Traveling Through Northern Florida (Mayport NAS, FL)

Gorgeous weather!  A little hot and humid, but not so bad to keep us indoors.  We stayed almost two weeks at Eglin AFB FamCamp in the Florida Panhandle.  We were stationed on this base in the 90s.  We explored the whole area from Okaloosa Island to Tyndall AFB where we lived before moving to Eglin (yea, big move that year).

It was interesting to see how the areas have grown and changed.  

The beach areas have changed immensely over the years.

 Destin was our favorite spot with its boardwalk filled with entertainment, restaurants, stores, and people watching.

We also visited St. Andrews State Park and walked the beaches.  A hazy day, but the birds did not mind.

The beaches near Okaloosa Island Boardwalk looked so inviting.  Just look at all that white sand and gorgeous water!

In less than two weeks, we went from the Gulf coast to the Atlantic.  During our travel east, we spent four wonderful days in the Suwannee River State Park.  The campground had good shade and plenty of space to spread out.  No complaints from the kitties!

We did a lot of walking along the park's trails.  Our favorite trail was along the Lime Sink Run that runs into the Suwannee River.  Not a very pretty name for such a beautiful spring fed river.

This pole marks the year and height of the water during the past floods.  It was hard to imagine the water being that far above our heads.  The state park is so well maintained and shows no signs of deteriorating from the more recent floods.

We are settled at Mayport NAS FamCamp until next Friday.  A couple of palm trees with an ocean breeze....well, it feels like paradise.  Dusty begs to go outside as soon as we are up, but he has to wait for one of us to take him out since the rules do not allow pets to be tethered by themselves.  Works for him since he prefers company most of the time.

Dusty is under the trees and Hitch is under the table

The beach is a nice easy walk from our site - only .5 miles.  The base has about a mile of beach blocked from the public for the patriots to enjoy

The birds certainly enjoy this area.

We found out there are quite a few feral cats living along the jetty area.  Talking to one cat caregiver, we also found out that the ones fixed have their left ear cropped.  There are over 20 cats living here now.  She and her kids give them water and food every day.  For once, we will not feel guilty about leaving these cats behind.  We have been stopping by every morning to see how they are doing.

Of course, we have also been giving them food and water.  So many look too thin...including this poor little guy or girl.

We almost scared the raccoon away when we first showed up, but we managed to coax it back to eat more food.  We haven't seen it lately.  We hope she or he will return before we leave.

Next stop will be in the Orlando area in a Thousand Trails campground for 3 weeks.
Happy Trails!

Spring Has Sprung and We Are Moving On (Summerdale, AL)

We left Livingson TX earlier this month.  We were happy to leave the area.  The people were friendly, but we were getting bombarded by caterpillars dropping out of trees and bitten by fire ants.  Plus, we were on a busy intersection with the laundry building across the street.  Vehicles were driving by all through the night.  We were beginning to think we were living among a bunch of insomniacs!

Two days and four hundred plus miles later, we settled into another Escapees' park in Summerdale, AL.  After we settled in, we decided to stay for two weeks instead of just for one.  The sites are large with trees giving plenty of shade and it is very quiet.

The alley behind our rig is wide and a lush green...thanks to all the rain, of course.  Plenty of space for the cats to explore without going into someone's site.

Speaking of cats, we met another full time RV couple with eight cats and they were right across the street from us.  They had several that enjoyed being outdoors and walked on leashes.  It was funny to watch our cats watching each other from across the road.  

I saw the cats across the street.  They are not moving in, right?

Dusty and Squirrel were especially curious about the cats across the street.  We spent some time exchanging cat tales, remedies, and problems with the couple.  They have moved on, but we hope to see them again someday.

Sandy finds the RV portal homes in the park here rather nice.  This plan allows the RV to intigrate with the house.  Most of the Escapees parks only offer a site with a storage shed or a tiny house.  There's quite a variety of homes inside this park.  Some have a regular house, while some sites only have a portal for their rig. Sandy wanted to share some photos of the style she thought to be the best designs for living in a motorhome with a house.

Most have the large RV portal in the middle with a smaller garage or carport on one side and a small living area on the other side.

This last one is a little different with the RV portal on one side with the living quarters in the center.

 All the sites have large lots and are set so far back that we barely noticed some of the houses as we walked along the road.

Motorhome's side of house

We like this park quite a bit, but it isn't in a good location for us. 

When the sun was out, or at least it wasn't raining, we did manage to get out a couple of times and explore the area.

We went to a Strawberry festival on the first weekend.  We enjoyed walking around, checking out the local vendors, the car show, and the food, especially the strawberry shortcakes.

We even signed up for winning a tractor OR $2,000.  No, we were not that lucky.

We spent one day driving along the ocean from Orange Beach to Pensacola and stopped in one of the Florida State Parks to renew our park pass.  This turned out to be a great place to stretch our legs too.

The views were wonderful and there seemed to be several miles of boardwalks for visitors.  It was nice to walk over the swampy areas and waterways instead of walking through loose sand.

For the last couple of days, we have been exploring Foley.  We found this Foley Railroad Museum at the Foley Centennial Plaza Park.  The train display had so much detail that it was hard to see it all.

There were trains going in different directions, a hobo camp, a fire in a fireworks building, a carnival, and a drive-in theater with Lucille Ball show playing on the big screen.  It was amazing and the kids loved it....so did the adults!

We stopped at Gelato Joe's for some delicious desserts even though their salads looked so inviting along with many of the lunch specials that we were seeing at different tables.

Foley Centennial Plaza

Well, our time has come to an end for this area.  We are heading east to Florida.  We plan to stay at Ft. Walton Beach at Eglin AFB, and probably Tyndall AFB in Panama City after that.  Hopefully, the weather will co-operate and give us more sunshine for beach time!
Happy Trails!

March Madness? (Conroe, TX)

It has been a slow month for us except for Dan fixing broken items in the motorhome, both of us running errands, and shopping.  We left Columbus over two weeks ago after the big cold front came through Texas bringing with it two days of rain with Flash Flood Warnings.  We spent the day watching the Colorado river rise behind our site.  We could not leave the park because the small stream at the entrance had flooded the small bridge. 

Lucky for us, the weather cleared up just before we got back on the road.  Dusty was not a happy camper about leaving our site.  He wanted more time to hunt for gofers or moles.  He was positive he was going to catch one any day now.

 We did not spend much time exploring the area, but Sandy managed to get a few photos of birds around the park while walking the cats.

Bluebird

White Pelicans on the river

We arrived on Conroe Lake to a very soggy campground.  We had a hard time finding a decent spot because we did not realize it was Spring Break.  The park was booming with families everywhere.

We finally found a 'less mud and more grass' site on the backside of the park with a field behind us.  We cannot see the lake from the site, but it is a short walk and we are down there almost every day.  The view is wonderful and the ducks come up to see if we have some food for them.  Once they realize we don't have food for them, they take off in a hurry....no food...no photos!

We will be heading east in early April.  We made a change in our travel plans.  We decided we were ready for another winter in Key West and cancelled our winter stay in Arizona.  Instead of heading west, we will be making our way east.  Florida!  Here we come!

Happy Trails

Birds, Alligators, and River Rats? (Rockport-Fulton, TX)

We have been enjoying our stay in the Rockport-Fulton area for the last three weeks.  We realized that we have missed the Gulf coast shores quite a bit, so we are making up for lost time with walks along the beach and visiting nearby wildlife preserves.

One of our first visits was to Aransas National Wildlife Refuge.  This turned into a longer drive than anticipated.  We had to drive all the way around to the far side to the entrance.  About an hour later, past several farmer's fields, we finally arrived and were rewarded with close-up views of the resident alligators.

Our favorite sighting was of this little guy scavenging around the edge of water for food.  He did not seem to be too worried about us following his progress down the trail.

We saw a few birds, but none them were close enough for good photos...

Osprey

except for this Yellow-rumped Warbler that was flying over our heads.

yellow rumped warbler

We have been getting in our walking miles around the campground and at the Rockport Beach.  There are definitely better views, not to mention, a lot more entertainment at the beach.  

Rockport Beach City Park

We even saw dolphins yesterday in the canal.  No photos this time.  Hopefully, we will have a second chance for photo ops. 

Across from the park, we can see the water front homes on Key Allegro.

Key Allegro

Every house has water access by canal.

We could not ask for a more serene walk with lovely views and all of this is close to downtown and shopping areas.

On our way back to the car, we passed the fish cleaning station.  There were several pelicans floating nearby, but the Heron was the only brave one to stay close by for a snack.

We took the ferry to Port Aransas.  The ferry is free, but on busy days you are going to have a longer wait in line than the time actually on the ferry.  Still, they are quick and efficient.  The ride is so short, it is not worth getting out of the car to watch for dolphins.

ferry crossing - Port Aransas

 We wandered around Port Aransas for awhile.  Not quite sure what to do.  We were not in the mood for browsing beach wear stores or going to the beach since we would need to pay for parking.

 We had lunch at Port A Pizzeria and we were happy to find out that they accommodated vegetarians by adding a veggie pizza to the buffet for us.  So, after eating lunch, we decided to go to the Birding Center.

Roseate Spoonbills

 That turned out to be a good choice for us.

There was so much activity going on with ducks quacking, birds flying by or hunting in the water that we were having a hard time knowing where to look next.

Ruddy Duck

And then we saw this guy - a Nutria or big river rat!  According to the sign, they are considered a pest and destroy a lot of the vegetation.

 And yet, they were everywhere.  There was even a nest of little ones sleeping with the turtles.

 Just before we left, we saw this hawk perched above the walkway.  He looked like he was waiting for the sun to go down.  He ignored all the people taking his photo.  Such a regal looking fellow.

While we were at the Birding Center, Dan found out where to find Whooping Cranes from another woman.  We found them in a farmer's field across the street from the Big Tree near Goose Island State Park.

They were too far away from the fence to get a good closeup, but Sandy did manage to get a couple of decent action shots.

We realized that we  missed seeing the different wildlife along the gulf coast.  With warmer weather, we hope to see more activity and new sightings.  We will be moving north west of Houston soon.  In the meantime, we are going to soak up all the warm sunshine and breath in as much sea air as possible.

Happy Trails!