Orange Lake, Florida

(Dave is working on his grandpa jokes, thus the title. LOL!)

We arrived in the small town of Citra, Fl on November 22nd. It took us less than a week to figure out we really wanted to spend the winter in this location. We are right on a portion of Orange Lake and in the countryside between Gainsville and Ocala, Fl. Lots of amenities, a golf course, birds, alligators, squirrels, fish, and nice big RV lots. This meant we needed to extend our current reservation and since they didn’t have any transient sites, we ended up doing a seasonal site for 2023. That may seem a little spendy to some, but since we are only about an hour out of St. Augustine and our home base, this actually works perfect for this winter and when we arrive back next fall. There’s a little peace of mind knowing we are coming back to the same dedicated space in the fall of 2023 and can stay as long as we want. (Based on rent costs, it will actually be slightly less expensive given St. Augustine pricing). It’s a one-year commitment and we figure we can always leave January 2024 if we no longer want to be here. It will be interesting to see how it works out. It’s not Biloxi, MS which we do miss like crazy, but it has a lot of advantages.

The most interesting aspect of this change for us, was as soon as we moved into our new “permanent” spot, the people in the park were stopping by and welcoming us to our new neighborhood. We’ve always known campers/RVers to be a friendly group, it was just a whole new level of friendly. We might even be part of a gang at this point! A whole new dynamic we hadn’t experienced before in any of our other locations.

Blue Springs State Park

This whole area is full of natural springs. I have never seen such crystal, clear water and the blue color you see at the bottom of this is where the natural spring comes out of a cave and pushes the water into the area. If you just think about the force it takes to keep any kind of vegetation from growing at that spot, I am again amazed at the strength and beauty of nature. The largest spring in the world is actually located in this small park and pushes out 55 million gallons of fresh water daily, into the river system surrounding the park. 55 million gallons! Yowza!!!!

Maybe one of the most interesting aspects of this park, are the monkeys. Yep, you heard that right. Monkeys! There are several myths about the monkeys that our boat captain quickly silenced. Hmmmmm?????

The real reason for the monkeys, according to our boat captain, is that there was a wildlife show of some kind in the area back in the 1930’s, before it was a state park. What the owner didn’t know was that the monkeys could swim and after releasing them on a separate island, the monkeys heard a gunshot and swam from the island to inhabit the park and surrounding area. We had no idea there were monkeys in Florida. Actually, as their population has grown, they now inhabit quite a bit of the state. We also learned that due to hurricanes in this state, there are several zoos that have “lost” some of their monkeys over the years and they now are all throughout the state. Unfortunately, we did not see a monkey on this visit, but maybe that was a good thing. We heard they like to steal purses and look for food in them.

One final learning about this state park. The water is sooooo clear, there have been several big movies that were filmed here. The statues you see in the water were props from the series I spy back in the 60’s. They aren’t actually stone, rather they are fiberglass made to look that way. When it came time to remove them after the filming, whomever owned the land at that time, wanted them left behind and they eventually were somewhat hidden by sea grass and algae. They were eventually cleaned and uncovered after several years. Again, this is the “real” story according to our boat captain. And by the way, it’s 30 minutes to ride the glass bottom boat and is $10.00 per person. Definitely worth it as we did see some manatees in the area, just not under our boat or close enough to get a photo.

Orange Lake

Bang, Bang, Bang! We have been waking up to the sound of duck hunting on Orange Lake the last week or so. It’s a large lake and there are so many ducks that come through here on their way further south for the winter, we constantly see different types. The weather is a little cooler since we arrived and since we missed fall hunting in MN this year, it feels like fall hunting for us now. What we love is the variety of birds/ducks/alligators and all other animals we have been seeing.

Orange Lake feels familiar to us. From our campsite, we can walk down to the main lake access and look over the lake. Throw a line in the water, watch the birds in the trees, the ducks on the lake. It doesn’t feel as familiar when I see all the moss in the trees or hear an air boat go whizzing by, but familiar in having water around us and in our “smallish” neighborhood. I would guess that’s the main reason we are staying put here this winter. That and the fact that we seem to be a magnet for hurricanes this year, and we might be a little leery of heading to Biloxi and having some weird phenomena happen and wipe it out!

On a personal note, Dave has had all his medical check-ups done and gets to complete his colonoscopy right before Christmas! He’s in good shape heath wise and his doctor actually suggested not getting shoulder surgery. He only has slight immobility when holding his arm straight out but otherwise can play all the golf he wants and is now eyeing the pickle ball court and thinking that’s his next sport to take up. So, no surgery on his shoulder and as a happy surprise, he is now the proud owner of his own golf cart. (It was WAY less expensive than continually renting one and we can sell it when we leave the park). I’m starting to think we have a full fleet of vehicle options at this point, so it’s good that these sites are large.

There is so much more to explore in this area, and we can’t wait to see what other new places we will adventure into this winter and next spring. In the event I don’t post before Christmas, have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Hope it’s a wonderful holiday season for you all.

See ya on the road,

Dave and Theresa