Bringing in the New Year–January 2024

January 1-2, 2024                                                 Most Recent Posts:
Myakka River State Park                                      Days at Alafia River State Park
Sarasota, Florida                                                     Flying for the Holidays

It has been over 2 weeks since my last post and I have been working on one about my two weeks at Myakka River State Park but it isn’t coming together as one post so I’m giving up and am going to post a series of posts one right after the other.  Let me know what you think of this strategy as opposed to one longer post.

ABOUT THE CAMPGROUNDS

New Years Day I packed up and drove just over an hour south to spend two weeks in Site 65 in the Palmetto Ridge Campground at Myakka River State Park.  Myakka has 3 campgrounds.  Big Flats is the oldest, has 24 nicely shaded campsites and is closest to the Outpost restaurant and gift shop, the upper lake, boat launch, tour boats and trams.  It is also closest to the bird walk out into the lake.

Old Prairie Campground is a single loop with 20 campsites also nicely shaded. It is located across the park road from the larger Palmetto Ridge campground. Both Big Flats and Palmetto Ridge are closer to the campground pavilion and ranger station than Big Flats. But much further from the Outpost etc.

Previously David and I had stayed in Big Flats but never in Old Prairie.  Old Prairie?? Why is it called that when it is a heavily wooded campground??

Since I’ve been on my own, I’ve stayed exclusively in Palmetto Ridge which is the largest and most recently developed campground.  It’s very open though there is foliage between sites.  It’s more easily navigated by big rigs.  David could thread Winnona through a needle so the site really didn’t matter but Palmetto has pull throughs and Full Hook Ups so it’s my choice.  The picture is of my site this year.

When I went to hook up the water it was a big surprise to find that none of the campgrounds have  drinkable water.  The ranger station was giving out gallons of water and had cases and cases of them that you could walk in and take away.   I was not happy to find out that they had no recycling for those gallon jugs which they must toss into the landfill by the hundreds every day and this has been going on since MAY with no definite end in sight.

David and I each had a cell phone with a different carrier since cell phone coverage was quite spotty and variable around the country.  At that time our carriers were Sprint and Verizon.  When he died, I kept both phones although I have been pleasantly surprised that T-Mobile did not raise the very reasonable rate Sprint charged for unlimited data while Verizon has increased their cost to the point where I would really like to give them the boot.  The problem is they have the best coverage in MOST places though not all. 

But with T mobile on the left and Verizon on the right you can see who wins here.  Thankfully, at least someone does.   I can remember clearly many years where I had to leave various RV parks to go to somewhere I could get a stronger signal in order to play the Florida State Parks lottery at 8am in the morning.

What a nice welcome the lovely sunset skies my first night visible right out my front window were.

FAVORITE PARK PROGRAM

On my walk around the campground and through Old Prairie the night I arrived,  I saw signs giving me a plan for the next morning.  I’m not a coffee drinker but they always have hot water for tea so if I bring some water of my own to cool it down, I’ll be set for as many cups of morning hot water as I want.  Plus, they have some goodies as well.  I like these little social hours in order to meet the other folks who are camping here at this moment in time.  Unlike private campgrounds, state parks don’t always have these sorts of programs.

The social hour is held in the Pavilion built by the CCC and a nice short walk from my site.

The ranger or volunteers, of which there seemed to be more in number than campers, had a nice fire going.  Unfortunately there was no angle to take a picture that did not have problems due to the very bright lights on the ceiling of this cute log cabin.

WALK ALONG THE RIVER

There are several trails along the Myakka River.  In order to walk off some of those brownies, donuts etc.,  I walked down the park road to the trail beyond the kayak launch and bridge.  Not sure why I didn’t walk the one which goes right off behind the Pavilion but I did that one on the following day. 

This is pretty much the typical flora – palm trees…

dense Palmettos …..

and Live Oaks often draped in Spanish Moss.

I did say this was a walk along the river.

But the trail is not RIGHT along the river.  There are  little side 30 steps trails out for the views.  This is the main trail, not one of those.

If it’s warm enough, you’ll see many alligators sunning on the banks.  I guess this guy wants both, the cool water and the warm sun.

I had not stopped back at Winnona to pick up my canon so these pictures are taken with my phone.  I don’t have as much luck with my phone cameras as many folks do.  I think it’s because an iPhone isn’t in my budget.  But I was thrilled to see this Roseate Spoonbill feeding along the opposite shore.

It’s really a beautiful river and I’m impatient for the temperatures to warm up enough and the winds to die down enough that I’m willing to go out on the water.

HOW COLD IS IT?

To prove the point, here are the inside and outside temperatures on Wednesday morning at a time I would be getting ready to take the kayak out on the water.

Why is it so cold inside you may ask.  I do have a furnace but it is propane and noisy.  Well truth be told, not that noisy but I am a very difficult sleeper and the noise keeps me awake.   I also have two small space heaters which are quiet but I hesitate to run them over night.   I do like to sleep in a cool room and 49 is fine as long as I have my electric blanket.   I can get up and turn on the heaters and then hang out reading under the blanket until it warms up inside.   That cup of hot water helps too.

This has been a colder winter than I was really hoping for but nothing like the rest of the country including other places like Virginia or Texas or Arizona that I might be.   So I’m grateful to be here.