Salt Springs Here We Come

It's 30 degrees and windy here in New Jersey - time to pack up the trailer and begin our annual winter journey to where it's warm and sunny (hopefully).  Yesterday Bob and I took down the Christmas tree and decorations, and today the kids are helping us put the canoe on the truck.  We have to get some food and a few more articles of clothes in the trailer, and we're ready to roll. We're leaving January 3rd.

Salt Springs Recreational Area in Florida has become our winter home for January and February.  This will be our third year of camping there, and we are really looking forward to it.  The federal campground at Salt Springs is a real bargain at $16.00 a night for full hookups.  The campground is nestled in the beautiful woods of Ocala National Forest, which covers 383,000 acres, so there's plenty of hiking.  The Salt Spring Run is perfect for us to take the canoe with either the gas motor or our electric motor, and since the water stays at a constant 72 degrees, you can usually swim by February.  This year we're staying until the middle of March, and then we're moving on to Top Sail Hill Preserve State Park which is on the panhandle of Florida.  From there we go to Gulf State Park in Alabama for a month.  Bob wants to check out two historical sites - Vicksburg and Chattanooga - on the way home, so that should be interesting.  We'll finish out the trip in Virginia Beach so that we can attend my Grandson's graduation from Old Dominion University in May.

So it should be an good winter.  Right now all I can think about is getting away from this cold New Jersey weather and hoping that Florida has a warm winter this year.

Our campsite in 2012 - Salt Springs Recreational Area

Salt Springs Feels Like Home

We've been in Salt Springs for a month now, and have gotten into a good routine here.  It's a lazy life style, where we get up somewhere between 7:30 and 9:00, get on the internet (on our very weak on again-off again connection), walk the dog at 11:00, read a book in the afternoon, take the dog for another walk in the late afternoon, and settle in for dinner around 5:30.  In the evening we have Direct TV and network TV off of our antenna - all except for NBC which we can't seem to pull in.  On Saturdays there is the flea market up in the local shopping center where you can get a paperback book for $1.00.   There is a restaurant up the road that offers an early bird meal for $4.00 if you get there by 4 O'clock, $5.00 if you get there by 5 and so on.. (the beat the clock special).

We found a great dog park in Ocala - Millenium Dog Park.  We took Mirra for a visit there on Sunday, which was a good day to do it because there were plenty of dogs there.  She loved it, and we will go back again next week.  It's at least a 50 mile drive, so we try to do some shopping when we're in Ocala.

We will be going for a boat ride this week now that the weather is warm again.  We will also finally get into the Springs.  It went down into the 20's for the last couple of nights and highs in the 50's.  Today is starting another heat wave, going up to 77 today, and 80's by tomorrow.  There certainly has been some crazy extreme weather this year.

All in all, we are used to the area, and love it.  Except for missing our family and friends,  life in Salt Springs feels like home.