Author: keelhauler

John Prince County Park

John Prince Park in Lake Worth, FL is a few miles south of West Palm Beach. 
This is a large county park with 300 tightly squeezed campsites. Many sites can be reserved for the entire winter season, those along the lake have a 14 day limit. 
Since we were only staying for 12 days that’s where we had hoped to get a campsite, but no luck they put us in a compact section with almost all French speaking Quebecers.

The campground has 300 sites all with electric and water and some with full sewer hookups. There were several reasons we came here. It is pretty far south so the temperatures are usually near 80oF.

The campground is part of a very large city park right off I-95 that has a beautiful 10 mile long paved bike trail that goes entirely around Lake Osborne.


You can also bike into a gated community around a golf course. It is close to grocery stores and shopping centers as well.

We stayed here for a week 4 years ago but we decided it is too unlike the “Real Florida”. We like wild nature and even though there are Wood Storks, Egrets and Herons along the bike path and lake, it is much too civilized for our taste.

There was even a big festival in the park this weekend, called the Garlic Festival, with carnival rides, entertainment and food like garlic ice cream and donuts. Luckily it was a mile away so we were not bothered by any noise. We did not attend.

We will be here until Valentine’s day this coming Thursday and we head back to the west coast to stay again at WP Franklin Corps of Engineers campground on the Okeechobee River which is a cross FL waterway from West Palm beach to Fort Myers.

Slowly heading North–Back at WP Franklin

North Bound FL Trip Map

The FL map above shows our next four planned camping spots. Yesterday we headed north (only 10 miles to #2 – WP Franklin Corps of Engineers Campground where had stayed last month. We will stay here two weeks before heading North to #3 – Lithia Springs County Park for 5 days and then North to #4 – Silver Lake Park in Withlacoochee State Forest for 4 more days and finally to #5 – Ocean Pond Campground in Osceola National Forest. 

We don’t plan to drive on any interstate highways until be reach NC. We find that the state and local highways have less truck traffic and in the south are in much better condition than our northern roads and therefore much more relaxing to drive.
After Ocean Pond we will begin to check the weather in Cleveland as well as the road conditions for driving through GA, SC, NC, VA, WV & OH. We usually plan to get home about mid March. 

 

Two weeks of warm weather near Fort Meyers

View From Our Campsite #6

We got to our campsite on Valentines day. It is the same campground we were at in January but we got a much nicer campsite. It is under a nice big shade tree , however now we can’t see the sunrise or sunset like we could in our other site#11. At least it is not out in the hot sun and it is more private with a better view. We occasionally see Bald Eagles in the tree directly across the channel.

Because of the hot weather and the windy days we only paddled twice up Telegraph Creek for a 7 mile paddle, but the river was also very low since there has not been much rain. Telegraph Creek can be paddled upstream for about 3 miles or so and there are a lot of birds and a few turtles.

Right before it empties out into the Caloosahatchee River there was always a big alligator hanging out. On the opposite bank was a crazy boxer dog that would bark at us and jump into the water. The alligator usually went in also, I figured maybe that was his strategy to grab the stupid dog while he was preoccupied with barking at us.

We also only biked twice around the neighborhood streets and that was only 9 miles each time. I guess we are either getting lazy, getting old or hate biking in 80o weather.






Early on Friday morning we will head north to Lithia Springs Park. We will do some grocery shopping and get some propane in Arcadia, FL.  

They don’t take reservations and Fridays are usually not a good day to arrive. It is supposed to be a cold weekend so we are hoping there will be a campsite that we can get.

Hot two weeks but now turning colder

Slight Change in Plans

As I feared, when we got to Lithia Springs Park on Friday morning we found there was no available camp sites for the weekend. None of the other Hillsborough County Parks had any sites available. I looked at my maps and figured since it was still early in the day and the weather was finally warming back up, maybe we should take a bike ride and try for a free camp somewhere.

We had never tried the 29 miles long paved Van Fleet State Trail which runs from Polk City a little east of Lakeland, north to SR50. It was easy to get to. The trail is not as busy as the Withlacoochee State Trail and had less walkers. So the bike groups like it because they can run at 20 mph without worrying about running into someone coming around a curve. This trail is absolutely straight with one gentle curve.

We did an 18 mile round trip up and back to the next access parking lot and never passed anyone. The trail was in partial sun and it was a windy day.

Our plan was to then overnight at a Walmart parking lot in Gibsonia north of Lakeland. When we got there the lot was full of signs that said no RV parking. So we kept on going to Zephyrhills where we knew there was a quiet Lowes that we could park.

We had a good night’s sleep but needed to find something to do and where to camp for the next two days. We knew our campsite at Silver Lake was not available until Monday.

We found the Withlacoochee River Park nearby, I called and they said they had an available site but when we got there someone had taken it. He told us no problem the recreational field has 25 empty sites with water and 30 amp hookups but no tables.  It was out in the bright sun on this cool day so it was fine but other that a few short hiking and biking trails there was not much to do so we only stayed overnight on Saturday.
I suggested that we are still very close to the North end of the Van Fleet State Trail so lets go over there around noon on Sunday, and try that end of the trail.


This time we did a 19 mile round trip from Mabel to Bay Lake Trailhead. Being a Sunday we saw more people but it was an easy fast ride on a flat trail. They have toilets at the 4 parking areas and benches or picnic tables at one mile intervals. This end is through a swampy area but was still very scenic.

We had one more night to find a place to stay and we knew there was a Cracker Barrel Restaurant only a couple of miles from Silver Lake Campground where we had reservations for the next 6 nights starting Monday night. We had a nice dinner and stayed in their parking lot for the same price as the last campground charged. Of course it was right next to noisy I-75 but we were tired and slept well.

Early Monday we got our site in the Cypress Glen Camp loop and had another rest day. On Tuesday we will bike the Withlacoochee State Trail to the post office in

Nobleton where we can mail Joan and Meg’s birthday cards. As usual we will miss both their birthdays.

One week at Silver Lake

We arrived early on Monday morning 3/2 and plan to leave early on 3/9. After our 17 mile bike ride on Tuesday we were surprised by the arrival of our friends, Bud & Pat, from Highland Hts, OH. They own the same model Phoenix Cruiser that we do.  They had hoped to spend the winter in FL but a serious illness in their family kept them at home until a few weeks ago. So now they were just heading south while we were heading back north. They plan to camp here at Cypress Glen Campground until Saturday. 

On Wednesday we biked with them on the Good Neighbor Trail to Brooksville, FL like we did last year. It is a 27 mile round trip ride and we stopped for lunch at the Main Street Café in the downtown. They both had new bikes, Pat had an E-Bike so she had no problem keeping up with our tandem bike. You have to peddle to make it go but on the level trails it can go 100 miles before recharging. In fact after we came back they both kept biking for another 10 miles or so. They even took a longer ride on Thursday while we rested and read our Kindle books.

Bud and Pat went biking again on Friday. It got cooler and we planned to paddle down the Withlacoochee River. We were dressed for the cool weather but the 25 mph wind made us turn around. It was still windy Saturday but it was supposed to be warmer on Sunday so we decided to paddle on Sunday and stay here one more night.

It was still cool at noon when we paddled downstream to Hog Island. But on the way back it was warm enough to take off our jackets. The last mile of our 8 mile trip found us going into a strong head wind which took us twice as long to cross the lake which was starting to have whitecaps.

The weather the past week and a half was cool to start and finish. But for most of the week it was again above normal temperatures near Brooksville.

When we leave here Monday we plan to do some shopping in the Ocala area and then drive all the way to Ocean Pond Campground in Osceola National Forest near I-10 in Northern Florida. It is only a 150 mile drive. We hope we can get a campsite there with electrical hookups.

We plan to stay there about 5 days while watching the weather reports for the driving conditions for our 950 mile two day trip back home. 

Wrapping up our winter trip at Ocean Pond Campground

John & Peggy at Cypress Glen

We got a nice early start from Cypress Glen campground at sunrise, 7:30AM on Monday morning. We stopped at Walmart, Aldi’s and Sam’s Club near Ocala then headed north on US-301 to Ocean Pond campground in Osceola National Forest near Lake City, FL. We were hoping to get one of the 19 sites with electrical hookups and we lucked out. When we got there at noon, someone had just pulled out of site 11. These sites are full everyday but usually from Sunday to Thursday if you get here by 10 AM you can get a site. It seems like these sites are always full on the weekends. There are three camps, the second one has water only and the last one in in a nice woods but not water, better for tent campers. On Friday mornings the three camps are usually full for the weekend.

Ocean Pond Campsite 11

We did a short 11 mile bike ride over to Olustee Civil War Battlefield where every February they do a large reenactment. We like this ride since only about 2 miles are on the paved forest road. The remainder of the ride is om narrow hard pack dirt roads. We came back via Cobb Campground a popular boondock area.

On Friday we took our last bike ride of our winter trip, a short 9 mile ride to Hog Pen campground. This is another rustic National Forest campground on Ocean Pond with individual sites and a latrine.

We biked 475 miles on our tandem bike this winter and we canoed about 110 miles.

We enjoy the old roads without all the fast truck traffic and it takes about the same time since it is a shorter distance than I-95. You feel like a tourist from the past with the little motel-cabin strips and roadside attractions along the way.

You need to slow down in a few towns but the traffic is very light and no big interstate accident delays.
We hope that on a Saturday afternoon the traffic through Charlotte, NC won’t be too bad and we plan to get to Mooresville, NC by dinner time and stay overnight at a Walmart.
We plan to leave early on Saturday 3/14 before sunrise. We love US-301 and will take it all the way north though Georgia and pickup US321 in SC and then to Columbia, SC where I-77 starts.

It has been another warm week with no rain and their forecast is for more of the same for another week.

Planning for our 2020-21 Winter Trip-Peggy’s Last Trip

Despite all the problems with Covid in Florida we know we wouldn’t like staying home in another Northeast Ohio winter.

In the past we have taken a flight back for Christmas time to spend time with our large family but we decided that maybe we should stay out of the holiday airport crowds.

So we decided to leave a little later and celebrate with an early Thanksgiving-Christmas holiday with a dinner party with our children, their spouses, and On the left is a trip map where we expect to be from Thanksgiving to Christmas.

Here are the preliminary dates and places we have already made reservation for our entire 2020-21 trip. https://bcpoa.org/JK/Proposed_Schedule_FL_2020-21.pdf

We have chosen all public campgrounds that we are familiar with and are near opportunities to bike or canoe. We like to stay active but I also love to relax in my hammock until I fall asleep reading my Kindle.

Like other years, I will post pictures and tales of what is going on with our trip. I hope if any of our friends end up nearby they will drop into to see us. Please let us know your plans. And if you want to camp, bike or paddle with us remember other than another RV anyone can set up a tent or park a vehicle in our campsites since we don’t drag a car with us, and they allow it.

Still Packing For Our Winter Trip

We  picked up our Motor Home from the storage lot on November 1st. It was good thing we brought our RV home early. I found out that the both battery tray slides had rusted and needed to be replaced. Luckily I had two almost new slides left from my old 2006 Phoenix Cruiser. I had removed the single battery slide-out tray when I went to two batteries. Of course I saved it.  It took a while but I got it done, this time I will lubricate the drawer slides occasionally.

Then last Sunday we had a big storm which took some big trees down on our street, we just lost lots of branches. But we lost power for 48 hours. So for lights, refrigerator and TV we ran an extension cord to our house from the RV. We ran the generator for about 30 hours. We turned it off at night while we were sleeping.

 

On Saturday we had our annual family party at my daughter Joan’s house. We had about 15 people counting all the kids that could make it this year.  Joan & Brian cooked a big Turkey Dinner with all the trimmings to celebrate both Thanksgiving and Christmas. We are not flying home for Christmas like we usually do.

 

 

We hope to leave early Monday morning and hope to make it to near Asheville, NC for the evening. As usual, when we travel. we will park at a big Super Walmart for the evening. On Tuesday we will drive straight through to our friend’s, Greg & Sandy Lewis in SC, home on beautiful Lake Keowee.

Great Drive to South Carolina

We left Home at 7:30 AM on Monday 11/23 and had clear dry weather all the way to Weaverville, NC, about a 550 mile drive. We got to a Walmart  by 4:30 PM and had some leftover Mac & Cheese. After a good nights sleep we left at &:30 AM and got to our fiends Greg & Sandy Lewis by 10AM. The weather was still clear and dry but a cool morning.

Greg loves to cook in their beautiful kitchen and we stayed two nights. We really enjoyed the two dinners he cooked for us.

We had lots of fun remembering old kayaking, hiking, biking and camping trips.

The weather was cool but dry so we took a short hike near his house on a steep trail called the Granite Dome Trail. It was just the right length for Peggy and their two dogs, Asia and Lilly.

 

Peggy enjoyed resting by their fireplace when we returned. Greg & Sandy were great hosts.

We had a heavy rain on Wednesday night but by the time we left on Thanksgiving morning the weather had cleared and temperatures warmed to above 70oF later in the day.

We got to Augusta, GA by noon and drove right to the Savannah River Locks and canal trails.

Two Days Biking in Augusta

 

On Thanksgiving morning we made it to Augusta, GA Savannah Rapids Park at 12 noon. This park has large parking lots and trails to view the river locks and canal.

The gravel/dirt Towpath Trail starts here. Because of last nights rain there were some puddles and soft surface but it was fine.

It’s a scenic trail with walkers and bikers with the river on one side and the canal on the other side. They rent bikes and kayaks here for those who want to paddle canal.

We picked up the paved River Levee Trail and made a 12 mile round trip. It turned out to be a partially cloudy a 75oF day.

 

So we were two turkeys on a tandem

 

 

When we finished we went to a Super Walmart about 7 miles away. Everything in the area was closed for the holiday, the parking lot was totally empty but we still parked on the side away from all traffic noise.

We had some leftover Eggplant Parmigiana for dinner and Peggy read her Kindle while I planned our next day bike trip and route south on Saturday.

On Friday, we started at the same place but added the Lake Olmstead and Mill Village Trail.

It was clear and sunny and it got close to 80o, we haven’t been this warm for a while.

We peddled about 15 1/2 miles, there were a lot more walkers, bikers and kayakers today.

We stopped at Sam’s club on the way back to our quiet campsite and bought a Rotisserie chicken so we could have our Thanksgiving dinner a day late.

They are forecasting a big cool down coming and we expect it will rain overnight and early tomorrow morning.

Our plan is to drive 250 miles to near I-10 in Florida and again overnight at a Walmart. We will leave there on Sunday morning and try to get a campsite at Ocean Pond National Forest Campground which has a limited number of campsites with power, so when a weekend camper leaves we will snag their campsite.