Rainbow Springs

After we left Ken and Bonnie, we drove over to Rainbow Springs State Park where we had reservations for 5 nights.  Our site #14 was very secluded and had full hookups.

Rainbow Springs is located on the Rainbow River.  We took the Porta-Bote out one day on the river.

 

Like Silver River, it was very clear, but the current was only about 1 mph, so we were able to use the trolling motor almost the entire way up to the headsprings.

There were also a lot of divers and snorkelers on the river.

 

There was not as much wildlife and unlike the Silver River, there were houses along this river.

We sat at the headsprings and watched the people swimming in the designated swimming area.

We turned around and headed back down the river.

 

The water was so clear you could understand why so many people dived or snorkled along the river.

 

We got our 10,000 steps in every day and on our last day, we rode our bikes down the tram trail.

It was a nice few days and Rainbow Springs was a park we wouldn't mind going back to sometime.  We had decided that with all the trouble we have had with the Porta-Bote and the difficulty in using it anywhere there was much current, we would try to sell it.  I posted it on Craigslist while we were in Florida and we just hoped that maybe someone else would be interested in buying it. 

It was perfect for someone who needed a dingy and had a motor to put on it; but for our purposes, it was way too much trouble and wasn't what we needed at this time or wanted.

Southern Palms in Eustis, FL

We had stayed in contact with Ken and Bonnie and when we found out they were going to be close to where we had been staying in Silver Springs, we decided to go spend another week with them at Southern Palms in Eustis, Florida.

After we got set up on Sunday, we walked over to their campsite and sat outside talking about all each other had been doing.  We told them about all of our Porta-Bote woes and we all laughed so hard we were in tears.  By the way, in case you were wondering, this is what the Porta-Bote looks like all set up and folded back down:

Southern Palms has shuffleboard courts and bocce ball.  Ken and Bonnie taught us how to play both games and we played either shuffleboard or bocce ball almost every day.

On Monday, we loaded all the bikes on our bike rack and drove to a trailhead and parking lot along the West Orange Bike Trail, another rail trail.  This trail had more hills but was a lot more interesting because you rode through the town of Winter Garden.

We rode all the way to the end and had a picnic lunch.

On the way back, we stopped in Winter Garden, parked our bikes

and bought some ice cream.

 

We walked to the median and swung in their swings for a few minutes.

We got back on our bikes and headed the rest of the way back.  When we got back to our car, we found out that the car next to us had been broken into and the women's purses had been stolen.  Thankfully, we had not left anything in the open and our car was untouched.

We rode further than we ever had today, 24 miles, but again the time seemed to fly by because of all the fun we were having with Ken and Bonnie.

On Wednesday, we drove back to Silver Springs so Ken and Bonnie could paddle the Silver River in their Sea Eagle kayak.  On the way to Silver Springs, we got behind these old cars that were traveling about 25 mph. 

 

After we got to the boat launch, we both began unloading and setting up our boats.  Chuck and I kept reminding each other:  don't forget to take the wheels off.

We watched Ken and Bonnie paddling up the river in their Sea Eagle and realized how much easier they and everyone else that uses a kayak or canoe can paddle up that river...even with 3 -5 mph current.   They seemed to just effortlessly paddle along...

 

...while we struggled to keep up with them.

We pulled off at a little sand cove and ate our picnic lunches.

 

When we were sitting there eating lunch, we talked about the monkeys and wondered if they could swim.  On the way back, we heard this splashing in the water, and got our answer:  not only can monkeys swim...

 

 

but they also like to climb the trees and jump into the water before swimming back to shore.

 

We tied off and watched all the monkeys for awhile. 

Despite our difficulties with the Porta-Bote, it was really cool getting to see the monkeys playing and swimming.

On Thursday, we loaded the bikes up again and drove over to The Villages and rode our bikes on several  of their bike trails.  The Villages was pretty amazing with all of its golf courses and houses.  And golf carts were the preferred mode of transportation.  In one of the town squares, they had the water dyed green for St. Patrick's Day.

 

When we got back to the park, we walked around a little bit and I finally got a picture of one of the owls that had a nest in one of the trees.

 

On Saturday, we rode to the town of Tavares and watched part of a boat show they had going on.

 

They also had some antique cars on display.

 

Later that afternoon, we ate out at Sonny's Barbecue, one of Ken and Bonnie's favorite restaurants too.

We had such a fun week with Ken and Bonnie.   They taught us shuffleboard, bocce ball, Kubb, 5 Crowns and Sequence Dice, and we taught them how to play SkipBo and 7 Up.  We also got our 10,000 steps in almost every day.  It was such a great week, that we hated for it to come to an end. 

 

 

4th trip in Porta-Bote

We decided to try the Porta-Bote one more time on the Silver River on Saturday because we would be leaving Wilderness on Sunday to drive to Eustis where we were going to spend another week with Ken and Bonnie.

This time we had a fully charged battery and we finally remembered to take the wheels off.  Chuck ran the trolling motor for a few minutes while I enjoyed the ride.

 

But then we switched places and I ran the trolling motor on about 50% for the rest of the way that we traveled up the river while Chuck rowed backwards (like rowing is normally done). 

We made it all the way to the island in the river which we had not seen yet.

 

We traveled a little ways past the island which was about halfway to the headsprings.  We got further up the river than we ever had but stopped when the battery was about at 25% to 30% because we did not want the battery to go all the way down and have to paddle back up the canal.

We tied off and ate our lunch and then Chuck guided the boat as we floated back down the river.

We saw the monkeys again today....

 

...and more birds...

 

...and we even saw a wild hog this time.

 

While Chuck was guiding us back down the river, I even had a chance to play around with my camera and get some really cool shots:

Right before we got to the canal, I finally got a picture of the wood ducks we had seen almost every time.

We were able to use the trolling motor to get back up the canal so that was nice.  After we loaded up the boat and headed out of the park, we got behind tractor pulling a wagon with a bride and her bridesmaids.

There was a wedding ceremony going on in front of the Ocala Boat Club at the ramp.

While we were still not very pleased with the Porta-Bote's performance, we were glad we made it further up the river this time.