Mary and I had cold cereal then took the dogs on a walk around "the square" in the neighborhood. As we walked we discussed the weather forecast for the coming week. A huge cold air mass is heading for most of the Eastern US including Florida. Mush of the Midwest, including Cincinnati, Georgetown and Huntington have been in deep snow and ice for over two weeks already with more in the forecast. This would bring near freezing temperatures to the Homosassa area as well as wind and thunderstorms. We decided that the best plan would be to leave for Kentucky after the dogs were fed and walked this afternoon.
Mary spent the morning cleaning, doing laundry and continuing to pack for our return home. I spent more time trying to clean the adhesive from the side of Mark's boat. I carried most of our things out to the car and into the trunk.
The neighbor from the house on stilts came over while we were loading. She had her father, Jimmy Williams, with her. He is a nice 92-year-old man who is a lifelong Florida resident and was a logger for many years. His daughter was trying to turn the water main off in anticipation of subfreezing temperatures. The saltwater and mud from the Hurricane Helene flood made the valve difficult to turn. I sprayed it with WD-40 and was able to turn it off with a crescent wrench after soaking for a few minutes.
We had a lunch of leftovers with coconut shrimp and fries from Thursday's dinner at Marguerita Grill. We also had some leftover potato soup from earlier in the week.
After scanning a map of the area, we decided to walk around an area about 30 minutes to the south that is a part of Chassahowitzka Wildlife Management Area that we hadn't visited. The Annutteliga Hammock area has 570 acres with 8 miles of easy trails through sandy soil. It was a beautiful day with temperatures approaching 80 degrees but there was a slight comfortable breeze. As we walked, we saw a lot of tracks but three deer were the only wildlife that we saw.
When we returned to the house, we took the dogs on a short walk on Standish and Battle Creek then put the last-minute items in the car, locked up and left by 3:30 pm. We hoped to get to Atlanta by the time we stopped for the night.
The drive north through Crystal River took longer than we expected because the Manatee Festival was going on. We were listening to playlists on my old iPod Touch to make the ride go by faster, Clouds were rolling in as predicted before the forecast storms to hit the area.
We took US 98 all the way to Chiefland then cut east to pick up I-75 north near Lake City. We stopped for dinner at an Arby's Restaurant near Lake City, Florida. The restaurant was attached to a TA gas station and was very slow but we enjoyed our sandwiches as we continued driving north. We enjoyed the break before driving on to Forsyth, Georgia where we stayed at a Travelodge near the exit. The room was only $50 for the night and was an older motel in need of a remodel but it was clean and quiet, so we were fine with the room and the rate.
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