Roadtrek Roadtrip, Part 12

Wednesday, April 24: I left Bill and Pat’s after breakfast; they are not early risers, so I didn’t leave until 9:20. A stop back at Trinity, to pick up the extension cord for the Roadtrek, and the charging cable for the computer, and then on to Mt. Dora for a very quick visit with the friends there, and by shortly after 4:00 I was at Andy and Dinata’s in Leesburg. I didn’t have directions to their house from Mt. Dora, so did not take the most direct route – but I did find it! After a delicious meal of very meaty ribs, we went out looking at Big Trees: live oaks in the neighborhood. The first was  A couple of photos with people for scale – 

Then it was on to Lady Lake, and Heritage Park, and a smaller tree – There were lots of plants growing on it, of which I could identify Spanish moss and resurrection fern (both in the first photo):

It looks like the garden club has its hand in here; there were fountains and walkways, and lots of plantings. 

It’s great to see these people who live too far away, and have them share part of their neighborhood. But time to continue north –

Thursday, April 25: It was hot. It was too hot for kayaking to be appealing, although I stopped at three different places in the Ocala National Forest to check it out. The sun was blazing, with little or no shade, at the first two places; stopping at one of my favorite places, Juniper Springs Run did have some shade, but my northern self was just too hot to get the boat out and carry it down to the water. Back to the air conditioned vehicle, and on in to Georgia at 2:00, and South Carolina at 4:30; I pulled in to at 8:10, after 432 miles. I occupied one of the three campsite with people in them – the place was not busy! And it’s dark, and it’s possible to find a flat space without having to level the camper; the frogs’ serenade drowned out traffic on the local road until dawn, too. The downside of free camping? No toilet paper in the outhouse! But I’m self-contained; I have my own.