Tag Archives: Freethinkers

2014/01/15 (W) Rainbow Springs SP (FL)

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Today was a 2-fer day.  Actually, it was a Wednesday, but we got two things done in one trip.

Seminole Falls info.

Seminole Falls info.

Thing one was a trip to Rainbow Springs SP in Dunnellon, Florida.  Located on US-41 just north of Dunnellon, Rainbow Springs was privately owned and opened in 1937 as a major tourist attraction.  The natural springs were “enhanced” with a constructed landscape of streams and waterfalls surrounded by vast gardens.  There were walkways, buildings, a “submarine”, a surface ship, a zoo, a netted bird area, an aerial tram, and a horse arena.  There were also cabins that predated the 1937 attraction.

Seminole “Falls.”

Seminole “Falls.”

 

The Rainbow Springs attraction changed ownership several times over the years and was owned by S&H Green Stamps and Holiday Inn along the way.  The opening of I-75 led to the demise of the attraction and it closed to the public in 1974.  (The opening of Walt Disney World probably didn’t help.)  It fell into serious disrepair until purchased in 1990 by the State of Florida and added to the Florida State Parks system.

 

 

 

Alligator warning (although none seen recently here).

Alligator warning (although none seen recently here).

 

All of the attractions are gone, of course, but much of the infrastructure remains, especially the water features and walkways.  The stables / horse arena is now a butterfly garden and the Park Service, along with the Friends of Rainbow Springs (FORS) is removing invasive plant species and replacing them with native pants.  There are actual (unpaved) hiking trails and a modern campground in a different part of the park.  We caught a brief glimpse of a Whitetail Deer while hiking the yellow trail.

Part of the Rainbow Springs headwaters area.

Part of the Rainbow Springs headwaters area.

 

Thing two was a chance to visit with another couple from our FMCA Freethinkers Chapter.  I had been corresponding with various people in advance of our trip to Florida, and John Hagan had indicated back in October that lived reasonably close to where we would be staying.  I checked back through my information, and it turned out that “reasonably close” meant “in Dunnellon.”  In fact, they lived about one mile south of the entrance to Rainbow Springs SP.  We called, they were home, and we stopped by to visit.

 

 

An Egret on the hunt at Rainbow Springs SP (FL).

An Egret on the hunt at Rainbow Springs SP (FL).

 

John and Marian had only moved in to this house this past April after six years as full-time RVers and are selling their motorhome.  They are still new enough to this part of Florida that they have not had a chance to explore much of it.  We agreed to make plans to take them along on some “explores” such as the Crystal River and Homosassa Springs areas which lie just to the SW of Dunnellon.  We also invited them to drive up to Williston to see the bus and the resort and have dinner.

2014/01/02 (R) Rainy Days And Chores

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As I have written here before, full- and extended-time RVing is not the same as being on vacation.  For one, we have the same housekeeping chores that we would have at home and rainy days are good days for doing inside chores.  We have enough clothing with us to last about 10 days and had not done the laundry in over a week, so today was laundry day.  Our site (439) is a short walk to the laundry room in the old/south section of the Williston Crossings RV Resort.  (Old means that it was here before the new/north section was built.  The old section is very nice with mature landscaping and facilities that are in excellent condition.)

When I checked my e-mail yesterday I had one from Donna Bartolomeo.  Donna and Michael are members of our FMCA Freethinkers chapter and fellow vegans.  They also arrived at Williston Crossings yesterday and will be here for a week.  By mid-afternoon the rain had let up so we went for a walk in the general direction of their site (245) and found them just as they were heading out for a bicycle ride.  We chatted for a few minutes and invited them to dinner, which they accepted.

They came over to our coach at 6 PM and brought a bottle of wine.  Linda prepared a nice green salad and made her mushroom kale barley risotto with garlic and shallots.  As with all of the other members of our chapter that we have had the pleasure to meet, we had a long, easy, comfortable conversation.  During the course of that conversation we found out that they have a home near St. Petersburg, Florida but had specifically booked this week at Williston Crossings back in October because we had announced that we would be here starting January 1st!  They invited us back to their motorhome for dinner sometime while they are here and I know we will spend more time in conversation with them before they leave.

A cold front has been pushing this way and the rain was forecast to end overnight with the low temperature dropping to 35 degrees F.  It looks like we will have a couple of days with mid-30s low temps and then a couple of days early next week with lows in the upper 20s but we knew that this part of Florida occasionally sees those kinds of temperatures in January, and we are prepared for them.

 

2013_07_03 (Wed) Escapade Day 4, Winding Up, Winding Down

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Today was the 2nd to last day of the 53rd Escapade / 35th anniversary celebration of The Escapees RV Club, and the last day for the inside vendor booths.  There were seminars scheduled all day, but we decided to stay at our rig and work.  I edited draft blog posts and finally uploaded my first one.  I also added a picture to our home page, although not exactly where I wanted it, so I removed it.  Linda worked on our personal accounting and additional arrangements related to the sale of our old house.  We were unable to find a charitable recipient for our Yamaha E-50 electronic organ, so our daughter is taking care of having it moved to the new house prior to the closing date for the old house.

We walked over to the Wyoming Center and signed up to have our black and grey tans hydro-cleaned by All Pro Water-Flow on Fri morning at 8 AM.  We then went to The Row party to check on our ham radio BOF friends who were setting up a special event station and any other BOFs that were there.

Having exhausted those possibilities we went back to our rig, had a bite of lunch, and continued our computer and accounting work.  It was warm this afternoon, with a forecasted high of 91 degrees F (which we hit), so we closed up the coach and turned on the air-conditioners.

We got a late start for the 4:30 PM HFH C-BOF business meeting and social, so we accepted a ride on one of the many golf carts that transport Escapade attendees between the various campgrounds and the activity buildings.  The HFH C-BOF membership has fallen way below minimums and those present voted to de-certify and continue as a regular BOF until April 2015.  A new treasurer was elected, so the funds will remain with the HFH BOF.  The Bylaws and standing rules are technically no longer valid and will be re-vamped as standard operating procedures.  It appeared that current President Steven Gullette will take care of that and continue as the “leader” of the BOF.  There were 13 members present and they all stayed for the social.  We managed to find enough snacks to get partially filled up, so we had a light dinner before going to our 7 PM Freethinker gathering.

It was still warm at 7 PM, so our Freethinkers group met inside VJ and Carol’s Fleetwood Bounder at Boxelder RV Park (which turned out to only be 7 RVs up from us).  They had the air-conditioning turned on and it was very comfortable inside.  Besides the hosts and us, Jerry Stauffer and Marc Matheson were there.  It turned out that Mark is a ham (KD6KR) and Jerry is a former ham.  Mark had to leave to watch a friend in the talent show, but we all enjoyed his company while he was there.  Consistent with our prior experiences meeting up with Freethinker RVers, we had a wide-ranging, enjoyable conversation, fueled by some wine and snacks.