We Get By With a Little Help From Our Friends

Friday March 6 and Saturday March 7, 2015
Quail Run RV Park
Wesley Chapel, Florida

 

 

FRIDAY March 6

I think we have worked out a plan for the wash and wax thanks to our friends Karen and Al who have a lot at Quail Run but are now happily at their lot in the Keys.   We are going to sublet from them for a few days. Sadly that means we have to leave pretty Lithia Springs.  We have had the rig done when we were at Quail Run previously and we know it works well.  But still I hate to leave this place and David and Sharon.

But now there is another fly in the ointment, the weather guessers have upped their chance of rain for the day of our appointment from 40% to 60% and not to 70%. So do we move or not? Can we reschedule? What is the plan if it rains and you can’t wax? More calls to Gary. We seem to have done little other than make phone calls and search the internet in the past two days. But it’s been nice and pleasant to do it in our shady site here.

On my morning walk, I again check the boat dock and it is clear the river level has really dropped. Two of the three steps down are now above the water. But the river is still flowing very fast. Usually it is a nice lazy black water river. Still no kayaking.

 

 

 

It looks beautiful even with the water up to the tippy tippy top.

 

 

My very favorite campsite is at the end of a trail going off of the boat dock.  Not so nice if you are camped there because the only exit from the trail other than turning around is to walk through the campsite.  I’ve always wondered why they don’t put a sign on it saying campsite do not enter from the trail side.   There is a sign at the campsite that says no camping beyond this point.

The trail is beautiful.

 

 

Views from the trail.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here’s the back of the campsite.  I knew from walking down to the boat dock that the camper had taken his little class C and was gone.  So I was able to get a picture of the view of the river on one side of the site and of the swamp on the other.   It’s just a wonderful campsite that we have been lucky enough to get a few times in the past.  No neighbors and a long driveway.   Really secluded.

 

 

 

 

 

They’ve opened the spring today.  Good thing with the week-end coming up.  Apparently this was a very popular local swimming hole before the county bought it and turned it into the park and the locals who have generations of memories here don’t take well to rules or exclusions.  But the gates are open today.

 

 

 

Springs always fascinate me.  There are so many here in Florida.  Lithia Spring seems to be the southern most one in the state or nearly.  This is a map of a few that are relative close and north of here.  Rainbow Springs is a State Park 113 miles by road an less as the crow flies from Lithia Springs. 

 

 

 

Also on this information sign is the scale of magnitude for springs.  Lithia is a 2nd magnitude spring which means its flow is 10 cubic feet per second, a daily flow of greater than 6.46 million gallons.   Boy I hope Florida is being careful with their aquifer.  The water these springs provide is astounding.  Look at the first magnitude springs.

 

 

 

I walk along the spring run.  The color is blue green.  The water is clear.  The brown river water has retreated.

 

 

This is a zoomed in shot so you can see where the spring run enters the river.  The color difference is striking.  It is the flow all those gallons of water from the spring keeping the river out.

 

 

 

The gauge in the secondary spring says it has dropped by 1 foot since Wednesday.  It’s down to 10.2. I’m bummed I won’t be here to check it every day.

 

 

 

 

 

As I walk back I spy this little one on a table in the picnic grounds.  I think it may be an Eastern Phoebe. But on a picnic table?  Sure is cute.

 

 

 

 

Since this is unexpectedly our last day here, David wants to go for a swim in the spring.  It’s only in the low 70’s which seems a bit cool for me so I don’t take my bathing suit but I do go along.   We have the entire place to ourselves amazingly since the campground is nearly full.   Guess everyone else thinks it’s too cool.  This is unlike David.  Usually I’m the water lover.

We walk over with our chairs.  I think I’ll sit and read.   The water in the spring is high so there isn’t much “beach” to sit on.  Wish I were going to be here over the week-end to see what the crowds do about that.

 

 

The spring has some good size fish and some small ones which sometimes nibble on your toes.  I walk in to over my knees but today they aren’t interested.   The water, 70 degrees, is a bit chilly when you first walk in but the longer you stay, the warmer it gets.  Wish I’d brought my suit now.  David is right, it’s fine.

 

 

 

In he goes, swimming with the fishes.

 

 

 

 

We return to Winnona and invite Sharon and David for dinner since this turns out sadly to be our last night here with them.  I make up some vegetable, lentil, barley and kitchen sink soup. David demonstrates the tortilla press in which they are interested.  So we’ll have soup, salad and tortillas.    Sharon brings some delicious salsa for the chips David also makes from the tortillas. 

We are having such a great time that my pictures of the mix, roll, press, cook process leave a great deal to be desired and I forget totally to take any pictures of us at dinner.

 

 

But I do get pictures of them skunking us at dominos.  Dave is the big loser the first round but then he wins every other round we play.  Sharon comes in second.   Obviously we’ll have to have a rematch.

 

 

 

SATURDAY March 7

 

Today is mostly about moving to Karen and Al’s site at Quail Run.  We stayed there previously for 3 months during David’s stem cell transplant so we are familiar with it and its location.

We walk over to say good bye to Sharon and David.  He blesses us with a beautiful song they have written about leaving their farm at Butterfly Hollow in order to go on the road.  I didn’t bring my camera but David got a picture with his phone. What a lovely moving song it is.  Brings tears to my eyes.  I know what it is like to leave a beloved place.   What a talented pair they are.   We’re hoping we can meet them again at least once before we both move on.  It’s been wonderful spending time with them.   Notice the great flowers on their little 21’ trailer and the sign in the window which says This is Our Happy Place.   Great people!

 

 

 

We pull out at the stroke of check out time, 12 noon, dump the tanks, put the dolly on and down the road we go.  Ours will be the only site available in the campground this Saturday night.  Every other one is taken.

 

 Quail Run is private RV park.  They are not usually our kind of place but Quail Run is relatively small and it was just what we needed the last time we were here.  Its big drawback is the constant I-75 noise but there are compensations. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Karen and Al’s site backs up to the canal.  We set up our chairs and the picnic table as close to it as we can get.  The first thing I notice is two wood storks on the far bank.  Then there is a Great Egret fishing, a Cormorant swimming and an Ibis poking around on the bank.   I’m definitely going to like this view and these neighbors.

 

 

 

 

 

In the material that Bonnie in the office gives us when we check in, I see that they have oodles of things to do during  the winter.  Last time we were here it was summer, July-September and HOT!  No one was doing anything except staying out of the heat.

But now, on the Planned Activities Calendar for March are ice cream socials (oh dear),  bingo (oh boy!)  Also cribbage, zumba, water aerobics, karaoke, quilting, line dancing (oh boy), coffee & donuts (oh dear), quilting, mexican train (maybe we can learn yet again another set of rules).  There are many kinds of cards get togethers, ping pong, bonfires and a book discussion, just to name a few. 

Many thanks Karen and Al for helping us out.  It’s nice to have friends.  We’re going to have a fun subletting your site and most importantly, now Fantasy Car Wash can come and make Winnona beautiful!