November 17, 2015 - Micanopy, FL to Fruitland Park, FL

Again!!! Edith missed sunrise photography. She had a good night’s sleep, did not want to break it.  Always another time, she kept reminding herself.

It is a very gorgeous day. Blue sky with not a single cloud in sight.  Very pleasant in low 70’s

We did a bit of quick clean-up in the Lil’ Home (LH), swept the floor, cleaned the shower and sinks. It was 9:30 am when we closed all the slideouts, put folding chairs away, put bicycles on the rack.  However, it was too early for us to check out of Paynes Prairie State Park because at Lake Griffin in Fruitland Park the check-in is at 3 pm.  Most of the times the park will let us check in very early, but not too early.

A dirty job but must be done!

Erwin had a nice chat with a fellow camper and they exchanged stories about trips they took.  In the meantime Edith was busy making travel notes. 

We finally left the state park at 11:30 am.  We took US 441 South and it was a very lovely drive. Not much traffic, saw some so-called longhorns (their horns are not as long as those in Texas).

Saw some run-down houses and barns, but there was no place to pull over to allow Edith to take pictures.  

Before reaching Ocala, FL we got on US 27 South.  Ocala has gotten bigger than the last time we visited. We will want to spend few days exploring the area.   The Villages has become very busy.  You will see a lot of customized golf carts going around in the town.  

It was in Summerfield, FL that we saw Camping World street sign by the roadway, so we made a quick turn into the parking lot.  There is something we wanted to get for the LH.  Pads for the levelers, but they had only two in stock and we needed four.  We picked up mirror and windshield wiper covers for protection while camping.  The store is very huge and the staff was very friendly.  Of course, we looked through their 2016 Class A and Class C models.  There is one Class A by Winnebago, but the asking price was $429,000!!!  No way!

$429,000

We went to the service department and asked about the roof vents on our LH that need to be replaced.  The earliest date they could take our LH in for service is November 30th and we will be out of the area at that time.  We can wait until we are in Tampa in January 2016.  

We arrived Lake Griffin State Park in Fruitland Park, FL around 2:15 pm, picked up the parking pass.  At first, we thought we had never camped there before, but after driving into the campground we suddenly remembered that we did camp here for 2 nights when we had Roadtrek Class B camper van two years ago.  We got the site #37, a pull-thru site long enough for our LH and the Jeep. 

We decided not to go out for rest of the day.  All slideouts were extended and the awnings, too.  Erwin started the campfire because Edith wanted to fix supper on the grill.  Folding chairs and a small table were set up not too far from the campfire.  

Apparently Erwin did some rough maneuvering on the way to Lake Griffin 'cause when Edith opened the cupboard to get the dishes, they came tumbling out and one big bowl crashed onto the floor and broke into many pieces! Sigh! That means every time we take a drive we will have to be very careful upon opening the cupboards so we can catch them before they hit the floor.

Clean up duty!

While Erwin began to read a book Edith started doing her homework by checking out what attractions we should visit while in town.  There are so many places to see/do, but we don’t think we will have time or energy to see everything.  Of course, two cemeteries are already on the list.  Edith thinks Erwin will probably tell her she can go there by herself. We’ll see...