Sun, Nov 18:  Lake Manatee SP, Bradenton, FL:  Started out cloudy this morning, then cleared off, then clouded up again.  Sat outside reading for a while.  No snake activity today—at least not yet.  We walked the trail to the lake and sat around watching a heron for a while.  Didn’t see any tortoises either.  Back to our site and had some lunch.  Yesterday we were talking to two couples staying here from Key Largo.  I asked what they were doing here—they live in paradise.  Said they needed a change.  One of the guys was a professional fisherman who had a very sexy accent.  Turns out he’s from Argentina.  Don’t know if he’s a commercial fisherman or a charter boat captain.  They were gone this morning.  Only here for one night.  I’m sure it was in the 80s today.  Left-over steak for dinner tonight. 

Walking the trail to the lake.

Mike's back is bothering him a lot today.

Not sure what this heron is.  Don't think it's a night heron.

Sat, Nov 17:  Lake Manatee SP, Bradenton, FL:   A beautiful day today.  We sat outside reading for a while and then had to run some errands.  Needed to get a propane tank filled and pick up a few things.  Got that out of the way.  Fixed some lunch and sat by the picnic table enjoying lunch and reading my book.  Saw some movement in the palmettos and there was a black snake in the palmetto—hunting I guess.  Then I saw another, smaller snake on the ground.  The bigger snake took off after the smaller snake.  Boy, can they move!  I’m not sure if the bigger snake was looking for something to eat or to mate.  Didn’t think it was mating season yet.  Anyway, back to my book and lunch and more activity in the palmettos behind me.  Creeped me out.  Moved over to my chair under the awning.  When we drove back from our errand run, we saw a tortoise crossing the road.  They’re everywhere in here.  Rattle snakes use their burrows a lot.  Anyway, back inside to watch the Syracuse Orange play Notre Dame.  Go ‘cuse!

Sitting over by the picnic table when I saw the snake in the palmettos.

Retreated over to my chaise under the awning.

Fri, Nov 16:  Lake Pan RV Park, Lake Pan, FL, to Lake Manatee SP in Bradenton, FL:  Left this morning at 11:30.  Only a short drive today, so Mike drove all the way.  Continued south on I75.  Wasn’t long before we hit construction.  But it didn’t last long. It seems there is always construction on I75, but that’s why the road is in such good shape.  Just north of the exit for I4 the traffic came to an abrupt halt.  Figured there was an accident or something.  Nope.  The road crew had some heavy equipment off to one side doing something, and everyone had to slow down to see what was going on.  After that it sped up.  A lot of traffic in both directions.  We got here and were set up by 2:30.  Only 67 here but a beautiful, sunny day.  Supposed to warm back up starting tomorrow.  Here for 7 days. 

Lots of tortoises around here.

Lake Manatee

Thu, Nov 15:  Lake Pan RV Park in Lake Pan, FL:  Well, so much for warm and sultry.  A front came through with lots of rain and today it’s the low 70s out there.  We had to do the laundry today anyway.  A good day for that.  They have brand new washers and dryers in here now.  Wish they would do that in our park.  I’m sure we’ll stay inside the rest of the day.  Tomorrow we leave for Lake Manatee for a week, which is near Sarasota.

El Cap and Half Dome in the smoke.
Yosemite National Park

One of many waterfalls in the park.

Wed, Nov 14:  Lake Pan RV Park in Lake Pan, FL:  Another beautiful, warm, sultry day.  We did the grocery shopping (or Mike did), I got my hair cut, and we went back to The Villages and the Cody Road House for a late lunch.  No wonder people at The Villages have so much fun.  They have a two-for-one happy hour every day, all day.  So I had two glasses of wine instead of one.  Just what I need.  We stuffed ourselves and then back to our site.  Oh, and when we set up yesterday, Mike opened up the control panel on the outside and found the cutest, tiniest little tree frog—with little suction cup feet.  He avoided capture until Mike finally got him and flung him in the grass.  Why did you do that?  Now we’ll probably step on him.  Anyway, a great day today.  84 here.  But a cold front is coming through tomorrow afternoon.  Of course.  The cold seems to be following us. In the meantime, we’ll enjoy the warmth.

The Villages

Tue, Nov 13:  Tallahassee East RV Park, Tallahassee, FL, to Lake Pan RV Park in Lake Pan, FL:  Left this morning at around 9:30 and headed south on 19/27 which is a four-lane, limited-access highway.  Unfortunately, we ran through several cells of heavy rain.  We’ve had so much rain down here this year.  Mike took over just before Chiefland and we got here around 2:00.  Unhooked the truck and got set up and then relaxed for a while.  86 when we got here.  That’s better!  Headed to The Villages and had an early dinner at the Cody Roadhouse and then back to our site.  Here for three days.  And, yes, we’re supposed to get rain tomorrow (sigh).

Love these sculptures at the entrance to the shops in The Villages where the Cody Roadhouse is located.  Depicts the cattle drives back in the 1900s.

 

Mon, Nov 12:  KOA, Milton, FL, to Tallahassee East RV Park, Tallahassee, FL:  Well, the repair guys showed up around noon and had the wiring on the slide fixed by 2:00.  I wanted to pack up and leave right away so we could avoid the storms tomorrow.  Mike didn’t want to because we’d be pulling in after dark.  So, okay mister man.  We’ll leave tomorrow but we’re heading out early.  The alarm was set for 6:00 a.m. but we woke up at 5:30.  I turned on the TV—and surprise, surprise, tornado warnings were out for the Gulf coast—including Milton.  Great!  Forget about leaving now, it was pouring and the winds were picking up.  Tornadoes scare the crap out of me—especially when we’re in an RV.  We hung around until 10:30 and the rain had slowed somewhat so Mike suggested we make a break for it.  Really Mike?  Did you see the radar?  Anyway I went along and we packed up quickly and headed out.  Mike drove all the way.  We did luck out and only encountered light rain most of the way, but the wind was pushing us around a bit.  West of Tallahassee we started seeing some of the devastation from hurricane Michael.  Downed and damaged trees, mangled road signs, billboards down (hate them anyway), and rest areas demolished.  Tallahassee itself didn’t look like it got much damage—at least from what we could see from I10.  We stopped for fuel and picked up a couple of sub sandwiches and continued on.  Arrived here by 2:30.  But it was really 3:30 because we’re now on Eastern time (ugh!).  70s here and we actually saw the sun for about 2 minutes.  We leave tomorrow for Lake Pan. And when we turned on the TV and saw the radar, we realized we really lucked out.  Lots of nasty cells along I10.

Bixby Bridge, Big Sur
California

Big Sur