Clearwater Lake and More

While we have been traveling back in time of late, lots has been happening in the here and now.

 As it always does.

 Remember the car trouble I mentioned last week? The one that interfered with my DFG duties? Still happening and all we can say is "Thank God for extended warranties!" First they replaced a part that cost around a thousand dollars. Wasn't enough. As I type, it is still over at the dealership awaiting a NEW transmission and another part!! Now Bruce has a loaner, but for a good part of the week he used either my car, or a rental car. It was quite the stressful week for my honey. 

One thing I neglected to mention about our London trip was that my glasses broke. Or maybe I did, but that fix by Team Peck worked fine, and then the other arm broke off two weeks ago. Time for new glasses which I now have had for more than a week and not a soul has noticed even though they are both a different shape and color! That's a tiny whine about becoming more invisible by the day as we old folks do. 

Anyway, Bruce came with me when I was picking them out and one thing he noticed was a skeleton for sale at Costco. I balked. "Silly", I said. A few days later I thought to myself, if B wants a skeleton, by God, he should have one regardless of what I think! $28 later he did. When he hung it up, it immediately took me back to my days in x-ray school when we had one hanging in our classroom. Indeed it is kind of silly, yet still fun even for a naysayer such as myself. And yes, the eyes are that blue.

Bruce spent most every day last week at the church with one project or another. A closer look at the capitals and you will see the gaping holes that the guys repaired. Luckily there are still craftsman that can do that sort of thing, however they are mostly our age so whether this kind of repair can occur in the future is questionable.

And here they are nearing the finish line. Today the scaffolding is coming down, after which the painters will finish both the porch and the columns.

What just about did him in though was the project below. To a casual observer it is probably hard to believe that the demolition of what was there, along with the installation of this new piece of play equipment for the preschoo,l took about sixty man hours to complete. Not only did it have to be put together, there are 12" deep footers filled with concrete for stability underneath the sand. Bruce and two other men worked in the blazing heat, (yes it is still blazing hot around here) for two afternoons and then on Saturday, during a church workday, as Bruce says, "the calvary arrived" in the form of a father/son team with fresh energy. The blue part at the top is a shade sail which will also need replacing.

As to finishing the quilt, it is getting there; probably at least eight more hours of work. Listening to hours and hours of "This American Life" podcasts made sitting for all those hours in front of the sewing machine enjoyable. It takes a long time to machine quilt, even as simple a pattern I am doing! When I wanted to take a break I read the new Elizabeth Strout book, Olive Again, which is terrific, albeit somewhat sad.

So, earlier in the month I ended a post by saying we saw some deer and nothing more. Today I am rectifying that situation and I hope you enjoy traveling with us to Clearwater Lake in Ocala National Forest. We left early, stopping at WaWa for gas. As I pulled out my camera to photograph the emerging color in the sky, this fellow put on a little act for the camera.

 

With the handy iPad in my lap, we discovered a new route that took us through some lovely rural scenes. Note the Golden Rain tree blooming in the background, our version of Fall color.

Before we knew it we were turning into the park and by golly, a deer ran across the road and into the woods, an awesome way to begin an outing.

And here, my friends, is Mr. Peck, along with a Sandhill Crane couple standing on the shore of Clearwater Lake.

It is well documented in this space how much I like these birds who spend huge amounts of time grooming, as do many other birds. It's been a long while since I was close to any, so between the deer sighting, and the birds, well, I was already satisfied with our trip.

 Bruce took off to join one other boat on the lake,

 and I took off on a walk to see the campgrounds. Here we go again!

Unreal, I thought to myself. Then again when, while watching the woods I saw SIX deer, two pictured below!! I could not believe my luck.

Being a Monday, we mostly had the entire place to ourselves, although there were maybe two groups in the campground. The ranger told me there was a 1.3 mile walking trail around the lake, so why not? A very sandy path made for easy walking amongst the Pines and scrub. Which is to say, not that pretty, but not too strenuous either.

Many years ago we visited Clearwater Lake because Bruce had come her with his family as a boy. There was the sweetest seven year old boy in the lake, who told me as I walked in myself, that the fish were nibbling his toes. As the name implies, it is clear indeed.

And although it was early October, the water was warm enough, even for adults. For the record, the fish found me lacking.

While I was chilling in the water, I began seeing butterflies, only one of which I was able to photograph, primarily because it landed on the sand (!), staying put for some time which begs the question, "why?" Warmth? Can't be nectar so your guess is as good as mine.

Before leaving we took one more drive through the campground, noting those that had adequate shade and space. A lake view is a definite plus. Long shadows for sure.

 Here is the entrance sign off of SR 44.

Rather than returning the way we came, we drove a short distance, seeing the sign for the Boy Scout campground, a place where Bruce and his Dad came regularly. There was at least a mile long road before we came to this sign noting the various campgrounds. Bruce has fond memories of his time at Camp La No Che.

Interesting that we should come across this place because as we drove back from North Carolina, one of the things I did was read to Bruce about modern day Scouting, including the requirements for badges. Furthermore I asked him to recite the motto and pledge, which he successfully did. Once a Boy Scout, always a Boy Scout, as the saying goes. His camping skills go back a long, long way.

Next post we will visit Orlando Wetlands Park, one tiny section shown below.

Amazingly, with that intense cloud cover there was a tiny chill in the air during our visit. TINY being the operative word. It was fun while it lasted!

your friend,

Gail

Car Camping

Car camping used to be more popular than it is today, but that did not stop us from doing it. We were, as to be expected, the only folks sleeping in their car at the campground, but I did not mind it at all. In fact, it was super fun, albeit chilly. Actually, the temperature was more than chilly, but we were snug as a bug in our Pilot.

Alas, where to begin? How about the journey? You've probably already guessed that we took back roads rather than the interstate. On this kind of trip, with no set schedule, I can't bear to just zoom there, I want to see what there is to see. And see, we did. Google Maps told me the destination, Keystone Heights was 136 miles from home. I made it there in a little more than that, with the only part of their map we used was the actual road the campground was on. Let's just say that if a road had a 4, or a 2 in the designation, we took it. 41, 46, 441, 42 all were traveled, along with 17 and 21. Some of it was familiar to Bruce because he comes from a camping family. I do not. Taking a detour, we made our way to Clearwater Lake, a place where he camped as a youngster. Although he claims not to have much of a memory, don't believe him for one minute. He remembered the place as if it were yesterday. Shady and lovely, the spaces were mostly occupied by Northerners who spend the winter months in our Florida campgrounds, snug as a bug in big RV's. The lake is lovely, surrounded by big pine trees, with a white sandy beach.

An apt name, Clearwater Lake:

very unusual to say the least. Using the journey as a bit of a recognizance mission, he wrote down the numbers of the most appealing campsites. Continuing on, we made our way through Crescent City where we stopped at a cute little antique shop:

Retro indeed. Unlike some shops of this type, everything was beautifully organized with the merchandise easy to see. There were lots of goodies to choose from, but in the end, I chose only one thing:

Isn't it cute? I paid the full price, $12.99, despite my timidly asking if it was the best price. Once home I discovered the price was more than fair for this covered dish from Universal Cambridge, an Ohio company formed in 1934. I need another bowl like I need a hole in the head, but what the heck?

I may not have gone too many miles out of the way, however, as far as time is concerned, instead of arriving at the campground by around 11, it was nearly 2 when we arrived.  The park was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps during the depression.

In a radio speech from April, 1936, President Franklin D. Roosevelt had this message for the CCC:

"Idle through no fault of your own, you were enrolled from city and rural homes and offered an opportunity to engage in healthful, outdoor work on forest, park, and soil conservation projects of definite practical value to all the people of the nation. The promptness with which yu seized the opportunity to engage in honest work, the willingness with which you have performed your daily tasks and the fine spirit you have shown in winning the respect of the communities in which your camps have been located, merits the admiration of the entire country."

And here we were, 75 years later, engaging in a healthful outdoor activity, thanks to those hard working men. Throughout our countries most recent financial struggles, there have been many who thought reviving this type of work would be beneficial, however, to date, nothing has come of that idea. I wonder if there was such a thing as unemployment checks back then?

A late lunch was quickly consumed. While I was getting that together Bruce went about making the bare spot as cozy as possible. He finds this part very relaxing. The sun was high in the sky, with nary a cloud, making the middle 50's temperature very comfortable. Following lunch we went for firewood at the ranger station. Strict rules, and I mean strict, disallow campers from so much as picking up a twig for kindling! We found some outside the park along the road, filling the bag which previously housed the quilt. Finally we went bicycling to see more of the park. Because of our recent dry summers, we had been told beforehand the main lake was dry with no fish. The kayak stayed home for that very reason, however, there is water there now.

On the other side of the lake, reached by struggling uphill, followed by flying downhill, the cabins built by the CCC are lakeside.

Cute! Not so cute were the other dried up lakes:

Yup, this whole area was once covered by water:

I hate to say it, but we need a hurricane to replenish our lakes and rivers--natures way of achieving balance. Bruce, unlike myself, has not had the time to get his legs in shape for bicycling, so after viewing the area, we headed back to the site. Here's how much room we had in the Pilot:

The two layers of quilt felt very good indeed once the sun went down! Reading and relaxing until dinnertime filled the remainder of the day. Bruce fired up the cookstove and we let the beef stew simmer. Our closest neighbors told us that for the last few nights a family of deers walked through the forest behind our site, however, on our night there, they did not make an appearance. Because we've had so many warm days, it is easy to forget that it is still winter with the trees only just beginning to get their new leaves. I wonder what this will look like in a month?

 Although we didn't need it, Bruce put the shade shelter over the back for practice:

Adjacent to the left side of the picnic table is our bag of kindling which by the time we left was all used up. Dinner on the picnic table--dessert by the fire:

He's charring mine, just how I like it! How about you--charred, or lightly browned?

This all sounds like fun doesn't it? Well it was, but perhaps the most wonderful part of the trip was the sky that night. Earlier I mentioned the cloudless sky. Combine the little crescent moon, add to that  nearly freezing temperatures, along with a remote location---what you have is the perfect recipe for stars.

Never, in my entire 59 years of living, have I seen so many stars. It is no exaggeration to say that the entire sky was filled with points of light! Then too, because there were so many, the sky still looked blue. Bruce used the lantern to read a bit while I gazed at the stars through the car window. I was completely STAR STRUCK! Although we slept comfortably, every now and again when I woke up, I used the opportunity to look at the stars. Guess what? You'll have to take my word on this because I have no photographic evidence, not even a poor shot. Why not? I wussed out--too cold to try to figure it out!

This post has gone on forever hasn't it? Sorry about that, however, there's one final funny story I must relate before I leave you....

As we prepared to go to sleep, Bruce locked the car, for no other reason than that's what city folk do. Turns out, this was not the way to go. Soon after we were snuggled under our covers, the car alarm started blaring! Yikes, where are the keys to shut if off?? Hitting the red button did not one thing to stop the blaring--finally, after hitting all the buttons it stopped. Whew! Wondering what the neighbors in their big RVs were thinking about those crazy car campers we once again snuggled up. Not so fast Gail and Bruce. A few minutes later it happened again!! After shutting it off, it happened AGAIN! A lesson for future car-campers out there--do not lock your vehicle when you are in it! By the way, I was giggling like a school girl--Bruce was not.