Anniversary Camping Day 3 and ride home

 I woke up around 7 AM and started moving around. By now I figured it would be really cold, but I was surprised with 69 degrees and a balmy SE wind.   Weird as a big cold front that would ultimately bring snow to the panhandle was already filling in from the night before.

Also, it had not started to rain yet.  I stolled over to the bathhouse and snapped this pic on the walk back.

The ground was still dry.   I checked the radar and saw it wouldn't be long, so I climbed back into bed.  An hour later the first band of rain hit and it hit hard.  The wind was 30mph at least with driving rain and coach was rocking back and forth.   We heard the cups blow off the table outside and had a leak up by the driver's seat.

It rained for the next 5.5 hours pretty much non-stop but finally let up around 1:40.

We decided to walk to the beach and took the roundabout way on the nature trail.  Nice 20-30 min walk through the coastal woods noticing how many of the plants and trees are different here than 240 miles south where we live.

Tommy got a photo in along with the flag at half mast in honor of Jimmy Carter's passing.

I was not aware that one of the 5 original houses of refuge was in the park (one was in Delray Beach near my house).   Some cool back story here.

We walked up the beach looking for shells (found a few) and got all the way to Snack Jack's again but me being a big dummy, didn't bring my wallet.

We walked back down the beach and back to the campground.   I didn't feel like cooking as it was all very wet out so we hopped on the bikes and headed back to Snack Jack's.  Opened in 1947 and right on the beach, it looks to be one good hurricane away from the history books so I wanted the experience as it was a classic vintage FL dive bar.

We ordered a pound of steamed shrimp and each had a cup of soup.  It was very tasty, would eat there again in a heartbeat.

This sign was apparently 'liberated' from the park.  It is in KY so now I need to visit there as I looked it up and sounds like a cool park with links back to Thomas Jefferson!

We pedaled back to the site before it got dark and while it stayed overcast the temp was mild and I powered through most of the firewood that was left.

We went to bed and when I woke up for my walk to the bathouse in the morning the weather had changed!   40s with a hard north wind that was damp and biting..   I texted with my friend and we packed up and got off the site and off to meet them for breakfast.    

We had a nice breakfast and talked a bit more, but then the road beckoned.    I still had about 2/3 of a tank which got us all the way down to Melbourne where I took on 28 gallons.   We averaged about 8 on that tank and we made it the rest of the way home in just about 4 hours from Ormand Beach which was pretty decent time in the GMC.

We ran back into rain around Jupiter and it was light misty rain while we unpacked the rig and got everything put away.   

Lucy went to work and hooray Naya stopped by and stayed for dinner so that was a nice treat.

Today was our 24th anniversary and while it was filled with travel and work, we had the rest of the weekend to celebrate and it was a wonderful time.   Looking forward to the next 24 years!

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Anniversary Camping Day 2

 At some point in the pre-dawn hours I woke up to the sound of rain and thought,  "Oh well the front came early and the it will be a crappy day".  I rolled over and went back to sleep.   Woke up around 7:45 or so.   Originally we had planned to go paddling in the morning, however, it was overcast and looked like rain.  On top of that the closest place to launch the SUP was at least a 1/4 mile walk from the camp site.   Even though our site backed up on the Intercoastal Waterway there were no holes in the bushes big enough to get down to the water. I check every site on the river side.  Also, aside from high 50s and drizzle, what I could see through the bushes was pretty marshy and full of mud and tall plants.

Lucy had read the ranger activity list for the month and there was a 10AM talk about bees at the pavillion so we decided to opt for that.    I had also been in contact with a co-worker from the mid-90s that now lived only 15 minutes from the park.   He left FL in the late  '90s for Silicon Valley and we haven't seen each other since (although we re-connected on FB a few years ago).   He said that he and his wife would be by in the early afternoon.

The bee talk was good, we learned a few things about honey bees which was good info as our flowers and passion fruit vines at home attract a good many bees.  By the time the talk was over the clouds were breaking up and it looked like a good afternoon ahead.

We took a walk past the boat ramp where the shore was accessible and explored a bit as the tide was low inside.

View looking west across the ICW toward an undeveloped wetland just north of the Bulow Plantation. Still alot of high overcast but it was burning off. A long stretch of undeveloped land in this area.

We both found live Welks on the shore line that were stranded by the tide.  We helped them out and tossed them a little further out to help their odds against the shorebirds.

As we had a couple of hours before our guests arrived, we pedaled over to check out the surf.  Cleaner that the day before (west wind) but also smaller.  Not very rideable.   I saw a surfer out to the north about 3 or 400 yards so we pedaled up to the snack shack and watched him catch a few marginal knee high dirbblers.   We then did a little tour of the neighborhood as I have been looking at properties in this area for a decade (Wish I had the $$$ 10 years ago!)

Saw a house I lhad seen on Zillow and was surprised how much smaller it was in real life!   Watching the clock we then pedaled back to the park to await our guests.   You can see it cleared up and we had a wonderful sunny afternoon around 70 degrees.

Spending a few hours with my previous supervisor from my software development days was great fun. Catching up and hearing of each others adventures over the past 25+ years I realize we have quite a bit in common (no wonder why he was a great boss, we understood each other!).   Detlef had told me back in the early '90s when I worked for him, "I work to live, not live to work!"   We worked hard at the company, but time off was exatctly that.  Get away from it all and enjoy life.    I have embraced that mantra and will continue to do so with this trip as a perfect example.

Saturday's Dinner was Chili Lime Chicken skewers with couscous and salad, followed by a pallet of wood for entertainment.  I was quite liberal with the fire logs as I figured tomorrow would be a washout..

In making sure we had  enough wood for the next day (we did), we retired around 10:30 to the coach and enjoyed the musical stylings of  Beatmaster Tommy and Hugo the rhythm equine.

The anticipated rain was still hours off when we went to bed....

Anniversary Camping Day 1

 When we got married in 2001, Jan 20th was a Saturday, and it was not an election year and MLK day was a couple of days later.....  Well this year they all fell on the same day.  The happy accident part was a free 3 day weekend for me from work!

I got home Thursday night and pulled the coach out of its  dock on the side of the house.  I had driven it last Sunday AM and aired it out to check systems and gassed it up to save time.  I loaded a few items: the SUP, life jackets and tools.

I burned an off day on Friday and was up and on the load out by 8:30 AM after a run to the store to buy stamps for a letter that needed to go.

I was shooting for a 10:30 AM departure and we were mobile by 10:50.  About 8-9 miles into the trip we got a bit of a scare as the coach filled with the smell of burning clutch or brakes.   As it's an automatic, I figured I might be dragging a brake, so moved over to the exit lane.  Just as I headed down the on ramp, I saw a truck ahead with a lot of smoke coming off the rear axles.    

I pulled into a parking lot and checked out everything with my eyes and nose and we passed, so we got right back on the road as it was over 230 miles to the park.   We hit rain and drizzle around WPB and that lasted up to around Vero Beach.   

We had another quick scare of buring oil, but that was from antoher vehicle also as it didn't last very long.   Stopped for Gas in Melbourne and then a Publix right off 95 on the way to the park as we forgot hot sauce.

The Eagle landed at the park just shy of 4PM.  We did nominal set up {plugged in the electric, turned on the fridge and pulled the bikes off), then headed to the beach.

Good thing Tommy can't read!   He was soaking up the rays on a clear and bright day, temp around 60 and warm in the sun.

Behind the scenes look at Tommy's fashion shoot.

Enjoying a wonderful afternoon, the weather was perfect!

The boys getting ready for the golden hour.  notice the tall shadows.

The park was renamed for Gamble Rogers the famous folk Singer, who gave his life trying to save another man in the rough surf despite suffering from a spinal disease that restricted his movement. Sadly both drowned.

A cool vintage trailer on the beachside campground. I took note of the name of it and promptly forgot....whoops.  Pretty sure it began with a B.

Back on the Riverside Campground, it was pretty dark out, great sky viewing as it was super clear out and the moon wasn't up yet Venus and Sturn at Conjunction.

Wider shot of Saturn and Venus over the trees looking west over the Intercoastal (just behind the trees)

Lovely dinner of fire roasted potatos, Argentinian sausage and a Macadamia Nut, apple and lettuce salad paired with a Cabernet 

My camera does take some cool fire shots...

We wrapped up the fire by 10PM and headed inside to relax.   Woke up around 4-5 AM to a passing shower, but slept very well trying out our new Ceramic Heater (worked well, set to 65, nice and comfy).

Winter Work Break Part 3

 With Sturday night being breezy and windy, we hoped Sunday would be less so.  We woke up to rain again, so we were lazy and slept in.   After breakfast the rain cleared out and we had nothing coming at us on the radar, so we planned on biking.

While Lucy was doing the dishes, I took a walk over to get a better look at this rig.  I saw it on the way in and spoke to the owner who came right over when he saw the GMC.

A 1969 Flixible.  Beautiful condition, the owner did a couple of year restoration on it and it shows.

Super shiny polished Stainless Steel and check out the cool decorative pieces on the back!  The owner said they were original to the bus.

Pretty funny shade for the windshield, he flat tows the pickup behind him.

If you click on the pic, it will blow up so you can read it.  Owner said every bus made was to order, they didn't just make some to sell, so every one out there is a little different.   He had another before this, but this was the one for him.   

Afterwards  we pedaled over to the visitor center and talked to the ranger and signed up for the full moon hike that night.   I studied the trail map and saw that we could ride our bikes on the equestrian trails which is a part of the park I have never checked out before (I have been coming here since the mid 1980s).

I honestly figured we would get wet when we set out.   It was about 2 miles to the trail head and then we chose this loop

Originally, we were going to go a bit further out but about 4 miles in, my bad knee started to hurt, so we opted for the blue trail heading straight south vs. the fork off to the right.   We saw immediately that this was the path less traveled as the grass wasn't trampled down from ranger vehicles or horses.    And the Boars had been busy rooting on it.  I had to get off and walk 4 or 5 times, but we got through it and back on the red trail into a stiff headwind...

There were a couple of areas that were wet with bald cypress, but for the most part it was Pine forest similar to what lines the park road.

Back at the equestrian camp we took a little break in the shade before heading back.   Right when we got to the coach, more rain!  I got wet putting the garbage bags over the bike seats and then jumped inside.

We had about 90 min relaxation period and then headed back over to the visitor center the moon walk,

It was nice, we hiked about a mile and half each way through the pines.   There were clouds to the east so we had to wait for the moon to clear those but it was beautiful.

My phone takes crappy night shots, but you get the idea.

Sunset with Venus in the upper left.

The moon played peek-a-boo all evening and we never got more rain until after bedtime.

A longer exposure catching Jupiter (bright one) and Aldeberan just off to the right.

The ranger had a black light and spied this Lichen on the walk back along the trail.  Pretty cool!

Another great fire night. Burned most of the wood I brought with.   The park really emptied out with less than half of the spots occupied.  I know the combo of rain and Sunday night helped.   It was nice having the place to ourselves.

Got home around 1PM and with the nice breeze, ate my sammy on the front porch taking in the neighborhood.  Successful trip in the books!

WInter Work Break Part 2

 As Lucy had to work Saturday, I had spoken with a friend and he was going to come up with a kayak so we could go play on the river in the afternoon.   This worked out as I spent some time in the morning working on some things I needed to take care of.  

The breeze was steady around 20-30 mph out of the east with passing rain squalls every so often.   The rain wouldn't last long, but some of the squalls had a lot of water with them.  Combined with the overcast and low 70s, maybe not super enticing to go kayaking, but when Scott called, the sun was out so I said bring it!

I made some lunch and about 25 min later Scott called back as the 70MPH highway speed and 20-30 mph headwind, he had not attached the kayak (13 ft long tandem) for such conditions and was afraid he was going to lose it, so he got off the highway and headed home on surface streets with a promise to better engineer it.

As it turned out the above glorious sunshine didn't last more than about an hour, so we would have gotten wet no doubt.

With my afternoon free, I got on the bike and pedaled up to the gator hole about 2.5 miles from the campground.   If the observation deck at Hobe Mountain would have been open, I would have gone up there (closed for renovations).

In the past I have only seen small gators at this culvert, but this one was about 7-8 ft long as I was able to get within 10 feet of him (there was a fence).   He was getting warm in the sun and there was a couple there with a big camera happily snapping away.

I headed back as I knew Lucy would be back soon and with the brisk tailwind, I kicked the bike into top gear and got my heart rate up zooming back along the bike trail taking the apexes like a Moto GP rider hanging off the side of my bike.   I almost hit one tree as I was pushing it (it was right on the edge of the bath coming out of a turn and I was going wide, but squeezed the brakes a tad and just missed it.  Fun 2 mile sprint.

I stopped at the visitor's center on the way back to see what was going on there and realized I missed a crafting event earlier where you make a reindeer out of a cabbage palm frond.  It started to rain so I zipped back to the coach and went inside.   

About 20 min later Lucy showed up and we jumped in her car and went to Pleasure Tikis in Tequesta (10 min away). The folks there are great and we met them about 3 or 4 years ago at Tiki Fever.  Spent about an hour there talking story and enjoying a cocktail and managed to pick up a few items for gifts and some tasty bitters for our bar.

Rolled back to the site and it wasn't looking good for a fire/outdoor cooking with constant showers so we set up the griddle inside and cooked our steak that way.  

Tommy was the MC of the evening's shenanigans and with a spinning light and with it being Saturday night, Kitty and Mr. C were live and spinning great tunes for a few hours. TOmmy turned the coach into a night club! Note Tommy's festive holiday sweater.

Winter Break from working

 If you have been following the blog, you can see how we haven't been able to get out camping much in the last 2 years for a number of reasons.  This year I had a trip all lined up in August for a return to Gamble Rogers, but there was a strike at my work, so all hands on deck,  I was working 80 hr weeks for a month straight and had to cancel that trip.

With end of year coming and use it or lose it vacation, I scheduled this week just prior to Christmas off as the remaining two weeks of the year, I have to work.

Back at the end of October or so, when I got my dates, I started looking for campgrounds.   Initially there was NOTHING south of  Jacksonville available at any state park.   I kept checking (but was looking at other travel oppurtunities). and low and behold, old reliable Jonathan Dickenson SP had and ONE spot open up over the weekend starting on Friday the 13th.  I booked it for 3 nights as 2 always seems rushed and Lucy had classes on Saturday to teach (Side benefit of being so close to home, she can still make $$ and go camping!)

I had to work Friday, but did so from home.   The great part of JDSP is that it is less than an hour from the house.   I had planned on getting on the road by 3PM at the latest to beat rush hour, but with work being busy, I was rolling by 3:30.    Traffic hit a couple of slow downs, but local knowledge had me sliding over to the faster lanes as I anticipated the normal choke points.  In all the usual 45 min ride took about 65 minutes, but it wasn't horrible as it kept moving.

Beggars can't be choosers and our site was next to the sidewalk walkup to the bathrooms.  On the upside, the bathhouse closest to us, was closed for renovations (kept the foot traffic down), but we had to go to the other one if we wanted to use their facilties (5 min walk).

Nothing says camping, like an 8ft tall electrical box just across the sidewalk from the firepit.  They need  to hide it behind a bush or something.  The whole weekend was pretty full moon as friday it was 96%, 98% on Saturday, and Full on Sunday.

Shrimp on the campfire is a staple of our trips as they thaw quick, cook fast, and taste delicious.  These guys were 16-20s so nice sized.    Coucous and salad rounded out dinner.

The Moon and Jupiter.  this was a longer exposure so the electrical box is a bit brighter than it appeared.  We often refer to the GMC as the Intergalatic Space Pineapple, so it was fun to imagine that the electrical box was the monolith from 2001 A Space Odyssey, but I doesn't appear to have the correct dimensional ratios....

Across the way, there was a group of 3 sites and they were having a good time with lights strung up and playing musical instruments and kids running around.   Great stuff! YOu can see how much light the moon is reflecting.

It was a beautiful night with a fresh breeze, hi 60s and the moon and stars poking in and out of the clouds.  The rain did not come until after we were inside for the evening, to it was great!

Easter Weekend Part 2

 Part of me wanted to go to the annual Wheels Across the Pond  show in Jupiter.   I could have made it work, but realized that I would be away from the park all day and with leaving Sunday by 11, what was the point of going camping.  I therefore declined the invitation from Scott and stuck around.

I set up the pop up tent by myself (a first) and it wasn't that bad, just took awhile to get the corners to lock up as it would only go up a little on each corner at a time.   I looked at the air ride compressor to try and figure out why it quit wokring as it is fairly new and quit about 6 months after being installed.   I didn't make much progress other than I need to take a few things apart to chase the electrical portion of it, so I begged off for now (I'm filling the bags manually with a small compressor).

I rode my bike over to the St. Lucie Lock and crossed to the other side to walk the nature trail.   On the way across there were 3 dead and bloated gators that had beed illegally poached.  Their tails cut off and snouts taped shut.  They smelled pretty bad.  On my way back the Army Corp of Engineer ranger was trying to pop them with a pitchfork, but he wasn't successful.   I didn't stick around as not a fan of the smell of a rotting carcass. 

The trail is a nice loop about 3/4 mile long and only took about 20 minutes as I was poking along in no hurry looking a various flower and fauna.

More death on the walk.  Really surprise to see skeletal remains of a possum lying on the trail seemingly intact.  He didn't smell as bad as the gators as it was bones and fur left.

When I popped back out into the clearing by the lock there was a family of Sandhill Cranes with two little chicks foraging.   I ended up watching them for about 20 minutes.  The chicks were very entertaining and the Dad was keeping his eyes on me the whole time.   They got within about 20-25 feet at one point.

Camp all set up and Lucy returned with Naya for the evening.

Lucy and I went for a bike ride and found this very informative sign next to the boat ramp.  I had never heard of the Kristin Jacobs Coral Reef Conservation Area before (it's been around for 6 years)  I am happy to know it's there as I have done dozens and dozens of dives in Broward and Palm Beach counties

Tommy checking out the seedy underbelly of the Florida Turnpike.  This is the bridge over the St. Lucie waterway that connects to Lake Okechobee and the Atlantic Ocean.

Another beatiful sunset!

While waiting for the second rocket launch of the day, Lucy was spinning her light sabers around, luckily no one lost an arm!

Hard to see, but the second launch was great.  A few  minutes before it and the space station also flew over so that was cool too.  The afternoon launch was partly cloudly so we only got a glimpse, but it cleared out for the night launch and we watched it climb out for over 5 minutes, saw MECO, the second stage light and the return burn for the booster.

We then burned a bunch of wood and relaxed around the fire until bedtime.   Slept in to after 9AM this morning and made bacon and eggs for breakfast, broke camp down and was home before 1PM.

Coach ran great, have a list of house systems to attend to, but always nice to get her out.   Can't believe it's been 4 months already since our last trip!

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