March 18, 2006

March 18, 2006

Davenport to Ocala, Florida

YEAR 2 DAY 274

 

Today was sunny and very warm again.

We've been on the road for 21 months. We've travelled almost 58,000 km. / over 36,000 miles.

This morning we prepared for departure, and left Three Worlds RV Resort. Our original plan was to head to Daytona Beach, but we changed our minds. We made a planning mistake a week ago, by not taking into account that this was Spring Break week. Last year I guess we were somewhere during Spring Break week where it didn't matter that it was Spring Break week, but this year, in Florida, it mattered a lot. Not only was this Spring Break week, it was also Bike Week at Daytona Beach, an annual biker event. I have a lot of contempt for old men my age who refuse to age gracefully, and who spend their time driving their Harleys to Daytona Beach to get drunk and chase after co-eds on Spring Break, that are younger than their daughters. Grow up, boys ... and trim your beards while you're at it ! Anyways ... because of our planning mistake, we ended up at Disney World during one of its busiest and most crowded weeks of the year. And ... Interstate 75 headed north today was bumper to bumper at 10 M.P.H. with Spring Breakers headed home.

We left Three Worlds RV Resort heading north for a few miles to Hwy. 532, then west for a few miles on Hwy. 532 to Interstate 4, then south for a few miles on I-4, then north on Hwy. 27 to Leesburg. At Leesburg we turned west on Hwy. 44 for a few miles to Interstate 75. We got onto I-75 about 10 miles from the campground we were heading for. It took about an hour to drive the last 10 miles because of heavy, slow traffic. The traffic was made worse by an RV accident that backed traffic up for many miles, just because of rubber necking. A travel trailer hitched to a van, rolled into the ditch, self destructing in the process. The van remained upright, just the trailer rolled. What a mess. We finally arrived at Ocala Ranch RV Park, registered, and parked.

First thing we did upon arrival was have lunch. For dessert, we had a fresh mango. We should have got instructions. We didn't know whether or not to eat the skin, or how to separate the flesh from the large pit, or how to cut it, or peel it. We must have looked like a couple of Neanderthal cave men trying to eat this strange thing. After lunch, we took Bo for an obedience training session. We worked, and walked, to the dog area of the park, a feature that was the main reason we came here. We were very disappointed. The advertised dog pool was drained, and dirty. As a result, we decided to stay here only 1 night. We had planned to stay 2 nights. We played with Bo in the fenced dog run area, then took him over to the outdoor dog bathing area. We didn't give him a bath, but we did soak him down just to cool him off. He had a great time running around wildly in the fenced area, after being soaked. We brought Bo back to the trailer, and we changed into bathing suits. We went to the swimming pool, and floated around for an hour or so during the hottest part of the afternoon.

Back at the trailer, I got out the laptop, and did today's accounting. While getting the lawn chairs out of the "basement" pass through storage compartment, I chatted with the 2 women in the motorhome parked next to us. They are from the Ottawa Valley, just west of Ottawa. We chatted about where we've been, and where we're going. Standard RV park chit-chat. I set up the barbecue, and while barbecuing supper, chatted with 2 more neighbours ; another one from the Ottawa Valley, and one from Ottawa. Gee, what a lot of Ottawa area people in this park.

After supper I started today's journal entry, and prepared some e-mail to send. I walked down to the clubhouse to get online, send and retrieve e-mail, and update my blog. When I returned to the trailer, I began to work on the 3 batches of incoming mail we picked up recently in Wauchula. Hoo, boy, what a lot of work that's going to be.

DSK