I had plans for today.
In fact, most of my actions of the past two weeks have revolved around my plans for the next few days. Instead of drifting north in Maine, I rushed south, making only quick visits to relatives before hurrying back to Florida. I was scheduled to help my friend Lynda with her table at the Orlando Indie Bookfest. We should be getting pedicures together today and then dressing up for the author dinner. I was even going to wear the only pair of high heels I’ve ever loved, which are currently living in my storage unit. And she had fun stuff planned for the event — feather boas were involved.
Alas, it is not to be. Hurricane Matthew is going to bash the east coast of Florida in less than 24 hours, hopefully not as hard as they’re predicting at the moment, but definitely hard enough that people living in camper vans need to run for safer ground.
I had a brief conversation with my dad on Tuesday about possible places in central Florida that might be safe for the van and if it was just me and Serenity, I might have taken my chances. Maybe. If you can move your home out of the way of a hurricane, it really is probably a good idea to do so. But it’s not just me and Serenity — Z and B need safety, too. That made it an easy decision, so yesterday morning I headed north and west.
When I was pretty sure I was out of the cone of the hurricane’s potential path, I found myself a campground, the Suwannee River State Park. It’s typical northern Florida forest, lots of scrub pines and spiky palmettos, on sandy ground covered with pine needles and leaves. Z and I had a good hike this morning, passing by the old sawmill equipment, wandering along the river until we saw the springs gushing into the river. It was like a mini waterfall, it was so profuse, but you can only see the springs when the river is low. When it’s high, they turn into a bubble in the water and when it’s really high, the river water starts flowing into the spring instead. I think I’m mostly out of range of the hurricane, but it’s predicted to rain for the next couple days, so it’ll be interesting to see how the river changes, if it does.
I didn’t expect to be here, I didn’t plan to be here, but this is one of the most pleasant campgrounds I’ve visited. Lovely, restful, with spacious sites and a serene peacefulness.
R would tell me that it’s not irony that my unexpected destination is delightful, it’s just a nice coincidence, but I’m not so sure.
I am so sad I didn’t get to see you while you were here – so briefly. Tonight, I am going to hunker down in my house, wrap my new feathered boa around my shoulders, and drink a glass of wine. What a wickedly weird couple of weeks I’ve had. And it looks like Matthew might do a double-take on Florida. If that happens, my 25th wedding anniversary plans might get rained out too. GO AWAY, MATTHEW!!!!!
The week of the 24th! Definitely!!
So sorry about your missed bookshow. That sounds like it would have been fun. Happy that you are safe and in a good place though. Maybe something magical will happen.
Is there potential for a hurricane in Grace? I appear to have completely lost my writing mojo for the moment.
Sorry to hear about the writing mojo, but the feeling is mutual. Not a single new word last week — there was just too much distraction! But I have higher hopes for this week. And I have toyed with a hurricane in Grace, multiple times, but the reality is that Tassamara’s fictional location is really too far inland. A real hurricane there is very unlikely!
Glad to know you’ll be safe & sound while Matthew does his thing along the coast. We sure could use some of that rainfall, though! With all of our modern scientific abilities, you’d think we’d be able to control the weather a bit more. But I wouldn’t want to tick off Mother Nature! LOL Enjoy your new ‘home’!
It was a nice couple days!
The State Park sounds really nice. I love State Parks, at least most of them and provided it’s not a weekend in the summer or worse one of those 3-day holiday weekends in the spring or fall.
I’m getting ready to head out to Oklahoma in my van for two weeks and it made me think of you and come catch up on your posts. I know it’s not the same as living in a van, but for two weeks, I can pretend.
Lots of people would think two weeks in a van was plenty of time! Enjoy your time in Oklahoma. I’m way way behind on my RSS feed due to lack of internet, but I’ll try to find your posts so I can find out where I should be when I get to Oklahoma. I’ve never been there so I’m excited to visit!
Two weeks is never enough time to see all I want to! But then a lifetime wouldn’t be enough.
I’ve spent about 8 weeks a year for the last 10 years traveling around Oklahoma for work. I have customers across the state, so I’ve seen a lot of places out there. I’m only starting to get posts up about it, so when you’re making plans to go, email me and I can give more recommendations. I love Oklahoma.
I will! I’m looking forward to Oklahoma — I love the thought of spending a month at a time in the states that are totally unfamiliar to me. Alabama, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Mississippi… and then the western ones, too, but I won’t get there for a while!