(Rainbow Springs)
On December 16, we arrived at Rock Crusher Canyon RV Park in Crystal River, Fl. We checked in and were informed that we were on site 147. A kind gentleman led us to or site and helped us get parked. It was a challenge to get into. After backing up and pulling forward several times - and getting out the ladder to cut tree limbs, James finally squeezed into the site.
We were both disappointed in our site. We did not realize that we would be so close to a busy road. Then as we plugged in our electric cord, we discovered that we were on site 141 (the number was on the electric post). Even though it was a hassle, we were both glad to move to the correct site 147! It was further away from the busy road.
Both sites were next to retention ponds and looked very similar. So it was an easy mistake for our guide to make. When someone came to park on site 141 a few hours later, we were glad we discovered the error before we had set up.
We liked our site. The retention pond would get muddy during a heavy rain, but otherwise was dry. We had a wooded area behind us. There was a row of trees and some small shrubbery between our site and site 148, the one next to us. During the four months we were there, we had neighbors for only 2 months - a very nice quiet Canadian couple parked in their Roadtrek. There were trees between us and the RV’s in front of us, so we felt like we had a fairly private spot!
Since we were parked facing one of the perimeter roads, we had quite a bit of traffic from people who were taking walks or riding their golf carts. This is how we met Zack - a very sweet black lab who was out walking with his owners. We enjoyed playing with Zack, and going out to eat with his owners Larry and Anne from Maryland.
One of the first places we went after arriving in Crystal River was to the Christmas Eve service at Seven Rivers Presbyterian Church. This became our church home while we were in Florida. We enjoyed Ray Cortese’s sermons and the outstanding praise music. Larry and Anne came to a service with us and continued going to church there during their stay. They brought their friend’s Bill and Shirley who were parked next to them.
We had bought Trek Navigator Bikes when we were in Zion, Illinois several years ago. After our first month in Florida, we started using them. We biked 2 to 3 times a week along the Withlacoochee Trail a “rails to trails” path.
We entered the trail in Inverness, FL where it went beside beside a lovely city park.
We were on our way there one Saturday when we saw an Antique Car show in process.
We ran into Larry and Bill while we were looking at cars.
We have a friend from our church in Columbia who married and moved to St Augustine, FL last year. One Saturday we met them for lunch in Gainesville and then went to walk around the Kanapaha Gardens.
We were glad to be able to spend some time with Rob and Farhat.
In March we went with Larry and Anne and their friends Bill and Shirley to Rainbow Springs State Park which also has a beautiful garden.
Anne and Larry:
Bill and Shirley:
In February we met up with Dennis and Carol Smith and two of their friends to attend the Strawberry Festival in Plant City, FL. We enjoyed looking at the vendor’s booths, the craft displays, and eating a nice big bowl of strawberry shortcake.
Our friends Dale and Cindy Sumner who had fulltimed for ten years bought a lovely new home. We met them for lunch at Ruby Tuesday in Wesly Chapel, Fl and then enjoyed a tour of their wonderful new home. They had only been there a few months, but they had the yard beautifully landscaped and the house completely furnished. They did a good job in making a comfortable, inviting home.
There were many activities planned for the people staying at Rock Crusher Canyon. We went to a few of these - the Christmas Buffet dinner and our favorite - the chocolate buffet.
Monique took a Bob Ross painting class while we were there and painted this picture which she gave to Dale and Cindy as a house warming gift.
Since there are many trees at Rock Crusher, there are also many squirrels. They enjoyed the free meals from our “squirrel proof” (ha, ha) bird feeder. They also went for the acorns on our sire - including the ones under our patio mats. A mat is no obstacle for an attack squirrel - they just ate a hole through it to get to the goods.
This started the ineffective “Squirrel Wars” which promted a lot of raucous laughter - from the squirrels. James researched various squirrel repelling ideas from the Internet. The small fake snakes did not fool them, and the fake owl with the solar activated rotating head did not fool them. The large inflatable rattle snake did grab the attention of several people who passed by our RV. One person even stopped to photograph it. The squirrels just ignored it.
We put pepper on the mat. That didn't work. We took up the mat and raked up as many acorns as we could see. Then we sprinkled cinnamon (large containers bought at Sam’s Club) on the ground and put the mats back down (another "sure fire" repellant idea from the Internet). This provided a pleasant fragrance for us and even tastier acorns for the squirrels.
The best thing that came out of this was the hilarious story our friend DeDe Fischer came up with - it included squirrels wearing helmets and watching James through binoculars while laughing at what he was trying next. In the end we just learned how to patch the holes in the mat.
In spite of the “Squirrel Wars”, we plan to go back to Rock Crusher Canyon again next winter.
