End of The Road (Key West, FL)

We cut our stay in Central Florida short by two weeks.  We were ready to be in Key West despite being in the middle of hurricane season.  So far, the weather has been cooperating - up to now.  We kept an eye on T.S. Danny.  That one has been down graded, but on its heels comes Erika and this one is a lot stronger and heading towards southern Florida.  We are waiting to see if the base evacuates everyone. 

We have been leaving our large awning out and strapped down for better shade, but that turned out to be a mistake with the unpredictable weather.  We had one bad storm take us by surprise around 11:30 pm one night.  It ripped the canvas hinge that attaches the awning to the roof of our large awning on one end before we could wrestle it away from the wind and get it rolled up.  We were one of the lucky ones.  Several rigs had their awnings ripped off the upright arms and over their roofs.  Awning repair parts for a new hinge $90, so not too bad.  The original was weathered and replacement was due.

While we wait to hear more from T.S. Erika, here are a few photos of our travels to and of Key West.  Who can resist this invite to sit under the palm tree for a relaxing afternoon?

We spent one night in Midway State Park near Big Cypress and Everglades National Park.  We arrived early in the day and decided to visited Big Cypress NP visitor's center.

There were plenty of alligators to view while they swam around in lazy circles.  They certainly give off a lazy carefree attitude with only their tail moving and legs hanging limp.  Just gliding across the water barely making a ripple in the water...sneaking up on an unsuspected meal.  Most of the alligators ignored the people except for this one.  He swam straight up to us and stopped.  Three young Eastern Europeans stood beside us as the alligator stared up at us.  One of them turned to Sandy and said it all - "Frightening!".  Agree!  Not something we would want to run into in a small kayak.

This guy was our only neighbor at the state park.  The cats loved having all that open space to explore.  It's too bad we could not spend more time outside, but the mosquitoes were vicious even with bug spray!

A sight we have been looking forward to for almost two years - the 7 Mile Bridge.  Good-bye Mainland!  Hello Key West!

We are happy to say that Key West looks about the same.  Beautiful views, iguanas,

different sea/water birds to watch and of course...

many feral chickens running around entertaining tourists while annoying the locals.

We found out that during the off-season some of the museums offer discounts or free entrances to the military and retired military.  We took advantage of the offers and visited several places.  The Audubon House was actually owned by the Greiger family.  Captain John Greiger made his family fortune in wrecking/salvation.  A business that made many locals wealthy before the US government came along.

Audubon House 

It turns out that Audubon did not stay in this house during his six week visit with the Greiger family.  He had visited the family in their first house.  This house was built after a hurricane took out the old family home, but he did write about his stay with them along with Key West foliage and wild life.   The house and the gardens were quite interesting.

As you can see, we had to do all the tourist-type things like get our photos at the SouthernMost Point.

Here comes another cruise behind the Conch Blower.  A welcome for everyone.

So, our fingers are crossed that we do not have to evacuate, but we are ready to head north if the base decides it is not safe to stay,

Until then we will keep enjoying the views and the lovely sunsets...

Happy Trails!

Hot On The Trail South (Clermont, FL)

Actually, we are cooling our heels in Central Florida while waiting out a good part of hurricane season before traveling to Key West.  And to tell you the truth, our heels are not cooling either since we are spending every day walking around the park, or in stores, or in state parks.  Florida has been hot and humid with mid 90s, but feels more like 102+ degrees.  So we walk early in the mornings and again in the evenings if there are no thunderstorms.

Site near Peace River

Speaking of thunderstorms, they have some big boomers here.  Lightning so close that the light and thunder are together causing Sandy and cats to jump.  We had one last night with two fronts meeting over our area.  We spent the evening watching the dark clouds come together from different directions with the winds shifting.  It has been awhile since we have seen such storms develop.

We like outside...we go outside now?

The cats have been enjoying their time here. They beg to go out every couple of hours.  Dusty (far right) even begged Sandy one night around 3 am by trotting up to the door and crying.  When she did not follow him, he came back and started over again.  "Ah come on!  Nice outside!"

pygmy rattlesnake behind our motorhome sleeping near the woods

We walk around our site to make sure there are no unpleasant visitors for our cats to play with...especially the snakes.  

our latest entertainment - Sandhill Cranes

The Sandhill Cranes usually alert and walk away if they see our cats.

They ignore us as long as we don't get too close.  Sandy tried to shoo them away one day so the cats could come out and they did not budge from their prime spot under the tree. "Silly woman.  Is she trying to fly?"

Most of the time, we enjoy watching them while they hunt for food which seems to be 24/7.

Plenty of lakes, swamps and rivers to view in Central Florida.  It is a very peaceful area when we are away from the more populated areas.  Many of the campers in the area have some kind of boat or water related gear packed onto their cars and rigs.  Definitely a water world area.

We also visited Downtown Disney for a change of pace.  We found it was a great way to experience Disney fun without paying parking fees or entrance fees.

We spent most of the time wandering around and window shopping.

We have visited a few state parks.  The photos below are from Paynes Creek Historic State Park. 

Suspended bridge in Paynes Creek Historic SP

 There was little left of the historic sites, but walking the trails were interesting and the bridge was fun to cross.

We were told there had been sightings of alligators, but we did not see a single one.  Maybe they are on holiday and went to the beach for a change of pace.  Nothing like a good salt bath!  ;)

A couple of milestones were recognized since our last post:  this is our 6th year on the road with no thoughts of slowing down our travels and.......we celebrated our 40th Anniversary! 

Dan and Sandy 1975

We will start moving farther south around mid-August.  Our plans are to be in Key West by September(?) even though we know it is still hurricane season until the end of November.  It is nice to experience Key West before the busy tourist season starts in December/January.  Last year, the snowbirds arrived quite a bit earlier, probably due to the extreme winter season.

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!