Yesterday we went to Dog Beach. Before I get to that, in the morning I had to go to Camping World about 20 miles away. In our travels so far we have not had a need for one, because we have had a sewer hook up most of the time. I have been putting it off, but it was time to get a crapper tote. When I got to Camping World, they had 3 sizes to choose from I had thought I would get the big 37 gallon one, but after looking at the size of it, it was out of the question, it was too big. So I decided to get the 27 gallon model. Now these have come a long way. It comes with a sewer hose already connected along with an 90 degree elbow for ease. It also has a fill sensor so it lets you know when it is full. But the nicest part of it is it has a nice long handle and 4 wheels, very easy to get around. It was not that cheap, so I had to bite the bullet. Here at Koreshan and a few other parks we will be at we will have no sewer so I needed to get one.

 

Back to Dog Beach. After lunch we decide to go there. This is a beach for dogs hence the name. It is one of the first beaches you get to when you get to Fort Myers beach area on the gulf. When we got ,were a lot of cars. Friday after Thanksgiving. The beach is a little bit of a walk through a wide flooded area (because of the tide). The water here varied in-depth from a few inches to over a foot deep. Then you come to the path that is between trees to get to the actual beach area. The area here is about 200 yards wide for the dogs. The water here is up to a couple of feet deep about 200 yards out also. When we let Cooper loose(as this is an off leash park) away he went, terrorizing all the smaller dogs. Boy did he have a lot of energy to get out. We also went in the water and got Cooper to get in for a while. There were all sizes of dogs here, running and crashing into people, including Cooper. We were there for about 2 hours. We had a lot of fun and Cooper did too, but he is pretty agressive with little dogs so we had to watch him a little closer.

Today we celebrated our first major holiday on the road, and away from family and friends. It was cloudy today but warm about 80. Didn’t really feel like Thanksgiving. After having breakfast we decide that we would take Cooper to the dog park, and then have an early dinner at Mel’s diner. My brother Jeff mentioned we should go there and after checking it out noticed they were having thanksgiving dinners from 11 to 8 pm. About 1 we went to the dog park and had Cooper run around some spent about a half hour there. He had a riot as there were other dogs there he could play and run with. After that we went to Mel’s and Oh boy were they packed. So we decided to order two dinners to go. For $14.00 you got a salad, chicken noodle soup,Turkey ,stuffing,mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberries plus beans and corn. I’m not a fan of stuffing so Melissa took that and I got her mashed potatoes. Man, oh man was it good, we were stuffed.

This Thanksgiving is a little more special this year, as Melissa and her sister Jennifer are now 11th generation descendants coming from the Mayflower. After doing extensive research the last few years, and making application to the Mayflower society, they both have been accepted and confirmed decendants from pilgrims. this is coming from their fathers (Smith side). Their 11th grandfather Edward Fuller made the trek over on the Mayflower with his wife and kid. his wife dying the first cold harsh winter. So there you have it pilgrim.

This morning we got packed up and headed out to Koreshan State park in Estero Florida. One thing Alafria didn’t have was sewer, so we had to go to the dump station, my first time at one. No big deal just like when hooking up to a sewered site. Was there for about 20 minutes and left about 11 am. It was a nice sunny 80 degree day today. It was a 140 mile journey to Korestan, which is about 10 miles south of Fort Myers on the gulf side. We ar right by the Estero River and 10 minutes to the beaches. Got here about 2:30 and drove to our site, number 5. It was a tough back in today, not a wide entrance, with a big tree on my blind side. After about 10 minutes of jockeying, i was in. We then got settled in and took a walk around the park. Very treed and lots of bushs. We will be here for 10 days. A few pictures of our spot below.

Today we did some hiking. We went to the other side of the park where they have the trails. The place had about 100 vehicles parked there. This is not only a hiking area it is also a mountain biking and horse trail area. Mainly mountain biking ,from what we have heard it is one of the best places to mountain bike in the country. The main loop about 2 miles long is for hikers ,bikers and horses. Then the trails brake off from there for mainly mountain biking. It goes from easiest, easy, moderate, hard, hardest. You just take the one you want. Hikers cannot go on the designated bike trails. All together we hiked about 5 miles. We did see some other people with dogs, but you do have to be on guard, bikes come up fast. I was a little surprised also to see the number of OLDER people mountain Biking, I mean my age. Good for them. On the trail I had it in the back of my head, but didn’t see any Gators or snakes, thank goodness. Took some pictures which are below, with a little description of each.

Our home out in the distance.

The main map you need to follow for the trails.

A bridge on our hiking trail.

Another part of the hiking trail.

One of the bike trails off the loop.

One of the bike ramps we saw. Pretty neat we saw a number of people do this. Not for a beginner.

A bridge on the bike trail, no railings.

 

 

 

We are now at Alafia River state Park near Tampa. We left Fort Wilderness this morning about 11 or so, we got here at about 1 pm, not a far drive today. The park is pretty new, it used to be an old Phosphate mine, then closed and turned over to the state. They have two camping loops with 30 rv spots, with water and electric. The sites are pretty far away from each other something we are not used to, and the area is somewhat flat with a lot of brush and fields, not a lot of trees. The park is known for its bike trails, the best in Florida they say, who knew. We will be here till Monday. The weather has turned a little cool for the next few days, then back into the 70’s.  In Disney it was 85 or hotter each day. Below is a few pictures of our site

Our stay here at Disney’s Fort Wilderness is coming to a close. Tomorrow will leave here to go to Alfia River State Park, near Tampa. I will make a more in depth post soon on our experiances here. Some thoughts on this place , it is a megatropolus, huge, and tons of people. There are 9 resorts around the big lakes, all have 1000 rooms or more, plus you have Fort Wilderness Lodge with 500 more and For wilderness campground, with 800 rv spots and 400 cabins. To get most anywhere you take the bus, they are everywhere and each loop has a bus stop, you just take it to the terminal and get on the bus to where you want to go. Then there is the monorail, which is an elevated train like, it has been here from the start. It goes around all the resorts and to Magic Kingdom and Epcot. All of these places and the parks themselves have pretty high security. At the parks, your bags are checked you are checked and you then need your magicband to get in . No magicband you are not going anywhere. You get it when you arrive all set up with your info and the parks you have paid to get into. Sort of an I. D. bracelet. Back to the campground, as I mentioned it is huge, all the loops have a bus stop at them and a full bathroom facility with laundry. There are sidewalks all over and there are usually more golf carts on the roads than cars ,and trucks. The loop we are in is more established, we have good separation between sites with trees and shrubs. Other loop are sparse, but it really doesn’t matter where you are. Each night you can go to the beach and watch the fireworks from Magic Kingdom, also at about 9:40 each night they pipe in Disney music across the campground for 20 minutes. It is hard to not get caught up in it all. Some people are staying through the holidays and have all there Christmas decorations already out. The workers here are all friendly and always waving, the place is also very clean. Here and at the parks, i had a few thoughts on things, if you don’t want to spend a lot of money don’t come here, things are expensive. A bottle of water is $3.50. At the parks you are just drawn in to the food, which is very good bust expensive. If you do not like to be banged into by hundreds of strollers at the parks, don’t come here. They are everywhere, with kids in them and they don’t get out of the way. Also it was funny to see all these peole rush into the parks in the morning with smiles on there face and by the afternoon these same people were all lined up along the sidewalks with kids screaming and parents yelling at everyone, Funny. Also if you do not like to wait, don’t come here. We did pretty good with waiting for the rides and such , our shortest wait was 10 minutes, our longest was 90 minutes. These are just a few thought i have about it all. As i mentioned i will make a bigger post in a few days on the total experiance.

Yesterday we left Swannee River State Park. We left about 11am, after doing our usual one hour pack up routine. We got to Disney’s Fort wilderness Campground about 3 or so. After we got checked in we drove to the 200 loop, and found our site 235. The roads here are not very wide, I backed in pretty good except I almost took out a two foot high site marker on the other side. luckily a guy saw me and came over to help out, otherwise I might have damaged the front tire so how. Once we got in we set up, and relaxed a little.

This place is huge ,it has over 800 Rv spots in many different loops, and about 400 cabins. Our spot is very close to the lake, and marina. The boat from there takes you to Magic Kingdom. Also the place is pristine, manicured gardens with tall pines and plenty of palm trees. There are two pools and about 5 restaurants just here in the campground. One thing that we laughed about is, everyone is driving a golf cart, the place is so big to go anywhere you need one. They rent them here and are $62.00 a day. We also have Cooper set up at the parks boarding kennel for a few days while we visit the parks. They also have fireworks every night over the lake. Here are a few pictures of our spot.

Yesterday we took a hike on the Balanced Rock trail. It’s a 3 mile hike along the river for about half of it then it winds through the woods on the old stagecoach road. It’s funny that the name of the trail is for a balanced rock overlook on the river, but the rock fell in in 2015 so no more balanced rock. It was a bice peaceful walk. It being the week end there were a few people on it. The Little Gem springs overlook was pretty neat, it is a spring popping up about 10 feet from the river with it’s overflow going into the river.

After we did the hike, I washed the back of the Rv getting ready to wax it. Of course today Sunday it is raining again, so who knows when I can do that. Tomorrow we get ready to leave Tuesday for Disney’s Wilderness Rv park, and again of course it is suppose to be raining there also. We are just being dogged with the rain.

Yesterday we took a few hikes in the park. Where the Suwannee River and the Withlacoochee river meet is a pretty historic site. It was were a major path, stagecoach road went through in the early and late 1800’s. You crossed the river on a ferry, from one side to the other and then were on your way. After a while a little town sprang up, with a few shops. The ferry cut is still visible as the picture shows. The road was the only one in the day you could get down to the panhandle coast.

THE RIVERS MEET

THE CUT TO THE RIVER FERRY.

During the civil war this was a major road to get to the deep south. So the confederates in 1864 built a set of earthwork fortifications near the crossing.
During that time there would not have been any trees around at all. Since they controlled the ferry, the Yankees were a little stymied in getting across. Since the confederates only numbered in the couple of hundred, they stood little chance of holding the area, and they were eventually driven out of the earthworks. It then became a Yankee supply depot area. The earthworks here today are some of the best preserved in the nation, it was pretty neat to see this up close.

THE WALKWAY IS MODERN AND ONLY AN OBSERVATION PLATFORM TO SEE THE FORT BELOW.

THE OUTER PERIMITER OF THE FORT

A FURTHER AWAY VIEW.

After that we went on the Lime Sink run trail. Lime sink is an area where a large spring is and when it gets full it overflows into the run and out to the river. While we were walking it ,it was like being in prehistoric times. The foliage and the lime stone is cut away in all kinds of interesting shapes. Apparently this enters into a very large cave system which runs for hundreds of miles, who knew.

THE TRAIL STARTS HERE.

A LITTLE SPOOKY

TWO TURTLES WE SAW.

We then hiked the Sandhill trail. It is on a little flat elevation area, and is apparently where the little town was.  The couple of buildings that were there we right next to the stagecoach road, which makes sense. The town was abandoned right after 1900 and there is no sign of it now except for the Columbus Cemetery. The only thing left of the small town is a resting place of some of its inhabitants. The cemetery is unique as the pictures show.

In all it was about 5 miles of hiking.

We left Fair Haven campground this morning about 11 or so. It was sunny and warm. I drove 180 miles today, as we were driving the roads got flatter and flatter, no hills. We got to Suwannee river State park about 3, which is located in the upper panhandle of Florida. It was 84 and sunny when we got here. Our site is in the outer loop, which meant I had to do a blind back in from my right. Melissa and I communicated by our phones and my first attempt was a little tight, so I had to pull ahead a little more. My next try was fine with Melissa guiding me in. We set up and relaxed a little. The sites here are mostly packed sand. There are pine trees, and palm trees all around.

the river is a short walk from us, and they have 20 miles or so of hiking trails. Tomorrow will be sunny so we will try a few of the trails around. Pictures below are of our site.