Ocala Part 3

“I'll let y'all in on a little secret........
lizs, the straight talking midwesterner, secretly LOVES all those big ol' Southern HUGS we all welcome our special friends with.

Yep, it's true. So everyone be SURE to welcome lizs to Ocala with a big ol' HUG!!!! I know I will!!!”

“who said that i was actually going to be there to fill your void?”

“I have a tendency to pass gas when I'm squeezed.”

“people are flying?
to walk on flat dirt?

freaky!"
radagast

Hey man, I met you at Mt Rogers for all of about 30 seconds. I'm flying down just to see you.


and all the freaky people.


and to beat the tar out of that dorkette known as Lizs.”

“Whoa, fight fight fight fight!”

“LOL! Wellll, she did call me old, on more than 1 occasion. Da noive of the wench!”

“Well, um.... you are.”

“Already lines are forming at Grassy Pond as they wait the arrival of Lizs. OK, folks, the left line is for huggers, the right line is for the fighters. Hey, get back in line there, yes, you, holding the lime green jello.”

“On I-10 you can go 90 until you hit the Qunicy exit outside Tally and then 90 again after the last Tally exit - but SLOW DOWN when you get close to the Madison exit (student catching speed trap) and then 90 again until you get close to 75.”

“Coop says he will pay any tickets, if his advice proves faulty.

I don't have to worry. I've never had a car that could do 90.”

“Thanks Coop! Sorry you can't make the trip, but take care of that family!

I'm all packed and about to load the truck. I'll work a half day tomorrow and then leave for FL from work. Woo Hoo!”

“Wow, I'm gone for a few hours and look what happens. Two lines of greeters for MOI!!

LMFAO!!!”

“It has changed again...for the better:

Thu
Feb 05 Partly Cloudy 82°/60° 10%
Fri
Feb 06 AM Showers 81°/54° 30%
Sat
Feb 07 Partly Cloudy 64°/34° 20%
Sun
Feb 08 Sunny 64°/34° 10%”

“Glad I'm not going....too hot...

:(”

“J/K....y'all be safe and have a GREAT time!!!!!!”

“Shoot, I would like to meet ya, divinity. Dang!”

“Come visit Alabama in March!!!!”

“Thinking about it....... :-)”

“Too hot! It's 20F here right now, I'd love to go down there and get stuck in 80F weather.”

“SS, I wanted to be the first to tell you have a safe trip! Since I will be sleeping this AM. See ya when I see ya!

To all those who aren't showing for this hike. You will be missed...and talked about! j/k”

“Dang, I still need to pack!”

“For this trip, water is over half my pack weight.”

“Like you have much packweight to begin with ,WD!”

“It's Florida. All ya need is Food, Water, Bug repellant, & speedos.”

“PICS...
I want PICS of our TTers in SPEEDOS!!!!”

“OUTTA HERE! bye... see ya”

“I'll pass on those pictures, thanks.”

“Uh-oh - I was using metric speeds - I'm sure SS knew that - he's an engineer.

Have fun everybody!”

“DANG IT!!!!
I forgot to pack my DEET bug spray! Been going over my mental list.
Havn't got anything done at work today. Too excited. This 1/2 day was a waste. Should have just hit the road this morning. Thank goodness I just had an unimportant meeting this morning.

Hitting I-10 in less than an hour. Woo Hoo!”

“No worries.
Wally world is everywhere.”

“Only problem with Wally World is it takes you a frigging half hour to get through checkout!”

“Maybe you could just drive through the joint like the blues brothers did.”

“you mean the Frogg Toggs Blues brothers”

“We're on a mission from God.”

“Ya know this place is going to be dead this weekend.”

“Hey!
Does Lake City have a Wal-Mart close to I-75?”

“I'm not sure where but it does have a WalMart. It can't be too far off of 75 it ain't that big a town.

There is a super Walmart about 10 min north of Buckman Lock.”

“Woo Hoo!!!!
I'm leaving work and hitting the road in about 5 minutes!”

“25 minutes and I go pick up Trooper and we are southbound.

Expect to get there around midnight to 1 or so.

Someone have the beer cold.

Cottonsocks will be staying home for more tests on the hips. It appears she has osteoporosis.”

“Osteoporosis at her age? How much soda does she drink? Does Osteo run in her family? Zowie!”

“Osteoporosis at her age? How much soda does she drink? Does Osteo run in her family? Zowie!”

“oops”

“Treebait, yes, too much soda.

Yes, in her family.

I suspect a new diet is coming down the chute. Hopefully, this can be put under control.”

“They've got really good medications for increasing bone density now.”

“Yep. She is really upset and I hate to leave town, but I have Trooper coming with me and she has already obtained approved leave for this trip. Cottonsock is strong enough to understand.”

“Exercise helps too. My 84-year-old grandmother was able to increase her bone density by eating right and exercising. I think she was eating some of those Caltrate thingies...”

“Somehow, I don't think backpacking exercise was helping.”

“That might be too stressful, chili...my grandmother was just taking a 2 mile walk everyday.

When did she break her hip?”

“Ok, I just spoke to Tex.
Her son was at Hopkins Prairie campground and was told that Grassy Pond was closed.

All that means is that they turn off the water as Grassy pond is a primative site and they can not close access to the Florida Trail so the only issue is water.

We will still meet at GRassy Pond at 9am on Friday. Just be aware that we will most likely need to get water in route to Buckman Lock.

Tex said that she had a few gallons of water in her truck and I will bring a few also but if that doesn't take care of everyone then we can stop by the Salt Springs marina and tank up.

No worries, just be aware of it.”

“Thanks. I will snag a couple gallons on the way.”