Silver Springs State Park, Silver Springs, Florida
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made. ~ John 1:1-3
The Ocala National Forest is not too far from us and it has ORV (Off Road Vehicle) trails. We weren’t sure if it would be open due to the government shutdown, but it was. It’s 673 square miles, which is roughly the equivalent of a little more than half the size of Rhode Island!
Some of the trails are for motorcycles, some for ATVs and some for Jeeps. We, of course, tried to stick to the Jeep trails. But it wasn’t always easy. They weren’t marked very well sometimes, and some that said Jeeps were okay, really weren’t. And it’s all sand.
Not too exciting, is it?
For those of you who aren’t particularly tech savy, if you click on that box beside the “speaker”, the video will fill your screen. Then, when it’s over, you click the similar box again and it goes back to the original size.
One in particular, turned our beautiful Jeep into a beautiful Jeep that now has signs of wear and tear. We acquired long scratches from the foliage as we attempted to maneuver our way along an increasingly narrow trail. Let’s just say – – I’m glad Blaine was driving, if you know what I mean . . . .
Now you can hear why! Yikes!
We ended up turning around – – eventually. : )
Because of the sand (and all the trails were sand), I didn’t want to drive, even though Blaine offered. I’d much rather drive on rocks! This seemed like it would be too easy to get stuck, and we haven’t purchased that all-important wench attachment for the Jeep yet.
But it wasn’t always easy. They weren’t marked very well sometimes, and some that said Jeeps were okay, really weren’t. And it’s all sand.
We found the Observation Tower and were able to park alongside the road and then walk a trail to it, only to discover that you weren’t supposed to go up in it. But there was access! The fence around it was torn open, and the stairs were open. I was ready to go, until Blaine had to go and find a sign that emphatically said, “NO!”
But I’ll tell you what, if it hadn’t been right beside a busy road? I’da gone up anyway. See? I’m not always the nice, law-abiding citizen people think I am! 😊
For shame! I can tell you, her mother raised her better.
After we got done playing around, we were hungry. Tonight’s meal was on my former workplace, LifeLine Sleep Centers. I’d been sort of hoarding gift cards to Steak and Shake for the past couple of years. Today was the day to use them up! It was a great meal! Of course, one of my most favorite foods is hamburgers, so that was a plus all on its own! In addition, we discovered that milkshakes were half price today! Blaine had strawberry and I chose chocolate-covered strawberry. Mine was better. I think Blaine agreed. Especially since he had to finish mine. 😊
So I managed to get this post finished, but I’ll be making a call to Host Gator on Monday, January 28th. There’s just too many things that are slowing me waaaay down. Hopefully, they’ll have answers I was unable to figure out.