I’m in Dade City for my last build of the year.   It’s just an hour from Ocala, so I’ll probably come down once a week and build with them as a local volunteer.   The campground is actually a field in a neighborhood.   There were houses here once, but they came down and a Habitat neighborhood was built.   This affiliate gets most of their work done in the winter, by Care-A-Vanners.   They have 6-8 spaces and they are full during the winter months.   We spent the 3 weeks I was here building a house with 2 showers, a kitchen and laundry room for the RVers.   The front of the house has one large room that will be used by a local volunteer to live in.   They actually have a pretty nice set up here, the house will have a pavilion out back and they have a large BBQ/picnic area overlooking a pond that is home to a lot of different birds.   Once this house is done, they will remove several sheds and double the camping spaces.   One side will be for several permanent winter residents , includ

When I arrived in the park in Ocala, I was surprised to find that I was the only camper there.   It’s a very small campground, only 23 sites, but I thought there would be more people there.   The reason this is one of my favorite places is because its right on the Florida Greenway, a series of hiking trails connecting to the larger Florida Trail.   So of course bright and early the next morning, I went for a long hike.   On the way back, there was a guy behind me who struck up a conversation of sorts.   Apparently he was lost, as in, on the wrong trail.   He said he should have ended up at a completely different trailhead then the one we were headed to.   Rather then turn around, he kept going.   He also told me he was hunting mushrooms,   the kind that cures cancer. He walked on the trail for a while then I let him pass me while took a water break.   The rest of the hike he would appear out of the woods with mushrooms in his hand, the disappear again when he spotted another patch.  

I had a great two weeks in Nashville, for most of my visit the weather was great and there were so many sights to see.      I headed to downtown Nashville with a long list of things to do.   As I was looking for someplace to park, who should walk in front of my truck but Trace Atkins!   I just stupidly sat there thinking this can’t really be him, can it?   All I can say, if it wasn’t, it was his twin.    After a quick stop at the visitors center, I had tickets to the Grand Ole Opry, Country Music Hall of Fame, Studio B and Ryman Auditorium.   Of the 4, I think the most interesting was the Country Music Hall of Fame.   I’ve listened to country music all my life, so I knew who almost all of the people were.   The biggest exhibits were of the old timers, like from the 50’s and 60’s.   They did have some cool displays like Elvis Presley’s gold piano and the car from Smokey and the Bandit.   I also took a tour of Studio B - one of the world's most important and successful recordi