Friday, January 19, 2024 we left Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park around 10:30 am and took a 3 1/2 hour drive northeast to the Cypress Glen Campground in the Withlacoochee State Forest near Brooksville, Florida for a 7-night stay.
On the way we drove through bands of rain as we neared Brooksville so we stopped for lunch to give the rains time to move through. We were hopeful that by doing so it might not be raining when we arrived to set up and that strategy worked. The skies were clear by the time we got there and started setting up. I also partially filled our onboard fresh water tank because the temperatures were forecasted to be below freezing for more than 4 hours on Saturday night. When that happens we disconnect our outside fresh water hose and water filter to keep them from freezing and subsequently cracking. We learned our lesson about that two years ago in New Mexico and since I had just installed a brand new water filter I’d rather not have it crack apart so early in its young life.
Cypress Glen Campground is a horseshoe-shaped campground with 57 campsites on the banks of Silver Lake. Sites are hardpacked dirt/gravel and have electric and water hook-ups. Our site was the next to last and had sufficient room to put up Cindy’s screen room, which always makes her happy. The site was not very level, but we knew that coming in from the description online. T-Mobile was good. AT & T and Verizon were weak and no over the air TV stations would come in.
That night we watched the season two finale of “Reacher” and both felt it was a very good eight-episode collection, perhaps even better than the first season. Then we watched a couple more episodes of “For All Mankind” before heading to bed. Got out the blanket because temperatures were dropping into the low 40’s overnight. I think someone forgot that this is Florida; land of sun, sand and WARM temperatures.
Saturday morning we walked Bella down a trail to nearby Silver Lake in 47 degree temps. I had to break out my thick jacket, gloves and warm felt hat ’cause I’m a thin-blooded Florida boy and we don’t do cold very well. Cindy and Bella, on the other hand, absolutely loved the cold.
Later that morning we drove 24 miles into Brooksville so Cindy could pick up some crafting supplies from Michaels and then we picked up some groceries from Publix. Even later in the afternoon, after we returned, I disconnected the fresh water hose and filter and stowed them away. As I mentioned previously, it was supposed to drop to 31 degrees starting around 3 am for several hours. In those cases it’s better for us to either run water from our onboard fresh water tank that is warmed by our furnace or use our heated hose, rather than risk freezing our hose and filter. But I generally save the heated hose for those times when we have several days of below freezing temperatures.
And, since it was going to be very cold, Cindy made her homemade tomato soup and fresh-baked bread for dinner and it was SO good!
Other than our two-mile hike with Bella in the mid-morning, we spent all of Sunday inside Nomad avoiding the brisk temperatures and wind. Cindy made her creamy potato soup and as Campbell’s soup commercials used to sing, “Mmmm, Mmmm, Good!” That night we finished the first season of “For All Mankind” and they have us hooked enough to start watching the second season later in the week.
Pollen counts were up and Cindy awoke Monday morning with her allergies kicking her butt. I had to run several errands in Brooksville and one of those was to pick up some Flonase for her to alternate with her Claritin. Then I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening reading “The Lie Maker” by Linwood Barclay, who may now be one of my favorite authors. I’m going to be checking out some of his other books, but first I have to read Henry Winkler’s memoir, “Being Henry” that I checked out from Libby.
Tuesday we started watching season two of Apple TV+’s “For All Mankind.”
Early start on Wednesday morning when we had Pop’s Mobile RV Service come out to re-install our slide-out awning cover at 8 am. About an hour later it was re-installed with some new shems and screws to try and keep the tube from flopping over again.
We have been fortunate enough to have experienced Pop’s exceptional mobile RV service four times. Once in PA where he replaced our burned out slide-out motor AND professionally removed a defective slide-out cover awning. Then three times in Florida (where he was “wintering”) when he cleaned our A/C unit and performed a roof inspection, fixed a water pump leak, and now re-installed our slide-out awning. Pop’s is always on time, takes time to explain what is wrong and what is being done to repair it, and is always fair (and more than fair) in what is charged.
I heartily recommend Pop’s to anyone who needs the best mobile service for their RV.
After the mobile tech was done we took Bella for a mile and a half walk, then another half mile in the afternoon. We’re trying to get back to our minimum two miles a day that we used to do. Accordingly, on Thursday we hiked another two miles in the morning on a new trail. Bella DOES love exploring!
Friday morning it was time to pack everything up and get ready to leave for our next stop, Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park in Micanopy, Florida. I hope you’ll join us next time for our post from there.
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