South to Hudson Florida

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Our next stop after Cedar Key will be in Hudson Florida just north of Tampa. It will likely be one of our most unusual stops we have made in our 2.5+ years of living on the road full time. The biggest departure of this stop will be the length we stay put in one spot. The plan is to be there for a full 3 months. Our previous “record” for a stop was 5 weeks in Desert Hot Springs CA. This stop will be two and a half times that length. Our average is just over 8 nights per stop so it will be interesting to see if we go stir crazy. 

Another unique aspect of this stop will be the campground itself. Word of Life campground won’t be found in most of the travel apps or guides travelers like us use. It is a Christian retreat and conference center with a youth camp that just happens to have a campground on it’s large campus. Since we were in the eastern USA this fall, we decided to try out Florida for a winter rather than driving all the way back to Arizona. One of my sisters has a winter residence in Hudson so we were looking to stay close by. Nearly all the campgrounds in this area are right along busy state route 19 and pack the RVs in like sardines. Chris stumbled upon this place when doing some Google searches for camping in this area of Florida. We had my sister drive thru the park to check it out and it sounded pretty nice. We contacted them in April to check on availability and reserved a spot. They do have some rules for campers that aren’t found at other campgrounds but none of them were ones that would interfere with our enjoyment. 

The drive from Cedar Key was a pretty simple one and we found the place without issue. There a over 200 sites in the campground with roughly half of them being park models. We had decided to splurge on one of the sites with full concrete drive and patio. It was supposed to be $1050 per month or $35 per day which is above our usual average but this is Florida. So we were pleasantly surprised when we found out they gave us a new guest discount of 25% bringing the daily rate down to $26.25 and electric is included! The campground host came up to the registration building on his golf cart to lead us to our site. We had requested a site that faces north and they managed to even accommodate that desire. 

The sites are spacious and nicely spaced roughly 40 feet across and plenty deep. The odd thing about the sites is that the electric pedestals are placed at every other site and as luck would have it, ours was positioned perfectly for our neighbor but not so much for us. Here is where having wide sites didn’t help. Our 50 amp power cord was about 12 feet shy of reaching. We carry an extension cable but it is only 30 amp. In all our years of traveling, we have needed the 30 amp extension cable many times but had never run into a situation like this. The host is obviously aware of this issue and loaned us a spare 50 amp cable until we could go buy one. The closest RV supply store he recommended wanted about $200 for one. Amazon to the rescue and a couple days later we had what was needed for under $100. 

The need to see all the sights in the surrounding area definitely changes when we have 13 weeks to work with. Plus we had some chores to deal with that had been pushed to the back burner. One of the first ones to deal with was to have the Jeep serviced. An annoying noise had been diagnosed as a bad transmission when we were at Jekyll Island Georgia but we ran out of time to have it done at that dealer before we needed to move on. Cedar Key was too remote to deal with it there so we waited for our arrival in Hudson. We only had a month or so remaining on the powertrain warranty so we needed to deal with it first. I expected to go to a local dealer, show them the service ticket from the Georgia dealer and have them proceed with the transmission swap.  But they were not willing to just go on the findings from the previous service department even though that first one spent a full week on the troubleshooting. 

They took the car back to check out the noise and the service rep came out an hour later and said that they had found one of the CV axles was making so much noise that it must be repaired before they could diagnose any transmission issue. It took a few days for the part to come in but after it got replaced, the original noise was gone. And as of this writing all is well. Maybe it was fortuitous that we hadn’t been on Jekyll Island longer, otherwise they would have replaced the transmission only to still have the noise. Although we would have gotten a new transmission for our 5 year old vehicle. 

One of the first tourist spots we headed to, once the car was fixed, was Homosassa Springs State Park. It is about 40 miles north of camp so we headed out early one morning so we could spend the majority of the day there. The place is less like a state park and more like a cross between a zoo and wildlife preserve. They have multiple docent led sessions throughout the day, so we checked the schedule and planned our day around them. I was glad I had brought along my 200-500 mm lens for the DSLR camera. The photo opportunities were almost endless. The number and variety of birds was truly astounding and unlike birds in the wild, we were able to get fairly close to the action without scaring them away. Some of the birds had been injured and are unable to survive in the wild but they seem to be doing well here.

Splish Splash!

Pelican with Horn

Hoot

Does My Toupee Look Okay?

Pink Flamingo

Winking Owl?

Whooping Crane

Golden Eagle

Bald Eagle

Grey Heron

Cormorant

Reflective Bird

Pelicans

With the park being located at a spring, there were manatees present as well. There were several that are in captivity because of injuries and it was pretty fascinating to go to the presentation where the docent explained all about these manatees while another park volunteer opened up two large cases of romaine lettuce and proceeded to toss the full heads in the water while the massive manatees gobbled them up. The three of them are fed two cases of lettuce, 4 times a day. I guess they need a lot of lettuce to maintain their 800 to 1000 pound physique. 

Manatees with Romaine Scraps

Manatees Cruising By

Over the years, the park has had more exotic animals from around the world, but has changed its mission to only include animals native to Florida with one big exception. Lu (short for Lucifer) is a hippopotamus that apparently starred in some films in his younger years. He turns 59 this year and is the oldest living hippo in the Americas. When the park attempted to get rid of him, there was an outpouring of support to keep the beloved guy and he now holds a special place in the park. During the presentation with Lu, the docent had a couple of melons to feed him and he had come out of the water to get his snack. As she rolled the melon his way, we watched as it rolled right underneath him and splashed into the pond. At his advanced age, speed and agility are diminished and he looked at the floating melon longingly. The “Splatter Zone” warning sign prompted all the visitors to get out of the way when Lu turns his butt their way!

Lu on Land

Lu Staring at Water with Melon

Lu Submerged

Keep Your Distance

As we wandered the park, we discovered all sorts of other animals. The snakes and reptiles were interesting. A large pond is home to a handful of gators. Most were simply basking in the sun or floating peacefully but we did notice one in the distance with a large white “thing” in its mouth and suspect one of the many birds had grown complacent and became a morning snack. The underwater fish viewing house was quite remarkable. I was anticipating seeing a few fish but was greeted by very large schools of them right next to the windows. The spring outlet is nearby and apparently these fish like to converge near the relatively warm spring water. We had a really enjoyable day at Homosassa and came back with another of my sisters when she came for a visit.

Here's Looking at You

Gator at Rest

Fox at Rest

Black Bear Pacing

Florida Panther

Bobcat

Colorful Turkey

Prowling Fox

We have been meaning to do some interior work on the motorhome for awhile but never seemed to have the time. Being stationary for this long in one spot and being near civilization to be able to get the required supplies, we figured now was the right time. First on the list was a new kitchen faucet. Our original one had seen better days so we took some measurements to know what would fit and headed off to the hardware store. Chris tried to talk me into a faucet that could be turned on and off just by touching it. But after watching a few YouTube videos, I realized that the added complexity probably wouldn’t outweigh the benefits. We picked out a taller faucet that makes dish washing easier plus it looks and works much better. By taking the old faucet to the store, I was able to ensure I had the correct fittings to get this one installed without the need for multiple trips.

A bigger project was to reupholster the dining chairs. We have a free standing table with two chairs and two folding chairs that stay under the bed until needed. Plus we had one additional folding chair we brought along from the old house. Our two main chairs had pretty ugly fabric that had gotten dirty over the past 7 years since they were new. But the real problem with them is how the foam padding had degraded making the chairs very uncomfortable to sit in. We have tackled plenty of upholstery projects over the years so it wasn’t to much of a stretch to do the project ourselves. We hadn’t kept all our upholstery tools when we went fulltime but had the majority of the small hand tools required. And while we have a hand operated stapler, we knew that would be a royal pain to use for this much work. I ordered a replacement pneumatic stapler just like I used to own and a couple sizes of staples to get the jobs done.

Before

The removal of the old fabric was tedious work. I swear the people that made theses chairs must have been paid by the staple! We were careful to take lots of pictures along the way so we remember how to put them back together. Plus we made sure to not mess up the original pieces too much so they could be used as templates for the new material. The chairs and springs were in excellent shape so no woodworking repair was required. We did however tie the three zigzag springs together in order to make the springs work better. It took us a bit of exploring in Tampa to find an upholstery store that sold materials to common folk but we eventually settled on some Naugahyde that should be easier to keep clean. Once we learned the tricks of how these chairs had been upholstered, it wasn’t too bad of a process to finish the chairs. It was a multi day process and the biggest issue is the small amount of space to work inside the rig and having tools scattered all over the place. In our old house, this would have been a basement project and there wouldn’t have been the need to put everything away at the end of the day. Over the course of a couple weeks, we managed to get all five chairs complete and are satisfied with the results. Plus they are dramatically more comfortable. 

After

Chris had already purchased the fabric for the window treatments. She had plans to add some embroidery to a few of the larger surfaces. We started out by disassembling some of the easier pieces. Having done the window treatments in our old motorhome made the work on these seem a little less daunting. We planned on leaving the leather like fabric in place, so I needed to be careful in removing the bazillion staples. As we progressed through the multiple pieces, I found tricks and shortcuts that made the work go faster. The ones that had embroidered fabric were slow going and required great care to avoid messing up Chris’ hard work. 

Before

After

One of the bigger dilemmas was figuring out how to remove the two window boxes positioned over each of the front seats. I removed all visible screws only to discover they were as firmly attached to the walls as without this hardware as with it! Chris found somebody’s forum post with a picture that gave me some idea of the construction methods and realized that there were a bunch of pin nails that had been used to temporarily hold one of the boards in place until it could be screwed in place. I had to drill a hole through the board in order to get a hold of it to slowly pull the board out. I hate to think about how many hours went into the whole process of redoing all the window treatments but they do look a lot better.

Before

After

We discovered a series of preserves that were within a half hours drive of the campground. They are part of the South West Florida Water Management District (SWFWMD). The Serenova Tract is part of Starkey Wilderness Preserve and is only a few miles from camp. We hiked and biked there a few times. Part of the land includes a camping area that, while not having any services, is free! It takes a little bit of planning to stay here since it is behind a locked gate. When you call to request a site, they will provided the passcode to get thru the gate. There appeared to be a couple of the sites that would be large enough for our rig.

Cypress Creek Preserve is a bit further to the southeast and had some nice hiking or biking trails. There is both a northern and southern entrance. The southern entrance has a similar camping setup although it was closed when we biked there due to very muddy road into the campground. The northern entrance included a long paved trail that is near one of the water pumping facilities for the region. 

Pond at Cypress Creek

Unexplained Shed in Woods

Conner Preserve was the one that I went back to seventeen times during our 3 months in the area. What was so special about this place? It has 216 geocaches hidden there. There are many miles of “roads” that while not at all groomed, are fine for hiking and not bad for bike riding. The biggest issue with the place are the sections of the roads that are flooded or muddy. After our first visit or two, I came back solo with my knee high boots for a walk. I would switch back and forth between hiking boots and swamp boots as conditions warranted. Often the caches would be hidden in places where the road was dry, but the cache was in a swampy area. I found it tedious to hike lots of miles and need to switch boots so frequently. 

Turtle at Conner

One of the Submerged "Roads" at Conner Preserve

To overcome this problem, I switched to what I affectionately call “swamp biking.” My boots get strapped to my bike’s rack and I go out for bike ride. Since my cleated cycling shoes have Velcro straps instead of laces, I found I can switch back and forth between shoes and boots pretty quickly and cover ground much more quickly. I was not able to convince Chris on the joys of swamp biking but I enjoyed the challenge. It wasn’t without issue. There were numerous times where I discovered the section of swamp I was in was deeper than my boots were tall. Once the water tops my boots, I find I can make better time since only concern is falling over completely. Fortunately that never occurred. Even better, I never stumbled onto an alligator!

Swamp Bike with Boots on Rack

Another great park for hiking, biking and geocaching is Starkey Park. There is a seven mile paved bike path that goes all through the park and connects to the Suncoast bike path that is next to the toll road of the same name. There are also dozens of miles of hiking and biking trails in the park. One of the singletrack mountain bike trails called Twisted Pine is 12 miles long and an absolute joy to ride. Since this is Florida, there are any real mountains to contend with and we found there were no tricky sandy sections. After the single track ride, you hit the paved trail and only have 2 miles or so back to the car. If you’re into off road biking, this is a great choice. 

Pond at Starkey Park

With my one sister living nearby and two other sisters and a niece coming down for warm weather vacations during our stay, it seemed like we saw family more often in these three months than we had in the previous decade. Most Thursdays, we would drive down to the Lucky Dill in Palm Harbor for dinner followed by a trivia contest. Even though we brought a slightly different knowledge base than the rest of the team, we found there weren’t a huge number of questions that we were able to provide much insight but we still had fun.

We did get to the beaches a few times during our stay. Clearwater Beach is one of the top ranked beaches in the country but we did find it crowded and difficult to find parking. Twice we walked the beach from Clearwater to Caladesi Island. It might seem odd to be able to walk to an island but apparently some storm not long ago had filled in the channel that had made Caladesi an island. There is a state park there and we enjoyed exploring the park even though it made for rather lengthy walking days. 

Shell Tree

Pier at Clearwater Beach

Clearwater Beach

Clearwater Beach

Caladesi Island Beach

Colorful Shore Bird

Caladesi Island State Park

Honeymoon Island State Park is just north of Clearwater Beach and with our Florida State Park pass, we found parking to be much easier. Plus the beach was nearly as nice as Clearwater but with slightly smaller crowds. We even made it back with two of my sisters to walk around and enjoy the sun, sand and water. 

Family Picture

High Bench

Honeymoon Island State Park Beach

We even got a short “vacation” from the motorhome. My sister and brother-in-law went to Orlando to see their grandkids so we came over to stay for a few days. It worked out well since it was at the same time as the beginning of the men’s NCAA basketball tournament. We did find that living in a home that is about 5 times larger than our motorhome had its drawbacks. There are numerous more places to set your wallet, glasses or keys so we found we were losing things frequently. We did have a strange sighting as we headed out at dusk one evening. A mountain lion, or what is called a Florida panther in these parts, was walking by the back of the townhouses just across the street. Given their house is in a gated community with golf course and country club, a panther isn’t a frequent occurrence. In fact my relatives had never seen one in their nearly 20 years living there. 

We really didn’t take advantage of any of the perks they have at Word of Life while we were there. For over two months, they had daily bible studies, weekly speakers, a women’s forum and weekly Christian concerts. I suppose if we were more religious, this place has a lot to offer. It does seem like most of the people here come back every years and tend to eventually work into one of the park models. The park also has a swimming pool and hot tub, but we never found the desire to give them a try. We did go to an early “welcome” lunch provided by the orientation committee. We were invited along with one other new couple that were staying for 3 months as well. The other couple was quite young - early 30s, and had a much more compelling explanation as to how they discovered Word of Life. But while we didn’t have the same reason for being there than others, we never felt unwelcome. In fact we learned it is nearly a requirement to wave at everyone as we drive through the RV park. 

There are several sets of sand hill cranes that live in Word of Life. The male and female mate for life and we nearly always saw them in pairs. Every so often, we would see them walking right through our campsite. They are large birds and make a noise that almost sounds prehistoric. They tended to get quite vocal when the one golden retriever was being walked nearby. Towards the end of our stay we spotted on of the pairs that had recently had a baby. The little thing showed almost no resemblance to its parents initially, but after a few weeks it was starting to get taller and a much longer neck. We left before the fuzz turned into feathers.

Parents and Baby on Right

I Can Fly!

Running to Catch Mom and Dad

Heading Off

We had lots of other excursions while here including the Tampa Super Show and lots of other parks and bike trails. Yet the three months seemed to fly by and while I was sad to say goodbye to family, it was time for us to hit the road. We tried to do a preliminary test a few days prior to leaving just to get all the things that had come out during our stay back into place and make sure the slides came in and the engine started. I guess it was a good thing we did because we found a problem with one of the slides that took me a few hours to fix. That wouldn’t have been any fun to discover on the morning we were to leave. From Hudson, we head further south to a state park and a Habitat for Humanity build and rally before we start heading north. We have put together most of our plans out through mid October but I’ll describe them in the next post. 

Pinellas Trail in Tarpon Springs

Lunar Eclipse

Gator at Lettuce Park