Day: January 26, 2019

DAY #96

Slept in late, and decided my activity for the day would be to start to fill the fresh water tank on the trailer.

Since I didn’t have a hose, or running water for that matter, I had to improvise (and as you’ll see, badly). What I did, was to go down to the administration building about 1/3 mile from the campground and fill up containers of water. They had a spigot where you could get potable water. I had a six gallon gas container (new), and a four gallon water jug. I was thinking, I could get eight gallons at a time and it would take five trips to fill the tank. Once the tank was filled, the plan was then to sanitize it.

After two trips filling up the jugs, and then pouring the water into the tank, which turned out to be a long, slow, and heavy process, I thought OK, it should show up on the monitor in the trailer. I checked, and it read empty. Empty, how can it be empty? It wasn’t until I had walked in front of the trailer, that I noticed a standing pool of water underneath the it.

It seems someone forgot to make sure the valve to the fresh water tank was closed. All that hassle, getting out of the truck to open the gate to the campground, getting out after closing it, filling the jugs with water, doing the fence routine again, and then finally, pouring the water into the tank like you would put gas into a car.

I didn’t freak out too bad, and hopefully I’ll take this and learn from it.

I thought, enough for today, I’ll try again tomorrow.

DAY #95

Last day with Margaret & Ed. We decided we’d do lunch, then they would head up to Orlando, and finally, Minnesota. Lisa had a new place for us to checkout, so we all loaded up in Charlotte’s KIA, and away we went.

After about a fifteen minute drive, started to notice a change of scenery. Left behind was the city and ahead of us, Florida, as it used to be, overgrown and seemingly endless. We weren’t that far away from encroaching “community’s,” but so cool this oasis still lives on. Lisa instructed Charlotte to make a right turn. She did, and we found ourselves even further off the beaten path. After another mile of bad road, we made it to our destination.

Today, all of this is owned by Sarasota County. It began life as a fishing resort in the 40s, and thankfully ended up as public land.. The concessions are contracted out, with the restaurant run by the same people who have Sharkys, the restaurant at Venice Pier where we were going to eat.

We sat in the screened section. The food was creative and well presented, definitely, a step above fast food. We all were very satisfied and thought this to be a really cool place. They do have live music, heard it can get pretty lively on the weekends. The Myakka river runs next to the restaurant, which only adds to the ambiance of the place.

Afterwards, we headed back to the house and said our goodbyes. For me, it was so much fun to be able to spend time with Margaret, Ed, Lisa, and Charlotte. I got to hang out with four people, the likes you will never find better. These last few days will standout as highlights of the trip.

Went and got a haircut, and stopped at the local neighborhood Walmart, then back to the farm where I hunkered down for the night.