2016 Apr 04-10 - On the way back to Illinois and Ramsey Lake State Park

We left Sun & Fun in Sarasota on Monday morning and camped in Georgia Veterans Memorial State Park outside Cordele, GA that night. We camped there several years ago. They have a nice display of military planes, tanks and artillery. We had a nice lakeside campsite where we roasted some sausages over the campfire for dinner.

We weren't in any hurry to leave on Tuesday morning because we planned to camp at Doll Mountain Campground at Carters Lake, GA that night. It was only about 230 miles, so it was a nice leisurely day. We arrived at Doll Mountain around 4:30 after having stopped at a rest area for lunch, but this time, we ate in the camper because it was cool, windy and threatening rain.

The last time we camped at Doll Mountain was in June of 2009 when we had campsite #44. Back then, there were leaves on the trees and everything was green. No leaves or greenery this time, but site #44 was still a great site as you can see from the pictures. The reason for the caption about the sewer dump is that the last time we were there, I dumped my "night bottle" in there, thinking it was for sewer, even though it's uphill from the camper. Turns out, it's the water shut-off valve!

We left Doll Mountain early on Wednesday morning, planning to get to Ramsey Lake State Park in Illinois that evening. We made it after a 500 mile drive, pulling into the campground at about 4:30. There were only a couple of campers there when we arrived, and a total of 7 for the weekend. I think there were about 16 who planned to be there, but most of those missing wimped out because of the weather.

We had a good time at Ramsey sitting around the fire and going to various restaurants to eat because it was too cold to cook out or have a potluck. Luckily, the park had cut up a lot of trees that blew down in a storm a couple of years ago, so we had all the free firewood we could burn - and we burned a lot of it!

Marsha and I made it home about noon on Sunday after being gone for 2 1/2 months. It was a great trip, but it's always nice to get home!

2016 Mar 31-APR 3 - Last of Alafaia; Sun & Fun RV Resort, Sarasota

We left Alafia on Friday and made the 50 mile drive to Sun & Fun RV Resort in Sarasota, abbot eight miles down the road from Uncle Art's house. Art and Jo were already here when we arrived.

There are just a few pictures of our days at Sun & Fun. We swam in the pool, drank beer by the pool, and rode around the park in Art's golf cart. There are over 1,500 sites in the park, including rentals, permanent occupants, transients (like us), etc. Quite a place, but I wouldn't want to live here!

2016 Mar 28-30 - Aalafia River State Park, Lithia, FL

We arrived on Monday, the 28th. The park is very nice, but there's not much to do in the park unless you ride mountain bikes. Yes, mountain bikes in Florida. It's an old phosphate mine, so the terrain is unlike that in most other places in Florida. The nearest towns are Lithia, Fish Hawk, and Wimauma - not exactly tourist Meccas!

I've never seen swarms of dragon flies like they have here. They don't bother anyone and they eat mosquitoes, so they're not a problem. It's just a bit weird walking through them.

It's Wednesday evening as I type this post. As you can see by the pictures, we haven't done anything very exciting since we got here. It's kind of nice to just relax.

2016 Mar 25-27 - Lunch in Boca Grande and Easter Dinner at Art & Jo's

Friday, we drove to Port Charlotte to meet our friends Mac & Jan from Decatur They are camping at a large RV park there and are in the process of buying a park model (manufactured home) for winter residence there. We drove to Boca Grande and had lunch at South Beach Bar and Grill. If you squint while looking at the first picture below, you can see the Gulf beyond the umbrellas.

Lunch was very good. After lunch, we drove to the end of the island to check out the lighthouse before heading back to Port Charlotte and on to our camp.

When we got back to camp, I got one of the big insect candles out of the car and lit it up. We've been carrying them around for a couple of years. Just thought I'd fire one up for fun.

Saturday, we just kind of hung out. After lunch at camp, we went down the road to the O'brien Family Farm for some fresh strawberry shortcake.

On Sunday, we went to Uncle Art & Aunt Jo's house for dinner and visiting.