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).