Wednesday 21 February 2018: Sunny, Cool and WINDY

The day dawned windy and cool.  People are leaving the park each hour and now we are alone in a field of green.  We were slow to rise and get going but we said goodbye to other neighbors.  I did some planning about our stay here in Florida and the slow return to the still freezing North.  As a result it now looks like we will stop at the Steven Foster Cultural Center in White Springs, FL.  There is a small RV Park but they only have Fri, Sat, Sun and Mon then we have to leave.  Plans on our journey after that we are open at this time.

Today I got the idea I needed a water pressure gauge.  I looked at Lowes and Home Depot.  Reviews on their gauges were mixed but I decided upon Home Depot Rain Bird.  We drove down and bought it and then decided on lunch at a Chinese place SAM wanted to try.  It was good for $8.00 each. We returned to the RV and I tried the gauge but it leaked and water filled the gauge so it was defective – I returned it right away.  I will have to find a new one somewhere en route.

Now, as the day ends we are watching Hawkins on PBS. Interesting video on his life.

Big Storms here today!

It rained most of the day yesterday and today but around 2PM the big thunderstorms, tornadoes and large pingpong ball hail.  The storm passed just to the south of us by a couple of miles here in Eustis, FL and Orlando really got whacked.  I took a screen shot of the activity as presented by https://www.lightningmaps.org/blitzortung/america/index.php?lang=en

We took a walk around the Southern Palms RV resort here in Eustis, FL.  After, we did some shopping at Walmart and then on to my favorite place – Harbor Freight.  We needed to get a big honkin’ heavy duty pry bar and a smaller one of a bit different shape.  We need the bigger one to pry apart the tow dolly to grease the swivel joint.  In addition, there will be a multitude of uses for heavy duty prying and big nail removal.  The big bar was $23.99 so it was not cheap but if you need a lot of lever action this is the unit.

On the way back to the RV we stopped by Burger King for a Whopper & fries then on to home & the big storm.  It really rained, like I have not seen since the Brazilian rain forest.  Anyway, that was our day and now I am writing this blog.  Moore out.

Where have we been?

Wow, time flies.  We left Clay County Fair RV Park about 1030 on 14 March and drove the 80+ miles through the Ocala National Forest on SR-19. The trip went well and with the help of Mrs. GPS it was easy.  We arrived at the Elks and set up camp.  There was only one other RV in the park and they had the best view but we got to pick the other.  After our arrival a pull trailer set up at the other end of the lot. A little later a nice older class a arrived.  We liked the Elks so well we stayed for 4 days and did not fill up either grey or black water tanks ( we were conservative with water and waste ). We spent those days seeing sights and exploring the novelties of the area.  SAM even bought some sourdough bread.

On Sunday we left the Elks and drove the short distance to Southern Palms and set up slowly  and by dusk we were sitting outside enjoying the nice day.  Today we paid up for 4 days with checkout scheduled for Friday 23 March .  At this time we are deciding what to do next and we are leaning towards driving up to Lake City, FL and picking out a RV Park at this time.

Once there was a man named Honi. He came upon an old man planting a carob tree.

“How long does a carob tree take to produce fruit?” Honi asked.

“Seventy years,” the old man replied.

“You idiot!” cried Honi. “Why are you wasting your time planting a tree whose fruit you will never see?”

“When I was born,” replied the old man, “the world was full of carob trees, planted by the people who came before me. So I plant this, so that my descendants and their neighbors might enjoy trees, as I did.”

And he went back to planting.

AND THIS IS WHY EVERYONE PAYS FOR SOCIAL INFRASTRUCTURE.

Addendum 8 March 2018:

This is an article I retweeted about a few weeks ago and is associated with decline of liberal democracy above:

A model of the way opinions spread reveals how propagandists use the scientific process against itself to secretly influence policy makers.

• by Emerging Technology from the arXiv
• January 22, 2018

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/610012/the-tricks-propagandists-use-to-beat-science/

Thursday 8 March 2018: Burger Night Past

We went to the Elks here in Green Cove Springs last night.  The burgers were huge and tasted good plus the fries were ok too.  None of our immediate friends were there so we ate on the “porch” bundled up in jackets.  Actually, it was quite pleasant and we enjoyed our last GCS Elks burgers for this season.  We are heading out for an area 2 hours drive to the south in the Mt. Dora area and plan on staying for about a week. This will give us an opportunity to explore a bit.

This morning I ordered the 4 gallons of food grade antifreeze for out return trip to the north.  Walmart said they had the antifreeze so I tried a new thing and will pick it up as I think it will be necessary to winterize the RV since the temperatures do not seem to be breaking up in N Indiana.

While I was reading this morning I came across an article that appears to be thoughtful and reasonably well written.  It is about our turmoil in the political arena and those disaffected individuals that might bring down liberal democracy.  I the link below should lead you to The Guardian article.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/mar/04/shock-system-liberal-democracy-populism

Monday 5 March 2018: Cool Days & Cold Nights

The past couple of days have been cool, probably closer to typical early March, and the nights have been in the mid-30’s.  As you can imagine we have had the electric heaters on and the gas furnace is set to 68and has come on in the daybreak hours.  We have 12 units in the RV park but only about 9 are occupied.  The days are counting down for our stay here and we have 9 days left and then we will travel down to Eustis FL Elks for a few days stay.  Beyond that no plans have been made but we will probably meander northwards.

In the back of my mind, I am thinking of stopping in Lake Park, GA and then somewhere south of Atlanta.  After that perhaps somewhere on I-24 SE of Nashville and then on to just north of Louisville.  We may stop overnight in Indy to see Beth and the grandkids and on to home in early April.  I will refine this time table from time to time.