Back to Lithia; On to Highlands

Monday January 21, 2013
Site 97 Highlands Hammock State Park
Sebring, Florida

 

 

We are getting very familiar with the Lazy Days’ service waiting room.

 

 

 

Saturday makes our 3rd day in the Lazy Days waiting room.  At this point we’ve staked out a sofa where we read/use the computers and nap.   Today we also take a walk around the sales lots and look at a many coaches which is surprising because the map of Lazy Days areas at the Tampa RV Show would lead me to believe they have all their inventory there.  Not so.   All of the rigs are unlocked and available to go in.  So we went through the 2013 Tiffins and the Winnebagos, looked at all the used class A’s from 1999 to 2012, enjoyed the “Little Guy” and this unusual camper that we’d never seen before.  It is set up out in front of the main entrance to the sales building.

 

 

The beds are actually very comfy.  Yes I get in and try them out.
I think seriously about taking a nap here instead of inside in the waiting room.

 

 

 

Clearly not a full timing rig.  :-)  
But still very inexpensive and utilitarian.  Look at all it can do.

 

 

It is a lot easier walking around and looking at rigs here than at the Tampa RV Show.  And there seem to be no end to them.  You can get in quite a few miles walking.

Thankfully, Friday night turns out to be our second and last night at the All Light All Night Motel.

 

 

Later Saturday afternoon we are finally released.

  David looks over the work and is pleased about some and not pleased about others.  In order to be released, you must pay the bill and give the paid slip to the gate attendant or he won’t let you out. 

After this bill  it’s gas and groceries only for a long time.  I never expected to be glad that Florida requires you to pay for reservations when you make them even if it is 11 months in advance.  Other than spots without reservations like Lithia Springs and Big Cypress, we are paid up through March.  So we may be able to seriously tighten our belts.

 

We manage to get back to Lithia Springs before the 6:00 locking of the gate.  We had left a few things on the site so it would look occupied and for reasons unknown someone wanted one of our 4 jack blocks.  David had left them as his “landing pad” in place when we went to Lazy Days on Thursday thinking we would be back that night. 

We had not uncommon different thoughts  about what we should leave.  David on the side of “nobody will take anything” and me on the side of “pack it all up just in case”.   We went with his strategy.  Small loss but an inconvenience.  

David had made the blocks out of lumber from the farm.  We had two large and three small.   Why someone would want to walk off with a block with a marine rope handle is beyond us.  We’d also left the kayaks and bikes locked up.  Our water hose was there and the herbs were on the table.  Wish I had thought to take a picture of the remaining large block.  They really are quite clever.  But both times I was working on this blog, it was under the coach.

We have a wonderful quiet DARK night on Saturday.  Perfect sleeping except for the pesky cough.  I am trying all suggested remedies with no results so far.

 

 

We spend Sunday outside enjoying the park on our only day to actually be here. 

We were here a great deal of winter, spring and early summer last year and no doubt we’ll be back next year at some point.  It’s our park of choice for relatively short terms stays in the Moffitt area.  Especially site 40.   Its only draw back is the insane number of speed bumps.  Seriously excessive.

 

We take a walk around the park and find the spring deserted and only one egret enjoying the spring run.  The water is a gorgeous aqua marine blue.  It disappears into the brown waters of the Alafia River just at the bottom of the spring run.  There is actually almost a line between them.

 

 

The Blue Heron is all alone with the fish in the lovely secondary spring.  The weather is perfect.  High of 77, low of 59.

 

 

 

David fiddles outside most of the day doing those little chores he enjoys.  I sit down by the river and read. 

It is a perfect day to go paddling on the Alafia and we have the site that connects directly to the put in.  But both of us just want a do nothing day to hang out and enjoy the site.  So that’s what we do.

 

This shot is taken from Winnona

 

 

 

This one is taken from where I’m sitting.  Winnona is upper left.

  

Another dark and quiet night in site 40.  Although my cough keeps me awake and I’m tired when I wake up on Monday

 

 

Monday morning we pack up and take an easy drive 71 miles south to Highlands Hammock State Park.

 

The drive is all on secondary roads.  We miss one turn and  there is seriously no place to turn around a 35’ rig with a car on a tow dolly.  But after checking the map I see that we can just continue on and come in at the other end of the park driving through Sebring.  Only about 6 miles out of our way.

We arrive around 1:00.  Highlands Hammock is one of the oldest parks in the Florida State Park System.  It was not created for big rigs even Winnona’s size (34’).   Some of the campsites can handle them but the area around the ranger’s station where you have to stop to check in can not.  There is quite an RV Jam of folks trying to check in and little room to pull off the state road which runs through the park.  

We are curious to find out what makes this park so popular.   The campground is pretty willy nilly as far as sites go.  Not sure I can see any rhyme or reason to how they are set up. 

David does an amazing job of getting us pulled in between a popup and a casita both of which have large circles of chairs outside their “rigs”.  Looks like big groups gather there.

We are told by the Casita owner, a man from Connecticut, that there was an even bigger rig in this site last night.  I am amazed.  

 

We get set up in site 97 and watch a little bit of the inauguration.  I must admit that as much as I hate crowds, were I still living just outside of Charlottesville, Virginia  less than two hours from DC, I would have gone to see this president inaugurated again.  I’m hoping that the congress will  let him do some of the things he campaigned on since a majority of the people voted for him and his agenda.  I’m tired of all the bickering and “other side” mentality.  Let’s just let the president the people elect do what he campaigned on and if we don’t like it, we’ll change it and elect someone new.  I’m tired of the president, whoever he is, being able to do nothing because of the congress.

Opps sorry for the political rant.  Back to Highlands Hammock.  

The sites here vary quite a bit and are in the main very close together. It’s like a little village and if you have lots of friends here, I bet it’s great fun.  But there is no privacy at least in the site we are in.  Both of our neighbors have large circles of chairs on their campsites and are laughing and joking.  But by dinner time they have all drifted back to their own campsites.   So I expect another quiet night.  Yippee!

 

David takes a bike ride around the park to check out the CCC museum, the Hammock Inn and find out about the 9 trails which are described as easy and 15-30 minutes in length.  Normally the shortness would disappoint me.  But the crud lingers and a couple of them is all I can do at one time I’m afraid.  That’s why I didn’t go with him on the ride.  I am too tired from poor sleep last night.  But while he is gone I make a pot of Red Lentil Soup.  It’s a new recipe for me and luckily turns out to be delicious.   Nothing like soup to perk you up when you don’t feel well.  And it does.  Maybe I’ll just have it for breakfast, lunch and dinner until this crud leaves me.

 

 

We’ll be here six days so that will be plenty of time to check out one of the oldest of Florida’s state parks.