Good ol' Florida.... this time with an ATV
(posted from Starbucks Coffee, Ocala, FL)
(This post covers 12 – 20 February, 2012)
-----------------------------
Monday, 20 February -
President's Day.
Weather looked better this morning. Yesterday's winds brought in a colder night-- in the high 40's--- but the sun this morning felt very good and the lower humidity was nice. I initially thought I'd need to wear my electric-heat jacket liner on this morning's ride but decided things were warming quickly enough that I'd not need it.
This morning's goal was the Route 316 trailhead where I had begun last year's ride on the ATV tour that started this whole ATV thing. Last year I had booked a tour with ATV Adventure Tours and had done a two and a half-hour tour that included a lunch stop here at Delancey ATV campground.
I've gotten used to the map now and can reliably find my way around. I do notice there are some misses with the map but basically you can be assured you'll eventually find your way back if you follow the trail colors. There are posts at most intersections which show the type of trail (motorcycle, jeep, ATV, UTV, or licensed vehicle), and white trail-direction arrows on a color background. The Longleaf Trail, for instance, is yellow, the Pipeline Trail brown, etc. It is of course possible to turn the wrong direction but if you can read the map at all, you'll realize the mistake.
I've been stopping at many intersections and marking the positions on the GPS but that's probably overkill.
After a quick break at the 316 trailhead, I took the 88 Connector just inside the gate. This trail isn't on the map but it's an out-and-back trail to The 88 Store and Pub. I parked in their 'corral' (which prevents ATVs from getting to the hard road but also prevents them from getting to the gas pumps at the store). I had a beer for lunch and rested my throttle thumb.
After lunch I took the connector back to the trailhead, then took the Pipeline Trail west and made a very large loop back to the yellow trail. I noticed the western portion of the Pipeline Trail was in wonderful condition and thought it must be used very little. Eventually I came upon the reason why--- a trail maintenance crew. This was a husband-wife team of older volunteers (in their sixties, i'd say) on two ATVs. The front one was pulling a trail-width rake which was knocking down the washboard bumps and pulling all manner of branches and roots from the trail. The other ATV pulled a drag made up of four or five truck tires-- a trail-smoother. When the couple noticed me behind they pulled off in a wide spot and we chatted a bit. They live at the OHV Operations Center nearby on FR11.
I wound my way back to the campsite and checked the GPS track. I had ridden 32 miles today. And I was completely spent. I parked the ATV and got into the van and took an hour's nap.
After my nap I drove over to the 88 Store for ice (they have hard-frozen 10-pound bags that seem to last extra-long), then drove on to Salt Springs. The plaza there was uncharacteristically empty but Salty's Country Store was open so I knew I could get a burger and use their wi-fi. I had supper while responding to an email from Labashi.
Afterwards I drove back to camp and caught up the blog and my ATV log book then turned my attention to 'The Covenant'.
--------------------------
Sunday, 19 February -
I didn't feel very well today and weather didn't seem to be co-operating. I walked over to the Delancey East campground to talk to a fellow I met yesterday-- Ted. He has a problem with his pickup and was making arrangements to have it towed to a garage. I thought I'd check if he needs anything from town or needs a ride. It turns out his truck won't be towed until tomorrow and he and his wife need nothing. As I chatted with Ted (DuBois) and his wife Jo, it started raining lightly. I ended up spending the whole morning there talking away while we had alternating periods of light rain and sun.
After lunch I drove over to Davenport Landing for a walk around. Ted had told me there's an Indian mound there with kiosks documenting the site and life in the early 1800's along the Oklawaha River. After checking out the site, I drove on to Fort McCoy to hopefully buy a book or two at the library's annual book sale. But I had mis-read the flyer and it wasn't open today. On the way back I hit the 88 Store to see what was up with their grand-opening party (it had recently changed hands) but didn't stay--- I'd rather be ridin'.
Late in the day I rode the ATV north on Longleaf loop to the cutoff below Rodman Dam trailhead then down past the Delancey Loops. I spent the evening with Ted and Jo, looking at my Botswana pictures on the iPad.
---------------------------
Saturday, 18 February -
Last night's temperature was wonderful for sleeping-- mid-Sixties. I woke 0730-ish and wondered how long it would be until I heard the first ATV start up. That happened 15 minutes later.
I had a leisurely start to the day and fired up my ATV around 0900. This time I rode north on the Longleaf Trail to its multiple intersections with the Delancey Loops. These turned out to be very narrow trails with many very tight turns. All the blind turns made me keep down my speed and I was happy for that when I encountered three guys buzzing all-out on their sport ATVs. I was able to get off to the side both times (once with them coming up behind, the other head-on). I also realized I have pretty good stopping power as do the other guys. I also encountered two motorcycles. Those guys must be crazy. I can't imagine riding a motorcycle in sand that deep. After they passed I watched for their tracks and could see they spend a lot of time with the rear-end rooster-tailing.
I rode to the Route 19 trailhead and then back to the van, a trip of about an hour and a half. I had failed to fill my spare gas tank so decided I'd not only take a break from riding but would also drop the trailer and drive Mocha Joe over to the 88 Store. The campground host had told me the store has free wi-fi so I had a beer and sat on the porch using the wi-fi connection to have a Skype-video call with Labashi. I had planned to call her daily since we have contractor proposals coming in soon but I could not get a signal with either the cell phone (Cingular/AT&T) or iPad (Verizon). I therefore sent a SPOT OK signal last night.
After Labashi and I wrapped up and I got my gas and ice, I drove on over to Salt Springs. I was looking for some type of small log book for the ATV and found a small notebook at the grocery store.
I also stopped at the National Forest Visitor's Center and found more detailed maps of the roads and trails in their 'Multiple Use Vehicle Map Book'. It's not easy to read but does have the forest trail numbers and that should help.
Back at the campground I rolled Uru (the ATV) off the trailer and took off in a southerly direction this time. I rode for about an hour to the Salt Springs Connector and then the five miles to Salt Springs. I had just been there at lunch time so I merely marked the location on the GPS and turned back.
I rode from 1500 to 1700, then made supper. As I finished supper I decided I should take an evening drive up to Davenport Landing, a dispersed camping site I had found last year. It had been deserted last year and I spent a pleasant hour watching the creek and I saw several otters. But tonight there were five or six campsites in use and one extended family had a massive campsite. I wasn't going to see otters this evening! I did walk down to the creek but some fisherman had set up there and had his radio playing loud (playing 'Macho Man' of all things). I'll check back later in the week.
I drove across FR77 and then down 11 to the 88 Store. I had another beer and surfed the web, again from the front porch. I had met two Forest Service interns at the campground today and they were both there searching the web for job opportunities with the park service and forest service.
Around 2000 I drove back to camp and blogged a bit, then read. I'm back into Michener's 'The Covenant' after finishing up 'The Girl Who Played With Fire' and 'The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo'.
---------------------------
Friday, 17 February -
This morning I woke to a light rain at the Palatka Wal-mart. I did a bit of shopping, then drove south down US19. I took a brief tour of the Rodman Dam campground (my nearest showers for the next couple of days) and checked out the ATV trailhead nearby. With rain threatening I decided it best to move on-- I'll do this later in the week when I come back for a shower.
I drove to Salt Springs and talked at some length with the volunteer at the National Forest Visitor's Center about my ATV plans. At first he said I'd need a 'title sticker' but once we reviewed the rules in detail, that turned out not to be the case-- those are for Florida residents only. Since I already had my vehicle registered in PA, I was okay and would just need a day pass for riding.
I had lunch at the little pizza shop in the strip mall and used their wi-fi to catch up on the news as I ate.
I then drove back north and west to Lake Delancey ATV campground. I talked with several guys for the short version of how it works. There are 13 campsites but in these sites you can't unload your ATV at those sites. You have to unload at a common area, then drive your ATV to a 'corral' area-- small, railed-off parking spots behind each campsite. But it's also possible to simply camp in what must at one time have been a day-use area. There you don't have campsite numbers but you can have your ATV right there and can run it in and out of the trailer as you wish. I chose the latter.
As I was figuring this out I met a guy from Jacksonville. He came in in a long toy-hauler-style trailer. The front is living quarters and the rear a garage for ATVs. Nice setup!
We spoke for a half-hour or so. He runs up to West Virginia (a nine-to-ten hour run) two or three times each year to ride the Hatfield-McCoy trails. He suggested I check out atvresort.com for a good place to stay that's near three trail systems. He's a good-ole-boy and a very pleasant fella. He's driving a Polaris UTV and says he loves the design but has had lots of trouble with his unit-- it's a maintenance nightmare and has had over $5000-worth of warranty work.
We were supposed to have a rain shower this afternoon but it seemed to have passed south of us so I went ahead with preparations on the ATV. I installed my GPS mount and the set my old reliable 60CSx GPS. I checked though all the permits and registrations paperwork to be sure I had everything along and made sure I had the SPOT satellite messenger, just in case.
I loaded up and took a short ride-- perhaps half an hour. I quickly learned that the maps for the trails are poor-- far too general. There are WAY too many decision-points not shown on the map. I'll have to be a bit careful and will probably have to use the GPS's track-back function.
As I took a break back at the van I noticed another camper had come in and parked nearby. This guy had a very familiar-looking truck camper. This one looked very much like a Four Wheel truck camper but it's built by a different California company-- All-Terrain Campers. I walked over and introduced myself and spent the next hour getting a detailed tour of the camper and its very happy owner. He had bought an empty shell and had built in most of the furnishings and had asked the factory to make a few small changes for him. Now this was a MUCH better layout to my way of thinking. The owner's choices were perfect. He had put a bed across the camper at the front, had built a lower-than normal seat (so he could sit comfortably with the roof in its down position) and had built in a shelf for a standard el-cheapo air conditioner (he does live in Florida, after all). This one is based on All-Terrain's 'Ocelot' model and that should also work on the Tacoma I have my eye on (this guy had his on a Chevy half-ton Silverado and was very happy with that choice).
I then took a longer ATV ride and once again found I could have used a better map. But I looped back toward the trail I had been on earlier and did recognize it when I ran onto it. That was a good thing. Darkness was only a half-hour away and I was happy to be on a familiar trail in that circumstance.
I made supper and then took a walk over to the Lake Delancey West (the non-ATV) campground. It's practically deserted over there but that made for a nice evening walk. Cost there is $10 this year and $6 in the ATV campground I'm in (but you need a $10 permit for up to 3 days of riding).
After supper I sat in my camp chair and enjoyed the evening with a glass of wine. The temperature this evening is 72 and it's very, very pleasant even if it is cloudy.
Around 2000 I hopped in Mocha Joe's front seat and caught up the blog, then returned to the back for the night. This was a GOOD day.
----------------------------
Thursday, 16 February -
This morning I drove on to High Point and Xtreme Campers. I was given a tour of the Eagle and Hawk models of the Four Wheel truck campers by the owner of the dealership. This turned out to be an excellent idea. I've been considering one of these campers and wanted some hands-on time with one. They're built in California and there's only one dealer on the East Coast so this was it.
I'm very glad I visited. I learned the small door is no big deal at all. Because you are entering from behind-and-below, it's a natural movement to duck inside and stand up. If the unit were sitting on a tailgate, though, that would be a different matter.
I was surprised to find the roll-over seat/couch is impractical. This seems like a good idea. It has a regular bench seat but the back is on a bracket that can be rolled over to form a bed. Unfortunately, it takes up so much room that you can't roll it over while you are inside the camper. You have to step outside. And once it rolls over, it blocks most of the door and you have to crawl through a small opening to get back into the camper. And when the two portions line up, there's a 3/8-inch difference in height--- for your mattress. It's a terrible design for any regular use. It's okay as a backup, I suppose, because we would normally use the queen-size upper bunk. But I wanted to have a way to stay in the camper without raising the roof and this wouldn't really work. I also wasn't fond of the slide-out bed extension up top. It does make up to a massive bed but it takes up too much room in the already-smallish camper.
After my hour-long visit at Xtreme Campers I got back on the road for Florida. I reached the Florida border after supper and took advantage of the visitor center wi-fi connection to call Labashi. We spoke for 45 minutes or so, catching up on email and calls from the contractors.
I drove on to Palatka, arriving at the Wal-mart at 2030. I walked over to the nearby Chili's and had a maragarita and guacamole and salsa dip to celebrate. This Chili's now has a 'max-o-rita' option that allowed me to add a shot of tequila to my drink for $2.50. Now THAT's a margarita. Excellent!
Back in the van I read a bit and then fell heavily asleep.
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Wednesday, 15 February -
I left for Florida this morning after a last-minute packing rush. Perhaps I should have taken a bit more time because I left without the longer barrel for my shotgun (it's a 'convertible' model with a self-defense 18” barrel and a field barrel of 28”). I'm planning on shooting clay birds from my new auto trap so turned back for it. I had left at 1000 and had gotten to US 30 when I realized my mistake. By the time I returned for the other barrel it was 1100 until I left again.
I drove down I-83 to Baltimore and around the Washington Beltway to join I-95 for Richmond. By supper time I turned onto I-85 and drove southwest toward my objective, High Point, North Carolina. I had made an appointment to look at a Four Wheel truck camper for tomorrow at 0900 and realized I didn't have to drive the whole way to High Point tonight. I first followed the GPS to the Walmart at Durham but that one turned out to be closed. I moved on to Hillsborough, where I found a very pleasant little Wal-mart with a gigantic and very quiet parking lot.... perfect.
I shopped for groceries and rented a movie from the Redbox. This one was 'Cowboys and Aliens', a very forgettable movie starring Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford. Ouch.
After the movie I fell into a deep sleep and barely even heard the 0300 parking lot sweeper.
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Tuesday, 14 February -
This morning I made a quick run to Walmart for more locks for my trip. It's amazing how many locks I need. I've decided to take along several guns to exercise at the shooting range and that means even more locks since I have to store and lock guns and ammunition separately to comply with federal regulations in transporting them.
I also picked up a dozen roses for Labashi for Valentine's Day.
Back home I hooked the cargo trailer up to Mocha Joe and finished packing the various footlockers with ATV and camping gear.
Late in the afternoon I drove to Chambersburg to pick up Maypo's gear. He'll be flying down to Orlando to join me and will need camping gear and a helmet. Better I take those things along in the trailer than he attempt to fly with them.
I made it back home in time to watch 'Top Shot' with Labashi. She likes it a lot more than I would have expected.
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Monday, 13 February -
Today our main goal was to host two contracting teams who will be bidding on work in our basement. Labashi wants to add a basement bathroom for guests and that somehow turned into adding central air, resolving our basement flooding problem, and adding a water softener and UV light.
Our day was spent with the contracting teams but I spent in-between times starting to load up Mocha Joe for the Florida trip.
That evening we went out to dinner at Hillside. It has been a long time since we've been there.
Afterwards we watched a French film-- 'Army of Shadows', a devastating portrait of the French Resistance. This one pulls no punches and is amazingly frank about the reality of the risks the Resistance took, often without reward.
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Sunday, 12 February -
This morning I wanted to run down to the new Starbucks on US30 but couldn't quite get away. First, I got up late--- eightish--- then did a few chores around home waiting for the day to warm up a bit. I caught up the blog and posted it.
Around noon was tempted to get away but decided to put it off. Before I knew it time had come to go visit Mom and Dad. We picked up baby-back ribs from Texas Roadhouse on the way to their apartment and had a feast with them. I had a few chores to attend to on Dad's PC, mostly clearing up a problem with Comcast software which didn't fully delete.
That evening we returned home to finish 'Justified'- Season Two.
********* END OF POST *************
(posted from Starbucks Coffee, Ocala, FL)
(This post covers 12 – 20 February, 2012)
-----------------------------
Monday, 20 February -
President's Day.
Weather looked better this morning. Yesterday's winds brought in a colder night-- in the high 40's--- but the sun this morning felt very good and the lower humidity was nice. I initially thought I'd need to wear my electric-heat jacket liner on this morning's ride but decided things were warming quickly enough that I'd not need it.
This morning's goal was the Route 316 trailhead where I had begun last year's ride on the ATV tour that started this whole ATV thing. Last year I had booked a tour with ATV Adventure Tours and had done a two and a half-hour tour that included a lunch stop here at Delancey ATV campground.
I've gotten used to the map now and can reliably find my way around. I do notice there are some misses with the map but basically you can be assured you'll eventually find your way back if you follow the trail colors. There are posts at most intersections which show the type of trail (motorcycle, jeep, ATV, UTV, or licensed vehicle), and white trail-direction arrows on a color background. The Longleaf Trail, for instance, is yellow, the Pipeline Trail brown, etc. It is of course possible to turn the wrong direction but if you can read the map at all, you'll realize the mistake.
I've been stopping at many intersections and marking the positions on the GPS but that's probably overkill.
After a quick break at the 316 trailhead, I took the 88 Connector just inside the gate. This trail isn't on the map but it's an out-and-back trail to The 88 Store and Pub. I parked in their 'corral' (which prevents ATVs from getting to the hard road but also prevents them from getting to the gas pumps at the store). I had a beer for lunch and rested my throttle thumb.
After lunch I took the connector back to the trailhead, then took the Pipeline Trail west and made a very large loop back to the yellow trail. I noticed the western portion of the Pipeline Trail was in wonderful condition and thought it must be used very little. Eventually I came upon the reason why--- a trail maintenance crew. This was a husband-wife team of older volunteers (in their sixties, i'd say) on two ATVs. The front one was pulling a trail-width rake which was knocking down the washboard bumps and pulling all manner of branches and roots from the trail. The other ATV pulled a drag made up of four or five truck tires-- a trail-smoother. When the couple noticed me behind they pulled off in a wide spot and we chatted a bit. They live at the OHV Operations Center nearby on FR11.
I wound my way back to the campsite and checked the GPS track. I had ridden 32 miles today. And I was completely spent. I parked the ATV and got into the van and took an hour's nap.
After my nap I drove over to the 88 Store for ice (they have hard-frozen 10-pound bags that seem to last extra-long), then drove on to Salt Springs. The plaza there was uncharacteristically empty but Salty's Country Store was open so I knew I could get a burger and use their wi-fi. I had supper while responding to an email from Labashi.
Afterwards I drove back to camp and caught up the blog and my ATV log book then turned my attention to 'The Covenant'.
--------------------------
Sunday, 19 February -
I didn't feel very well today and weather didn't seem to be co-operating. I walked over to the Delancey East campground to talk to a fellow I met yesterday-- Ted. He has a problem with his pickup and was making arrangements to have it towed to a garage. I thought I'd check if he needs anything from town or needs a ride. It turns out his truck won't be towed until tomorrow and he and his wife need nothing. As I chatted with Ted (DuBois) and his wife Jo, it started raining lightly. I ended up spending the whole morning there talking away while we had alternating periods of light rain and sun.
After lunch I drove over to Davenport Landing for a walk around. Ted had told me there's an Indian mound there with kiosks documenting the site and life in the early 1800's along the Oklawaha River. After checking out the site, I drove on to Fort McCoy to hopefully buy a book or two at the library's annual book sale. But I had mis-read the flyer and it wasn't open today. On the way back I hit the 88 Store to see what was up with their grand-opening party (it had recently changed hands) but didn't stay--- I'd rather be ridin'.
Late in the day I rode the ATV north on Longleaf loop to the cutoff below Rodman Dam trailhead then down past the Delancey Loops. I spent the evening with Ted and Jo, looking at my Botswana pictures on the iPad.
---------------------------
Saturday, 18 February -
Last night's temperature was wonderful for sleeping-- mid-Sixties. I woke 0730-ish and wondered how long it would be until I heard the first ATV start up. That happened 15 minutes later.
I had a leisurely start to the day and fired up my ATV around 0900. This time I rode north on the Longleaf Trail to its multiple intersections with the Delancey Loops. These turned out to be very narrow trails with many very tight turns. All the blind turns made me keep down my speed and I was happy for that when I encountered three guys buzzing all-out on their sport ATVs. I was able to get off to the side both times (once with them coming up behind, the other head-on). I also realized I have pretty good stopping power as do the other guys. I also encountered two motorcycles. Those guys must be crazy. I can't imagine riding a motorcycle in sand that deep. After they passed I watched for their tracks and could see they spend a lot of time with the rear-end rooster-tailing.
I rode to the Route 19 trailhead and then back to the van, a trip of about an hour and a half. I had failed to fill my spare gas tank so decided I'd not only take a break from riding but would also drop the trailer and drive Mocha Joe over to the 88 Store. The campground host had told me the store has free wi-fi so I had a beer and sat on the porch using the wi-fi connection to have a Skype-video call with Labashi. I had planned to call her daily since we have contractor proposals coming in soon but I could not get a signal with either the cell phone (Cingular/AT&T) or iPad (Verizon). I therefore sent a SPOT OK signal last night.
After Labashi and I wrapped up and I got my gas and ice, I drove on over to Salt Springs. I was looking for some type of small log book for the ATV and found a small notebook at the grocery store.
I also stopped at the National Forest Visitor's Center and found more detailed maps of the roads and trails in their 'Multiple Use Vehicle Map Book'. It's not easy to read but does have the forest trail numbers and that should help.
Back at the campground I rolled Uru (the ATV) off the trailer and took off in a southerly direction this time. I rode for about an hour to the Salt Springs Connector and then the five miles to Salt Springs. I had just been there at lunch time so I merely marked the location on the GPS and turned back.
I rode from 1500 to 1700, then made supper. As I finished supper I decided I should take an evening drive up to Davenport Landing, a dispersed camping site I had found last year. It had been deserted last year and I spent a pleasant hour watching the creek and I saw several otters. But tonight there were five or six campsites in use and one extended family had a massive campsite. I wasn't going to see otters this evening! I did walk down to the creek but some fisherman had set up there and had his radio playing loud (playing 'Macho Man' of all things). I'll check back later in the week.
I drove across FR77 and then down 11 to the 88 Store. I had another beer and surfed the web, again from the front porch. I had met two Forest Service interns at the campground today and they were both there searching the web for job opportunities with the park service and forest service.
Around 2000 I drove back to camp and blogged a bit, then read. I'm back into Michener's 'The Covenant' after finishing up 'The Girl Who Played With Fire' and 'The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo'.
---------------------------
Friday, 17 February -
This morning I woke to a light rain at the Palatka Wal-mart. I did a bit of shopping, then drove south down US19. I took a brief tour of the Rodman Dam campground (my nearest showers for the next couple of days) and checked out the ATV trailhead nearby. With rain threatening I decided it best to move on-- I'll do this later in the week when I come back for a shower.
I drove to Salt Springs and talked at some length with the volunteer at the National Forest Visitor's Center about my ATV plans. At first he said I'd need a 'title sticker' but once we reviewed the rules in detail, that turned out not to be the case-- those are for Florida residents only. Since I already had my vehicle registered in PA, I was okay and would just need a day pass for riding.
I had lunch at the little pizza shop in the strip mall and used their wi-fi to catch up on the news as I ate.
I then drove back north and west to Lake Delancey ATV campground. I talked with several guys for the short version of how it works. There are 13 campsites but in these sites you can't unload your ATV at those sites. You have to unload at a common area, then drive your ATV to a 'corral' area-- small, railed-off parking spots behind each campsite. But it's also possible to simply camp in what must at one time have been a day-use area. There you don't have campsite numbers but you can have your ATV right there and can run it in and out of the trailer as you wish. I chose the latter.
As I was figuring this out I met a guy from Jacksonville. He came in in a long toy-hauler-style trailer. The front is living quarters and the rear a garage for ATVs. Nice setup!
We spoke for a half-hour or so. He runs up to West Virginia (a nine-to-ten hour run) two or three times each year to ride the Hatfield-McCoy trails. He suggested I check out atvresort.com for a good place to stay that's near three trail systems. He's a good-ole-boy and a very pleasant fella. He's driving a Polaris UTV and says he loves the design but has had lots of trouble with his unit-- it's a maintenance nightmare and has had over $5000-worth of warranty work.
We were supposed to have a rain shower this afternoon but it seemed to have passed south of us so I went ahead with preparations on the ATV. I installed my GPS mount and the set my old reliable 60CSx GPS. I checked though all the permits and registrations paperwork to be sure I had everything along and made sure I had the SPOT satellite messenger, just in case.
I loaded up and took a short ride-- perhaps half an hour. I quickly learned that the maps for the trails are poor-- far too general. There are WAY too many decision-points not shown on the map. I'll have to be a bit careful and will probably have to use the GPS's track-back function.
As I took a break back at the van I noticed another camper had come in and parked nearby. This guy had a very familiar-looking truck camper. This one looked very much like a Four Wheel truck camper but it's built by a different California company-- All-Terrain Campers. I walked over and introduced myself and spent the next hour getting a detailed tour of the camper and its very happy owner. He had bought an empty shell and had built in most of the furnishings and had asked the factory to make a few small changes for him. Now this was a MUCH better layout to my way of thinking. The owner's choices were perfect. He had put a bed across the camper at the front, had built a lower-than normal seat (so he could sit comfortably with the roof in its down position) and had built in a shelf for a standard el-cheapo air conditioner (he does live in Florida, after all). This one is based on All-Terrain's 'Ocelot' model and that should also work on the Tacoma I have my eye on (this guy had his on a Chevy half-ton Silverado and was very happy with that choice).
I then took a longer ATV ride and once again found I could have used a better map. But I looped back toward the trail I had been on earlier and did recognize it when I ran onto it. That was a good thing. Darkness was only a half-hour away and I was happy to be on a familiar trail in that circumstance.
I made supper and then took a walk over to the Lake Delancey West (the non-ATV) campground. It's practically deserted over there but that made for a nice evening walk. Cost there is $10 this year and $6 in the ATV campground I'm in (but you need a $10 permit for up to 3 days of riding).
After supper I sat in my camp chair and enjoyed the evening with a glass of wine. The temperature this evening is 72 and it's very, very pleasant even if it is cloudy.
Around 2000 I hopped in Mocha Joe's front seat and caught up the blog, then returned to the back for the night. This was a GOOD day.
----------------------------
Thursday, 16 February -
This morning I drove on to High Point and Xtreme Campers. I was given a tour of the Eagle and Hawk models of the Four Wheel truck campers by the owner of the dealership. This turned out to be an excellent idea. I've been considering one of these campers and wanted some hands-on time with one. They're built in California and there's only one dealer on the East Coast so this was it.
I'm very glad I visited. I learned the small door is no big deal at all. Because you are entering from behind-and-below, it's a natural movement to duck inside and stand up. If the unit were sitting on a tailgate, though, that would be a different matter.
I was surprised to find the roll-over seat/couch is impractical. This seems like a good idea. It has a regular bench seat but the back is on a bracket that can be rolled over to form a bed. Unfortunately, it takes up so much room that you can't roll it over while you are inside the camper. You have to step outside. And once it rolls over, it blocks most of the door and you have to crawl through a small opening to get back into the camper. And when the two portions line up, there's a 3/8-inch difference in height--- for your mattress. It's a terrible design for any regular use. It's okay as a backup, I suppose, because we would normally use the queen-size upper bunk. But I wanted to have a way to stay in the camper without raising the roof and this wouldn't really work. I also wasn't fond of the slide-out bed extension up top. It does make up to a massive bed but it takes up too much room in the already-smallish camper.
After my hour-long visit at Xtreme Campers I got back on the road for Florida. I reached the Florida border after supper and took advantage of the visitor center wi-fi connection to call Labashi. We spoke for 45 minutes or so, catching up on email and calls from the contractors.
I drove on to Palatka, arriving at the Wal-mart at 2030. I walked over to the nearby Chili's and had a maragarita and guacamole and salsa dip to celebrate. This Chili's now has a 'max-o-rita' option that allowed me to add a shot of tequila to my drink for $2.50. Now THAT's a margarita. Excellent!
Back in the van I read a bit and then fell heavily asleep.
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Wednesday, 15 February -
I left for Florida this morning after a last-minute packing rush. Perhaps I should have taken a bit more time because I left without the longer barrel for my shotgun (it's a 'convertible' model with a self-defense 18” barrel and a field barrel of 28”). I'm planning on shooting clay birds from my new auto trap so turned back for it. I had left at 1000 and had gotten to US 30 when I realized my mistake. By the time I returned for the other barrel it was 1100 until I left again.
I drove down I-83 to Baltimore and around the Washington Beltway to join I-95 for Richmond. By supper time I turned onto I-85 and drove southwest toward my objective, High Point, North Carolina. I had made an appointment to look at a Four Wheel truck camper for tomorrow at 0900 and realized I didn't have to drive the whole way to High Point tonight. I first followed the GPS to the Walmart at Durham but that one turned out to be closed. I moved on to Hillsborough, where I found a very pleasant little Wal-mart with a gigantic and very quiet parking lot.... perfect.
I shopped for groceries and rented a movie from the Redbox. This one was 'Cowboys and Aliens', a very forgettable movie starring Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford. Ouch.
After the movie I fell into a deep sleep and barely even heard the 0300 parking lot sweeper.
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Tuesday, 14 February -
This morning I made a quick run to Walmart for more locks for my trip. It's amazing how many locks I need. I've decided to take along several guns to exercise at the shooting range and that means even more locks since I have to store and lock guns and ammunition separately to comply with federal regulations in transporting them.
I also picked up a dozen roses for Labashi for Valentine's Day.
Back home I hooked the cargo trailer up to Mocha Joe and finished packing the various footlockers with ATV and camping gear.
Late in the afternoon I drove to Chambersburg to pick up Maypo's gear. He'll be flying down to Orlando to join me and will need camping gear and a helmet. Better I take those things along in the trailer than he attempt to fly with them.
I made it back home in time to watch 'Top Shot' with Labashi. She likes it a lot more than I would have expected.
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Monday, 13 February -
Today our main goal was to host two contracting teams who will be bidding on work in our basement. Labashi wants to add a basement bathroom for guests and that somehow turned into adding central air, resolving our basement flooding problem, and adding a water softener and UV light.
Our day was spent with the contracting teams but I spent in-between times starting to load up Mocha Joe for the Florida trip.
That evening we went out to dinner at Hillside. It has been a long time since we've been there.
Afterwards we watched a French film-- 'Army of Shadows', a devastating portrait of the French Resistance. This one pulls no punches and is amazingly frank about the reality of the risks the Resistance took, often without reward.
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Sunday, 12 February -
This morning I wanted to run down to the new Starbucks on US30 but couldn't quite get away. First, I got up late--- eightish--- then did a few chores around home waiting for the day to warm up a bit. I caught up the blog and posted it.
Around noon was tempted to get away but decided to put it off. Before I knew it time had come to go visit Mom and Dad. We picked up baby-back ribs from Texas Roadhouse on the way to their apartment and had a feast with them. I had a few chores to attend to on Dad's PC, mostly clearing up a problem with Comcast software which didn't fully delete.
That evening we returned home to finish 'Justified'- Season Two.
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posted by Bezabor&Labashi | 23:59
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