Busy Times at Trimble Park - Data Plans, a Tropical Storm, and a Rocket Launch!

We just spent 11 days at Trimble Park in northern Orange County, FL - about 45 minutes from Disney.  We stayed here just a few days last year, mostly while we were actually on a cruise ship for my sister's 40th birthday, so we didn't get to properly appreciate it.

Our beautiful wooded campsite!

Unfortunately I managed to pick one of the few campsites with an obscured view of the lake, but we could still see it, and being close to the bathhouse was a definite plus since we had no sewer - I *think* this is the longest we've ever gone without a sewer connection.  We stayed here longer than we normally would to reset our travel schedule to Tuesdays (a much easier travel day than anywhere close to the weekends in the Orlando area).

Obscured lake view

While we were here we enjoyed hiking around Trimble Park and some neighboring parks.  

A small alligator seen from the dock near our campsite

The lake as seen from another dock on the hiking trail

Cycling along the Lake Apopka North 
Shore trail, with one of a TON of 
anhingas visible in the background

At the Mt Dora Lighthouse

The boardwalk at Palm Island Park

Tropical storm Eta hit while we were staying at Trimble Park.  I have to admit I was pretty worried, what with all the warnings about mobile homes and whatnot.  We took in all of our patio furniture, lashed down the bikes, closed all the awnings, and even brought in our slides to protect the fabric-like slide covers.  I was pretty nervous all night long, but the crazy strong winds didn't rock the RV at all.  I guess we're just too heavy!  The next morning we woke up to branches and palm fronds down all around, but no damage to our property.  We survived our first large weather event in the RV!

The storm position the next
morning

Palm fronds down everywhere!

While we were here we learned a LOT about our new limited data plan.  I think I mentioned before that we had to give up the amazing unlimited AT&T plan for the Togo Roadlink....they figured out it was TOO good a deal.  We're now on a data-only plan from Cricket Wireless.  The connection speeds have been great and we have no complaints there...but it's amazing how many little things you don't think about eat up data!  We've gone into our computers to reduce allowed data usage (for those of you with Windows 10...that's under "Data Usage" in the Settings), disabled app updates on our phones (we update them when on free wireless while out and about), and set low resolution on all of our streaming accounts where we can (Netflix, YouTube, etc).  We go into a local library to download anything large for our computers or tablets...speaking of which, quick segue...

The Mt. Dora Library (close to Trimble Park) is one of the neatest libraries I've been in.  It's a nice facility, and they have a butterfly garden, a velociraptor display, and...most incredibly...cake pans that you can check out!!  I've never seen the like.  Super cool.

Velociraptor

Cake pans! In a library!!

Back to data usage...despite our best efforts, we were just blowing through our data plan.  Granted, initially we used a bunch of data before we figured out how to limit everything, but even after flipping all the switches I just mentioned, we blew through an additional purchased 15GB in just one day (!!!!!).  We finally figured it out though...the XBOX!  We hadn't had the XBOX on in quite a while because we mostly only use it to play DVDs, and we didn't use it at all while in quarantine and didn't turn it on much at Fort Wilderness or Sherwood Forest because we had free cable if we wanted entertainment.  However, once we reached Trimble Park we decided to watch some DVDs to conserve our data...and the impudent little device went and downloaded the long-amassed updates for all its games and apps in the background while we watched our no-data DVDs!!  I'm not sure the size of all the updates, but the one that killed our extra 15GB was a 60GB update for the Halo Master Chief Collection.  60GB!!  It really drove home that the majority use case for the XBOX, computers, and the like is to have an unlimited data connection, so the devices and the software suppliers don't think too much about data.  Well, thank goodness we FINALLY figured that out, and went in to the XBOX settings and told it to start operating offline.  We'll get the XBOX updated sometime later.  For anyone out there contemplating a limited data plan...make sure you go into the settings for EVERYTHING you have that connects to the internet ever and limit or turn off data usage!  Leave no device unexplored!

Our last big event at Trimble Park was a SpaceX rocket launch at Kennedy Space Center!  We went to see the Crew-1 launch - the official beginning of regular manned space missions to depart from the US.  This was a very different experience from the launches we saw earlier in the year due to COVID-19.  Earlier in the year we bought a package that took us on a crowded bus to a crowded viewing platform.  This time we bought a package that guaranteed us a spot of ground in a large staff parking lot in the main visitor complex (i.e., that we could walk to from the main parking lot).  This was also our first nighttime launch - SUPER cool.  The rocket was incredibly bright, and we could even see the firing of the thrusters (?) on the stage 1 part that came back to land on a platform in the ocean.

Countdown clock at the space center entrance

Livestream projected on a building next to the parking lot

Crew-1 climbing into the sky

This was an exciting 11 days!  And we left with the gray tank only 67% full!

Always a Project

After our delightful stay at Fort Wilderness, we left vacation mode and got back to more normal day-to-day life.  Our next stop was Sherwood Forest, a Thousand Trails resort where we stayed for two weeks.  We've stayed here before and it's definitely our favorite Thousand Trails campground in the Orlando area, both because of its proximity to Disney and the dryness and levelness of the sights.

Campsite at Sherwood Forest

It may be difficult to tell in the photo, but we had a site at the end of a row, which meant we had a little more privacy and a little more space than most of the other campsites.

While we were parked in Sherwood Forest we finally finished waxing the RV to protect all the new paint we'd applied in West Virginia.  And of course Aaron found plenty more projects to work on...

One of the furnaces stopped working.
Here Aaron is diagnosing it - ultimately
he just had to clean the electrical 
connections to fix it.

One of many loose tiles in our bathroom.  Aaron ripped them
all up....

...hacked all the grout off the back...

...and reseated and regrouted them.  Amazingly none of the 
subfloor was damaged, we're not sure why the tiles were loose.

All done!

Aaron also spent a lot of time working on the air conditioners...

He added insulation and taped the
corners around the intake/outlet boxes

And replaced one of the fan motors and one of the control boards

We had a couple of fun animal buddies in Sherwood Forest...

This red shouldered hawk frequented 
the area between our campsite and
the resort's laundromat

Random neighborhood cat who liked our campsite

And of course what everyone wants to know...how does COVID make this all different?  Well, the main pool was closed, the clubhouse was closed, all the resort activities were canceled, and you weren't allowed in the office (you knocked on the door and someone came outside to assist you).  Since we didn't regularly use any of these services, it didn't have a huge impact on us.  

We celebrated Aaron's birthday while staying in Sherwood Forest with some birthday muffins and a fun day at Disney.

Birthday breakfast

Obligatory birthday buttons at Disney

In front of Star Tours at Hollywood Studios

We saw the cavalcades at Animal Kingdom for the first time - they traverse the river - cavalcades are one wonderful thing that has come from the COVID response at Disney.

Character cavalcade in Animal Kingdom

And of course as soon as Halloween was over, the Christmas decorations went up at Disney World!

Main Street USA, Magic Kingdom

Camping at Disney's Fort Wilderness

We decided to splurge a bit and make our first Orlando campground the Disney one...Fort Wilderness.  We talked about this campground a bit last winter but weren't able to get a reservation.  This time we booked in the shoulder season and found a site Sunday-Friday - we still couldn't find a site here for the weekend!

Our campsite at Fort Wilderness

Fort Wilderness was everything we hoped.  The campground had more of a feel of a state or county park than a private RV park.  There were lots of activities on site, including pools, outdoor movies, gem hunting, archery, horseback riding, bike and boat rental, and more.  Most of those you had to pay extra for of course...  The whole campground was bike friendly and we enjoyed taking our new-to-us bikes all around.

We're well into Halloween season of course, and our favorite nightly activity was to pick a new couple loops in the campground and walk or cycle around to view the outrageous Halloween decorations from our fellow campers.

These skeleton pirates were Aaron's favorite

Zombie Flamingos!  (Look closely at the eyes of the black
ones)

 Our decorations weren't nearly so impressive, but at least we had some!

Daytime view - Aaron decided all of his Baby Yoda 
decorations needed to join the pumpkin lights

Nighttime view

We visited each of the parks while we were at Fort Wilderness.  Sadly, only Magic Kingdom had special transportation - a boat that left from the back of the campground.  This was definitely the nicest way we've ever gotten to Magic Kingdom (normally you have to park and then take a crowded monorail or ferry).

Our transportation approaches

Going to amusement parks right now is a very different experiences, and I'd say in all ways except the sweaty masks a much better one.  Lines were shorter - rides that normally had 2-4 hour waits we could get on in less than an hour - and people stood farther apart in the ride lines, so I no longer had strangers leaning on my backpack while waiting for a ride...(yes that really happened multiple times last year).  They've also upgraded the security scanners so there's no longer a bag check line!  They've removed the fingerprint scanners and added hand sanitizer and handwash stations throughout the parks, so you can keep your hands cleaner.

Masks at Epcot

Social distancing at the manatee exhibit at Epcot

Social distancing in line for 
Smugglers' Run at Hollywood Studios

Masks at Magic Kingdom

All I have from Animal Kingdom are animal pictures...this
is from Kilimanjaro Safaris, which we basically walked
straight on due to the low park attendance (normally this is a
LOOONG wait)

Back at Fort Wilderness, our last morning we went on a trail ride around the remote areas of the campground.

Outside Tri Circle D Ranch at the front of the campground

Here I am atop Riley

The last pictures I'd like to share are of some random carriage sightings at the park - the carriage and hay rides weren't running due to COVID-19, but it seems that Disney is keeping the horses exercised and practicing.

We thoroughly enjoyed our stay and I hope we can make this an annual-ish tradition - just a few days a year.  We didn't get to enjoy many of the perks of staying on Disney property (mostly in terms of early access to dining and FastPass+ reservations) - hopefully next time we'll be able to!

On the Road Again!!

 The day finally came - October 16 - and we pulled out of the farm and headed back on the road!!

Pulling out of the farm

When Aaron pulled the RV down the driveway at the farm, it really struck me how much different it really looks after all the work we did on the exterior.  I almost feel like we have a brand new RV!

Quick refresher...this is what the 
front *used* to look like

Last year when we headed south we took our time, stayed places several days, and ended up in sub-freezing temperatures at several campsites before finally making it to Florida...this year we made a beeline to Florida.  We escaped West Virginia right before things started freezing overnight again, and those last few rushed days of work on the exterior were COLD.

We did decide to start out in the familiar Orlando area for now.  We're still wary of how things will go with the coronavirus, and Florida offers several advantages on this front...(1) we know the area and know how to find places to camp even if everything is crowded from everyone suddenly deciding to vacation in an RV; (2) annual passes to Disney and 'free' (already paid for in annual subscription) camping at Thousand Trails mean we can keep our expenditures low while we wait and see what happens to our savings in the stock market; (3) if things really head south and everything closes again, we can make it back to the farm in a hard day's drive.  If things are looking ok (i.e., not closed, life savings not tanked) by Christmas, we may head out along the Gulf Coast later in the winter, but for now we're playing it safe.

Our 'quick' trip south this time involved four 3 hour days.  We stayed at a Cracker Barrel on I-77 the first night, then New Green Acres in Walterboro, SC the second night, and finally our favorite Cary State Forest just outside of Jacksonville.

Not much to say about the Cracker Barrel, but I did snap a picture.  There are a lot of Cracker Barrels that accept RVs overnight with dedicated spaces to the rear of the restaurant, always convenient to an interstate, so it's a great overnight option.

Parking at the Cracker Barrel - there was a bit of a crowd!

New Green Acres was a lovely little RV park, I'd definitely go back there.  It was convenient to I-95, the pull-through sites were pretty spacious (for a private RV park), and everything seemed pretty clean.  Our neighbors for the night were a couple moving from Narrows, Virginia - a tiny town on the road from my childhood home to the family farm!  Small world.  AND they complimented us on how nice our RV looked without us telling them anything about the days and days we'd put into fixing the paint and clear coat, which was so rewarding!

Our campsite at New Green Acres RV Park

I've blogged about Cary State Forest before so I won't go on and on about it again - suffice it to say it is one of my favorites.  One thing made us scratch our heads a bit though...in my previous post I mentioned how very far the campsites are from each other, just 7 in the whole forest...but even so, they were practicing social distancing here and had every other site closed!  

The sign on the site 'next' to us -
not that anything was very close!

While we were parked there on a nice non-muddy concrete pad we washed and waxed the basement doors - something we ran out of time for before getting on the road.

Our campsite at Cary State Forest

Next stop: Orlando!