I think I last left you all Sunday evening in Cape Coral at the Boathouse Tiki Bar. Monday was one of those great days with friends doing mostly nothing at all. We hung around, did a bit of grocery shopping and had a good swim in the nicely heated pool. Yes I couldn't believe it either, a headed pool in southern Florida..but it was NICE.
Later that afternoon our friends Tom and Debbie drove over from Fort Myers. We hadn't seen them in quite a while and it was so very good to catch up. We had met Tom and Debbie while we were cruising the 'Great Loop' back in 1999/2000 and have been best of friends since. Likely we bored Van and Andi with a few too many cruising stories, but then again Van, Andi, Carol and I have a full catalog of sea stories ourselves. Once again Andi and Van outdid themselves making a spectacular supper and we all chatted well into the evening. As always it was tough to say goodbye to friends when you don't know when we will see them again.
After helping get the house back in order we turned in for an early start and a day of travel on Tuesday as we headed toward the 'Spirit of the Road Rally in Live Oak, back up north, just off route 10 in northern Florida. The Rally started on Wednesday so we had an easy day of travel, stopping along the way in search of citrus fruit and generally just ambling along. In the afternoon we found a campground in High Springs and made camp for the evening.
My head was getting a bit shaggy and Carol was right in demanding that I get at least some of it trimmed off. When we left early Wednesday we headed for a convenient hair cutting place in Lake City about 25 miles up the road and right on the way. Isn't the internet a wonderful thing. So, both my head and my wallet are a bit lighter and now I am one handsome individual..well, head and wallet are lighter...
We arrived at the Festival park to find lines of RVs waiting to gain entrance. Right before we got there Carol needed a coffee so we stopped at a Dunkin Donuts, where Carol had to wait in line for way too long. When we got to line up at the festival grounds in the Doodle, nice people were walking up and down handing out free coffee and donuts..wouldn't you know... This was the most efficient check-in routine I have ever seen. I had my 'ticket' on my phone, they scanned that, gave us Dunkin’ coffee and donuts, and as we moved to the head of the line we were greeted by a guy named Bill driving a golf cart who escorted us directly to our site. Then it took all of about ten minutes before we were situated, leveled and hooked to water and electric.
Now I need to describe the Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park where this event is being held, and I am at loss for words. First off, it is huge, and we are in a quiet and remote area, along with 50 or so other RVs. We are nestled under some trees, all with hanging moss and a nice sandy floor covered with pine needles. I am writing this on Thursday, we arrived just about 24 hours ago and have met up with friends, made new friends, met someone from Newport traveling in their Leisure Travel Van. We have attended seminars, got free ice cream, listened to some good music, had great Black Bean Tacos from Taylor's Taco Truck and hung out at what is called the Firebirds.
The Firebirds are metal sculptures that are filled with wood and lit on fire and as the wood burns the metal glows red..simply amazing. We have heard that there are well over 600 RVs here for the rally. Golf carts seem to be the favored mode of transportation, then electric bikes, regular bikes and just plain old feet. Carol and I walked well over 5 miles yesterday just walking around the park.
I attended a seminar this morning on Whole Food Plant Based living while Carol went to Yoga..then off to a seminar on boondocking and then on to vendor halls and now we are off to find out about the fascinating world of 'Instant Pots'..you just never know. --- OK, back from the Instant Pot seminar. Wow, do people love their instant pot!. We have one with us so we may be joining the crowd. A nice thunderstorm just moved through making the day a steamy day. Looking forward to music and more firebirds tonight.
