Last stop on the way to Punta Gorda....

While we have been at Alligator Park in Punta Gorda Fl for the past week, our last stop before arriving was at Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park in Micanopy Fl.

Founded in 1821, Micanopy was originally an Indian trading post. It’s a small place of about 600 people and was the first distinct US town in the Florida Territory.

The town consists of several antique stores, small diners and historic homes. Most notable are the Herlong Mansion (now a B&B) and the Simonton House.

Herlong Mansion

Simonton House est.1910

Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park became Florida’s first state preserve in 1971. It hosts a variety of wildlife, including bison, alligators (of course) and wild horses; direct descendants of the horses brought to North America by Spanish explorers. The area of the state park was explored by naturalist William Bartram in 1774. The Seminole Indians called him “Puc Puggy”, meaning “flower hunter” and the road to the campground bares his name.

"Puc Puggy"

Notice the road sign in the upper right

We were only able to explore one of the eight trails in the park and the Visitors Center. Most of the trails were closed or partially closed due to high water and flooding from the recent rains.

Our camp at Paynes Prairie

Visitor Center

Had to turn back on this trial because of flooding

Got off a quick shot of a deer we spooked while on the trail

Flock of unidentified waterfowl 

Wild Horses

In the near future I'll be posting some pictures of our site here at Alligator Park.  

The trip continues.......

Time to catch up a bit on the blog.

Last post had us at Whittington Woods Campground in freezing temps.

Sunday and Monday (January 7 & 8) we spent at Tom Sawyer RV Park in West Memphis Arkansas. While the temps had risen a bit it was still cold with rain. Late Monday afternoon we ran out of propane, which was my fault for not keeping a closer eye on the tanks. The campground didn’t have refill facilities and the local Flying J gas station’s facilities were down due to a leak in their system. The handy dandy GPS found a Tractor Supply about 15 miles away so I braved the Memphis rush hour traffic and ran over there. Another lesson learned; check the propane situation more often in cold weather.

Tom Sawyer RV Park is right on the Mississippi river and has had to close on occasions when the river overflows its banks. Fortunately we didn’t run into any of that. They have a couple of interesting cabins for rent as well as an abundance of camping spots with full hook ups.

Carving at the entrance (relative of  Chucky?)

Barge on the Mississippi

Tree house cabin

Tree house cabin

Ronna next to 2011 river crest height. Park had to be under water.

After leaving Arkansas, clipping the edge of Tennessee and crossing Mississippi we spent Tuesday and Wednesday at Birmingham South Campground in Pelham Alabama, which just south of Birmingham. The campground was very close to a Home Depot which worked out well since when we arrived Ronna found one of the pantry shelves had collapsed. I decided to knock out the shelf below the broken one and rebuild / reinforce them both. So much of my time was spent doing some carpentry work. Sorry, only one picture of this stop.

Birmingham South main office

Yesterday we entered the Florida panhandle and stopped at Alliance Hill RV Park which is about an hour west of Tallahassee. This is a newer park with concrete pads on pull through sites with full hookups. It’s a bit off the beaten path being 8 miles south of Interstate 10 but very nice and quiet. They have a beautiful community building with a large screen TV, comfy couches, a small library, laundry facilities, showers and a pool. The temps we a comfortable 67 when we arrived.

Today was a rainy day that started off all wrong. The cat decided to fall off the top of the headboard at 4:30 this morning and landing on Ronna's face, her rear claw cutting Ronna's lower lip. Then around 6:00 AM Ronna broke the little toe on the right foot by stubbing it on the couch leg. But she was a trooper and we made a side trip to Florida Caverns State Park, a short 30 minute drive from the campground. These caverns were prepared by the CCC for public tours between 1933 and 1942 and are the only caverns in Florida accessible to the public. The tour was about 45 minutes and the guide most informative. We even saw a few bats that inhabit the caverns along with salamanders, cave crickets and blind crayfish. Ronna took the following pictures with her cell phone as I never thought about bringing my camera (duh!)

CCC memorial statue

Entrance to caverns 

Trying on hats in the gift shop

Tomorrow we head for Paynes Prairie State Park in Micanopy FL, about a 4 hour drive. We will spend 2 nights there. Hope to get some pictures of the wildlife. 

On our way to warmer places....

The temperature was -10 when we left Pingree Grove at 0700 but the weather was clear and the roads in great condition. After a pit stop in Elburn for coffee, Gibson City for a light breakfast and Champaign to drop some paperwork at Ronna’s son’s house, we arrived at Whittington Woods Campground around 1330.

We had taken the camper to Whittington Woods back in November and placed it into storage so we could avoid pulling it though any bad weather that might arise in January.

The temp had reached 21 degrees so we didn’t freeze too badly getting the camper ready to move. I was surprised that the tires had held their full 80 PSI and I had fully charged the battery before we left Pingree Grove. So it was just a matter of installing the battery, hitching up and moving a few hundred feet from the storage area to the campsite. 

Once we were parked in site #2 we plugged in the shore power and fired up the furnace. The nighttime temps were going down to 4 degrees and the predicted high for Saturday was 17, so I decided to leave the antifreeze in the fresh water system and not de-winterize the camper.  Out campsite was right next to the clean, heated bath house and we could use a bucket of fresh water to flush the toilet in the camper if necessary. We had thought ahead and brought dinner for Friday night and a gallon of water to make coffee on Saturday morning. Ronna had brought an electric blanket which warmed the bed nicely before we retired and we got good night’s sleep.

Saturday found us at the local Walmart, stocking up the fridge, and filling the truck with diesel for Sunday’s morning drive to West Memphis AR. We had burned through a 30 pound tank of propane since our arrival so I got that refilled at the campground as well. We have two 30 pound tanks so never came close to running out.

This is a very nice campground with very friendly, helpful owners and there are several other rigs here with us. We had a neighbor pull in late Friday afternoon and leave by 10 this morning. They said the roads in Michigan were terrible with snow and ice and they were heading for Texas.

A friend of the owners does the carvings shown in the below photos.