Trouble Sleeping

Ocala, Florida

Weather: low 75 degrees, high 97 degrees, mostly clear skies early, then rain in Dunnellon, no rain in Ocala where we are camped

Last night was a bad one for sleep. I didn't get into the bed until about 2330 hours, and sleep was very slow in coming. Up at 0030 hours, 0230 hours, and 0430 hours, when I decided I might as well read some to see if sleep would come more readily. In my work life, getting up at 0430 hours would have meant that it was time to get ready to go to work. When I'm awake at that time now, it's usually because I'm having trouble sleeping. After reading for about 30 minutes, I went back to bed and was able to sleep until about 0800 hours.

So, the question is why did I have so much trouble sleeping? Well, there were a couple of reasons, but I think the main reason was that I kept having to get up and go to the restroom. In other words, I may have had too much to drink yesterday. No, not the alcoholic type of drink, which might have helped me sleep better. I don't usually have this problem, and can't remember drinking a lot of fluids yesterday. But, there I was, getting up several times throughout the night. Here's hoping I won't have the same problem tonight.

We are starting to get hitch itch, but can't go anywhere for almost three more weeks. I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow, and then another one on the 11th of August. These doctor appointments are all followups from my recent stay in the hospital with pneumonia, and we don't want to cancel them because I need to take better care of my health. We're looking at some things that we can go do within about one hundred miles of where we're staying. More news on that as we get the plans completed. One place we're thinking about going to is the Stephen Foster State Park. I visited the park with a school class when I was in the sixth grade (that was a long time ago!). Then, we took our girls there when they were little. It was impressive enough to us that we would like to go back, even if some people may think it's not politically correct because it depicts plantation life in the south back in the early 1800s. We enjoy the beautiful dioramas and Stephen Foster's music.

In an attempt to scratch our itch just a little, we drove back over to the Dunnellon area to do some more sightseeing of the countryside. Only one thing wrong: it rained almost the whole time we were in the area, which tends to restrict the enthusiasm a little. Finally, we said the heck with it and came back home, where the skies were clear and it hadn't rained. It's amazing the difference that 20 miles can make in the weather.

More later, be safe.

Today's Town - Asheville, North Carolina: Paris Of The South

Not all who wander are lost.