Our week at St. Augustine was fun, but we have a hard time staying put very long.  We left early this morning to get around Jacksonville before the church crowd and the holiday shoppers filled up the highways and then headed west on I-10.  Our destination: Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park near White Springs, Florida.

Behind a rest stop along I-10 we found a trail and a boardwalk leading into a swamp. Signs indicated alligators and snakes could be found there, and we looked and looked and didn’t see any wildlife at all other than a few birds.  It was a lovely walk, temps around 65F, sunny, no wind, and no bugs.

A Cyprus Gum Swamp

And now here we are at the campground.  We have reserved two nights here.  Tomorrow we will explore the park.

Steven Foster Folk Culture Center State Park Campground, #23

Up until now we have been blessed with good fortune.  Our motorhome has been working fine, no leaks, no repairs needed other than a windshield replacement for a little crack that mysteriously appeared one day last year.  It has stood up to the test of the Alaskan Highway, survived boondocking in the desert southwest, mountain passes and prairies from the east coast to the west coast, made it through Hurricane Sandy, and has served us well for 37,000 miles over the two years we have owned it.

But tonight we have our first boo-boo.

As Bernie was pulling out the awning so it could dry out after having been rained on a few times during the last week the strap broke so he couldn’t pull the awning out….and us without a much-needed ladder to fix it. (You thought it was something big, didn’t you.) Our RV neighbors didn’t have ladders either.  So, on the Jeep he goes, rigged up a McGuyver fix for the strap, and we’re good to go again.

Fixing the Awning Strap

The Loop Broke Off the Strap

• Gasoline Expense:  none
• Lodging Expense:   $22