Pasco Winter Quarters, Land-o-Lakes, FL, to Manatee Lake, Sarasota, FL:  Didn’t leave this morning until 11:00.  It’s a short drive and I told Mike I could drive the whole way.  I75 was torn up for a few miles, but then it was fine.  Got here and were set up by 1:00.  I even backed into the site, since I was behind the wheel anyway.  Did it perfectly!  Wow!  After setting up we relaxed in the sun reading.  Then went for a short walk.  Mike’s back is bothering him a lot today (sigh).  Poor guy!  Tomorrow we’ll sit around, cook turkey, watch TV and eat!  HBM!

Our site tucked into the trees covered in Spanish moss.

Pasco Winter Quarters, Land-o-Lakes, FL:  Rain was predicted for today, but this morning dawned bright and sunny.  No clouds or fog.  Beautiful day.  We had a bunch of things to take care of before we leave tomorrow.  Took care of that.  Took a walk around the lake and then sat outside enjoying this beautiful day.  Mike was looking forward to going back to Skipper’s Smokehouse in North Tampa.  Had a problem finding the place, but finally got there.  This place was featured on the cable program “Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives”.  Their specialty is gator ribs.  I didn’t even know alligators had ribs.  This is a quirky little place which reminds us of some of the quirky places in Key West.  Mike had his ribs and said they were really good.  I tried them last time, and they actually were very tender and tasty.  Back to our park and relaxed the rest of the evening.  Tomorrow we leave for Lake Manatee which is near Sarasota.

Quirky Skipper's Smokehouse

Mike's gator ribs.

Sandy and Dan....thinking...are they EVER going to leave?

Pasco Winter Quarters, Land-o-Lakes, FL:  Started out cloudy again, but cleared off nicely.  We headed over to Sandy and Dan’s around 1:00.  Mike and Dan went to get the truck washed and when they came back we headed to the Lucky Dill for an early dinner.  Great place!  They also have an awesome bakery and I bought some half-moon cookies and Sandy bought some rolls and split them with us.  Back to their place and watched the movie, “Fargo”.  Played cards for a while after that and then ate the rest of the chocolate cream pie.  Sandy made two batches of bread and gave us half.  We have so much food!  Will freeze the bread.  Tried a piece of the bread with raisins and cranberries which was delicious.   Back to our park and crashed.  Tired.

Pasco Winter Quarters, Land-o-Lakes, FL:  Decided to go to the grocery store late morning to get the fixings for a chocolate cream pie to take to my sister’s for dinner.  Publix was slammed with people getting ready for Thanksgiving I guess.  It took forever.  So, decided to make the pie at Sandy’s.  Went over there around 2:00.  I made my pie and Sandy had beef stroganoff in the slow cooker.  Had a great dinner.  Played cards for a while and watched football.  A day that started out cloudy and cool cleared off and turned into a beautiful day.  Enjoyed sitting out on the lanai.  Came back to our site and watched “The Dust Bowl” by Ken Burns. 

Tracks in the sand--Ft. Pickens, FL

Manatee Springs SP, Chiefland, FL, to Pasco Winter Quarters, Land-o-Lakes, FL:  Rained this morning.  But it stopped by the time we were ready to pack up and leave.  And it was pretty cool—50s.  Pulled out, stopped at the dump station and were out of there by 10:00.  Back on Rt. 19 heading south and stopped at the little town of Inglis for breakfast.  After a great breakfast we continued south on Rt. 19 until just south of Homosassa and continued on the Florida Turnpike.  Luckily, we remembered to affix our Sunpass thingy to the windshield.  Arrived at our park and were set up by 2:00.  Really warm here.  75!

Mon, 11/12/12:

KOA Tallahassee, FL, to Manatee Springs State Park, Chiefland, FL:  Left the KOA this morning at 10:00 and continued east in I10.  It’s such a pretty drive around Tallahassee with the heavily forested rolling hills of northern Florida.  Just east of Tallahassee we dropped south on Rt. 19 which takes you through what old Florida must have been like.  Lots of beautiful live oaks covered in Spanish moss and large horse and cattle ranches.  Through little towns with names like Erido and Ido.  And a few miles before Chiefland is a large property of several hundred acres enclosed in neat white board fencing with two ornate electronic gates.  We’ll be biking by there hopefully in a few days.  We stopped in Perry for something to eat and continued on.  Arrived at Manatee Springs and were set up by 3:00.  Relaxed and enjoyed the peace and quiet of this pretty place.  83 degrees when we pulled in here.

Boardwalk through the cypress forest

Tue, 11/13/12:

Manatee Springs State Park, Chiefland, FL:  After our morning ablutions we walked down to the Suwannee River to see if there were any manatees.  Nary a one.  The spring run is very high, there’s water in the cypress forest, and even the Suwannee River is high.  Met a couple from Ohio who are at an RV park in Old Town.  Great couple.  We talked with them for quite a while.  We all walked down to the spring and watched some scuba divers and then went our separate ways.  Walked back to our site and had some lunch.  Then just relaxed at our site for the rest of the day.  We have new neighbors in a Roadtrek from Maine.  Some deer—a doe and two fawns roamed by.  Mike laid a fire and we enjoyed that until it was time to come in and have dinner.  79 today.

Suwannee River

Wed, 11/14/12:

Manatee Springs State Park, Chiefland, FL:  Today was cloudy all day.  We drove into Chiefland so Mike could drop off a prescription for refill, we picked up some more groceries, and had some breakfast.  Back to the park.  Mike dropped me at the entrance and I walked the rest of the way.  After lunch we walked down to the spring.  There was a small manatee in there, but we couldn’t see him.  Walked back to our site and read for a while.  We had a fire later in the afternoon and our neighbors on the other side of us came over for a while with their boxer, Bo.  Bo loves carrots!  The deer roamed by again as usual.  There must have been 20 or so deer around us last night.

Thu, 11/15/12:

Manatee Springs State Park, Chiefland, FL:  This morning was just plain cold.  Went for a short hike and then back to the spring and the Suwannee River.  There were three or four manatees out there but it was hard to see them because of the angle of the sun—or I should say lack of sun.  There were a couple of scuba divers in the spring.  One of these days we’re going to don our wet suits and snorkel the spring.  Yes, one of these days.  Back to Chiefland for a late lunch.  Our neighbors, Phyllis, Rich, and Bo went to Cedar Key.  We decided not to go this year because it’s cloudy and cool.  But they said the sun was out there.  Oh well.  They came over and enjoyed our fire for a while.  Rich brought over a bunch of wood.  They go back home to St. Augustine tomorrow.

Spring is a little cloudy this year.

Fri, 11/16/12:

Manatee Springs State Park, Chiefland, FL:  Cold and damp this morning.  The weather has been lousy here this year.  Mike had a fire going when I got up.  We bid farewell to our neighbors and headed to Chiefland to do our laundry.  Picked up some burgers after the laundry and brought them back. Stayed inside the rest of the day reading and watching TV.

Phyllis, Bo, and Rich

Bo the bodacious boxer.

Sat, 11/17/12:

Manatee Springs SP, Chiefland, FL, to Pasco Winter Quarters, Land-o-Lakes, FL:  Rained this morning.  But it stopped by the time we were ready to pack up and leave.  And it was pretty cool—50s.  Pulled out, stopped at the dump station and were out of there by 10:00.  Back on Rt. 19 heading south and stopped at the little town of Inglis for breakfast.  After a great breakfast we continued south on Rt. 19 until just south of Homosassa and continued on the Florida Turnpike.  Luckily, we remembered to affix our Sunpass thingy to the windshield.  Arrived at our park and were set up by 2:00.  Really warm here.  75!

Ft. Pickens National Park, Santa Rosa Island, FL, to KOA Tallahassee, FL:  This morning was a little warmer, but really windy and cloudy.  We were going to take the bikes and bike to the other shore batteries not accessible by car.  But neither of us wanted to bike in these conditions. So, we decided to just pack up and head east.  Mike called ahead and the KOA had plenty of sites. So glad we did decide to leave early, because it took us 4 hours to drive to the KOA which is west of Tallahassee. We still have at least a three hour drive tomorrow.  So instead of a long seven-hour drive tomorrow and a long line at the dump station before we were able to get on the road, now we have a leisure three-hour drive and can take our time. Good decision.   

Surf's up on the Gulf.

Blowing sand over the island road.  You can hardly see the residential high rises on the eastern end of the island.  Looks more like a winter scene.

The other night we enjoyed a beautiful sunset over Pensacola Bay.