Kit and Carol on the Road

We were surpised to hear from Bob and Omi that they were averaging $9 a night camping. In our 3 weeks our average is $23.56 and that is with 4 free nights and 3 nights in the National Park. (@$8) Most state parks have been running $20-25 and the private parks that were around $25 when we last were this way, now run about $35 a night. Diesel seems to be consistently about $2.39. Groceries are our weakness. We stop for groceries often as our refrigerator is so small. And of course the more you shop, the more you spend. Our favorite Florida grocery store is Publix. I had visions of stopping to eat at some small regional restaurants but it's a bit hard when you have to haul your house around so you aren't inclined to take it out after dark. We'll have to think about stopping for lunch at one of those interesting looking BBQ places. Travel with Ida is different than with Wayne and Alice--esp as we have no bikes. We tend to do our exploring between stops so end up stopping later in the day--and moving more often. We always used to stay several days in one place and explore from there.

Today we spent the morning and part of the afternoon at Homosassa Springs which is a state park that used to be a zoo with exotic animals but now features only Florida wildlife--and esp. the manatees. Except for the hippo--and he is an honorary Florida citizen. We had a great time watching the manatees. I'll see if I can add a photo of the volunteer feeding them. (It's at the top of course). We've stopped for the night at a very tiny RV park. One of the owners and I have something in common--we both have sisters in McMinneville, OR. Tomorrow the plan is to head out to the state parks on the beach. If we are lucky enough to get in--we'll be out of communication for awhile.