Big Cypress National Preserve - 01/31/12

We departed Naples, Florida at 12:30 p.m. Our destination today is the Midway Campground which is located within the Big Cypress National Preserve.

US-41 takes us directly to this campground that is located about 70 miles southeast of Naples.

It feels good to be back on the road again. We spent a delightful 14 days with my sister and her husband in Naples. My sister prepared some fantastic gourmet meals during our visit. She is a marvelous first class chef! It is always so nice to see them. The distance from Illinois to Florida makes it difficult to make more frequent visits, so when we do get together we make up for lost time.

We arrived at the Midway Campground at 2:00 p.m. This is a very nice campground with electrical hookups only. The sites are nicely spaced out to provide some degree of privacy and all sites are paved. There is a large pond in the center of the campground and signs are posted warning of alligators present in the pond. We plan to spend four nights here before heading off to our next destination somewhere in southern Florida.

There is another campground called Monument Lake that is a few miles west of Midway on the north side of US-41. There are no hookups at this campground, but it is suitable for RV’s with a generator or a solar panel.

The cost for a campsite at Midway, with an electric hookup, is $10.00 per night with our Golden Age Passport.

Total miles traveled today: 69

Tomorrow, another new adventure begins!

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Naples, Florida - 01/16/12

We departed the Dinner Island Ranch near Immokalee, Florida at 10:30 a.m. Our destination today is Naples, Florida.

We arrived in Naples at 12:00 p.m. and will spend the next two weeks visiting with my sister and her husband. My sister’s birthday is tomorrow, January 17^th , so we are looking forward to celebrating her many years of being a wonderful sister to me.

Total miles traveled today: 65

More adventures to follow!

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Dinner Island Ranch - 01/15/12

We departed the CampingWorld store in Fort Meyer, Florida at 8:30 a.m. Our destination is a Florida Wildlife Management District that offers free camping at Dinner Island Ranch, which is located about 23 miles east of Immokalee, Florida.

We discovered Dinner Island Ranch on the blog: Our Travels, Gene & Sandy Teggatz. I had been following their blog for the past year gathering information on low cost places to camp in Florida.

We arrived at Dinner Island Ranch at 11:40 a.m. There are two camping areas here. One is located within a small shaded tree area and the other is located in a large open, unkempt, tall grassy area. There is no water, electricity or dump station available at this location. Campers need to exercise caution when entering the open grass area. There are potholes within this area and it is best to walk the area first to find a safe route to your campsite. Our plan is to spend one night here because we have to be in Naples, Florida on Monday.

As we pulled into Dinner Island Ranch, we noticed there were four motorhomes and one fifth-wheel trailer parked in a semi-circle in the open grass area. We decided we would spend the night in the open grass area away from the other five campers already there, so as to not intrude on them. As we were getting ready to set up our trailer, two men from the group walked over to our area. As we greeted one another, I asked: "Would one of you happen to be Gene with the blog?" Sure enough, one of the men was indeed Gene Teggatz. They invited us to park our trailer within their semi-circle and join them. We accepted their invitation and had a marvelous time the remainder of the day sitting around the campfire enjoying good company and great conversation.

Total miles traveled today: 58

Tomorrow, another new adventure begins!

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Fort Meyer, Florida - 01/14/12

We departed Manatee Springs State Park at 11:30 a.m. Our destination is a Florida Wildlife Management District that offers free camping at Dinner Island Ranch, which is located about 23 miles east of Immokalee, Florida. We need to stop at the CampingWorld store in north Fort Meyers to pick up a few items first.

We arrived at the CampingWorld store at 5:25 p.m. They close at 6:00 p.m. so we had to hurry to get the items we were after. Since it was now getting dark I asked the manager of the store if we could spend the night in their parking lot. He graciously agreed to let us overnight at the store and told us other campers do it all the time.

The CampingWorld store is at Exit 139 on I-75 and at the next exit north, Exit 141, there is a Cracker Barrel restaurant, so we had dinner there. As usual, excellent food. I tried a side of turnip greens, based on my sister’s past comments to me about her favorite dish at Cracker Barrel restaurants. I must say it is definitely an acquired taste. Bless you my sister for consuming whole bowls of those greens!

Total miles traveled today: 252 miles

Tomorrow, another new adventure begins!

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Crystal River, Florida - 01/13/12

We awoke to temperatures in the mid-50’s and quite windy. This is our last day at Manatee Springs State Park near Chiefland, Florida.

We decided it would be a good idea to take a road trip to Crystal River, Florida. We spent a very enjoyable day there sightseeing. At about 3:00 p.m. we decided to drive about 10 miles further south to Homosassa Springs and find a restaurant for a late lunch.

In Homossas, I stopped at a realtor and asked a very friendly woman there for a recommendation for a good seafood restaurant in the area. Without hesitation, she recommended Neon Leon's that served excellent Cajun seafood. It turns out the owners of this restaurant are the sister and nephew of Leon Wilkeson, the bassist for the Lynyrd Skynyrd rock band. The restaurant is decorated with many pictures of the band and actual musical instruments from the members of the rock group. It was a most interesting restaurant to visit and the food was absolutely delicious.

The total distance driven for the day was about 150 miles. The distances we won’t travel to grab a quick lunch!

Tomorrow, another new adventure begins!

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Cedar Key, Florida - 01/12/12

We awoke to a beautiful sunny day with the temperatures in the mid-70’s here at Manatee Springs State Park near Chiefland, Florida.

We took a walk this morning to the Suwannee River to see if any Manatees were out and about. We were fortunate to see three of them. Two were swimming together and another was swimming a short distance away from the other two. It looked like all three were about 5 feet in length. It was quite a nice treat to see these gentle giant mammals gracefully swimming around us. The water is crystal clear so they are very easy to see.

This afternoon we drove to Cedar Key, Florida to have lunch at Tony's Seafood Restaurant and to sample their "World Champion Clam Chowder."

Indeed, it lived up to its reputation. The best clam chowder we have ever had! We purchased a frozen quart to share with my sister and her husband when we visit them on Monday. Cedar Key is 36 miles from Manatee Springs State Park and I would guess, is your typical weekend tourist town. There are lots of shops, bars and restaurants. We had a very pleasant time, but went there strictly for the clam chowder.

Tomorrow, another new adventure begins!

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Manatee Springs State Park - 01/11/12

Our destination today is Manatee Springs State Park near Chiefland, Florida.

We awoke to sporadic rain showers this morning. Fortunately, we had everything packed away and the trailer hitched up last night.

After a quick breakfast and shower, we departed Ocean Pond Campground in the Osceola National Forest at 10:00 a.m.

We arrived at Manatee State Park at 1:30 p.m. It has three very nice campgrounds, with water and electric hookups at each campsite. It also has a very nice picnic area. The campsites are very sandy, so keeping the sand out of the trailer is almost impossible.

Our campsite is located within a short walk to the Suwannee River where the Manatees spend their winter. The water stays at a constant 72 degrees from the numerous springs feeding into the river.

The cost for a campsite with water and electric hookups is $20.00 per night plus tax. This is a very popular State Park, so we reserved a campsite online a few days prior to our arrival.

Total distance traveled today: 83 miles

Tomorrow, another new adventure begins!

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Hog Pen Landing - 01/10/12

We awoke to another beautiful sunny day with temperatures in the mid-70’s. This is our last day at the Ocean Pond Campground.

After our morning walk, we drove over to check out the Hog Pen Landing Campground.

This is a primitive camping area with no water or electric hookups. Visitors to Hog Pen must traverse a mile long hard-packed sand road. The campsites are quite primitive and located in an isolated area of the forest. We decided we would only use this campground if there were no campsites available at the Ocean Pond Campground.

Tomorrow, another new adventure begins!

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Osceola National Forest - 01/09/12

We awoke to another beautiful sunny day with temperatures in the mid-70’s, at the Ocean Pond Campground.

This afternoon we took a six mile round trip bike ride to check out the Hog Pen Landing Campground. This is a primitive camping area with no water or electric hookups. We got about three-quarters of the way there and decided to turn around and go back. It was getting late in the afternoon and we did not want to be riding our bikes in the dark back to our campground. We decided to drive over there tomorrow to check it out for future reference.

Tomorrow, another new adventure begins!

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Osceola National Forest - 01/08/12

We awoke to a beautiful day in northern Florida with temperatures in the mid-70’s. Sharon and I are basking in the warm weather and soaking up the sun.

This morning we took a walk around the Ocean Pond campground to get our daily dose of exercise. During our walk, we noticed a sign posted that warned of alligators present in the lake and surrounding forest. From that point forward we became more aware of our surroundings and kept a watchful eye out for any movement within the forest or near the lake.

We decided we would spend a relaxing day reading and perhaps play a board game under the canopy of the tall pine tress in our campsite. Sharon can consume a several hundred page novel in a day or two. I marvel at her speed reading ability and comprehension. I spend my time reading magazines and mostly non-fiction books.

We played the board game Scrabble. It was one of our better games, in that we had the letters spread out across the entire board. For the first time in a long time, I finally won. I was jubilant in my victory; Sharon hates to lose, at anything!

Chef Roberto (Bob) provided a gourmet meal of Panko encrusted sautéed chicken breasts, a medley of brown and wild rice with baby peas and turkey stuffing covered with chicken gravy. After dinner, we relaxed under some tall pine trees with a nice glass of wine, enjoying the wonders of the star studded night sky.

Tomorrow is supposed to be another beautiful day, sunny with temperatures in the mid-70’s. Life is good here in Florida!

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Osceola National Forest - 01/07/12

We departed the Rest Area on I-75 in Forsyth, Georgia at 8:30 a.m. Our destination today is the Ocean Pond Campground which is located within the Osceola National Forest. The campground is located about 20 miles east of Lake City, Florida on US-90.

We arrived at the campground at 2:30 p.m. This is a very scenic campground overlooking a lake. It has paved roads and paved parking pads which is very nice for those of us campers who like to be pampered on occasion. There are three separate sections to this campground. There are 19 sites with electric and water hookups in one section. There are several sites with water hookups, no electric, in another section and there are several primitive sites with no water or electric. We opted for one of the water only sites, since we have a generator and solar panel to create our own electricity. We were able to access the Internet at this campground tethering our Smartphone to our laptop computer.

A nice added feature of this campground is it has very nice flush toilet and shower facilities. The showers are isolated from one another with their own locking door, affording one their own individual privacy while taking a shower.

The cost for a campsite with a water hookup is $6.00 per night with our Golden Age Pass.

Our plan is to stay here four nights and depart Wednesday morning for Manatee Springs State Park, near Chiefland, Florida.

Total miles traveled today: 239

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Forsyth, Georgia - 01/06/12

We departed the Welcome Center on I-24 in Clarksville, Tennessee at 8:30 a.m.

We began our second day of travel with a hearty breakfast at a Cracker Barrel in Clarksville.

Our travel highlight of the day was negotiating our way through the horrendous traffic backup through Atlanta, Georgia on I-75 at 7:00 p.m. In hindsight, we should have taken I-675 around Atlanta. We thought the traffic in our hometown of Chicago is bad, but Atlanta just may be a bit more congested.

We spent another cozy night in our Casita at a very nice Rest Area on I-75 (MM 178) in Forsyth, Georgia.

Total miles traveled today: 376

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Off To Florida - 01/05/12

Sharon retired in December 2011, and we are now able to travel anywhere we want for as long as we want, without any time constraints.

In June 2011, we purchased a 2011 Ford E-150 Cargo Van to tow our 2008 Casita Travel Trailer. This combination of tow vehicle and trailer will provide us with adequate towing power, storage space and living space for our traveling adventures.

Our immediate travel plans are to spend January, February and March traveling through Florida, South Carolina and North Carolina. The only set schedule we have is to stay with Bob’s sister and her husband in Naples, Florida for two weeks starting on January 16, 2012.

We departed Chicago, Illinois on Thursday, 01/05/12, at 12:40 p.m., on a beautiful sunny day with the temperatures in the 40’s.

We arrived at the Welcome Center on I-24 (MM 0.5) in Clarksville, Tennessee at 9:50 p.m. This will be our home for the night. We spent a restful night, quite comfy in our warm cozy sleeping bag we use on the bed for cold nights.

Total miles traveled today: 469

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