All spread out

Day 196
Orlando FL

With a population of just over 2 million people, Orlando gives folks quite a bit to see. There are very few large buildings beyond downtown. Our first stop of the day was 1 1/2 hours from base camp. We plowed through traffic in Orlando and dropped south to Kissimmee Florida. The RV store Camping World had a portable gray tank in stock. With our fancy new tank on board we depart to walk the streets of historic downtown Kissimmee. It's got a real cool Cuban vibe going on. Katie spots a junk store and we head in.

A quick power walk of the store means it is back to Shirley for the next leg of the day. It's going to be a lot of driving today so we need to keep up the pace in order to take it all in. Lake Eola park is plugged into the GPS. Forty five minutes of stop and go (insert Wisconsin accent for the drawn out OOOOOO) traffic later we finally arrive.

It's a pretty cool little lake right in the middle of downtown. A cattle farmer bought 200 acres of land back in 1873 and donated this lake and the surrounding land in 1883 to the city. Wrapped around the edge is a 1 mile walking trail. 

Government organizations were proud to spend taxpayer dollars to put little signs up next to nesting swans. They even went the extra step to let you know they are being watched via surveillance. I'm not sure if it was to keep curious tourists away or the random homeless people. Oh yes my friends. The wandering herd of homeless people have found yet another place to call home. We saw one dude with a case of Budweiser sitting under a sign that said "NO ALCOHOL" sipping away without a care in the world. The other lady was having a full blown conversation with herself until we walked by. At that point she summoned up the strength to quiet the voices in her head and ask us for money. Another gorgeous town setting stained with a cities lack of ambition to help it's homeless population.

It's back to Penny to dump the gray and finish out our day. This 12 gallon plastic container will be used to take gray water (sink and showers) from our RV to a dump station. Why do we need this? Because a lot of places we will be going do not have a sewer hook up at the camping sites. That means packing up Penny every couple of days just to move across the campground to drain the tanks. An absolute pain in the ass without this $65 sewer tank on wheels.

The end of the day is near. Katie and I head down to the water to look for more manatees before the sun goes down. It's drizzling rain and cloudy outside. Turned out to be a great time to see the place in a natural state.