Umatilla

We are camped at The Old Mill Stream RV park in a small town north of Orlando and on the edge of the Ocala National Forest. We are with 39 other Born Free Coaches.This is a small rally but they plan a lot of fun activities like a White Elephant Auction (anyone want a singing chicken?), Bingo, coach yard sale (got rid of some mugs and a jug of distilled water), Pizza and Wine parties and entertainment by The Amazzing Steel Drum Band (I loved the music!).

As we were driving into Umatilla we stopped at the National Forest visitor center and discovered they have lots of OHV (Off Highway Vehicle) trails and maps to show the way. We decide this morning to take one of those trails since there wasn't much going on at the rally. Of course, that meant totally unloading the rear of the Jeep so all the golf bags, snorkel gear, fishing box & poles and waders, bicycle bag, etc had to find a place in the RV. The first leg of the trip was down a sandy, well used road. We tired of that and found a very narrow trail that looked interesting. It went thru some very dense forest that closed in on the trail, a few very sandy areas and one big mud puddle and then "the log". We got out, looked it over, picked a path and then proceeded to go over "the log". But one thing we didn't count on was the sand, the very soft sand that we sunk into and high centered the Jeep on the log and we were STUCK! It took over an hour of gathering sticks, jacking up the front axle and forcing the sticks under the wheel so that we could raise the axle off the log and then drive off. We backed out!

But we did it and we have learned some valuable new lessons. Number one -- sand is soft and even the Jeep sinks in fast! Number two -- I now fully understand what 'high centering' really means.

This is our location through Sunday morning.