New Surroundings - (Old Town, FL)

We moved today to Suwanee River Hideaway Campground about 5 miles south of Old Town, FL. Old Town is not a very big town, and is located northwest of Ocala. Drove through the Ocala National Forest on our way here. Drove about 170 miles today. This is a Passport America park, so the price is right. It is off the beaten path and VERY quiet.

Not sure if I mentioned that the last campground was about 1/10 mile off I-95 so the truck noise was terrible. Since we were doing so much sightseeing and it was so well located for all we wanted to do, we didn't mind too much. But forget about sitting outside and reading a book.

We arrived here about 3:00pm, set up and walked down the 1500 foot boardwalk to the Suwanee River. The boardwalk crosses natural wetlands, so we'll see what kind of wild life we encounter. There are manatees in the river, but we didn't see any today. Met some nice people on our walk, but haven't decided how long we'll stay here. There are two state parks close by, and we plan to check them out. I wasn't able to get much information from the Florida State Parks website, so we'll just go see for ourselves.

The beauty of this lifestyle is just moving on whenever the mood strikes. It takes us about one hour to break camp and get on our way, and about 30 minutes to set up at a new site.

Had a call from Paul Stivers, our friend from church. He and Candy are checking on our house while we are gone. Paul is going to take care of Dan's snow removal jobs and it sounds like he'll get his chance tonight and tomorrow. Ten inches of snow is expected for Springfield.

No pictures today. Just thoughts about how much we are enjoying this trip.

More later.......

We'e Moved to Warmer Weather - Scottsmoor, FL

As you can see by our location, we have moved further south. Larry & Phyllis left us Tuesday morning to head back home to Illinois.

Soooo, since we wanted more sunshine than we have had and Dan wanted to walk on a beach in the sunshine; we spent a lot of time on the weather.com looking for just such a place. Wednesday morning we left Fountain, FL for Crystal Lake RV Park at Scottsmoor, FL. Now there's not a lot to see or do in Scottsmoor, but the RV Park is about halfway between Daytona International Speedway and the Kennedy Space Center.

We really prefer to stay in state parks and Corps of Engineer parks, but Florida State Parks are a little pricey unless you are a Florida resident with senior citizen status. This park is another Passport America park with no restrictions as to how long we can just pay half price for our campsite. Some PA parks restrict the rate to 2 days; some only Monday through Thursday; etc.

And, as most of you know, we like Nascar racing, so we would have to visit Daytona Speedway. :)

And we lucked out as far as racing. The 46th Rolex 24 at Daytona is being run this week. This race is a Who's Who of motorsports names with many of the top drivers from NASCAR, open wheel racing and sports cars. There are teams of drivers for each car and the drivers trade off driving for the 24 hours. There are 67 cars with drivers of all experiences driving around a 12 turn 3.56 road course that includes the high banked 3rd & 4th turns of the Daytona NASCAR track.

There are activities all this week leading up to the race start on Saturday. And the really neat part - we could buy a ticket that included admission all 4 days, parking in the infield, and garage access. Since Gail's NASCAR driver and 2 time NASCAR champion (Jimmie Johnson) is on the 99 Gainsco team, we just had to check this out. We spent the afternoon watching practice and strolling through the garage area. REALLY NEAT. And we spotted Jimmie Johnson. :) Didn't get close enough to get an autograph as he was walking away from us.

This is the car Jimmie will be helping to drive. It's called a Daytona Prototype (DP)

Left the race track and did a little grocery shopping and bought a small gooseneck lamp to better light my counted cross stitch fabric I'm working on. Drove back to the campground. Kasey was sitting in the front window of the motorhome to welcome us back. He is such a good traveler. He slept all stretched out on the couch nearly all the way here yesterday. And he sleeps most of the time while we are gone. There are several dogs in this campground and he's met them all on our walks.

Probably won't go back to the track tomorrow. May check out the beaches, but will go back on Saturday for the start of the race. And then, we just may not do much of anything. We are really trying to duplicate the kind of lifestyle we hope to begin this summer with this trip; trying to slow down and just enjoy life without feeling like we have to DO something everyday like we did when we went on vacations. Of course, we do have things that have to be done; walk the dog, wash dishes, walk the dog, vacuum, walk the dog, fix a meal, walk the dog (eat the meal before walking the dog). You get the picture.

More later........