Enjoying our Irma Evacuation!

Our previous post described day 1 of our evacuation from the Orlando area ahead of Hurricane Irma. We had a good night in Defuniak Springs and hit the road again in the morning, continuing west on I-10.  Traffic was heavier than the day before, though at least we didn't have to go through more storms.

As we traveled through Alabama and into Mississippi, we saw many other Florida license plates traveling along with us.  Because most of these folks were evacuating just like us, we were a bit worried that we wouldn't be able to nab a site at a campground we'd visited before (see this blog post from May 2016) and really enjoyed at Jeff Davis Lake.  We really didn't want to travel any farther so were crossing our fingers and toes!

Barry thought there might only be a 50/50 chance that we'd find a free site since the campground is small (only 13 RV sites) and popular with fishermen, and Thursday arrivals are common for folks who want to ensure they get a site for the weekend.  

We got lucky!  Due to the fact that this small campground doesn't seem to be well-known outside the local area, only two sites were occupied when we arrived in the mid afternoon, and we nabbed an excellent one right on the lake.  

About an hour after we arrived, another rig pulled in next to us, and a little later that day, a fifth rig arrived.  That was to be the sum total of arrivals for the weekend; much to our surprise, no one arrived on Friday or Saturday!  Most of the others seemed to be friends and/or relatives who come here often.

Here's the lovely view from our site as well as some photos of Pearl as seen from the other side of the small but very pretty lake.

We did bring along some unwanted guests:  love bugs!   It is the season, and Barry had a big cleaning effort for the first couple of days here scrubbing all the little devils off the windshield and Pearl's front panel and grill.  

The weather has been gorgeous since we arrived, with low humidity, pleasant breezes over the lake, and cool evenings.  After getting acclimated to the Florida heat and humidity, it feels like fall and is a nice respite.  It doesn't appear that we'll get any heavy wind or even any rain from Irma, so we are very relieved with the spot we picked to ride this one out.

The cycling is excellent here, a big reason we love this campground so much.  From our campsite, it's about 2 miles over to the Longleaf Trace, a paved rail-trail, mostly on a very hilly connector trail. Once on the Trace, the grades are mild, and there are very few other trail users this time of year, so we feel like we have the trail all to ourselves. We can ride into the small town of Prentiss just a couple of miles north for groceries or south to several other small towns.  

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Barry riding the connector trail to the Longleaf Trace

Big grades on the Contrail

But easy going on the Trace!

Emily riding the Longleaf Trace

Paisley has also been enjoying our time here in Mississippi. There's a part of the park we can walk to where there is never a soul after dinner, so we can let her off leash to chase her ball for awhile.  She sleeps very well after these sessions!

Although Irma has passed through Florida now, we don't know exactly when we'll start making our way back to Winter Garden.  We need to know that there are gas stations open and with fuel along the way, the roads aren't too clogged with returning evacuees, and our campground there has full utilities.  Once we are sure we're in the clear, we'll head back.

We hope everyone reading this from Irma's path is safe and dry!