Rainbow Springs SP (Oct 23-30)

Sunday - Today we drove farther than usual at 258 miles, with considerable truck traffic the last stretch on I-75. We got into our site (14) after five hours. Thankfully, the trip was uneventful. We decided to treat ourselves at The Front Porch Restaurant. We got together with our friends Mike and Christina who now live in a nice little community on the river. We all walked down to their dock and met some of their friends. It was great getting caught up with them.
Monday - We slept in this morning, then took a couple of walks around. The park is looking rather ragged and not as well managed. There are no camp hosts right now either. In the evening, we went down to the river and John fished with the Duck Commander pole using a finesse worm. First cast produced a nice bass that John filleted. The mosquitoes were also biting.
Tuesday - We managed to sleep in again. It has been great sleeping weather. We made a Wally run and John tried for the third time without success to get our service address changed with Directv so we can get our local channels. Each time they seemed more intent to sell us something than getting us back working. John also tried to get the awning end that has partially come out of its groove to go back, but failed. Looks like we will have to put up with it for now.
Wednesday - We drove out to the end of Hwy 40 past Yamkeetown and put the kayaks in for a couple of hours. We saw plenty of mullet action, but only got a couple of hookups. Joan lost a big fish while John landed a mangrove snapper that was a half inch from being a keeper. It got quite windy around noon. We had lunch at the Riverside Lodge that used to be the Isaac Walton Lodge. They kept his name on the building anyway. We both had their shrimp special, which was excellent. Their prices were reasonable as well. The Lodge is on the Withlacoochee River with nice views while we were eating. On the way back we stopped in at Gulf Coast RV Resort where we will be staying in November to introduce ourselves. The lady there, Dawn, was vary nice and helpful.
Thursday - We had our friends Mike and Christina over for dinner and had a nice visit.
Friday - Today we kayaked with the southern contingent of our group from Silver lake to the River Ratz Cafe in Nobleton. It was I nice, but quite long (7 mile) paddle. The current helped, but was tricky in spots. No gators and John didn't fish.
Saturday - We visited a couple yard sales/flea markets, but didn't buy anything. Then we went to the Inglis Lock Recreation Area and after picking up four bags of fisherman trash fished for awhile. John had his 6 wt. with a black foam hopper which caught nothing. Joan on the other hand caught a real nice bass on a Zoom finesse worm usung a Duck Commander pole. We brought it home and added it to the two re already had. In the evening, we went over to Mike and Christina's for a burger and hotdog cookout down by the river. It was a great dinner and time with them.
Sunday - It was great to get back to First UMC of Dunnellon for a super contemporary worship service. Pastor Eddie's messages are always challenging and encouraging. We will be able to go here for all of November as well. Afterwards we had breakfast at the Citrus Grill. It was very different, but good.

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