Lakeland to Riverside

Sunday, 16 February

Sprinty arrived at Sanlan Golf and RV Resort in Lakeland, FL for a couple of weeks, a park Sprinty had stayed at two years ago. A large park (500 sites), it is close to Lakeland (so very good cell service and shopping) and nice facilities including a 27-hole golf course that is walkable. And popular for seasonals like many RV parks in south Florida. Also, like many RV parks in south Florida, it has a lot of sites with permanent structures.

While at Sanlan, Sprinty got to relax a lot while Kris and Darrell played golf, enjoyed long walks and some bike rides. Kris and Darrell played golf at Sanlan, as well as several other nearby courses. Kris usually bought, but there were a few times when we tied on the day. Darrell managed to buy once or twice.

Not to worry, Sprinty got some attention (besides being the house for two weeks) as Darrell moved on with Phase 2 of the Battle Born lithium upgrade. Phase 1 was getting the additional batteries installed and connected to the inverter (which provides 120v power from the batteries). Phase 2 was to add the additional wiring to be able to run everything on the lithium batteries. This involved running a 2AWG cable from the back of Sprinty (where the lithium batteries are) to the engine compartment in the front and associated breakers.

Darrell ordered the parts needed (mostly from Amazon) and had them delivered to Sanlan. His planning paid off as the project was completed in a few hours.

We rode our bikes in the RV park several times, and we even ventured out of the park one day and rode the Fort Fraser Trail. The paved Fort Fraser Trail traverses part of the former CSX Railroad line, running parallel to US Highway 98 for nearly 8 miles, from Bartow to Lakeland near the entrance to Sanlan. The trail is named for the 1837 fort, built during the Second Seminole War, which in turn was named for Captain Upton S. Fraser, who was killed in the first battle of the war two years earlier. In November of 1837, Colonel Zachary Taylor (later our 12th president) arrived with Company B & E of the 1st U.S. Infantry. With them they brought 80 wagons of supplies to construct a new military road from Fort Brooke in Tampa to the Kissimmee River. Fort Fraser didn't last long; it was decommissioned six months later. Today, a historical marker notes the spot where the fort once stood, just south of CR 540A.

It is a nicely done Rails-to-Trails trail. Something a little different was that every other power pole had a sign with a thoughtful quote. One that made us ponder a bit was:

A variant might be " A diamond is a piece of coal that performed well under pressure"

We played golf at Bartow Golf Course several times. Not a fancy course, but welcoming, priced well, and we were able to get tee times easily. As with other golf courses, some businesses advertise at the tee boxes. This jewelry store ad was very memorable:

With the cold front that arrived near the end of our stay at Sanlan, we took a break and went to the Up, Up, and Away Balloon Fest. Well sort of. We played 9 holes of golf before going to the balloon fest. With winds 12-18mph, we really did not expect any balloons to launch. Of course, as we bought tickets (and paid for parking), no one hinted that the balloons might be grounded because of high winds. So we were among hundreds of optimists who bought tickets hoping. The Fly-Away did not happen. The tethered balloon rides did not happen. There were some festival booths, food vendors and live music though. Perhaps it should be renamed to Wait, Wait, and Wait Some More Festival.

This is a photo of people staking out a place to watch the balloons that did not happen:

About 6pm, the wind started to calm, as forecast, and we started to see balloon activity. The tethered balloon got set up and provided rides. Four other balloons inflated for Night Glow, a lot less than the number of balloon rigs present.

Sunday, 1 March

We said goodbye to Sanlan RV and Golf Resort and headed for Riverside RV Resort in Arcadia to visit with Tom and Heidi for a few hours. Our destination for the evening was a Boondockers Welcome host in Fort Denaud, FL. Boondockers Welcome is a membership program where people let you overnight camp in their driveway/yard/lot for free. And it was reasonably close to the dealer where Charlie, our new fifth wheel was.

Larry, our host, had a gorgeous place on the Caloosahatchee River, adjunct to a swing bridge. While the traffic over the bridge was noisy at times, the setting was very delightful. Larry pointed out that we were on an island - an island in that the Caloosahatchee River, Lake Okeechobee and St. Lucie Canal make a continuous water separation for this section of Florida. Well, continuous if you consider the dams and locks built by the Corp of Engineers for managing water levels.

Monday, 2 March

We worked on Charlie, installing some additional wiring for a dehumidifier for storing Charlie for the summer. We got all the "must do" chores completed, and several nice-to-does. We even finished by early afternoon, so we headed to the Bike Bistro, a bike shop in Fort Myers Beach that stocked a particular ebike of interest. We both got to test ride it and were very impressed. On our way back to Fort Denaud, we also visited a Cricket Wireless store and signed up for their latest wireless data plan. Cricket Wireless is an AT&T subsidiary, and the price was pretty reasonable to add AT&T to our connectivity options for Alaska. AT&T was the first cellular carrier in Alaska, and has the most coverage. People who have been to Alaska recently have shared that Verizon is available. But not as widely as AT&T.

Tuesday, 3 March

Having finished our "must do" chores on Charlie yesterday (as well as some "nice-to-dos"), we headed out. While at Walmart getting groceries, Darrell found a municipal golf course about 30 minutes away that had available tee times. So we added golf to the plan for the day.

We played Clewiston Golf Course in Clewston, FL. When we checked in, the pro advised that the first nine holes would be slow as several groups were in front of us, but they were only playing 9 holes. As we practiced on the putting green, we saw the condition of the greens and decided to set very low expectations for the day. The greens were some of the worst we have ever played. However, it was a beautiful day, temperature around 80 degrees, a nice breeze, and we worked on some things without worrying much about the score. Well sort of. Darrell was up by one stroke at the turn - he struggled with his chipping, while Kris struggled with the putting. Kris took the lead on the 10th hole, and we stayed close as Darrell tied it up on the 15th. Tied up on the final hole, Kris made her first par of the day to take the day by two strokes. Alas, no Starbucks within an hours drive to celebrate.

We then headed for our camping spot for the night, Ortona South Campground, a Corps of Engineer campground located adjacent to the Ortona Lock on the canal. We got the last site available. Nice park, converter pads, water and electric for $15 with the Senior Pass. After getting Sprinty settled, we walked to the lock to see if we would get to see the operation. We watched as two boats entered the lock as the transited east.

The Ortona Lock and Dam is located on the Okeechobee Waterway. Stretching out from both directions, the waterway extends to the Gulf of Mexico using the Caloosahatchee River and to the Atlantic Ocean using the St. Lucie Canal. Covering 152 miles, the waterway serves as both a commercial and recreational link with several overnight-docking facilities along the way. The Corps constructed and currently manages five locks along the Waterway. Ortona Lock and Dam were constructed in 1937 for navigation purposes.

From the Lake Okeechobee and Okeechobee Waterway brochure:

• When the Seminole Indians migrated from Georgia and settled in the region, lake water was replenished not only by rainfall but with the water draining from the more than 3,000 square miles of the Kissimmee River Basin from the north. During summer's rainy season, the lake spilled over its southern shore sending water south in a slow-moving sheet through acres of sawgrass to the end of the Florida peninsula and out into Florida Bay. When the region was wilderness, this flooding posed no problem, but as South Florida developed, it became necessary to find ways to manage the water.

• After the hurricane-generated floods devastated the communities bordering the lake in the 1920's, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began its involvement in managing South Florida's valuable water resource. By 1937, the cross-state Okeechobee Waterway was completed, connecting Stuart on the east coast with Ft. Myers on the west coast. The waterway provided a way to release flood waters and opened South Florida to commercial and recreational boat traffic. The Corps also constructed Herbert Hoover Dike, a flood control levee that circles the lake. A series of canals, water control structures, and pump stations form a complex water management system jointly managed by the Corps of Engineers and the South Florida Water Management District.

• Project purposes now include flood control, navigation, water supply, fish and wildlife enhancement, and recreation.

Once again, Sprinty's WiFi booster came in handy. The campground had WiFi, but the staff said the signal was not very strong, so you had to go up to the bathhouse to use it. They provided a picnic table by the bathhouse for people to use while using the WiFi, maybe so they would not surf the web sitting on the toilet? With the booster, we enjoyed WiFi in Sprinty even though we were located a few hundred feet away.

Darrell flew the drone and captured this flyby video:

And photo

After dinner, we were rewarded with a beautiful sunset.

Wednesday, 4 March

With an afternoon arrival in Lake Placid planned, we played golf at Placid Lakes Golf Course in Lake Placid, FL. A beautiful warm day. Golf was slow for the first 13 holes as we were behind a league group. We both played well on the first nine, with Darrell making the turn up by two strokes. We stayed close on the back, and once again, were tied on the last hole. And we tied on the day.

As we started earlier than planned, and finished sooner than planned, we had time to drive to the nearest Starbucks, about 22 miles away in Sebring, FL.

We arrived at Jan and Doug's house a little after 4pm. Sprinty met Jan, Doug, and Jake (their Golden Retriever) on the caravan to the Canadian Maritimes last summer. We also got to see them at the Southeast Area Rally last month in Lakeland. Jan and Doug have a lovely home on Lake Huntley in Lake Placid, and are in the process of moving into the home from Fort Myers.

We enjoyed a beautiful evening on the dock.

And went to dinner at a nearby Mexican dinner

Thursday, 5 March

Jan and Doug had workers coming to the house, so we elected to play golf again at Placid Lakes Golf Course. With a forecast high in the low 90s, we started as early as we could get a tee time. We both got off to an okay start, then Darrell almost made a hole-in-one on the second hole - only 6" from the cup. He made another birdie on the front nine, then made up for it by a couple of bad holes. We made the turn with Kris up by two strokes. Darrell played the back nine better than yesterday, while Kris struggled. Today, it was Darrell's turn to buy.

Finishing sooner than planned, perhaps because folks don't like playing golf when it is that warm in March, we headed for Sebring for Darrell to pay up.

Once back at Jan and Doug's house, Darrell got to work taking apart their electronic door lock to see if he could fix it. Never mind that he had never taken an electronic lock apart before. After some dissecting and tweaking, he got it working again. And had no left over screws or parts.

Doug then took us out on their powerboat for a cruise around Lake Huntley.

We enjoyed a grilled steak and baked potato for dinner.

Friday, 6 March

We took the day off from golf to enjoy our visit with Jan and Doug. They took us for a guided tour of the town of Lake Placid. Readers Digest named Lake Placid as "America's Most Interesting Town".

The town was originally called Lake Stearns and was founded in 1925. Dr. Melvil Dewey, the inventor of the Dewey Decimal System, bought a lot of acreage in the area.  He was the founder of the Lake Placid Club in New York, and convinced the town and state to go along with changing the name of Lake Stearns to Lake Placid.

Lake Placid is a small town, with a population of about 2,000. As we toured the area, it is likely that is the year-round resident number as we saw many places that were obviously occupied by snowbirds.

Lake Placid is famous for producing 98 percent of the world's caladium bulbs. To celebrate this distinction, the town holds an Annual Caladium Festival.

The town is a mecca for mural lovers, with more than 40 murals painted on buildings throughout the town. These murals transform what was a typical little Florida town into an outdoor art gallery. We walked up and down the streets taking in the many murals. Doug bought a copy of the mural guide at the town museum, which provided more detailed information on each mural.

After walking around Lake Placid for awhile, Doug proposed we go to Starbucks. Since he was driving, we happily went along. After Starbucks, Doug and Jan gave us a driving tour of Sebring, including the historic area. About that time, we started thinking about lunch. No one seemed to offer a preferred place. While driving in the city circle, Doug announced two choices, and the rest of us still were reluctant to pick one. Doug then kept driving around the circle and said he would keep driving around the circle until someone made a decision. Facing dizziness, we picked the Jimmy's Greek restaurant. Lunch was amazing. A four calendar diner for sure.

After lunch, we headed back to their lakeside home and played Rummicub. Before we started, we had to negotiate rules for playing as the Dodson rules were different than the Cleveland rules. Understandable as the rules that come with the game have slight variances depending on when you bought your game. After Kris won more than her fair share of games (pretty typical), we took a break to put the motorboat back on the lift. A four-person job when the wind is blowing as it was.

Then we settled into chairs at the end of the dock and took turns playing with Jake, their Golden Retriever, who loves fetching his toy from the water.

For dinner, we introduced Jan and Doug to how we make Forrest tacos. Forrest showed us how to make tacos using crushed tortilla chips instead of taco shells. Much easier than trying to fill taco shells which are going to leak anyway.

Saturday, 7 March

After a most delightful visit at Jan and Doug's amazing lake house, we headed back to Arcadia, FL for a few nights at Riverside RV Resort. Sprinty will be checking in with the many Riverside friends he made in December and January, and may even get a couple of minor Alaska prep projects done.