get to the RV repair place by 8:00 to get our broken leaf spring replaced. After that we hit the road. Hopefully we’ll get out of there early enough to drive to Tallahassee at least. Low 70s today.

Clerbrook Golf and RV Resort, Clermont, FL: We had scheduled a RV detailing outfit to come in and wash/wax our fifth wheel. They showed up at noon and I left to get my hair cut. They did the best job. They washed it, then put on a cleaning compound and used buffers to rub it in to get the oxidation out. And then they waxed it. Two Mexican guys. They worked their butts off. Cost $450 and Mike gave them each a $20 tip. Hope the owner pays them a decent wage. I walked over to the “post office” here in the park and swapped two of our books for two of theirs. They have a pretty organized library. This is a huge park of over 800 sites. There are a lot of park models and some people in RVs who live here year around. There’s an 18-hole golf course and two pools. For a commercial campground it’s pretty nice. After raining all night, it finally cleared at noon today. Nice day, but really windy. Supposed to go down into the 40s tonight. When will this cold weather end?

Peaches

Clerbrook Golf and RV Resort, Clermont, FL: Cloudy this morning. Supposed to rain. So we headed out to do our laundry. Got that finished and put away and then did the grocery shopping. Went to Friendly’s for a late lunch and as we were coming back it started raining. Got the groceries inside and it really let loose. Lots of lightning and thunder. Spent the rest of the day inside. Played aggravation for a while and then watched TV.

Sunset in the Keys

Clerbrook Golf and RV Resort, Clermont, FL: A really nice day, but we basically did nothing. I couldn’t sleep last night but we should have at least gone for a bike ride. There’s a really nice paved bike path near hear. Mike wanted to (he said) but I just wanted to be a slug today. Took a walk later in the afternoon and then Mike grilled up the chicken breasts that had been marinating all day. Had left-over four-bean salad and a vegetable with it.

Morada Bay--Marathon

Long Point Camping Park, Melbourne Beach, FL, to Clerbrook Golf and RV Resort, Clermont, FL: Left Long Point this morning at about 11:00. Headed north on A1A and then west on Rt. 192. Took us over an hour to get through Melbourne and West Melbourne, but then it was a pretty easy drive through rural Florida on a limited access four-lane highway. Picked up Florida’s Turnpike just outside of Kissimmee and it was only another 20 miles to Clermont. When Mike had the window open I kept hearing a clanging noise of something metal dragging on the ground. When we got to our park we stopped and found out the leaf spring on the driver side of the fifth wheel broke in half. It seems Florida’s Turnpike is in a constant state of repair or modification. We went through a section of really rough road and that must have been the culprit. We have an appointment to see an RV dealer on Wednesday. We went to Ay Jalisco for dinner. When we left this morning there were large, dark threatening looking clouds. But by the time we arrived in Clermont it was sunny and 80. YES!