I spent most of the day catching up on our blog postings for the previous two days.  Our trip to Cedar Key on Monday was a full day of interesting sights and people and I took quite a few photographs.  The weather and light were very nice and most of the photos were usable but required the usual post-processing which would take several hours.  Our trip to Paynes Prairie State Preserve on Tuesday preempted image processing work and resulted in even more photos to review, select, and process.

David and Marie Ross from our FMCA Freethinkers chapter were scheduled to arrive at Williston Crossings RV Resort today so we did not plan any activities away from the resort.  That gave me the time to work on the blog posts and Linda to work on her cross stitch project.  We took a break around noon to go for a walk and bundled up against the chill, which seemed sharper than usual.  It was below freezing again last night and only made it up to about 50 by mid-afternoon.  We had some Amy’s Thai Coconut Soup when we got back which helped warm us up.  Amy’s products are all vegan and we try to keep some on hand for a quick, easy, delicious meal.  A selection of Amy’s products is often available at regular supermarkets including Publix here in Florida, the best selection is usually found at Whole Foods or specialty markets.

While we were walking I got a call from Pat Lintner letting me know that he and Vickie were back at Fort Wilderness and we arranged to drive over to visit them late next week.  We made plans yesterday to visit Al Hesselbart on Saturday at Breezy Oaks RV Park near Bushnell, Florida.  We will probably drive through “The Villages” enroute to Breezy Oaks and stop for a visit with Joe Cannarozzi (our bus mechanic) who is staying at The Villager RV Park in Wildwood just south of The Villages.  While we are down that way we will also check out the Escapees Park in Bushnell which is only a few miles from Breezy Oaks.

David and Marie came in the back entrance of Williston Crossings so we did not see them arrive.  A knock on our door around 4 PM announced that they were here.  We visited with David briefly and discussed dinner options.  They invited us over to their motorhome, a very nice 2000 Safari Sahara, for drinks and we enjoyed a glass of white wine and good conversation.  By 7:00 PM we were all hungry and headed over to the Driftwood.

The Driftwood is a small diner that is walking distance from the front entrance of the resort and the closest place to dine out.  David drove us over as it was dark and cold and would be darker and colder by the end of our meal.  The place looked like it was closed, but the illuminated “open” sign in the window suggested otherwise so we went there for dinner as planned.  This was our first trip to the Driftwood since we arrived in Williston.  Linda and I had salads and potatoes, hers baked and mine French fried (with lots of ketchup and Tabasco sauce).  The food was OK but our waitress was friendly and efficient.  We were all drinking coffee or tea and she was very attentive to keeping our cups refilled, which I appreciate and use as a marker of good waitservice.

By the time we finished dinner and returned to the resort clear skies revealed bright stars and radiational cooling had already lowered the temperature in to the upper 30’s.  With yet another sub-freezing night ahead we set the thermostats on the toe-kick heaters and settled in to watch the final episode of Shackleton on PBS, a documentary on the recreation of Ernest Shackleton’s epic journey in 1916 from Antarctica to South Georgia Island to reach the whaling station at Stromness and arrange the rescue of the 22 men left behind.  It was somehow fitting given the weather this January.