We left Miami after Cindy helped drop
the kids off at their Pinecrest school. With gas stops, it took us
over seven hours driving to arrive at Hopkins Prairie Campground in
the Ocala National Forest (NF). We snagged a reasonable campsite and
quickly made ourselves at home; we have a great view of the prairie,
a fair bit of privacy and room to exercise Yukon chasing balls.
After our mile plus morning walk
through the woods, we heard the sonic boom from a capsule heading
from the Space Station for a landing in the Atlantic Ocean. There has
also been lots of Air Force flights cavorting overhead – I'm
guessing that training Ukrainian pilots has something to do with the
frequency.
There are about two-hundred Rainbow
people of all ages that have just setup camp across the prairie.
Based on their reputation with many of the locals, mainly for thefts
in stores, frequent police and NF Law Enforcement (LE) visits are
occurring.
Hooked up the TV with rabbit ears so we
could watch SuperBowl LVIII; it was a great game to watch sitting
around our campfire.
The Kansas City Chiefs beat San Francisco
Forty-Niners 25 to 22 in an exciting overtime finish.
Early Monday morning I took Storm into
Ocala to get the engine repaired; it will be a big repair bill to get
the lifter(s) fixed on the passenger side of the Hemi-engine. I
rented a Hyundai Elantra (not exactly the best vehicle for towing)
for three days while the truck was in the shop.
On one of our early morning walks (just
over a mile on the Florida Trail), Yukon dragged an Opossum out of
the bush – the good news was he let the poor guy walk away after I
asked him to drop it. For Yukon's Birthday, he got to unwrap a small
cotton ball which he immediately destroyed and ditto for a couple of
plastic Frisbees. However his Psychedelic Panda is still hanging in
there. The “piece de resistance” was seeing him demolish his New
York Strip steak spread out over three meals.
We finally connected with Joanie on her
Applegate Horse Farm for a two hour visit. She seems to have bounced
back from her bout with Long-Term COVID. Her Arabian horses and Fig
the pony are all looking good but Yukon is not good around any of
them.
We are always a little sad leaving
Hopkins Prairie but we did our final walk on the Florida Trail before
packing up and heading towards Tampa; stay tuned for a weekend Blog
update in a bit. This was a relaxing two week stay.
Tidbits:
- Finished an interesting book: Lords of Finance by Liaquat Ahamed
- Rainbow People: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_Gathering
- Sure is muddy on NF Roads after a rain
SPOT:
- Hopkins Prairie Ocala NF 2024 02 08-21: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=29.27534,-81.69280&ll=29.27534,-81.69280&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1
Debbie Bennett
2024-02-23
Jake's previous dog, Anja, was never comfortable around horses either. Also, snowmen spooked her.
tracy
2024-02-27
Whattcha holding in your hand? (in the picture of you holding Yukon)!!!!!! Have fun you guys!