Wauchula, FL - HH

Sunday - We left TTO around 10:30am and headed south. After filling up with diesel once we got out of the Orlando area, we continued to our Harvest Host stop south of Wauchula, FL. I guess we could've stopped at the Peace River TT, but that was one of the worst ones we've been to. Another option is the SKP park just a short drive away. 

Charlotte's Web is the Harvest Host stop and is a bar with a food truck. The po' boy sandwich I had here was wonderful. The parking area is a small field next to the building that they use for event parking. No events are going on while we are here, so it has been pretty quiet. 

Monday - The temperature this morning has been wonderful. I'm sitting outside getting ready for a test session, and it is 76°F. We will need to run the generator this afternoon to charge up the batteries, and we'll run the A/C at the same time. I think it's supposed to be 83°F this afternoon.

Our next reservation doesn't start until tomorrow at an Encore park in Fort Myers. It looks like a nice place. We'll be there for a couple of weeks before heading back to TX.

I'm using the outdoor area of the bar for the test session. I am running the generator as the battery SoC is down to 31%. We do seem to run through quite a bit of power at 430aH over the last 12 hours. We are charging at 70 amps so that is still around 6 hours. The solar contribution is minimal compared to how much power we use. I won't bother to charge the batteries up all the way as we only need enough for another night.

I had the blackened grouper sandwich from the food truck along with the fried pickles. I don’t think I’ve had grouper before and it was pretty tasty. I’m not sure whether the grouper or the shrimp sandwich is better. I’d rather not be forced to pick. 

Four Corners, FL - TT

Tuesday - The calendar says that it’s St Patrick’s Day. I had made the traditional corned beef and cabbage dinner a couple of weeks ago. Not in the sous vide but in the Instant Pot. It didn’t turn out anywhere near as tasty. 

The low temperature this morning was 47°F. Quite a change from the past week. The forecast is calling for 44°F tonight. Things should start warming up again after this cold front passes through. 

I took advantage of the cooler temperatures to take a walk. I had an Amazon package come in to a locker about 1¼ mile away. I ordered a gadget that disables the auto start/stop function on the Jeep. There is a button that disables it but you have to press it every time you start the engine. This gadget just automates that. For the last couple of years, I had it disabled by unplugging the hood switch. Now, the hood switch is in place again so the alarm function is working again.

Wednesday - Today’s field trip was to Bok Tower. It is around 40 miles south on Hwy 27. That’s over an hour of Florida driving time without toll roads. Bok Tower is a nature preserve with a bell tower with 60 bells. A keyboard is mechanically linked to the clappers allowing someone to play the bells. 

Today was the opening day of the International Carillon Festival. Carillonist is the term for the musicians playing the bells. 

At 1pm, they started to play but it wasn’t a recognizable tune (to me). There is a very short YouTube video of it playing at the end of this post. I must admit that I was disappointed in the sound. Maybe the performer was playing a complex piece and it was lost on me. 

We also went on a house tour but the house was built by a someone named Bach and not the Bok that built the tower and surrounding garden. This tree was “behind” the house but actually in front of the main entrance. We entered through the pantry and kitchen. 

Repairs - TT

Saturday - Not much went on today. A mid-day test session followed by restringing one of the blinds. The restringing part was simple but reattaching the blind to the hangers buried behind a cabinet was a pain. I have a couple more minor repairs and one semi-major one to do. Maybe I’ll knock out the minor one today or tomorrow. 

Sunday - Fixed a drawer slide. The minor repair of the day. There was heavy rain with lightning in the late afternoon and evening.

Monday - Today’s minor maintenance is regenerating the water softener. It is a manual process that takes two cartons of salt (52oz) and about 35 minutes. A slow stream of water is run through the salt and resin for about 25minutes followed by a 6 minute flush. It needs to be done about once per month. There is another method that I’m still researching 

It’s around 80°F right now (noon) with more rain and lightning in the forecast for this evening. 

Disney Springs

Wednesday - We went to Disney Springs, the retail area for WDW, to meet up with Tim and Sue from Fairbanks. It was in the 80s (°F) for most of the afternoon and, apparently, not very windy as the helium balloon was flying.

We walked through most of Disney Springs, had lunch at Chicken Guy (good Korean chicken sandwich!), and wandered through the shops. 

We then went to the Pop Century resort and took the Disney Skyliner to the Boardwalk. The Skyliner is free as it is just another transportation option around Disney World, like the monorail and buses. Here, we are crossing a small lake heading towards other resorts, where we will switch to another Skyliner towards Epcot.

We had dinner at Blue Ribbon Corndogs, where they had something that I had to try. A dill pickle corndog. The large pickle is hollowed out, and a hot dog is inserted. Then the whole thing is covered with the corn dog batter and deep-fried. It is served with peanut butter, but I don't think it adds much more. The combination works, though I did end up using a knife and fork. The addition of the pickle made it quite heavy.

We hadn't visited the Boardwalk on prior visits, so this was new. We ended up walking over 18k steps. Definitely got in some exercise. It was wonderful to visit with Tim and Sue.