Hot On The Trail South (Clermont, FL)

Actually, we are cooling our heels in Central Florida while waiting out a good part of hurricane season before traveling to Key West.  And to tell you the truth, our heels are not cooling either since we are spending every day walking around the park, or in stores, or in state parks.  Florida has been hot and humid with mid 90s, but feels more like 102+ degrees.  So we walk early in the mornings and again in the evenings if there are no thunderstorms.

Site near Peace River

Speaking of thunderstorms, they have some big boomers here.  Lightning so close that the light and thunder are together causing Sandy and cats to jump.  We had one last night with two fronts meeting over our area.  We spent the evening watching the dark clouds come together from different directions with the winds shifting.  It has been awhile since we have seen such storms develop.

We like outside...we go outside now?

The cats have been enjoying their time here. They beg to go out every couple of hours.  Dusty (far right) even begged Sandy one night around 3 am by trotting up to the door and crying.  When she did not follow him, he came back and started over again.  "Ah come on!  Nice outside!"

pygmy rattlesnake behind our motorhome sleeping near the woods

We walk around our site to make sure there are no unpleasant visitors for our cats to play with...especially the snakes.  

our latest entertainment - Sandhill Cranes

The Sandhill Cranes usually alert and walk away if they see our cats.

They ignore us as long as we don't get too close.  Sandy tried to shoo them away one day so the cats could come out and they did not budge from their prime spot under the tree. "Silly woman.  Is she trying to fly?"

Most of the time, we enjoy watching them while they hunt for food which seems to be 24/7.

Plenty of lakes, swamps and rivers to view in Central Florida.  It is a very peaceful area when we are away from the more populated areas.  Many of the campers in the area have some kind of boat or water related gear packed onto their cars and rigs.  Definitely a water world area.

We also visited Downtown Disney for a change of pace.  We found it was a great way to experience Disney fun without paying parking fees or entrance fees.

We spent most of the time wandering around and window shopping.

We have visited a few state parks.  The photos below are from Paynes Creek Historic State Park. 

Suspended bridge in Paynes Creek Historic SP

 There was little left of the historic sites, but walking the trails were interesting and the bridge was fun to cross.

We were told there had been sightings of alligators, but we did not see a single one.  Maybe they are on holiday and went to the beach for a change of pace.  Nothing like a good salt bath!  ;)

A couple of milestones were recognized since our last post:  this is our 6th year on the road with no thoughts of slowing down our travels and.......we celebrated our 40th Anniversary! 

Dan and Sandy 1975

We will start moving farther south around mid-August.  Our plans are to be in Key West by September(?) even though we know it is still hurricane season until the end of November.  It is nice to experience Key West before the busy tourist season starts in December/January.  Last year, the snowbirds arrived quite a bit earlier, probably due to the extreme winter season.

Memorial Day Weekend

Sandhill Crane

We moved to Mayport Naval Air Station near Jacksonville, FL on Thursday. Our trip from Clermont was short and uneventful. Mayport NAS has two FamCamps. The Pelican Roost is on the St. Johns River with the Atlantic Ocean within walking distance, and the other one – Osprey Cove is in a more wooded area near the golf course. Both have very nice and generous sites.

Ship passing by

We are in the Pelican Roost and we have a wonderful site overlooking St. Johns River and the Navy Shipyard. An interesting spot to be this weekend, as we take time to remember those who gave all in the service of our country.

We are also keeping an eye on weather as we watch one storm after another devastate many states. We have kept a diligent watch over weather near our daughter’s home in Oklahoma. So far, the Lawton area has been spared and we hope it stays that way.

Sandy uploaded our Disney photos.  There are a lot of them…..sorry about that! But it is a great way to keep our photos safe after all the disasters we have been seeing lately.

Before we left Clermont, we got some photos of the local Sandhill Cranes. We have never been around Sandhill Cranes. Big bird! Very big bird! And very protective. We had a family come by a few times.
 Mama and papa would dig around looking for grubs to feed to their younger ones. Yea, not so little. They were as big as mommy and daddy! While they were near our site we watched a stray cat trying to sneak by the family. One of the parents would have none of that! It sounded the alarm to warn the others or the cat. Now the sound they make – it sounds like something out of Jurassic Park’s movie. A little prehistoric sounding if you know what we mean. It certainly got all of our cats’ attentions! It then confronted the poor cat with its wings out. If it was trying to look bigger, it was succeeding! The poor cat decided to take a different route through the wood’s underbrush.

Fence is 3 ft

I'm the pretty one

Waiting for mommy to feed me!