Day 116: Blue Spring State Park, FL

It was overcast and warm when we awoke this morning.  By 8 am it was in the low 60s - good enough weather to hit the road.  So we drove back to where I had left off yesterday, only to find clear skies with the temperature 10 degrees cooler!

A stork that Alea spied along side the road (sans baby).

Despite the undesirably cool weather, Alea pushed on, covering a total of 46 miles today and fixing another rear flat tire along the way.  We left our Adventure Cycling route at Deland, where we drove together to Blue Spring State Park, FL, the winter home of the manatees.

Our route took us by the Fountain of Youth (we didn't stop).

Once we had set up camp, we hiked town to Blue Spring, which is very scenic.  We saw gar, sunfish, catfish, one large turtle, various cranes and egrets, and some large underwater shapes, which were resting manatees.  They were quite far from where we could view them, so we didn't take any pictures.  And the winds created ripples on the water surface, further obscuring what could be seen.

Blue Spring.

For quite some time now we had been searching for some plastic leg caps for our two galley tables.  The table where we set up our Dometic refrigerator was missing a cap, though until now we didn't perceive that as much of a problem.  That has changed with our most recent campsites, which have been on level sand.  Once we set the Dometic on the side table, the table leg sinks a couple of inches into the sand.  In the morning when we stow the tables and collapse the legs, that sand comes spewing out of the table leg, scattering all over the galley.  So we contacted Camp Inn and they offered information on where to find an alternative leg cap that works far better than had the original cap.  So another small problem has been solved...

Our campsite tonight has cost $27.00 and comes with power and water, with showers available nearby.  It also comes with what in my mind is the best urinal design that I've ever seen.  It seems like all the others are designed to cause splash back on the floor, your clothes or both, and I've always wondered why in over a hundred years there hasn't been a better design.  It seems that has finally been accomplished, and it is waterless, nonetheless!

A splash proof urinal (by Kohler)!

We were pretty envious of some ARB awnings that Ben Hedrick had mounted atop his camper.  We loved the simple, lightweight design and thought they might work for us atop the van, giving us a place to escape the glaring sun or the rain.   But it turns out that we would need a roof rack system with either cross bars or a wire rack in order to mount them to our van.  That would not only be expensive, it would add a lot of weight and drag, and reduce our fuel economy.  It's not the simple design that we initially thought, so we've decided to remain envious...

We sighted another armadillo as we took Lana for her evening walk.  It seemed to have burrowed after a source of food and allowed us to get quite close: