Everything was Going Fine and Then. . . .

January 17 – 21, 2024                                                  Most Recent Posts:
Silver Springs State Park                     Ross Prairie and the Reservation Blues
Silver Springs, Florida                                      Last Days at Myakka River

As the title says, everything was going fine.  I had two days at Ross Prairie and stopped on the very short drive of 25 miles to Silver Springs State Park to get Winnona’s Lube and Oil change done.  

As I approached the right hand turn into the park, there was a car parked right on the side of the entry way.  I have no idea if that had anything to do with what happened but I swung wide to avoid him and as I pulled through the gate I heard a LOUD BANG.   What did I hit was my first thought.  I looked in both mirrors and saw nothing.  There was no where to pull over so I drove on to the ranger check in station with banging going on constantly.  Now I’m REALLY WORRIED.

I check in, pull over, get out and see this.   I have no idea how those steps got out since they were in when I left the Service place.  Later speculation by those who helped me with the problem was that either the bolt on the arm broke and dragged on the ground or somehow they came out when I swung wide.  Like everything else, they are 20 years old this year too.

Whatever it was, it is now a big problem.  Although I remind myself that I can spend a LOT of money on Winnona before I could possibly buy something else newer and less well built.

I arrived at my site which was a pull though and thus did not add to my stress.  My neighbor, Matt Silver, across the way asked me how my day was going and I said not so hot.  He came over to see why and said he knew a guy a couple of sites down that was a welder and he’d get him to come take a look.  

Matt and Jim Griffith came down the next day.  Jim thought it could probably be bent back into shape by a welding shop.  The problem was I really could not drive the RV with them hanging down like that.  They must have been banging against the frame but the racket was unnerving.

Jim crawled under the rig and with Matt’s help they worked for well over an hour to get the steps off the rig so I could take them to the welding shop.  I am so lucky to have such wonderful people come to my rescue.

I was also so grateful that Jim was knowledgeable in removing them since they are automatic, have a motor and a gear box  and had many more connections than just nuts and bolts.

Turns out that Jim’s tools were not heavy duty enough but David’s were which totally reinforced my feeling that I should not remove his tools from the bins.

Matt pulled the steps out and boy are they HEAVY.  I couldn’t pick them up so they put them in the trunk of my car for me to take to the welding shop I’d found just a few miles away in Ocala.

So here I am with no steps, a leveled up rig which was of course lower on the passenger side and a short stool to help me get in.   It was a REALLY BIG step up.  

The green stool  lasted about a day and I replaced it with my two step stool   I had to use that for for about 5 days.  When I went to the welder, he said yes they could bend it back and make it work again but he wasn’t sure the motor or thee gear box were not damaged.  Given his dollar per hour charge to fix it and the age of the steps, it wasn’t much more expensive for him to just order me a whole new set up,   But adding the installation charge it’s going to be a huge dent in my finances.

I was so sorry that Matt and his wife Paige had to leave a couple of days later.  They had reservations in the Keys and given how cold and rainy it was here, I know they were happy to be going.  They were the ones who first reached out to me and I will always be grateful to them.

The star of the steps removal was Jim Griffith.  He and his wife Judy were at the park a few days longer but not long enough.  Right before they pulled out I went down to get a picture of them and forgot my camera and phone DUH….so I took this one with Judy’s phone and she sent it to me.  I was so sorry to see them leave.  They aren’t going far, just to Rainbow Springs and then I think they will be back in Silver Springs but I will be gone by then.   Don’t know how they manage to get Silver Springs reservations nearly back to back but I’m glad for them.   I’m also glad that I’ve been able to keep in touch with both couples since they left.  So many RVers are such nice people.

I wasn’t lonely for long.  Two days later  my friend Sharon from Tennessee came to spend a few days with me.   She rented an air B&B not 2 miles from the park and we were able to spend a cold and rainy week-end together.   Wish it could have been longer.

I’m hoping she will come and visit again when I’m here at Silver Springs campground next time.  Possibly she could rent one of their cabins.  There is a loop of 8 or 9 of them and they are darling.

She arrived on Friday and on Saturday we went to the Ocala Market which is not strictly a Farmer’s Market.  In fact, there were only two vegetable stands.

The market was near the historic district of Ocala so we put some miles on our feet walking through it.   I took pictures of some of the homes but sadly none of them were very good.

Many of the towns in Florida have painted animal statues around their downtowns or historic districts.  In Ocala they have horses as this area was the horse breeding capital of Florida and may still be though I’m afraid housing developments are moving in.

We decided to have lunch at an all day breakfast spot appropriately named Scrambles.

I’d forgotten to take any pictures of us and our plates were empty by the time I remembered.  Sharon agreed to this picture but unfortunately you cannot see her smiling friendly face.

We were back to her place by 2pm so she could watch her Tennessee Basketball team.   She was happy they whipped the Alabama Crimson Tide 91 to 71.

That night was a cold one and the next day only marginally better.   As you can see it is 10:26am when the temperature climbed from 29 to 32 degrees.  Remember this is FLORIDA.  It is NOT supposed to FREEZE.

We’d thought we might go for a hike ,on Sunday, but when the wind picked up it was SERIOUSLY cold. 

Instead, 2e gathered up snack food and headed back to Sharon’s where we watched her Tennessee Women’s Basketball Team play.  They won too 73 to 64.   And then I got to watch my favorite women, the South Carolina Gamecocks coached by former UVA all star standout, Olympian and Pro Player,  Dawn Staley.  They are #1 in the country and as I type this in mid February are still undefeated.  

It was a great afternoon for me since I still have not figured out how to be able to watch ACC basketball for less than $80 a month to stream it.   And it was really  wonderful to be able to watch basketball with another fan.   Thank you so much Sharon for coming to visit and for loving basketball too.