We spent the night in the parking lot at Camping Connection in Kissimmee Florida so they could get started early on the brake system for the Jeep. They got started about 8:00AM.

It took them about four hours to install the whole system. They did a nice job and every thing fits and looks good on the jeep.

                  

                                                                      

I removed the driver’s seat to make it easer to work under the dash and, of course, as soon as I had done that we had to move the rig to let the trash truck get by. It is possible to drive the rig sitting on one of the dinette chairs.

                                                                       

I installed the light in the dash panel of the coach and the shop installed a six pin cable to replace the four pin we have been using.

The six pin accommodates the existing light wires and the new “coach notification” light wires. I ran two wires (pair), but the shop said I could have run a single wire and used a common ground somewhere under the dash.

                                                                       

The install was complete and we headed out for Okeechobee about 1:00 PM. It is only about 125 miles from Kissimmee to Okeechobee so it was not much of a test for the new braking system put it seems to be working as it should.

 

Off to Kissimmee to get the brake system installed on the Jeep.

It is warmer today, 48º when we got up! Warm enough for us to try out our new rotisserie. 48 this morning! We made a quick trip to the grocery to pick up a few things we needed. I checked all the batteries on the rig and only a couple of the cells needed any water.

We got a fire started and added logs until we got a good bed of coals for cooking. We got out our new Grizzly Rotisserie that Santa brought for Christmas and Deb prepped a couple of game hens to go on the fire. It took a couple of hours to cook, but well worth the wait.

                      

                                                                        

Yum Rotisserie Game Hens, Good eating.

We decided to hike to the springs here at Wekiwa Springs Park. Scupper, Debra and I hiked about a mile from our camp until we ran into a sign telling us to stop and if we went any further we would be committing a misdemeanor. Well we didn’t want to do that! We are way too old to start committing misdemeanors again. We turned around and went back to the camp and got the Jeep, that way we could only commit a traffic offence, we hoped.

Wekiwa Springs is very cool. If the weather where warmer, people would be a picnicking on the lawn or swimming in the spring. Canoe and kayak rentals are available so you can paddle along the Wekiva River and Rock Springs Run.

                                                                          

We went to check out the old homestead at 419 Holly Avenue in Sanford today. There's a new house on the lot and the wooded lot across the street where we used to clean cat fish has some kind of an industrial building on it now. We didn’t see any hoses or screwdrivers sticking out of the ground, so I guess they dug them all up when they built the new house. That’s another story…

    

We left the old neighborhood behind and went over to check out Big Tree Swamp.

The “Big Tree” is still the same! This tree has been a landmark for years. The Seminole Indians and other Native American Indians who lived throughout Central Florida used this tree as a landmark. 

                                                              

In the late 1800s, the tree attracted visitors even though much of the surrounding land was swamp; reaching the tree was done by leaping from log to log. A walkway was later constructed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). In 1925, a hurricane destroyed the top of the tree, reducing its original height of 165 ft. to its present height of more than 129 feet.

The Senator is named for Senator M.O. Overstreet, who donated the tree and surrounding land to Seminole County for a park in 1927. In 1929, former president Calvin Coolidge visited The Senator and dedicated the site with a commemorative bronze plaque. The plaque and portions of an iron fence were stolen by vandals in 1945 and never recovered.

Because of its unusual size, considerable controversy as to The Senator's true species has existed. In the 1950s, the tree was reclassified as a Pond Cypress, only to be reverted back to the classification of Bald Cypress some thirty years later.

                                                               

As of 1993, The Senator is estimated to be 3,400-3,500 years old. The tree's volume had previously been estimated at 4,300 cubic feet, but a 2006 survey by Will Blozan of the Native Tree Society has measured the volume at well over 5,100 cubic feet, making The Senator not only the largest Bald Cypress in the United States, but also the largest tree of any species east of the Mississippi River.
The Big Tree has a neighbor. Located 40 feet from The Senator is another old cypress named Lady Liberty. It is 89 feet high 10 feet in diameter, and is estimated to be 2000 years old.

                                                                      

It is an amazing feeling to be in the presence of something still alive that dates back to the time when Moses was around.
(Research and partial quote from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senator )

Yep, it’s still cold. The high was 57º and the low was 22º and the water heater is still a problem. We are headed for Florida to day. We are going to a campground called Ocean Pond. It’s in the Osceola National Forest in northern Florida west of Jacksonville.

We stopped at the Florida Welcome Center to pick up a map and it looks like most of the RVs East of the Mississippi are on I 95.


                                                                     

We stopped at Rivers Bus and RV in Jacksonville to get what we need to fix the water heater. When I talked to the manufacturer, Atwood, they said to try replacing the igniter. If that didn’t get it working they said we would have to replace the circuit board. I bought the new igniter and installed it in the parking lot at the RV shop just in case it didn’t do the trick.

With the new igniter installed the heater had the same problem. It lit once but would not light again after we used the heated water.

I went back in to the shop to buy a new circuit board. The parts guy said they could check the old circuit board to see if it was bad before I spent the $200 on the new one. I wish I had known they could do that before I bought the igniter and installed it. Oh well. I removed the old board and it tested as bad. We bought the new one, installed it and all is well with the water heater.

We got to our campground at Ocean Pond about 3:30 PM.  What a great spot!

                

Ocean Pond Campground is located in the Osceola National Forest. This "flatwoods" forest is a mosaic of low pine ridges separated by cypress and bay swamps and named in honor of the famous Seminole Indian warrior, Osceola.
 

                 

Ocean Pond Campground is located on the north side of Ocean Pond, a 1760-acre natural lake. Sixty-seven campsites are available for tents, trailers, or motor homes. Many of these campsites are waterfront sites so you can enjoy the water or fish right from your campsite.

                 

We met the Camp Hosts and they said they where looking for an additional couple to work with them as Camp Hosts. This would be a great place to spend the winter but we have been doing the work camping thing now since last May and we want to take some time and travel for a while.

We are going to hang out hear for a few days to chill and do some laundry. We don’t think “chilling” will be a problem, the forecast is for a high of 57º F and the low will be 22º F. The normal averages are 66º and 42º F.

It’s still cold. The high was 46º and the low was 25º.

We rolled on up to Sticky Fingers for lunch today. I have been telling Deb about this rib place for several years and it turns out there is one near the camp!

                                                                          

Deb got me some of their barbeque sauce for Christmas, but she has never tasted their food. We stuffed our selves and still had leftovers which will be great for a lunch later in the week.

Scupper talked us into a hike instead of a nap when we got back to the camp.

We hiked out the trail to an observation tower that provides a chance to watch for wildlife on this barrier island.

              

The park borders Skidaway narrows, a part of Georgia’s Intracoastal Waterway. We came right past here in our Tahiti Ketch LAHANA years ago.

                         

It’s still cold. The high was 44º and the low was 26º.

We wanted to get some real “Low Country” cooking while we where her in Savannah, so Deb found this local restaurant on Tybee Island. It’s the Crab Shack and it turns out I had been here in 1996. I did not realize I’d been there until we where seated and all of a sudden it was déjà vu all over again.

                                 

The food was great and we are thinking about cutting a hole in our table and putting a trash can under it.

The Park is beautiful in the daylight. The temperature, however, is not, 23º.

                                                             
                
The site we chose in the dark is great and the park is “first come first served” so we can stay where we are until we decide to leave.  I’m taking Deb around to show her where I lived for almost two months during the 1996 Summer Olympics. I was in Savannah to cover the sailing events. We went by the Hyatt Regency where I lived and then a tour of River Street. 

                       


We hit Kevin Barry’s Irish Pub, One Eyed Lizzy’s, and The Shrimp Factory before we got to cold and went back to the camp.

We emptied the black and gray tanks and toped off the propane. It’s hard to believe we used almost 8 gallons of propane in three days. It’s been so cold the furnace has been running almost continuously. 

Well we said our goodbyes and got underway about 11:00 AM, two hours later than we intended. We weren’t really worried about getting an early start; it’s only about a three hour trip to Savannah.

Or that is, it’s normally only about three hours.

We discovered a temporal anomaly that exists in Cracker Barrel Restaurants on Sundays after church. It can take over two hours to get breakfast when this situation occurs.

We would still have made it to our campground in Savannah before dark except… a two hour traffic jam on I 95 near Walterboro, SC. It turns out there was a crash on the north bound side that required a medevac helicopter and two more crashes on the south bound side from rubbernecking.

We finally got to Skidaway State Park in Savannah about 6:30 PM. The office was closed so we drove around the campground in the dark and pulled into an empty campsite. We will check in at the office in the morning and see if we can stay where we are.

                                                                            

We finally got south of South Carolina and a new sticker!