Floating in Manatee Springs

Monday March 19, 2012
Manatee Springs State Park Site 84

 

 

FRIDAY-very hot for mid March.  88 whew!

I wonder what July will be like.  David goes to get the Velcade shot and then up to Tampa for a CT scan .  He watches NCAA Basketball when he gets back including Duke getting beat in its first game.  We had to laugh.  He’s not sleeping well.  His lower back hurts.  He says it feels like a disc.  Can anything else go wrong?

 

 

Saturday we hang around the site to avoid the last hurrah of the spring breakers.

But there’s really no where to hide.  The nice quiet folks next to us left today and a party moved in with booming bass.  I always wonder why folks come out into the quiet woods or go to the ocean shore and then blare their boom boxes.  Or in this case, car radios.   Do they really think everyone within a mile wants to hear their music??

 

I escape to the grocery store.

 

When I return,  I read Shadow Country aloud while David makes a carrot cake with cashew cream icing.  We have BBQ’d tempeh, oven fries and broccoli for dinner to give us an excuse to eat the cake for dessert.  I wonder, are we eating too many soybeans?

Quiet time is not until 11:00 here but there is no camp host to enforce it anyway so the party rocks on.  I use ear plugs.  David says they won’t stay in his ears. 

 

Sunday they all leave and so do we.

 

We arrive at Manatee Springs for our “vacation” about 5:15.  David is feeling so tired without sleep that the ordeal of packing up, and driving wears him out.  I will do the set up tomorrow.   He is really hoping to just hit the sofa with his feet up and NCAA Basketball on the TV.   But it turns out that for reasons unknown, this park, about 6 miles outside of Chiefland Florida has very limited TV service, almost no Verizon cell service and very sketchy Verizon internet.   We get only ABC which is not carrying any of the tournament unfortunately.  Oh yes and FOX – not a chance.

 

 

 

 

But our site # 84 is lovely.

 

 

 

 

 

Monday morning….

David has slept even worse and so when I see him fall asleep sitting up at the dinette, I slip out of the house and go for a walk around the campground.  I should be running but it makes too much noise for me to get ready and get all the gear – heart rate monitor, running watch, hat, sunglasses.  Or at least that’s my excuse.

 

The campground is just the way I like it, very lightly populated.  We are lucky to have a site that has only one site next to it and lots of open space on the other side and in the back of the site which since we pulled Winnona in for the view, is actually the front for us.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

The duckies and we have a good view.

 

 

 

 

 

I love being out in the early morning before everyone else.

I take the trail to the spring.  The spring is gorgeous.  Natural, the way a spring should be.  I think the state parks of Florida are much smarter than the county in charge of Lithia Springs.   Look at that water, so blue.  And so clear that you can see the rocks with green moss on them in the foreground.  They are actually about 3 feet down through this crystal clear water.  The sun is very harsh making it hard to take pictures.  This place looks pristine.  I wish the entire Earth were still pristine.  Wouldn’t we all be healthier??  And happier??

 

 

I walk to the head and look down the spring run.  You cannot kayak the run until after March 31.  From November 1st to March 31st the manatee have the run all to themselves.   But this year has been so warm I doubt there have been any manatee here since January.   They are all still in the warm rivers.

 

 

I stay for a while, just enjoying the beauty and thinking about how abruptly our life has changed.  How we had no clue.  How we would have started full timing much earlier had we known and not been so afraid that we would not have enough money to do it.  That we should wait for that magical retirement age set by someone else.  I determine not to be sad.  But to come back in the afternoon and swim in this beautiful place.  Submerge myself in its healing waters.

 

And later in the day I take the plunge.

 

 

 

 

The water is 73 degrees and wonderful.  I float with ease.  Looking up at the green leaves, blue sky and white clouds.  What a glorious place.  Spring Equinox is a time of balance.  The days and nights are equal.  I need to balance my cares and joys so that they are at least equal.  Floating in the water relaxes me.  It makes me happy.  I hope David will be able to come in soon.  Perhaps it will rejuvenate him too.

 

 

 

 

 

I float on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and on.  I am a spec in the water, in the universe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am  the water.  I could do this forever.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It restores my soul.   I’ll be here again tomorrow and every day until we leave.  I am so glad we have come here.