Silver Springs State Park Ocala, Florida (Part Two) Feb 22 – Mar 8, 2026

This is Part Two of our blog post for this stay at Silver Springs State Park. You can find Part One here.

Sunday morning, March 1, 2026, we were up at 5 am. We showered, had a light breakfast and then loaded all three of us into Voyager and left for Orlando a little after 6 am for a 2-hour drive to Amber’s. Poor Bella got car sick and threw up on the way.

Breakfast at Keke’s

We dropped Bella at Amber’s and picked up some things we had gotten in the mail. We did not want to leave Bella alone in Nomad all day while we were gone, so it was nice to be able to let her spend most of the day with Amber and Abby.

Then we had a short drive to meet Ann, Mikey, Charlotte, and Seth for breakfast at one of our favorite morning meal restaurants; Keke’s.

It was SO good to see them all one more time in Florida. If things go according to plan, we will see them in their new home in the Mid-Atlantic part of the U.S. sometime in October. The downside is that visit will only be for one week as we will be making our way back to the “Free” State of Florida for the winter. An even bigger downside is that we won’t get to spend Xmas with them for the first time in 20-something years, since they won’t be in Florida.

So, for Cindy and I it feels like our family is spreading out more and more across the country. Some in the PNW, some in the Mid-Atlantic and some in Florida. That will impact how much we get to see them in person, but of course we want all our children and grandchildren to be happy in their lives. So we wish them “fair winds and following seas” as they seek to be the best and happiest they can be, wherever that may be.

We spent a little over an hour eating, visiting and catching up before going our separate ways with lots of hugs and teary eyes to try and hold us over until we meet again.

Storage Room Shuffle

Cindy’s and I then headed to our storage room. We had some things we would not need for the next 8 months to drop off and some things we wanted to pick up. Mostly it was some sewing/crafting things that Cindy wanted to have to work on while we’re stationary for 6 months in Georgia. But I also had some physical books, my DSLR camera and a few other things that I wanted to have during that time.

It took a while to find most of the things we wanted and I couldn’t find a couple of the things I wanted to get. They are there, but I did not want to move as many tubs and boxes as I would have needed to in order to find those things. You make your choices and live with them, lol.

Speaking of making your choices and living with them; we then braved the Sunday crowds at Costco to pick up some supplies we needed. You have to be a masochist to go to Costco on a Sunday, but it was that or have to drive a longer distance later in the following weeks to get to one, so we chose the lesser of two evils.

Lunch at Tijuana Flats

After surviving Costco we met up with Amber and Abby at Tijuana Flats for lunch. I always enjoy their chicken quesadilla and I think this time Cindy tried the flautus while Amber and Abby had their usual special salads. We got to spend an hour or so eating and visiting with each other before heading back to Amber’s to pick up Bella and driving back to Ocala and Nomad. We arrived back at the campsite a little after 4 pm and relaxed the rest of the day.

That evening we watched the season 2 opening episode of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters while eating leftovers from lunch.

Monday, Monday

Monday was a busy morning. We washed the sheets that Bella threw up on Sunday and put her car dog bed out in the sun to air out all day. The floor of Cindy’s screen room still had puddles in it from the rains the week before, se we pulled that out, cleaned it and spread it out to dry on the picnic table. I applied rubber treatment to all the outside window and door seals to keep them from getting brittle.

I also sealed the outside trim all around the lower part of Nomad. During the heavy rains the week before we had a leak by the floor on Cindy’s side of the bedroom. Hopefully the re-sealing will solve that problem.

Tuesday morning we got up at 6:30 am in the hopes of seeing the Blood Moon Eclipse, but the sky was SO cloudy and overcast that it couldn’t be seen.

After breakfast I drove Cindy to a trailhead so she could do some hiking. My torn meniscus is still keeping me from hiking. On the drive we saw a mama wild pig and 8 to 10 little piglets on the side of the main park road and then dash into the brush before we could stop and get a photo. They were the first wildlife (aside from birds and squirrels) we had seen since we arrived 8 days ago.

Glass Bottom Boat Trip

Wednesday was our glass bottom boat ride day. What a mess! Even worse, it was all my own fault.

The previous week, Jeff “The Genius” booked a 90-minute long ride for the 3 pm outing. BUT, not for Wednesday…for TUESDAY. So we, of course, missed it. There were no other 90-minute ride openings until March 18th, 14 days away! Thankfully, the cashier was very, very nice. She booked us 2 seats on the 3:15 pm 30-minute ride that afternoon and refunded the difference in price. We still had fun, but we would have had MORE fun if Jeff had not messed up.

Still, the 30-minute ride was good. The captain was knowledgeable and humorous. We saw a Great Blue Heron sunning itself in a strange position, a few manatees that were still in the springs, and an underwater shipwreck (more like a boat wreck) which was thought to be one of the earliest glass bottom boats from back in the 30’s or 40’s. You can see photos in the album or film of those things in the video.

We got to go to several of the underwater springs that feed the Silver River, including the largest one that is right near the docks. That spring pumps 20 Olympic swimming pools’ worth of water into the river every 20 minutes. Yet sadly, the river level is still very low. One day the state will figure out they need to stop selling the aquifer water in Florida to bottlers.

The captain, as I mentioned, was full of great information and was funny. We learned a lot from him about the Silver Springs and its history. At the end of the ride, as we pulled into the dock, he mentioned that they do accept tips and that he gives all of his to charity. Then he told us his girlfriend’s name was…you guessed it, Charity!

Thursday night we watched the latest episode of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy. This episode was directed by Jonathan Frakes, who portrayed Commander Will Riker in Star Trek: The Next Generation and subsequent movies and TV series and has directed some of the better shows through the years. I was disappointed to read that this would be the last show he’ll be directing for the Star Trek franchise.

Friday morning Cindy did a 3-mile hike while I sat in Voyager reading. This trailhead was near the Silver Springs Museum and Pioneer Village, so I saw multiple busloads of school kids being dropped off to tour both facilities. I’d forgotten how very noisy large groups of kids can be, and I was at least a half-mile away from them.

In the afternoon we started packing some things up for our departure on Sunday. We had a storm front come through from 6 to 8 pm with heavy rain. Found there was still a little bit of a leak from, we assume, the trim; but not nearly as bad as before we applied sealant.

Silver Springs Museum and Pioneer Village

On Saturday, our last full day there, we visited the Silver Springs Museum and Pioneer Village.

The staff at the museum was very knowledgeable, but then they’d have to be since it’s run by the Marion County School Board. Even these two old kids learned quite a bit during our tour. Take a look at the photos in the album for this post.

We met a docent who was training a new docent and the trainer and her husband were like us; full-time RV’ers. We compared places we’d been and sights we’d seen. I got to thinking it might be fun to be a museum tour guide like that while we travel. Just not one for the kids who swarm the place during the week, lol.

There’s a side-by-side photo in the album of Cindy with the skeleton of an 11-foot tall bear. That’s twice as tall as Cindy! There is a photo of a Mastodon skeleton in the center of the museum. There is a stuffed Sabre-Tooth Tiger that, if you’ve ever read the Ka-Zar comic books, reminds me of his pet, Zabu.

It really is a well-laid out museum that explores the history of Florida (particularly that region of the state) and its early people, both native and later arrivals. If you’re ever in the area, we highly recommend a visit to the Silver Springs Museum…but only on the weekends.

Pioneer Village is a recreation of life for early pioneers in the area. I noticed that the school kids get tours but there was no one available to conduct those when we were there and all the buildings were locked up, so all we had were placards to inform us as to what buildings were for what purposes.

When we got back we saw rain was forecast that afternoon, so we took down Cindy’s screen room so it didn’t get wet before we packed it up to leave the next day.

This was an enjoyable stay. We have already made plans to come back next year, if for no other reason than to take the 90-minute glass bottom boat ride that I made us miss this year, lol.

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