November 6, 2014

Gold Head Branch State Park, Keystone Heights, FL

Just before lunchtime I decided to take a walk to the maintenance area where Monte was working.  I had only been there once and for some reason I got it into my mind that it was just around the bend.  It wasn’t!

This is the dirt road leading from our volunteer camp (there are several in the campground) to the main road. 

Some of the cabins for rent.

 

 

The walkway to the ADA cabin is paved.

The road leading down to the maintenance area.

A mile later I arrived at the entrance to the maintenance yard.

Hi Monte.

Firewood available for the volunteers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the way back I walked down to Little Lake Johnson.  The lake is aptly named because there is “little” water.

Unfortunately, the lake is a ghost of its former self due to a drought that affected most of the lakes in north central Florida beginning in 2001.

 

 

 

When Monte came home he ate lunch and then took a little nap-his back is a little achy because he hasn’t done the type of physical work he did today since leaving Little Manatee River State Park back in August.

 

 

 

Anne, his little shadow, kept him company.

 

 

 

I sat outside doing one of my favorite things-reading.  The weather was perfect and the scenery beautiful-the only thing marring the experience was the pesky mosquitoes. 

November 5, 2014

Gold Head Branch SP, Keystone Heights, FL

Monte began work today at 7:30AM.  He met with some of the other volunteers as well as the ranger in charge of maintenance who gave him his assignments.  After taking a little time in the shop to see where all the tools were stored, he dove right in by tightening the wheels on one of the GEM cars.

In the late afternoon we took the six mile ride into town to the closest supermarket to pick up a few items.

No one had signed up to do laundry so we took advantage and washed our sheets.  When they were dry Monte put the sheets on the bed. 

A little while later when we went into the bedroom to make up the bed we discovered Anne nestled in the warm sheets.

 

November 4, 2014

Gold Head Branch State Park

Keystone Heights, FL

Our site:

 

 

 

Steve, the Volunteer Coordinator, came to pick us up at around 11AM to give us a tour of the park.

Gold Head Branch State Park, one of Florida’s first state parks, was developed on a 2,000 acre site by the CCC during the 1930s. 

(I could kick myself because I forgot to bring my camera.) 

There are 16 cabins overlooking Little Lake Johnson.  Each cabin includes rocking chairs, a picnic table, a ground grill and fully equipped kitchen with a refrigerator, stove and cooking and eating utensils.

We got to take a look into the three different types of cabins. 

The nine Historic cabins, built in the 1930s by the CCC, can accommodate up to four people. The cabins have a combined living room/bedroom, a separate bathroom and kitchen.  These cabins rent for $65 per night.

There are five block cabins that rent for $75 per night, and can accommodate up to six people and include a full size bed, bunk bed and one futon that sleep two people.

Two ADA-accessible modern cabins can accommodate up to six people and rent for $100 per night.

Three campgrounds at the park provide 74 sites that accommodate tents and RVs.

We also toured the maintenance area, clubhouse and ranger station.

Steve encouraged us to check out the hiking trails, ravine and beach at our leisure on our own time.

(Monte will officially begin tomorrow morning at 7:30AM.)

Back home Monte spent an hour or so repositioning our satellite dish to get a better signal.  We just relaxed the rest of the day.

November 3, 2014

Travel day from Woodbine, GA

To Keystone Heights, FL

On moving day I usually have the alarm set for 7AM but because we had a drive of less than 80 miles I set the alarm for 9AM.  BUT we woke up around 6:30 because it was COLD.

The temperature gauge read 30-when we lifted the shade to look outside we saw there was frost on our Jeep.  BRRRR.

 

 

 

 

We slowly took our time getting ready and by the time Monte was ready to start getting things outside ready it had warmed up to 70. 

 

 

 

 

Crazy.

It was an uneventful easy drive-

 

we arrived at Gold Head Branch State Park in Keystone Heights, Florida at noon.

When I had checked out availability on Reserve America I discovered that there were several sites open from Monday to Thursday.  BUT there were no available sites through the weekend so we would have to go somewhere else on Friday.

At the check-in window, Monte mentioned that we are scheduled to start volunteering down at Little Manatee River SP beginning December 1.  The Ranger checking us in just happened to be the Volunteer Coordinator.  He asked us if we wanted to stay for the month as volunteers. 

We decided to accept the invitation for a couple of reasons.  We have had some unexpected expenses the last few months so saving a month of site fees would be helpful and we knew it was going to be difficult to find a place to stay during the Thanksgiving weekend.

Gold Head Branch is a large park with several areas that contain volunteer sties.  After driving three miles on the main park road we came to a dead end-oh no-we had missed our turn.  

I glimpsed a lone RV in the woods down a dirt road and discovered that was where we were supposed to turn.

There was not enough room for Monte to make a U-turn so he had to back up quite a ways.  I stayed in back of him blocking the road. 

It was a little bit of a challenge getting into the site because the road was very narrow and there were several trees to maneuver around. 

Adding to the mix was the site itself that was part hard dirt and part soft sand.  After Monte backed in the site and checked the level he saw that he would have to use too many blocks to get the rig level.  So he pulled forward and moved over at least five feet to back in on the hard dirt.  It made a big difference because we only had to use one set of blocks to get level.

The park rents out cabins.  The laundry shed where all the linens and towels for the cabins are washed is located next to our site.  The volunteers are allowed to use the washer and dryer using a sign-up schedule system before 7:30AM and after 4:30PM.  I signed up for the 6PM slot and got three loads of wash done.

When we started out this morning we had one plan but the day ended with a totally different plan.  Having the flexibility to be open to “going with the flow” is one of the many things that I really like about this lifestyle.

November 2, 2014

Chilly day at Walkabout Camp

Woodbine, GA

 

 

 

 

We woke up to temps in the low 30s.  Time to pull out our electric heater.  Between the portable heater and our fireplace we were warm and toasty within a few minutes.

 

 

Monte spent a little time trying to tune his banjo.

In the late afternoon we took a ride into town to gas up my Jeep and pick up something to contribute to the pot luck dinner we were invited to attend at the clubhouse.

It had warmed up enough for me to sit outside working on my crossword puzzles while Monte took a walk on the nature trail located at the park.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There was a wide variety of food to choose from at the potluck dinner. 

 We sat with a nice couple from Ohio who are headed down to Florida where they plan to winter in a site they own.