Travel From Sault Ste. Marie To Ocala, FL - Nov 8 to Nov 17

In the interest of not boring readers to tears I am consolidating this into one blog posting of our trip south up until we fly to San Diego.

Sunday, November 8th
We left today bound for OHIO, mind you there was some hesitation as the weather was so warm.  But we need to be in Ocala, FL to get prepared for the cruise.  We cleared U.S. Customs with no issues and off we went.  

No winds on the Mackinaw Bridge which is always nice when towing a 40 x 10 foot wall across a bridge that seems about 1,000 feet above the water, in actuality it is 199 feet, seems like a lot more!!

We arrived at our hotel in Maumee, Ohio to meet our friends Carole and Marcel from Callander, ON.  We will be travelling with them on our way south as well as the cruise.  They were there when we arrived, said our hello's and it was time for dinner.

Monday, November 9th to Wednesday, November 11th

Our next stop on the trek south was the Kentucky Horse Park Campgrounds which is located on the North side of Lexington.  This is a very nice park that is essentially attached to the Kentucky Horse Park, for more information please click on the link (http://www.kyhorsepark.com).  The RV park is very nice and laid out in circular patterns.  While it has water and electricity to each site, there is no site sewage hook-up.  However, there are two separate dump stations that can handle multiple RV's dumping at the same time.  The other surprise that met us was the water had been turned off for the winter the day before we got there!! Bummer! Oh well, we topped up our 'on board water systems' and set up camp for a couple of days.  

Diane Finally Got This Guy To Smile

Map of the World made out of Horse Shoes

Unfortunately the Kentucky Horse Park is closed Monday and Tuesday during the winter season so we decided to stay over a couple of days here so we could see the Horse Park.  There were no events during our stay but that made it very quiet and we were able to meander throughout the park almost by ourselves.  We wore our poppies in Remembrance, "At The Going Down of the Sun, And In The Morning, We Shall Remember Them".

The park is beautiful and the different museums and areas explain man's relationship with the horse dating back to the stone age. 

Giddy-up!

Hang On Carole!

We walked about the park and its various buildings enjoying the different museums and horse barns.  We also managed to get our picture taken with some "horses" (yea blue screen) and even a selfie!

Good Horse, Nice Horse, Quiet Horse :)

Wrong Way Marcel!

Selfie with a friend (fake horse)

Thursday, November 12th
Today found us following I-75 driving through the hills of Kentucky, yes there are some big hills, up and down, then up and down.  It sure seemed we travelled up more hills than down!

We arrived at our next stop just over the boarder in Tennessee.  The park was somewhat older but the sites were a good size.  They had recently received a lot of rain and there were very large ponds throughout the park.  We actually ended up with Lake Front Property!! 

Much of this area does have a lot of history from the American Civil War and we found a simple marker identifying a volunteer infantry group that had occupied this area in 1863

Friday November 13th & Saturday, November 14th

It was time again to move on towards our Florida goal.  This was a rather long day as we travelled through Tennessee and most of Georgia to reach our next stop at Grassy Pond Recreational Area near Valdosta, Georgia.  This is a military campground (Moody Airforce Base) that has just recently been opened up to the public.  What a gem!! The sites are large with lots of room between sites.  It is very quiet, set well away from any roads.  We had originally planned on staying only one night but decided to stay an extra night and only $25.00 for full service sites!  We will definitely stay here again.

Carole and Diane hiked the 3 mile Grassy Pond Loop. Lots of spanish moss. They were warned to look out for snakes; and thank goodness they didn't see any. However, Diane did come in contact with some hanging Spanish Moss that made her jump! Hee, Hee!





Sunday, November 15th
Off to Ocala, FL this morning.  However when you enter Florida it is almost a right of passage to stop for a glass of Florida Orange Juice at the visitors centre (oops, I am in the U.S. now, it is spelled "Center").

We arrived in Ocala just after lunch and got set up.  Very nice property, away from everything.  We even had the neighbours cows turn their heads to watch us pull in and set up!!


Monday, November 16th
Today was a down day reserved for final packing and picking up the rental car that was going to take us to Orlando International Airport. Diane took some time out to take a few pictures of the "neigh"bours. :)

Tuesday, November 17th
Let the next adventure begin!  We left early in the morning to catch our 10 AM flight on Southwest Airlines out of Orlando, FL to San Diego, CA.  The traffic was light and we were there in plenty of time, took the rental car back, checked in and got settled.  Now to wait for the flight.  We met some of our cruising friends (12 of us in all) as we were all on the same flight with the exception of one couple who were leaving from Harlingen, TX, we will see them in Dallas where we change planes.  It is almost impossible to get a direct flight anywhere these days. 

While we were packing we were very conscious of weight (we were allowed two bags each and no more than 50 pounds per bag).  We wanted to stay light so we had 2 bags plus a carry on.  Our bags weighed in at 37 and 24 pounds!!  Lots of room for more stuff!  

We arrived in San Diego with no delays or issues, and our luggage made it as well, Bonus!!

That wraps up the blog page for this part of the adventure.  Much more to come!!