Santos day 3

 I had an epic ride this morning. It was especially epic because I didn't take my GPS. I remembered I didn't have it only after Jenny had driven off with it in the car. Anyway, it was 2 1/2 hours of hoping I could find my way back. Added excitement. We have decided to head home tomorrow. I have had 3 good rides and the caterpillar issue is probably worse than it was at the last park. You really can't go outside. I put away the chairs because they were covered with worms. We have been out for 45 days and we are ready to get back. I'll do one more post and then shut things down for awhile. 

Santos day 2

The Santos Trailhead is a pretty big deal. The parking lot was pretty full today and this is a week day. It was overflowing yesterday, Sunday. I would have figured these Floridians would have all been at church. I rode the trails for 2 hours this morning. We had a critical shortage of adult beverages that has been rectified. After that was resolved we did a 10 mile out and back on a paved trail. Tomorrow will probably be our last day here. I'll do another ride for sure but I can cover a lot of ground in 2 hours and there won't be too many trails that I can access from this trailhead that I will not have ridden. Also, the caterpillars are starting to make cocoons in the MPs hubcaps. This caterpillar thing is my first biblical plague. It is something to behold, although you would have to be a sick puppy to want to.

Santos Trailhead Campground

We had something like a 45 minute drive today. Consequently we got here too early to check in. We disconnected the car, left the MP parked in the grass and went out and spent some money. We finally got in our site and linked up with Mike and Linda Everett who have been Snow Birding near here. We ate lunch at a local world famous restaurant (Mojos) I think Michelin gave it 6 stars in their latest ratings awards. For some reason I failed to document Mike & Linda's visit with a picture for the blog. Their visit was certainly blog worthy but I forgot. We are here because this place has great mountain biking. I hit the trails for an hour this afternoon. We have reservations here for 5 nights but we will only stay for 4 because we need to get back to Beaufort so that we can get our shots. Also, this place is experiencing a caterpillar apocalypse just like that other park. We can only take so much. We might be driven out of here by them. Stay tuned. 

Salt Spring day 3

The bike ride on the Florida trail was a bust. I got on it and started ripping along and I saw some hikers up ahead. There is a sign at the spot where I started that was pretty clear, bikes weren't welcome. I put my tail between my legs and sulked back to the trailhead. However, I did find a dirt road that ran into the National Forest that was pretty neat. I ended up riding 19 miles on that road which was the black bear scenic highway. I wonder if the bears are aware of that?  After the ride I was sweaty and smelly so Jenny suggested I go for a swim in the spring so that the atmosphere around me might improve. I did. It was frigging cold. Today is Saturday so the outflow of the spring, on the other side of the ropes, was packed with a mob of local riffraff. (See pic) We move tomorrow to our last stop on this trip. We are only an hour away from it. We've been there once before. It has fantastic single track mountain biking. 

Salt Springs day 2

 Today we did a paddle on the Salt Springs run. It's a 4 1/2 mile channel of varied widths that runs from the spring and empties into Lake George. We took a break at the lake turnaround and then headed back. We were looking forward to a tailwind on the return trip because we had had a headwind going out. Somehow, inexplicably, the wind shifted and we had a headwind in both directions. We are pretty sure our bad luck had something to do with 5G cell towers or possibly Hillary's lost emails. We are here one more day. The Florida Trail transits near here. I'm thinking about riding my bike on it even though bikes are verboten. If my next post is from jail you'll know what happened.

Salt Springs Recreation Area

We left catapillerville and headed north to get here. We're not too far from Ocala. This is a National forest campground. The Central feature here is the spring. There is a large developed area around it and today it was full of people. Today was our first day of summer temperatures. We are using our AC for the 1st time. We were able to book appointments today to get our Covid vaccine the day after we arrive home on April 2nd. Jenny has repeatedly told me that she is not going anywhere else until we get the shots. So, our May trip is on. The pic was taken near the spring. The tree reminded us of The Angel Oak on John's island.
 

Last day at Hillsborough River

I didn't want to gross everyone out on the first post after we got here but this park is in the midst of rather significant caterpillar infestation. They really like tires. The car tires and MP tires are continually covered with hundreds of them. Just for fun I will periodically spray one of the MP tires with insecticide. I'm not exaggerating when I say that there are thousands of caterpillar carcasses on the ground beneath that tire. I could take a picture of the pile but even I have standards. Enough of that. This morning I was able to link together a couple of trails and ride for 18 miles off road. There was nothing exciting except for a few mud holes. After lunch we went to Publix to stock up for the next phase of the trip. We have 2 more stops before we make it back to Beaufort. We move tomorrow.

Hillsborough river day 3

As promised, today was a hiking day. We did 2 trails for a total of 7 miles. The park has old growth trees. The ambience sort of reminded me of Jurassic park. Huge  trees, impossibly tall palms, ferns of different varieties, vines everywhere. We were out for several hours and the entire time was interesting. There is some bike riding to be done here. The map we were given when we checked in is, in my opinion, inadequate so Jenny and I did some exploring using the car and our bikes to try to get better oriented. Because of our efforts I think I have figured out a long loop that I will ride tomorrow. We are running a little low on some supplies so a trip to a grocery store will be on tomorrow's agenda. We have one more full day here and then we move on.

Hillsborough River day 2

 Today was a paddle day. We put in at the park's launch site and headed down stream for 3 miles. I say down stream but the current was pretty negligible. The stretch of river we paddled was totally undeveloped. It was sort of primordial. We were out 4 hours. Tomorrow we will probably do some hiking.

Hillsborough river state park

This park is south of Tampa. In fact it's close enough to Tampa that the traffic sucked getting here. This is the oldest SP in Florida. It's one of those CCC parks built in the 30s. The central feature of the park is the river. It's very clear, obviously spring fed. Jenny and I did a bike hike after we got set up. There are several trails worth doing and also, the river. We are here for 4 nights. I'm not sure why I booked 4 nights but it is what it is.
 

Cedar Key day 2.

First, a little history. In the mid 1800s Cedar Key was an industrial center. The Cedar trees that gave the town its name supplied wood for a large pencil factory. Florida's first coast to coast railroad had its Gulf terminus here. The town boomed for 30 years after the civil war but it all came to an abrupt end when in 1896 a hurricane devastated the town. Locals have ever since subsisted on a little fishing and a little tourism. Today, Jenny and I toured the Key on our bikes and finished that up with another seafood lunch. This afternoon I yakked for a couple of hours. The tide was not conducive to paddling until around 3.

This park is somewhat eclectic in that it has tiny houses, shipping containers, tiny trailers and tent glamping. We move tomorrow. 

Cedar Key FL

This island is on the Gulf Coast just south of where the Suwannee river empties into the Gulf. We are at a commercial campground and our campsite backs up to the water. If it's not

too windy we might get the yaks wet tomorrow. After we got set up we found a place to eat some fresh seafood. (See pics) we are only here for 2 nights. 

Lake Jackson day 2

Today was sort of a chill day. There isn't a lot going on in Florala Alabama. We did laundry, ate lunch at a Mexican restaurant, did a short hike to work off the meal we had at the Mexican restaurant, had an ice cream cone (mint chocolate chip) at the local ice cream shop and then rode bikes on a paved trail that runs along the lake shore. That doesn't really sound like a chill day but as MP days go it was pretty chill. I took the pics of those signs during a bike ride I took this afternoon. The signs caught my attention. I don't know if they are indicative of anything but they might be.

Lake Jackson RV Campground

This place is in Florala Al. Its name pretty much gives away it's location. I can literally see Florida out the living room window. Today's highlight was an arduous climb up to the highest elevation in the state of Florida. We did it without supplemental oxygen or sherpa guides. We were initially worried about frostbite and altitude sickness but it turned out to be mosquitoes that were the problem. We are here for 2 nights. There is a severe storm northwest of us that could be an issue later tonight. We are only 100 feet from the cinderblock bathhouse. 

Paul Johnson day 2

This place has a lake. Our site backs up to within a few feet of it. It is sandy. Perfect for

launching kayaks. Which we did. This last pic is of a beaver dam. It was up a cove in the lake. The water was 2 feet deeper on the up side of the dam. It was impeccably engineered.

We found out the lake was made by German POWs during WW 2. There was a camp near here. Some of the Germans married local women and their relatives are still in the area. Sometimes life has some unexpected surprises. As a side note, the trees are shedding pollen. Everything is yellow. The temps are pleasant, so we have our windows open. Consequently, the MP 2 has been pollinated. We move tomorrow. 

Paul B Johnson SP Hattiesburg Mississippi

We are out of Texas. It took us 25 days but it is in our rearview mirror.

Last day Martin Dies

I was able to repair Jenny's yak rudder pedal fairly easily this morning. The sky has looked pretty threatening all day. I went out anyway and did another one of the water trails. It actually wasn't particularly scenic but I enjoyed it because navigation was a challenge. This lake is more of a swamp than a lake. The trail wound through some islands that were just inches above lake level. I did see about half a dozen Nutria. They are an import from S. America. Appearently, they have no redeaming value because there is open season on them in every state where they are found. I would describe them as humongous rats. Jenny took several sunset pics yesterday. We leave Texas tomorrow.

Martin Dies day 2

We had a few administrative things to do while we are here so this morning was spent in the town of Jasper. There was an extremely heinous,  racially motivated crime, that occurred here several years ago. If you want to be sickened, Google it. Anyway we didn't know what to expect. All went well. The laundromat was maybe a 4 out of 10 but some of the machines were not out of order. Mask wearing in Walmart was probably 75%, which is not bad considering this is rural Texas. We did one of the paddle trails after we returned to the park. Weather might not be conducive to outdoor activities tomorrow so we wanted to get on the water today. While we were paddling Jenny, somehow, broke her right rudder pedal. Fixing that is my project for tomorrow. 

Martin Dies, Jr. SP

Martin Dies was a local politician who was instrumental in the development of this property into a park. There are more miles of paddling trails in the park than hiking trails. Almost everyone has some sort of boat. We are very close to the Louisiana border. The park brochure says we are deep in the East Texas piney woods. That sounds about right. We are here for 3 days so hopefully we will get the yaks wet. 

Dino day 3

Well, after 3 days of looking we finally saw some dinosaurs. Being so big it's amazing how elusive they are. We hiked a little over 4 miles again today. With my bike ride yesterday and 8+ miles of trail hiking the last 2 days we have pretty much seen this park. Time to move on. Our next spot is still in Texas. Martin Dies SP in Jasper. Normally,  Jenny does the brunt of the planning for these trips. She has had a full plate, the last few months, so I did most of the planning for this one. I honestly don't remember my reasoning for the stops I came up with. We normally book a commercial campground periodically so that we can do laundry and easily resupply. Well, that apparently slipped my mind. As Rick Perry so eloquently said---- "Oops".

Day dos at the Dinosaur

I did a long trail ride this morning. When we checked in yesterday I asked the ranger about the MTB trails and he said they were the best in the state. After my ride I'm not sure I can agree with his boast but

I will say that they were excellent. After lunch we went looking for dinosaur tracks. It's been our experience when looking for dinosaur tracks that we have always been disappointed. Today was no exception. We saw a few 3 toed impressions in the limestone but I didn't consider what we saw to be blog worthy. I know you all had your hopes up but I refuse to lower my exceptionally high standards. After that we did a 4 mile loop hike up above the river. It's now 4:00 and I have to wait an hour before I can start drinking. We are here one more night.

Dinosaur valley SP

This park is SW of Ft. Worth. It's famous for it's numerous dinosaur foot prints. We didn't have a lot of time after we arrived to find the foot prints but we are planning to find them in the next day or two. This park has over 20 miles of hiking/biking trails. The trails that are the most interesting to me require a river crossing. The Paluxy river. Not sure how I'm going to do that without getting my feet wet. There isn't a bridge. We are here for 3 nights.

Fort Griffin day 2

This fort is called a Settlers Fort. It was established by immigrant settlers instead of the army. The army eventually moved in because the Comanche and Kiowa Plains Indians were somewhat pissed at what was happening to their way of life. The fort is near the clear fork of the Brazos River. We walked down to the river yesterday and it certainly wasn't clear. The one unusual pic in this post is of a pyramid of bison bones. After the almost complete annihilation of the plains bison an industry grew up around the collection of their skeletons. The bones were shipped east, ground up and made into fertilizer. You gotta love our ingenuity. We move tomorrow to Dinosaur Valley SP which is SW of Ft Worth. That park has had a complete failure of their water system so we will have to bring our own. It's always something. 

Delayed history lesson.

Texas Longhorns: Domestic cattle first arrived in the Americas in the late 15th and early 16th centuries, brought here by Spanish explorers. Imagine what the conditions were like on those ships. Since there was no barbed wire, these cattle got loose and the Longhorn breed was especially adapted to life in the wild. Many early Texas ranches were stocked with wild Longhorns. By the 1860s there were millions of them roaming around the plains. We all know about the cattle drives that made the cowboy a Texas icon. It is estimated that 10 million Longhorns traveled north by various routes. By 1920 the Texas longhorn was nearing extinction. Several people took it upon themselves to do something to prevent that from happening. The well known western author J. Frank Dobie was involved. Because of their efforts, the Texas longhorn is no longer listed as an endangered breed. We are currently camped at Fort Griffin State historic Site. We had to drive to an overlook to get any cell coverage. That seems to be the theme of this trip. We are here all day tomorrow. 

Lake Arrowhead Admin day

We had 3 bags of laundry that needed our attention. Jenny found a place in nearby Wichita Falls that is without a doubt the most impressive laundromat we have ever used. It was gigantic. They had dozens of 75 Lb load, washing machines. After a Walmart visit we ended up using a good chunk of the day. There was enough time for 18 holes of disc golf and a trail bike ride but both of those activities were a little rushed. Tomorrow we move.

Lake Arrowhead SP

This place is near Wichita Falls. The DOT guys were able to dump a bunch of trucks full of what I think was caliche into the hole caused by the water main break. We got out of there at about 2:30 and arrived here at 4:15. All we could get here was a water only camp site. That's kinda weird. So we are on battery and generator for 2 days. This is my second blog post in one day. Am I amazing or what?

Change 3 to amended plan B

Last night a water main broke under a bridge that is the only route into the campground. The subsequent flood undermined the bridge and rendered it unusable. Also, the water main break cut off water to the campground. After some telephone gymnastics we found a campsite in another state park not far from here. We are currently waiting for the hole to be plugged in the road. It looks like we might be the Guinea pig crossing the repaired bridge. I will be using my sphincter muscle during the process. I know you all are very disappointed that the information on Longhorns and Copper Breaks that I promised yesterday is not included in this post. I will try to educate you at a later date. Maybe.

Copper Breaks SP

The drive here was completely on county or state roads. We changed highways probably 10 times. I have one observation about the back roads of Texas. There is a biblical carnage of animal death on the side of those roads. Deer, pigs, armadillos, skunks and other piles of fur that were not identifiable. There were very few miles that there wasn't a road pizza or buzzard covered carcass to avoid. On a lighter note, this park has the official Texas herd of Longhorns. There is also a story about the Parks name "Copper Breaks". We are here for 3 nights so I'll cover those extremely interesting tid bits of trivia later.

Possum Kingdom day 2

Today's weather was primo. We hiked and biked. In fact we biked to a hike. There are only 2 major trails. Calling them 'major' is a stretch but we hiked them both so we feel comfortable saying we've done the Possum. Tomorrow we head further north to Copper Breaks SP near Quanah. If you don't know where Quanah is, it's a little west of Chillicothe and a little east of Goodlett. We called the park and they have potable water. That is good news. Don't know about Verizon cell coverage. We'll find out tomorrow. 

Possum Kingdom SP

Possum Kingdom reservoir backs up behind a dam on the Brazos river. The nearest town to the park is Caddo (pop 133) 17 women and 116 men. No Walmart. I'm assuming the disparity in the women to men ratio has something to do with oil. We drove by many pump Jacks on the approach road into the park. The name has its origin in 1906. A salesman from Pennsylvania came to Mineral Wells, which is not far from here, to visit the health spa to recuperate from some ailment. While there, he saw an opportunity to get into the hide business. His best source of possum hides was a group of hunters in Palo Pinto county. He called them "the boys from Possum Kingdom". The name stuck and here we are camped next to their namesake lake. When we got here they told us the park was under a boil water advisory. There's always something. I got my yak wet for the first time on this trip. We are here 2 nights and we have decent cell coverage. Whoopee!

Change 2 to plan B

We are still at Lake Brownwood. With the closure of Caprock Canyons due to fresh water failure we have had to modify our plans. One more day here seemed like a good idea. Tomorrow we move to Possum Kingdom SP near Caddo. We are going to be in the North Central part of Texas for another 10 days or so before we head back east. The sun exposed itself for only the 2nd time on this trip this afternoon. The weather has been weird to say the least. We have visited the Bustling metropolis of Brownwood twice now and I can honestly say there is absolutely no need for a 3rd visit. We are using the visitor center wifi to do our business. Our cell phones are both roaming and about the only things we can do is text and occasionally talk. It's amazing how dependent we are on our devices. Jenny took several sunset pics yesterday. Here are 3 of them.