December 25 - January 13: Juniper Springs Recreation Area in Ocala National Forest

Our original plans started to change when another of Jane's family members had to cancel their trip to Florida. Along with the addition of some new information, (we could park our camper overnight at my in-laws clubhouse parking lot). We ended up canceling our reservations at Lake Louisa State Park. This allowed us to stay at my in-laws until New Year's Day. Jane was available for various discussions with her Dad about taxes, insurance and elder care. I was able to take regular bike rides on a route I mapped out during last year's visits. I also started a discussion with my Florida brother on a DIY heat recovery ventilator (HRV). I am hoping to construct an HRV for the camper so we can avoid relying on a dehumidifier or opening vents to control humidity in the camper. I had done some internet searching before we headed out on the road in the fall of 2021. I wanted to make a counter flow version of an HRV but the only simple designs I found were for cross flow types. My brother ended up finding a great YouTube video for a counter flow type that was simple (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHoH0scUzRg). This video was posted November 2021 which was after we hit the road and I had abandoned the project in favor of trying some RV dehumidifiers which only used electricity for drying out the humidifier after a period of operation (https://www.eva-dry.com/product/e-333-renewable-dehumidifier/). Jane has not been happy with the drying out stage of these dehumidifiers because the bead color change to indicate they have dried out doesn't occur even after being plugged in for days.

After my discussion with my brother, we came up with a variation on the YouTube design and we did a partial mock one day when I visited him during our stay at Jane's parents. Our variation on the YouTube design still relied on the foam board housing so before visiting my brother I went by the local Home Depot and bought a 4' x 8' sheet even though my HRV was going to be on the smaller side and require only about 5 square feet. I was in my in-laws small SUV (I think it is a Honda CRV) so I purchased a knife to cut the foam board in the Home Depot parking lot so I could fit it in the car.

After successfully making a mock up at my brother's, I still needed to pick out some fans and I wanted to get some thicker aluminum foil than we used in the mock up. I decided on these items the week after New Year's and ordered them. I plan on a future blog about the HRV which will give more details but no promises.

On New Year's Day Jane's brother from NC and his wife started their Florida visit so we moved to Jane's FL brother's house. We stayed there for our overnights and shuttled back and forth to her parents for daytime visits. Jane's FL brother and his family were away for the week for a family visit to LA. The NC brother stayed until the eighth and both he and his wife worked remotely during the days and were available for visiting at night. I drove my in-laws to various doctor appointments during the week. They still drive but their skills are diminishing and some of the appointments were not close to home so it made things easier if someone drove them. Strawberries were in season, so one day we all went to the local farm and picked strawberries. That led to some nighttime work for the NC contingent.

We were getting low on propane and my in-laws have a Costco membership. Last year I filled up on propane using my FL brother's membership. Remembering how reasonable the prices were and my father-in-law's desire to take a trip to Costco, we went to a Costco on the ninth before heading to Juniper springs for some camping. Even though there are multiple Costco's in the Orlando area, there isn't one very close to my in-laws. We headed off to one they frequent. When we arrived there, we didn't see a propane filling station. We inquired about that with a greeter standing at the entrance and were told we were at the only Costco in FL that didn't have a propane filling station. He told us of the closest Costco's, so we ended up going to one of them. Both 30 pound tanks were empty and I had them filled. My memory was correct and the Costco prices are by far the best I have come across.

We didn't make reservations for a campground until close to our arrival time on January 9th so we weren't able to be selective. We ended up with a campsite at Juniper springs that was different from our visit last year.  We liked the site last time and the one we ended up with was not as good for us as it had a couple of drawbacks. The biggest drawback was minimal sun due to shading. The other drawback was restroom related. Again like our earlier visit to Ocala before Christmas 2022, it was fairly cold with the temperature dropping into the 30s most nights so we didn't go swimming. I took the bike ride route I used during last year's visits. On the way back from one of my rides I saw the tail end of an accident. I was just pedaling in a zone when my attention was drawn to an 18 wheeler coming in my direction with its left front wheel missing and it was skidding along the road to a stop. This happened about 100-150 yards before me so I was glad I hadn't ridden any faster that day and I arrived just when the accident occurred. After things had settled for a few minutes I went by the accident and noticed a car off the road that had been sideswiped. There were people attending so I continued on. About ten minutes later emergency vehicles passed me apparently on their way to the scene.

I forgot to take a picture of our rig and campsite. They seem to be very similar so that's not too big of a disappointment for me. We did go to the springs one of the days to check out the old electricity generating building there. It was closed during last year's visit so I wanted to go to the building and get some pictures for the blog. The building was mostly empty except for some CCC posters/placards. I've included pictures below. The water wheel adjacent to the building no longer spins or is even connected to the building. Needless to say, electricity is no longer generated.

For me, the most interesting piece of information on the placards is that the CCC planted over two billion trees in its short lifetime.

Our next stop will be Clearwater Lake Campground which is also in the Ocala National Forest and we visited last year.