February Begins Already

2/1/22
A funny thing happened during the night - we were both woken up at about 3:30 when the trailer gave a little lurch.  Not an aggressive lurch, just a gentle lurch, but enough to wake us.  No sounds, no movement outside that we could detect by peeking around the edges of the window shades.  We weighed the possibilities of a freak gust of wind from a tornado, an earthquake, a bear running into the side of the trailer and an explosion.  We ended up just going back to sleep!

This morning, I looked at the local news to see if I could find anything reported that might explain our experience.  I saw a story about a fertilizer plant fire in Winston-Salem, NC, that was expected to explode last night.  That’s pretty far from us, so I reasoned that was not the likely cause.  Although maybe an aftershock?  Never been near a huge explosion!  I eliminated tornadoes and bears from my choices because that didn’t seem likely now that I was fully awake!  So that left an earthquake, but I couldn’t see any reports about that in my online news, and have there ever been earthquakes in Florida?

So, it looked like a nice day to eat my breakfast outside.  When I opened the door, I found the problem!  The cellular antenna that we are using, attached to the trailer by 2 large suction gadgets when we are stationery, had loosened.  The pole fell down and that must have caused the lurch that we felt!  It wasn’t broken, so Bob put it back up after some more cleaning of the suction pads and trailer wall.  And it has stayed put and there have been no more earthquakes, explosions, tornadoes nor bears.  I know you are as relieved as I am!

We had talked about checking out the Okeefenokee Swamp but realized it was a 2 hour drive from here, so we nixed that idea.  Instead, we took our time walking around this large park area and learning everything we ever need to know about Stephen Foster!  There are a couple beautiful big buildings here that are open to the public and are elegantly built and decorated.

There is a “craft village” of 7 or 8 cottages, but they are just starting to reopen after being closed for about 2 years.  We talked with the folks in 2 of the cottages demonstrating weaving, knitting, woodworking and pottery making.  They are all volunteers, and are able to sell their own products.  I hope this coming spring and summer are good for them.

It was a comfortable day, about 70 and no wind, so after lunch Bob went outside to the picnic table to get some puzzling done!  He’s starting a large puzzle that is a Glacier Park photo.  He got quite a bit done before rolling it up for the day.

​2/2/22
The day of the 2’s!  Otherwise, not a notable day for us, the only events were going to Live Oak for groceries and gas.  More puzzle for Bob in the afternoon and more stitching for me.  Proof that we mostly live a pretty routine life!  Oh- we did have pancakes and bacon for breakfast, that’s alway a highlight!

​2/3/22
We had to pack up and leave our plantationesque surroundings on the Suwannee River this morning.  We had a short drive to the south to our next spot at Ellie Ray’s RV Resort on the Santa Fe River.  On the way, I got to stop at a Hobby Lobby store to purchase some iron cleaner.  I know, not a normal travel supply!  But I have been working on English paper piecing and have to iron some things that have touches of glue on them.  It’s starting to gunk up my little iron. Need to take care of my equipment!

I searched for an actual locally owned quilt shop, but found none that looked like they would be open for business.  I do prefer to shop local when I can, but sometimes I have to go with what I can find.

Today it was warm!  Up to 80!  Pretty comfortable with a slight breeze, but not enough to keep away the darn gnats hanging around here!  We are really away from any major cities, and a lot of the area here is agricultural.  And very flat. There are pecan and fruit groves near, but mostly too early to be be producing anything now.  We did see one logging truck on the road, and many tree farms.  Not Christmas tree farms, but trees to be harvested for lumber.

The circled locations on the map are where we where we have been staying/visiting in this general location, north central Florida.

2/4/22
We needed to search out a laundromat, since the one that’s here in the “resort” does not meet my criteria for laundry.  Mostly, it just has to be clean, and this one isn’t.  So, we made a little trip to Lake City and found a decent coin laundromat to use.  Some RV’s and trailers are big enough that they do have a washer/dryer.  Not ours!  I wouldn’t say our trailer is petite but it is on the small side of the rigs that we see all around us.  I promise I will be extra thankful when I get back home and use my own appliances!