August 4, 2014

Little Manatee River SP, Wimauma, FL

Travel day to:

Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center SP, White Springs, Fl

While Monte took care of the outside departure chores, I took care of the inside taking my time because I hadn’t done it in four months and didn’t want to miss anything.

 

 

Monte gave me the okay to bring in the slides.  After the kitchen slide came in I realized I had forgotten to get the glass turntable out of the microwave.  The microwave door doesn’t usually open up but it did happen once and was lucky that when the turntable came flying out and landed on the countertop it didn’t break.  Ever since then I take it out and put it on the bed while we travel.  Today I was able to reach over the countertop to reach into the microwave and remove the turntable without having to bring the slide out again.

Outside, Monte dumped the tanks, stowed the remaining things we had out and sprayed the hitch and capture pin with Slip Plate. 

After hitching up, Monte pulled forward a little so we could get the landing pads out from under the tires.  It took some effort as all of the pads had sunk into the dirt.  Once Monte got them up he took them over to the washing station and gave them a good cleaning. 

When everything was set Monte took a quick shower and then we were on our way. 

We pulled out of Little Manatee River State Park at 12:15.  According to the GPS we should arrive at our location at 3:30 but allowing for rest stops and taking into consideration Monte would only be doing around 60 MPH we figured we would arrive more like 5PM. 

The first couple of hours we made great time with little traffic but with only one hour left, traffic came to a dead stop.  We sat and sat and sat, intermittently inching up.  Several emergency vehicles passed on the shoulder as well as several impatient people who I can only assume felt entitled to pass everyone. 

Compounding the situation was that I needed to use the restroom. 

 

It took us one and a half hours to travel 5 miles finally passing the remains of the accident scene.

I radioed Monte that I was going to pass him so I could drive faster and meet up with him at the next rest area, 3 miles away. 

It began to drizzle just as we arrived at Stephen Foster State Park.  We went inside to register and were able to choose from several sites available.  We chose site 21, a large pull through site. 

 

We got set up quickly and were relieved when the roof satellite found a signal.

  I put all the leftovers in one pot from a pot roast we had earlier in the week, added some water and enjoyed a delicious soup for dinner and just relaxed the remainder of the evening.