ISTOKPOGA CANAL CAMPGROUND (FL)



TUESDAY - We had quite the ménagerie of wildlife bidding us farewell and wishing us safe travels this morning as we rolled out of Colt Creek State Park.

We have a little over 100-miles to travel today and we need to make a stop at Walmart to grab some groceries in preparation of our Thanksgiving dinner menu.

The first to come out and nod goodbye to us were our "deer" friends.

Next were a "mixed flock" of White Ibis, Great Egrets and a pair of Sandhill Cranes.

Last but not least were these three Sandhill Cranes that showed no fear of ROVER.
First they walked down the middle of the road about 20-yards in front of us,
before finally taking flight and then remained low following the centerline of the road.
We thought it was VERY ODD behavior, like they were escorting us out of the park.


Like I mentioned earlier we need to stop at Walmart for some Thanksgiving items. It's the first time I've had trouble finding a place to park with ROVER and THE POD in a Walmart parking lot.

We made a second Walmart stop further down the road to pickup a few forgotten items and this parking lot was even fuller. The parking lot was to the point where I was afraid to leave the truck unattended for fear someone would park in front of and behind us, which could effectively trap us in place until one of them returned to their vehicle.


When we applied for our FREE online camping permit here at Istokpoga Canal Campground they shared the gate code with us so we could let ourselves in. Upon arriving at the gate armed with our 4-digit code we noticed there were five padlocks in place, three of them were combination locks and the other two were keyed.

By using a fairly clever locking mechanism, you only need to unlock one of the locks to gain access to the campground. Of course it was the third lock we tried before we got the correct one.

Once inside you can park just anywhere you choose. There are roughly two dozen sites, some with picnic tables, some with fire pits, some with both and some with neither. Since we're not having a fire tonight we chose one with only a table, but ours also comes with a VERY LARGE bat house.

You know what bats like to eat, don't ya? MOSQUITOES! Let's hope there's a large population of bats that come out tonight and each one of them is extremely hungry!

UPDATE: We saw no bats and plenty of mosquitoes made their way inside THE POD when I shut the door at 6:00PM. DARN IT!

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COLT CREEK STATE PARK (FL)



FRIDAY - After another moving day of less than 100-miles we found ourselves at another Florida State Park, where thanks to "officially" being a Florida resident and over the age of 65, we camp at half price.

Colt Creek State Park was opened to the public in January of 2007, but didn't open their 34-site full-facility campground until 2018, the same year we began our RV travels.

We had reservations to camp here back in March of 2021, but thanks to a mechanical problem with ROVER's air shocks we had to cancelour reservation. Those shocks have now been removed from the truck and we are finally able to visit this park.

This is our 31st camping visit to a Florida State Park in THE POD, and counting our visits before RVing we have now camped in 52 of the 55 Florida State Parks where RV camping is offered.

Most of the sites here are huge and well spaced apart from your neighbors.

Even the wooden picnic tables and grills look almost new, because they relatively are.

We were also able to use our Starlink satellite for the first time in months.



MONDAY - With the weekend concluded Tricia was back to her early morning walk-n-talk schedule with Heather.

Colt Creek State Park is located just north of Lakeland, a city with a population of just over 112,000 residents. The park is surrounded by several different Wildlife Management Areas and consequently we are seeing abundant wildlife in the form of mainly deer.

There is a rather large un-named man-made pond in the middle of the park.

It has a long fishing pier that stretches out away from the shoreline.

Here are a few of the wildlife residents in the park.


A few days ago another couple of 20-year long friends reached out when they noticed we were heading towards Florida and asked if we would have time to stop by and say hello.

Norma and Doug moved away from South Florida several years before we did and spent some years traveling before finding their current home in Central Florida.

They were able to purchase their "perfect home". It checked all their must have boxes: ✅-It's on a good sized lake with a private backyard, ✅-It's on a dead end street in a quiet neighborhood, ✅-It's a modest sized 3-bedroom/2-bathroom affordable older home (built in 1987). And the bonus ✅ is the house sits on a 1½-acre lot with a circular driveway that was perfect to be able to park their travel trailer next to the house.

Since moving into the home they've sold their travel trailer to a friend and now spend most of their time enjoying their new home. They are both nearly a decade older than Tricia and I, respectively, and I suspect that a decade from now we will come to nearly the same conclusion they did, which for us, may be to spend 3-months sitting still and 9-months on the road, we'll just have to wait and see!

Their large backyard, with a fishing dock and a boat house to store their canoe and kayak.
Outside of the photo is an A/C'd shed-like structure that is used as a hobby space.

There is a large flock of Black-bellied Whistling Ducks that like the warm roof over the dock.
Which is fine until all 150 of them show up at once and take over the yard.


Our original plan was to meet them at their house at 10AM and then go out for lunch around noon. Norma had a Board of Directors zoom meeting at 2PM she needed to participate in, but when she realized it was actually at 1PM we had to alter our plans.

It actually worked out in our favor, because instead of restaurant food, Doug treated us to some of his made-from-scratch spaghetti meat sauce and garlic toast. YUMMY!

When 1PM was drawing near we said our farewells and headed out to the laundromat, then the Walmart for 3-gallons of drinking water and some gasoline.

Then it was just a matter of driving back to the campground to prepare to leave in the morning.



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SHANGRI-LA TRAILHEAD STATE PARK (FL)



WEDNESDAY - After Heather left and started heading home we quickly broke down camp and were off the site before noon.

Our 80-mile move to the south was almost entirely on Interstate 75. We arrived at our next campsite just outside of Ocala at the Shangri-La Trailhead Campground. It's another Florida state park and now our 51st visited campground out of the 55 Florida State Parks where you can camp overnight in an RV.

Originally we planned this stop just because we hadn't camped here before. Then a 20-year long friend reached out to us and asked if we were going to be near Ocala anytime soon and would we like to Meetup for lunch and then visit her vacation home on the Rainbow River? Without hestitation we answered YES to both.

We'll be seeing her tomorrow for lunch at Swampy's Bar & Grille in Dunnellon, located just 15-miles from the campground, then we'll tour her nearby home.

Shangri-La Trailhead park is generally used as an equestrian campground, but non-equestrian users are welcomed. There are no utilities (water/electric) in the campground, but there are flush toilets and hot showers in the bath house.

I'm hoping to share some horse photos before we leave here on Friday morning.



THURSDAY - Tricia was back out and doing her morning walk/talk, this time with Heather on the other end of the phone line.

During her walk she noticed the "horse themed" wall on the side on the maintenance shed here at the equestrian campground. Nice touch Florida State Parks for thinking ahead and adding an unecessary detail to brighten an otherwise drab building.

Here's a morning photo of our "neigh"bor across the street.

And these two beauties live just up the street.


As noontime rolled near we headed out to meet Sue for our lunch date. With Sue having all the local knowledge of the best places to eat in town, we deferred to her judgement when selecting where to eat.

Without hesitation her first choice was Swampy's Bar & Grille. Just like Sue's vacation home here in Dunnellon, the restaurant sits right on the banks of the Rainbow River. I estimate that 90% of the seating at Swampy's was outdoors along the river.

Swampy's describes itself as a Cajun restaurant so I chose a cajun dish from the menu, as did Tricia, but Sue ordered a simple American dish.

Our table was up on the shaded patio along the river.

Tricia's FISH TACOS - Soft flour tortillas with blackened fish, lettuce, pico de gallo,
mixed cheese and Swampy's rémoulade sauce with a side of coleslaw.

Phil's MAHI AND SHRIMP ORLEANS - Blackened Mahi topped with shrimp
and étouffée sauce, then served over mash potatoes.

Sue's SWAMPY'S SHRIMP PLATTER - Lightly seasoned then grilled or lightly breaded
and fried served with cocktail sauce and slaw with a side order of red beans and rice.

Kayakers on the Rainbow River passing by our dining spot on the outside deck.


Within no time everyone's plate was completely cleared, so I'll assume they both enjoyed their meal as much as I did.


With lunch complete and the restaurant tables quickly filling up, we moved our "Party of Three" just down the road to what Sue described as their "vacation home on the river".

When we pulled up to the front of their "vacation home" this was not what I expected to see.

Two stories, four bedrooms, three bathrooms and rents on VRBO for $600 a night. WOW!

That's one hell of an office view you've got there Sue. How do you get any work done?

The water levels have receeded from the hurricane and the deck is once again "above" water.

Looking upstream towards the headwaters of the Rainbow River.

The crystal clear waters of Rainbow Springs feeds the Rainbow River as it passes by.


After our tour of Sue's home, and three hours of chatting out back on the deck, we had to call an end to our visit and take care of a few chores, like filling ROVER's gas tank, because tomorrow we're once again on the move.

It was great seeing Sue again for the first time in six years, and we have several similiar rendezvous with other friends in our near future.

Have I mentioned how nice it is to be back home in Florida?



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