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M I S S I S S I P P I

THURSDAY

TRAVEL DAY
STOP #193

Todays travels had us finally leaving Florida behind, traveling the full width of the state of Alabama and landed us in a familiar spot in Ocean Springs, MS.

We are at the Davis Bayou Campground which is located in the Gulf Islands National Seashore park. We receive 50% off of the camping prices here with our Lifetime Senior Pass, which means for just $11 a night we have water and electric on site, a free dump station on the way out and clean bathrooms with free hot showers. What more could you want?

This is our third time staying in this park because it's also just a short trip down I-10 from here to the Foley RV & Airstream Dealership were we have a service appointment for tomorrow.

We have just a few nagging issues to get taken care of. First off our toilet started leaking a few drops of fresh water every time you step on the foot pedal to flush the bowl. A new toilet and $267 fixed that problem.

The electrical outlet on the top of our bar stopped working. I checked all the breakers and fuses and found nothing wrong. It turns out it became unplugged underneath the back of the bar. They plugged it back in and that was taken care of. I'll remember that for next time it jiggles loose.

The outside plastic exhaust vent from the range hood felt like it was becoming brittle. After nearly three years of sun exposure we felt it was time to upgrade it to a stainless steel version that should theoretically last forever. $125 fixed that issue.

Two of our windows would fail to stay cracked open when placed on the lowest of the three settings. Moving the stops up just a quarter of an inch fixed that problem. Now we will still get some airflow when it starts raining and we have to lower the windows.

Like I said, just a few nagging issues that are finally taken care of!

Davis Bayou Campsite #4


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CAMEL LAKE

MONDAY

TRAVEL DAY
STOP #192

Today we had a very leisurely drive, mostly on the four lane rural Highway 19/98 in northern Florida. We passed through a few smaller towns with a couple of stop lights and eventually began traveling on a few of the smaller Highways 267, 20 and 12.

Everything was fine until we got to within two miles of our destination and we turned off of the nice paved roads and began traveling down a very bumpy pot-holed road called Forest Road 105. The road was so bad we decided not to venture back down it until it was time to leave three days later. That means we will need to fill up with gasoline while towing THE POD on Thursday when we leave, something I usually try to avoid.

Campsite #4 at Camel Lake Campground in the Apalachicola National Forest

WEDNESDAY - After two days of doing nothing but hanging around the campsite, we decided at 9:00AM this morning that we had the pefect weather window to go for a short hike. There were partly cloudy skies, temperatures were in the low 70s and a nice 5-6mph breeze was coming across Camel Lake.

There is a 1.25 mile hiking trail that winds it's way around the perimiter of Camel Lake. Most of the trail is about 20-30 yards inland from the shoreline of the lake, except when it passes by the day use/swimming area of the park and the canoe/kayak launch area.

We took a leisurely 45 minutes to stroll around the lake and campground before once again climbing back into THE POD.

The end of the trail just happens to be at the back of our campsite.

There are only ten campsites in this campground and only four of those have electricity. Since we made this reservation six months ago, we were able to secure one of the four electric campsites. That means we've been able to run our A/C since arriving here because the afternoon highs have been in the upper 80's and the overnight lows in the upper 60s. Still just a little too warm for our comfort zone, we would prefer it to be about 10 degrees cooler.

This will be our last stop in Florida until we return in December
because we're planning to visit seven new states in the midwest before then!


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MANATEE SPRINGS STATE PARK

FRIDAY

TRAVEL DAY
STOP #191

Today we find ourselves at Manatee Springs State Park in Chiefland, FL. I have visited this park several times in the past but never for an overnight, that all changes tonight.

We picked a fairly large and level site for our three night visit and each morning we had a few "not so wild" visitors. We saw at least five deer come walking out of the woods behind our site and they had zero fear when it came to humans. They had obviously have be fed by previous campers and probably spent their entire life right here inside the State Park boundaries.


SATURDAY - We woke up, ate breakfast, then decided to go into town to get a decent cell signal so Tricia could find out if her latest work assignemnts were ready to begin. It seems the cell signal inside the campground isn't strong enough for her to login to the servers at work, even with our booster turned on!

Before exiting the park we went down to the spring head to check out the sights. One thing was immediately apparent, there are no drought conditions in central Florida this time of year.

Water levels around the spring head pool are way up over the concrete stairs.

The hike, bike and primitive tent camping area doesn't look like it would be much fun!

At least the boardwalk that parallels the spring run out to the Suwanee River was high and dry.

SUNDAY - It has been 15 years since my first and only visit to Cedar Key, FL and being this close made me want to go back and show Tricia what the place is like. I think of it as an "Old Key West" atmosphere, but on a much smaller scale.

The entire waterfront disctrict is only one block, about a quarter mile long, and just wide enough for a one-lane one-way street with parallel parking on both sides.

But one block seemed plenty to squeeze in more than a dozen souvenir shops (all on the ground floor) and a dozen bars with waterfront view dining rooms (mostly on the second floor) and still have room for a community boat ramp that launches you straight into the Gulf of Mexico at the end of the block.

We walked around and then selected a bar/restaurant named Steamers for our Sunday lunch and with a name like that you can guess what I ordered to eat. That's right, two dozen Cedar Key steamed clams in garlic and butter with a bowl of clam chowder for an appetizer. Tricia had the fish tacos, which she is always fond of, but in our haste to chow down we forgot to take any photos. Sorry Dewey! Sorry Vanessa!

Just before we got back to ROVER, parked several blocks inland in "Downtown" Cedar Key, we stopped at a corner store and I purchased a Chocolate Dipped Frozen Key Lime Pie on a Stick for desert. I knew in advance I was going to get one because I saw it on the way to the waterfront after we parked the truck. The only other place I have ever enjoyed one of these delights is in Key West.

When we got back to ROVER guess what was parked right behind us? This beautiful old hot rod! Does anyone know what year, make and model this is?

I was glad to see not much has changed in the last 15 years when it comes to the waterfront area of Cerdar Key. The building I stayed in was still there in front of the only sandy beach in the area. There has however been a few newly constructed vacation home rentals along the first inland street. But I guess that's just progress?


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NOT GONE JUST YET!

TUESDAY - Like I was just saying, you have to sculpt your plans in jello when you're on the road.

Yesterday we had THE POD all hooked up to ROVER and was just about to pull out of the driveway when we tried to put air into our rear shocks to help assist in carrying the additional load on the back bumper of the truck.

Guess what? Once again the Airlift brand shocks we had installed on the truck have failed to operate properly making it unsafe to travel down the road. This time at least there were two error codes in the app that controls the system to at least give us a clue as to what's wrong this time.

We have a compressor error and a slow leak error. I unhooked the truck and took it to a nearby Service Center that is authorized to install this particular brand of equipment. If I want to maintain my warranty I can only use a select few Service Centers to do any of the work. They were unfortunately very busy and will not be able to even diagnose the problem until late tomorrow afternoon.

On the way back to Tricia's aunt and uncle's house I called ahead to let them know we would like to stay an additional three days in their driveway. Tricia's Aunt Beth seemed just a little bit too happy about the situation, making me wonder if she didn't somehow manage to coerce her very mechanically capable husband into sabotaging our departure.

Just kidding! I think?

The next thing I did was cancel our reservation at a nearby Florida State Park, it would have been our 48th visited park. Guess it will have to wait until next time.

WEDNESDAY - My service appointment wasn't until 4:00PM but I decided to arrive 45 minutes early. As luck would have it they shop was running ahead of schedule and they were able to get me in by 3:00PM.

It didn't take long for them to find the compressor problem. It seems the system has two ground wires, one for the electronics control board and a separate one just for the compressor. The one for the compressor is screwed straight to the truck frame and had managed to work itself loose. They moved the wire to a new and more protected location, then secured it with a new self tapping screw. Hopefully the compressor problem has been resolved!

As for the slow leak error code, they tested all the lines leading from the compressor to the air bags and found no leaks. They explained that possibly the detected leak was going back through the disabled compressor. It sounds plausible, I just hope they are correct.

Anyway it was a cheap repair and as Willie Nelson would say, come Friday we'll be

"Back on the road again".


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FAREWELL TO SOUTH FLORIDA

WEDNESDAY

TRAVEL DAY
STOP #190

After a short 135 mile drive up the west coast of Florida, we find ourselves in Tricia's Aunt Beth and Uncle Barry's driveway which is located just west of the Tampa/St. Petersburg area.

As you can see by the photo below we just about fit into our camping spot for this week.

We almost fit in their driveway!

Also just a few miles away lives Tricia's Aunt Linda and Uncle Bob who have invited all of us over for dinner on Sunday. We arrived early in the afternoon and chatted on their back porch while munching on fruit, cheese and crackers. For dinner they're serving up a spaghetti plate with homemade red meat sauce and homemade garlic bread, with mint chocolate cake for desert. The meal was delicious, but Tricia wouldn't allow me to even sample the cake.

THURSDAY - Tonight is Tricia's weekly Family Zoom Meeting. They have been doing this once a week for nearly a year now. Lately interest and participation has been a little lacking.

In order to spice things up a little Tricia has a plan. For the last couple of weeks we have been preparing for tonight's Family Zoom Meeting by making sure every family member has one of her Mystery Boxes in their hands.

The plain outside boxes are clearly maked not to be opened until the Family Zoom Meeting tonight. Her Uncle Jon and Aunt Joanie's box was mailed to them in Cape Cod last week and the rest of them have been hand delivered over the last two weeks. Her brother Jim recieved his first while we were in Fort Lauderdale where he lives. Next was her Aunt Jill and Uncle Peter while we visited the Fort Myers area last week. Finally was her Aunt Beth and Uncle Barry, along with Aunt Linda and Uncle Bob, here in the Tampa/St. Pete area.

YOU ASK "WHAT'S IN THE BOXES?"

The main attraction inside each box is a sinister game developed by Jelly Belly called Bean Boozled! I say sinister because the premise of the game is simple, you each eat a jelly bean and watch the reactions of the other players. You're probably thinking, how is that fun?

These aren't ordinary jelly beans. They come with flavors like Toasted Marshmallow/Stink Bug, Birthday Cake/Dirty Dishwater, Buttered Popcorn/Rotten Egg, Coconut/Spoiled Milk and everybodies favorite Strawberry Banana Smoothie/Dead Fish.

There are 20 different flavors in each box but the problem is you can't tell the difference between each pair of flavors because they look and smell identical. The fun begins when you spin the dial and it tells you what the chosen jelly bean looks like. Then each player pulls one from their box and simultaneously puts it in their mouth and chews.

Tricia thoughtfully included in each box a 2 oz. Dixie Cup to be used as a spitoon. Also a bag of Cheddar Cheese Goldfish Crackers and a roll of Menthos Mint Chews, in order to cleanze your pallette before beginning the next round of play. There was also a round yellow paddle with a Smiley Face on one side and of course a Frowny Face on the other, so you could display which flavor your jelly bean was, in case it wasn't obvious. Pretty clever I thought.

Everyone, but most importantly Tricia, had a good time with the game. I suspect next time they receive anything in the mail from Tricia, they will all adamantly deny it ever arrived.

FRIDAY - I spent all of my Friday afternoon hanging out with Barry at the airport. No we weren't seeing anyone off or picking anyone up and I didn't go anywhere.

Barry rents an airplane hangar there to store his classic car parts and a few classic car build projects. This weekend he is going over to Ocala to set up a booth at a large swap meet that specializes in just this kind of mechandise.

So for 4 hours we loaded up his 20 foot long (open car hauler) trailer with items he has for sale. It was probably the most work I've done since we hit the road nearly three years ago. He asked me if I'd like to go the the swap meet with him, but I declined the offer.

At 4:15AM on Sunday morning I heard him start up his truck and head out for the hour and a half drive over to Ocala.

This is his wife's daily driver, a 1973 Plymouth 'Cuda with the 440 big block under the hood.

Nice!

MONDAY - So ends our swing through South Florida to visit with family and friends. We hadn't originally planned to revisit South Florida so soon. It took a worldwide pandemic to change our travel plans of visiting Alaska (no border crossings) or the great National Parks out west (most are only half open).

We are not sure when we'll be back again, but if we've learned one thing while being on the road, "All travel plans are sculptured in jello, not granite". So be prepared for another visit at anytime. Like we say at the end of every blog post, Until next time.


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