Off to see the Cousins, 13-20 January

Monday, 13 January

After almost 6 weeks of basking in the RV Resort life, Sprinty was ready to be out adventuring again. Kris and Darrell seemed to be having all the fun - golfing with two Riverside groups, kayaking with two different Riverside groups, and biking with the Riverside group and Sarasota group. All the while, Sprinty got left behind and had to listen to the many tales of the day after the fact.

Darrell and Kris had to refresh themselves on trip preparations, even if this adventure is only planned for a week.

 * Bikes loaded - check

 * Kayaks stored with Tom & Heidi - check

 * Toyota parked with Tom & Heidi - check

 * Golf clubs and stuff packed - check

Sunday morning, we decided to turn breakfast into a test of Sprinty's upgrade. The test included cooking hash browns in the convention oven and heating the bacon in the microwave while on batteries using the inverter. The test continued Monday morning as we assessed the batteries and charging systems while headed north.

After a quick stop at the dump station, our first destination was Silverado Golf and Country Club in Zephyrhills, FL, about 2 hours north of Port Charlotte. Waking up early, we departed Riverside RV Resort a little ahead of schedule. Sprinty picked the back roads, and enjoyed a countryside drive while avoiding the morning commute traffic on the main highways. We arrived at the golf course early, allowing for time to warm up on the range.

We were paired up with Randy and Julie from Wisconsin, who winter nearby and are members of the golf course. Very pleasant to play with, and we enjoyed their pointers as they play the course often. Both were pretty good golfers, and a delight to spend the day with.

We both played well despite struggling with the green speeds. Kris was up by two strokes at the turn. Darrell started playing better on the back nine, until hole 14. With that boo-boo, he just did not have enough holes to catch Kris who took the day by 3 strokes.

Next stop was the Starbucks in Zephyrhills, a store we had stopped at a few weeks ago. Learning from our previous visit, we parked Sprinty across the street and avoided the big dip into the Starbucks where Sprinty scrapped a bit.

After Starbucks, we continued north to Sumter Oaks RV Park, an Escapees RV Club Rainbow Park (meaning anyone can stay - don't have to be an Escapees member) for the night. We had considered using our Harvest Host membership and stay for free at a golf course, but we decided that after an afternoon in the sun, temperature in the upper 80s, we wanted a shower.

Tuesday, 14 January

We planned an early start for the last morning tee time available at Ocala National Golf Course, just outside of Ocala, FL. Even with an alarm set, we were up early. A check of the weather found a weather alert for dense fog, so we broke camp earlier than planned to allow some extra time for the fog.

The fog was dense, but travel time was not impacted much. Arriving earlier than planned allowed us to tee off early. As we walked up to the first tee, visibility was less than 150 yards. Kind of spooky to be teeing off on a course you have never played before without being able to see the terrain, sand traps, and trees beyond 130 yards or so.

We both played very well in the fog. Darrell managed to make the turn a stroke ahead.

The fog lifted as we neared the turn. The back nine seemed narrower and trickier that the front nine, and neither of us played as well as we started. Kris played better and finished the day one stroke ahead. Maybe the lesson of the day is to play in fog where the usual distractions of trees, creeks, sand traps, etc. are muted?

We also finished before noon, and about two hours before we expected based on our original tee time. We enjoyed the course, and the added character of the terrain around Ocala (more rolling hills than around Port Charlotte). The price was very good, as was availability of tee times. A definite do again.

We then headed for a Starbucks near Gainesville, FL for Kris to pay up. Then some grocery shopping before arriving at O'Leno State Park in High Springs, FL for a Roadtrek Rally.

O'Leno State Park is located on the banks of the scenic Santa Fe River, a tributary of the Suwannee River. The distinctive geological feature of the park is the River Sink where the Santa Fe River disappears underground to re-emerge three miles south at River Rise Preserve State Park. The 3-mile section where the river flows underground is a natural bridge which has provided passage for humans for over 10,000 years. Numerous sinkhole lakes may be seen from the trails throughout the park. The Limestone Trail guides visitors to an abandoned quarry that played a significant role in providing building materials for construction during the CCC era.

26 Roadtreks gathered for a few days of fun - some we have met at previous rallies, others we are meeting for the first time.

The first rally event was the 4pm social gathering with potluck appetizers.

Wednesday, 15 January

The morning started with a park ranger talk where Ranger South talked to the group about the history of the area, the geology, the trails in the park, and the various wildlife.

After the ranger talk, we hiked the Dogwood Trail from the Dogwood camping loop to the Day Use area. There we saw some Civilian Conservation Corps buildings and the suspension bridge built in the 1934-1935 time period.

We walked across the bridge, and along the Santa Fe River, hoping to get to the pool where the river goes underground. Alas, Darrell mis-read the map and we just had a walk along the river.

We then hiked back, already late for the group lunch in town. The lunch was at the Great Outdoors restaurant in High Springs, FL. We joined Sue and Bea, who also arrived late and enjoyed a nice lunch on the patio.

After walking around High Springs (only took a few minutes - it is a small town) and a few errands, we went back to camp to rest up for the social at 4pm.

Thursday, 17 January

A lazy start to the day while we waited for the fog to burn off and the temperature to rise a bit.

After lunch, we broke out the bikes to ride to the Day Use area to hike the River Trail properly. On the way, we ran into Penny, a fellow Roadtrekker from Decatur, GA. We both got to try out her ebike.

We enjoyed the hike on the River Trail. Others who did the hike that morning mentioned seeing an owl and otter. We only saw turtles. It was interesting to see the river flow into a pond-like area, and a slight swirling action, but no water leaving as it was going underground. Hard to imagine up to 900 million gallons of water flow underground there every day.

A pretty quiet afternoon. A RV dealer in Gainesville, Sunshine State RV, is a strong supporter of Roadtrek and sponsored the pizza dinner. Usually, they are present at the rally, bringing one or more Roadtreks to display. This week is the Tampa RV Super Show, so they did not attend in person.

After dinner, Frank from Ontario entertained the group by singing and playing the ukulele. He said he bought the ukulele only a couple of years ago to learn how to play to connect with his mother who has dementia.

After dinner, we said our goodbyes as we were leaving early in the morning

Friday, 17 January

A somewhat early start as we had made a tee time at Juliet Falls Golf Course, a golf course we played on our way down to Florida last month. We knew from the on-line tee time booking that it was going to be a very busy day.

We arrived in time to get warmed up, and were surprised when the starter called for us to go about 30 minutes before our tee time. We were paired up with Bill from The Villages and Joe from Chicago. Joe was visiting, and they came over to Dunnellon to play as the golf at the Villages has gotten expensive - over $75 for a guest to play.

Both Bill and Joe hit beautiful tee shots on the first hole, and Darrell was concerned as his warm up shots on the range suggested he was going to struggle. 20+ mph wind did not help either.

We both played as well as they did, making the turn tied up. On the back, it stayed close. The highlight of the day was both Darrell and Kris birdied Hole 15 with very long putts. We had the only birdies of our four-some for the day. Kris played the back nine just a little better (Darrell put two balls in two different water hazards) to take the day by two strokes. Too late for a Starbucks (and none close by), so we headed for the campground.

Tonight, we are staying at Ross Prairie State Forest Campground, Dunnellon, FL. Like a state park, a pretty basic campground. After getting a shower, we headed down the road a few miles to meet our Deep Creek Lake friend Tami and her mother for dinner at Stumpjumpers. We arrived early and were glad we did and the place was packed. As it was, we were fortunate to find a place where Sprinty could hang out while we were in the restaurant.

It was great fun to see Tami and catch up on what's been going on.

Saturday, 18 January

An early start as the main event for the day was the Tampa RV Super Show at the Florida State Fairgrounds in Tampa. We originally planned to play golf today, and arrive at the show later in the afternoon, camp there overnight and visit the show on Sunday. But with rain forecast for Sunday, we decided to change the plan.

We arrived before the gates opened and got Sprinty settled. When we bought our admission tickets, we also paid for overnight camping (dry camping).

We entered the show when the gates opened. We learned a few things, bought only lunch, and saw everything that was of interest to us. One of the other motivations for attending the show on Saturday instead of Sunday was that several prominent RVers we follow on social media were there. Early on, we ran into Robert Morales (YouTube channel "Traveling Robert") who travels extensively in a Winnebago travel trailer. We also support his content creation via Patreon.

We stopped by the Sunshine State RV booth to personally thank Nick (owner) and Shelley for their continuing support of Roadtrek rallies. Nick shared that the show had been good for them - they had ready sold 6 RVs. A representative from REV Group was at his booth, and Nick shared that REV was small enough that they could do customizations to their plans.

At 10am, we made our way to the Winnebago booth to meet Scott (YouTube channel "Go Small, Live Large"). Scott lives full-time in a Winnebago Travato, a Class B built on the Dodge Ram Promaster chassis. Scott does some interesting video posts, and we admire his approach to traveling in a camper van.

At 11 am, we made our way to one of the exhibit halls where Dave and Irene Carey (YouTube channel "Carey on Vagabond") were having a meet-and-greet. We initially saw them at the Roadtrek factory in August 2018 when Sprinty had some repairs/upgrades done. We have been following them ever since. They have been living full-time in a Roadtrek Zion SRT (short version of the Ram Promaster chassis). They have a new Dodge Ram Promaster van that is being built by Humble Road, another channel we follow. The Carey's travels inspired many of the adventures Sprinty has done in the last year, including the copper mine tour in Bisbee, AZ; Buttermilk Falls State Park hike in New York; and the boulder field in Pennsylvania.

We saw Mike and Jennifer Wendland (YouTube channel "RV Lifestyle"). We have followed Mike and Jennifer for about three years. Back then, they had a Roadtrek CS like Sprinty. Now they have a Leisure Travel Vans Unity, a Class B+.

Later in the afternoon, we saw Mark and Julie (YouTube channel "RV Love"). Mark and Julie live full-time in a 1999 Country Coach Class A that they bought used and did some amazing renovations/modifications.

Sprinty's place in the Van Hutten's wanderlust and adventuring plans is secure. We did not see anything that wow-ed us enough to consider changing, although we did get a few offers to buy Sprinty. Two rigs that caught our eye included a Lance 850 truck camper and the Winnebago View, a Class B+ on a Mercedes Sprinter cut-away chassis. The View had most of the features we like about Sprinty, with a bit more room as a B+.

By 3pm, we had seen all we planned to see (good advice for doing big RV shows: have a plan beforehand), and were pretty worn out from 6 hours of wandering (over 5 miles and 13,000 steps). We were glad the weather was nice - warm, but not too hot, and a nice breeze. And with Sprinty just outside, it was a short walk "home".

A "quiet" night at the fairgrounds parking lot. There were lots and lots of others in RVs spending the night. We took some comfort that the RV generator noise helped to mask the road noise from US301 which passes on the east side of the fairgrounds.

Sunday, 19 January

Another early start as we wanted to try and fit golf in before the forecasted rain started with the approaching cold front. The cold front is bringing chillier temperatures - not a complaint, just a comment for our motivation to get up early.

We were up well before sunrise. After our normal morning routine, we headed out. As we dry camped last night, departure preps were minimal. We headed for the main gate on US301, hoping the exit gate was unlocked. As we neared the gate, we saw a golf cart headed to the gate. The gentleman unlocked the gate just as we pulled up, and with that, we were on our way.

As we headed east on I-4, we enjoyed a beautiful sky to the east. Of course, the saying, "Red Sky at morning, Sailors take warning" came to mind. We just hoped our weather app was pretty accurate for when we would see the rain arrive.

We arrived at the Bartow Golf Course in Bartow, FL (a course we played last month on our way south) with plenty of time to warm up. We were surprised at the number of people preparing to go out as the on-line tee system suggested very few early golfers. As it was, we got to start before our official tee time.

Darrell hit is first tee shot into an adjacent fairway, and that seemed to be a precursor into the kind of day it was going to be. Both of us seemed off our game. We made the turn with Darrell up by two strokes. We both played the back nine better. But despite lackluster golf by both of us, it was Darrell's turn to buy.

Bartow is a small town, but it had a Starbucks. We enjoyed a treat to forget the shots we flubbed on the course.

As our reservation for our second stay at a Riverside RV Resort does not start until Monday, and since we saw everything of interest at the RV Show (original plan was to spend two nights at the fairgrounds), we needed a place for a Sunday night on a holiday weekend. In south Florida. In January. We were pretty certain we would be able to dry camp at the Escapees Co-Op like we did last month. But we decided to check out a county park that had very good reviews. It is located 10 miles away from anything, so we were hopeful. Darrell called yesterday afternoon and was able to make a reservation. One day notice. For a Sunday night. On a holiday weekend. In January. In south Florida. Sweet.

We arrived early afternoon at Hardee Lakes County Park in Bowling Green, FL, and got set up on a nice pull-through site facing Deer Lake, one of four lakes in the park. Hardy Lakes Park is a 1,260-acre site that opened to the public in 2001. The formerly mined and reclaimed land was donated to Hardy County by Mosaic.

As today is the NFL Conference championship games, the first order of business was to see if we could get Over-the-Air TV to watch the games. CBS barely, Fox just fine.

Tonight was also another test of Sprinty's latest upgrade, 300Ahr of Battle Born lithium-iron-phosphate batteries. The batteries are in addition to the AGM batteries Sprinty came with. In effect increasing Sprinty's battery capacity by 150% (from 190 amp-hours (Ahrs) useable to 490Ahrs total usable. Battle Born had great Cyber Monday pricing, and Darrell had been researching doing this upgrade. Cyber Monday pricing was just too good to pass up. The current install is set up to power Sprinty's 3,000 watt inverter - the Battle Born batteries power the Invertor, and the AGM batteries power all the 12v house loads. After several smaller tests during this trip, tonight we cooked a frozen pizza in Sprinty's microwave/convection oven. The microwave/convection oven had no idea Sprinty was not on shore power. The Battle Born batteries will get recharged tomorrow while we drive.

Monday, 20 January

The temperatures dropped all night, and by morning, it was 50 degrees. Great weather for sleeping, and we both took advantage of it by sleeping in.

A quiet morning spent defrosting the refrigerator and taking a walk around the park. We left about 11am to head back to Riverside RV Resort, about an hour away. During the driver, we monitored the charging of the Battle Born's batteries (they charge while driving via a second alternator and a battery-to-battery charger. By the time we arrived at Riverside, the batteries had been charged by 47Ahrs (vs the 80Ahrs consumed last night and this morning). Once Sprinty was settled in his site, the solar panels provided additional charging to both the AGM batteries and the Battle Born batteries.