We moved into the RV on Friday evening to enable us to close down the house, shut off water, drain plumbing etc, to give us an earlier start on Saturday for our 750 mile trip. It was warm on Friday (60's!) but rained. We moved in anyway. Then the wind started and the cold front arrived. The wind howled at +20 mph all night, making for restless and short sleep. Smoke was nervous and we were concerned about driving the high profile RV in high winds. Saturday morning arrived, too early and cold. We stayed in bed an hour later than planned, checked the weather endlessly, and then decided to go. First, we had to get propane. That meant taking the RV and car separately to the propane fill place. OK, got propane, but now we have to attach the car (a good 1/2 hr of physical attachment and then checking all attachments) in the brisk wind and 28 degree weather. Finally we were off.
The wind gradually subsided as we headed south and the RV did well. The late start got us about about 350 miles from home before the dusk. We don't like to drive the RV after dark. Old, what can I say :-) A night at a safe Walmart, along with about 8 other snowbirds heading south. I-95 noise didn't help our sleep, but it was better than howling wind. We finished our last 450 miles about 5 p.m. on Sunday at our first stop of the winter, Oscar Scherer State Park, in Osprey Florida.
Oscar Scherer is a 1955 era FL state park that hosts about 130,000 folks per year. A daughter of Oscar Scherer donated the initial 450 acres of land to the state to create a park. FL later added about 900 more acres to the park land. Mr. Scherer had developed a shoe dyeing process in 1872 - apparently very profitably! Here is a link to the park info
https://www.floridastateparks.org/park/Oscar-Scherer
This is a beautiful old park. Roads are narrow (shutter - there is a narrow bridge that I had to navigate to get to the campsite). Old growth creates private sites, shaded by palmettos and live oaks.
Smokey stresses during our actual driving. She hides behind the sofa, occasionally letting out a howl of discontent. BUT! As soon as we get into a park, she becomes my co-pilot. She takes her position on the dashboard to make sure I get it right. That is Luke in the red car in front of us, leading us to the campsite. There is seldom room at the campsite to unhook the car and RV, so we usually disconnect at the ranger station. A serious consideration in a vegetation filled park like this is overhead clearance and high side clearance. We're moving a 12' 10" high vehicle, 8' 6" wide past overhanging tree branches etc.
At long last! Our campsite for this week! I love the Spanish moss, the old trees, and the palm trees.
Yes, Luke has on a fleece jacket - it was a little cool by the time we got in our site, probably 55 or so!!! ahhhh....
Smoke immediately took up "small ground animals and birds" watch out the windows. She definitely knows that small, rustling creatures live in campgrounds. She is never disappointed.
At last, a peaceful night's sleep for all. Today we did a few last jobs like putting up wall hangers for hats, jackets, etc. A few more chores are still to be done, but at least we can enjoy 70 DEGREE FL while we do them.
We had dinner tonight with Luke's childhood buddy and his wife, Luc and Eileen. It was great to see them again.
Tomorrow, some hiking on some of the many trails in the park. And there are other places in the area to be explored and discovered! We are already beginning to think that 5 days is not nearly enough for this stop.
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