Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Cold Air and Starting to Make Plans to Leave…

Lovers Lane SP FL 039

 

Fort Myers Beach Boat Ride 001With the change in weather here it has given us time to stop and think about where we will go from here. Sunny and warm Bonita Springs became cloudy and rainy for a day and then nice the next day only to have the temperature plummet into the 50’s for  the high today. We even got down to a low of 40 degrees last night which is the coldest day we have experienced in nearly three years. Our strategy of trying to stay where it is warm had worked pretty well to this point.

It was so cold this morning that I didn’t even hear the Red Shouldered Hawk that typically screeches from the top of a light pole here in the park every morning around 6:30 am. Nature’s version of the rooster I can only presume… I have enjoyed watching the pair of hawks that Lovers Lane SP FL 018apparently resides in the park most likely along the Imperial River that border’s it.

Surprisingly there is a lot of wildlife in the park considering we are in the city of Bonita Springs. We have an occasion cotton tailed rabbit and an abundance of squirrels that we have tried in vain to keep out of our newly planted herbs. We have lots of vesper sparrows in the park and the fish crows come through often enough. White Ibis are seen occasionally milling for earthworms in the grass and I even spotted an immature bald eagle atop a tree inside the park. Poor bird didn’t know what to make of all the racket the crows were making just below him in the tree and I watched as the crows occasionally buzzed around his head till he finally got bothered enough to leave…

Lovers Lane SP FL 056Wildlife and wild lands will be in our plans for the upcoming summer season as we plan to make our way back out west. We don’t have many specific plans yet other than we have booked some time at one of our favorite RV parks, Betty’s, in Abbeville, Louisiana. We also booked a week at Bayou Segnette State Park in New Orleans as we will treat ourselves to a trip to our first ever Mardi Gras. From there we will spend some time in Texas visiting our old home town and then our son and his family. From Texas we will continue westward. We are thinking about spending some time in Utah, Colorado, Wyoming and Montana focusing on National Parks and scenic lands. Likely we will conclude the year by wintering in the San Diego area and possibly somewhere in Arizona. However, as many full  timers know these plans are always subject to change….

7 comments:

  1. We were at your park yesterday. Sent you an email earlier through your blog but perhaps that is no longer your current email address. It was a last minute trip, sorry we didn't get to see you. The people in the park were very friendly as we walked around and the river just beautiful. We'll be about a month behind you moving out west we hope. Perhaps we'll see you at one of the National Parks. Till then, stay warm.

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  2. Sounds like you have a lot of good places planned....

    ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
    Karen and Steve
    (Blog) RVing: The USA Is Our Big Backyard
    http://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com
    ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

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  3. Looks like we may have several opportunities to see each other during the next year. We will be traveling around Colorado this summer and will be wintering in Arizona next winter. Sorry we won't see you at Betty's but we leave there March 6th.

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  4. Plans written in jello thats the ways we like them. We have a rough idea where we are going until mid February, then really don't have a clue, where we will go, depends on the weather.

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  5. If I can offer any suggestions for Colorado, just let me know. It remains our home state and we'll be back there most of the summer meandering around. We're finally warming up here in Rockport TX and once this rain stops it should be nice....can't wait.

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  6. It is interesting that we started our summer planning yesterday, as well. We are leaving a little later this year, but also hope to spend some time at Betty's in June, before heading to North Carolina. We love it out west. We also have some favorite places there.

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  7. I'm so excited to check our Betty's one day...nice tentative route! SW for us next winter...

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