SURPRISE!!

I know…it’s only been a couple days, but here I am yet again. This blog might be a tad short as our Verizon signal is sketchy at best. MacGyver and I woke up , jumped out of bed…all ready to get things tied up and hit the dump station for an 8AM lift off. Our drive was a long one (for us) and we dreaded the traffic we knew we would be snarled in on I-27 North. Well, I pulled up the Hiker day/night shades to this…

This is what is known as Sea Poop (Pea Soup) fog…hmmmm. Not to be deterred, Dennis reassured me that the sun was up there somewhere and would burn this off before we left…Usually I think he is full of Kaka, but this time he was right..We didn’t quite make our pre-determined time of 8 bells, but came close as we pulled out of the dump station at 8:35AM.

I always dread this particular drive. On the way down to Ortona, we made the huge mistake of traveling  the Saturday before Christmas..Wholly socks!!!! Talk about a knuckle biter, that was a big one!! And….that drive didn’t lack for close calls and lots of MacGyverisms ( bad words). Well, this trip wasn’t much better…There were three lanes of bumper to bumper traffic right around the Kissimmee/Orlando area, and a hair razing attempt to get the Hiker stopped at the light that suddenly turned red as we were looming in close at the bottom of a hill . This gave me cause to look for some Rolaids in my purse. Not to mention the big jerk semi driver who pulled out in front of our rig, causing Dennis to lock up the trailer brakes and just miss him..We gave that #%&@#@%&#@!!! a DOUBLE middle finger salute as we narrowly missed..I know he saw our “table for one” fingers, I saw him laughing through his windshield..SHEESH!!!!

A cute little town named Altoona, FL is our last glimpse of much civilization for the last 30 miles of our drive up I-19N.  It was wonderful to get out of that hornet’s nest called traffic. Altoona is a slice of the Old Florida that still has some great family businesses, like Hartman’s Garage. I really must stop next time.

MacGyver and I are now settled into site 35 at Salt Springs Campground in Ocala National Forest. Our blood pressure has finally returned to a normal range (well, mine is NEVER in a normal range), and we are very close to calling an early “Happy Hour” at the HitchHiker Bed, Breakfast and Bar…

I didn’t blink an eye when the camp hostess informed us that they have a “resident’ Black Bear, so we should keep our cooler shut tight or put it inside…..This bear must like beer, because that’s all he’ll find in OUR cooler!

I loved this…Notice that Palm Tree, snuggled up to the Live Oak. He is the only Palm in this campground loop, and he is right behind our Hiker. Poor thing cannot help but try to reach for the sun through those Oak branches..Either that , or his dance card is empty and he is trying to talk that Live Oak into a slow waltz…

We will be here only 5 nights, leaving on Monday for the Cedar Key area. I am stoked about that trip. Last year we drove to Cedar Key on a day trip from Manatee Springs State Park, and I knew right away I wanted to further explore this place. We are staying at for 8 nights at Angler's RV Park, about 5 miles from Cedar Key. I do love that Gulf Coast of  Florida look forward to working our way back North exploring more of it…(I HATE to even think of heading North..I’m definitely not ready yet!)