St Johns River FL....testing mods

We left Lake Monroe Park for 6 days on the water....trip up the river was beautiful....we decided right away we could get around the loss of the seating that the new fridge took up....nice not to have to pay for ice...plenty of room for food..milk..cold water...plus a small tray of ice for our nightly wine-cooler....the solar shower worked very well...even on an overcast day with only a few hours of sunshine ..we had enough warm water for showers.

Our first stop was on the backside of Hoontoon Island. There are hiking trails to the Indian Shell Mounds..They also have a nice dock with elec. and water hookups, campsites and showers, on the riverside....the museum and video are worth the stop. After a hike...supper and a good nights sleep we headed N on the river to Silver Glen Springs....One of our favorite spots...crystal clear water with a year round temp of 72 deg...feels very cold in the summer and warm in the winter....there are gators so you dont swim after dark...and they usually arnt seen in the anchorage...but they are out there...We see these two each trip...3-4 fter on the log and the one in the water behind him is 5-6 ft...the turtle is pretty good sized and seeing them sun themselves with smaller gators is pretty common..I like the way they balance themselves and spread their feet to catch all the rays they can...We had a beautiful sunset.

The next morning was pretty cool and we were beached in the shade...so we decided to head to Salt River Springs and get out into the sunshine instead of running the generator and heater...Once the sun hit us we warmed up nicely....Salt River Springs has a nice river to run to get to it...lots of gators and birds...Anhingas, White Herons, Blue Herons, Bald Eagles I havnt seen any gators in the spring area but with all the vegetation in the water I dont spend a lot of time in it....quick dip and out....We beached in a side creek. It has a nicely mowed bank for bank fishing...good place to walk the dogs..... Both of these Springs are off the W side of Lake George....Silver Glen Springs seems to be the most popular...weekends and holidays are very crowded...party time....Salt River has more fishing boats.....and is quieter with a nice fresh spring for filling your water jugs...if you dont mind a mile or so walk you can get to a grocery store.....they have a small marina and campground...but no supplies other than charts and icecream, ice and souveniers. We have a few more changes to make...nothing major...just to make things handier...still trying to figure out where we are going to stow all the charts, clothes, books etc..