Black Friday

 Woke up Friday morning to howling wind rocking the coach a bit.   Ventured outside and didn't stay out there too long and went back in to nap some more.   WInd was hard NW at 15-20 with higher gusts and high 50s temps.   Yeah nap time!.   As a rinse and repeat from 2 years ago, my buddy Ian was driving over from Central FL for a day of kayaking, etc.

The kids got up earlier as they were heading out to Tampa to meet friends and go to Busch Gardens.  I mapped it and was surprised it was 3 hours from the where we were to park no matter which way you sliced it (3 routes all the same amount of time).  In retrospect I should have told them about Spook Hill as they took Hwy 60.

Anyway the kids took off around 10:30 and Ian materialized around 11.   We headed out, Lucy decided not to go as standing on the SUP with the heavy duty headwind would be tough and neither of us felt comfortable enough with it to take it on.

We paddled the big loop again and saw some but less trout, no manatees, but several pods of dolphins.  As we came up to that little island in the middle with wind waves were wrapping around it like a little point break and I caought a nice little one to the beach.  We hung out there for awhile looking aound the island and watching the dolphins frolic nearby.  They gave us a cursory cruise by when they first saw us.   We headed back and got back to the site around 1.   Beer and pretzels while the gear dried a bit, then we piled into Ian's truck and drove down to the inlet.

For whatever reason I didn't take any pics, but the surf was a mess and at least head high.   The jetty was very wet and we walked out to the end.   the Jack Cravelles were biting and there was a lot of action on the rods.  In the 15-20 we were out there we saw 3 get landed and they were all over 2 ft long.

We poked around a bit and then decided to head up to get some food at https://www.newenglandeatery.com/

It being cool and blustery, I had the Chowdah, Lucy and Ian had Fish and Chips.   We were there in that weird 4PM time and it was pretty empty except for all the senior citizens lol.    By the time we left it filled up quite a bit.   Last time I went there was about 20 years ago with my surf buddy Ernie and his future wife Sylvia.  Luckily this time I didn't have a 2.5 hour ride home.

We headed back to the campsite right at sunset and lit a fire.   Ian hung our until about 7 or 8Pm and headed out as it was almost 2 hrs back to his crib.

We checked out shortly there after as the combo of spirited paddling against the wind, a few drinks and not so great sleep caught up to me.

Came back from the shower and the full disco effect was going on under the full moon.  

Gobblefest!

 It being a weekday I woke up around the time my alarm goes off.   I layed in bed for a bit and not a creature was stirring all through the coach, so as it was getting brighter, I got up to face the new day.

The view off of our site looking east at the dawn.   It was still very warm with a light puff of SE breeze.   I knew this wasn't going to last as there was a cold front pushing down and soon the wind would go SW and pick up.

I got changed and headed out on the kayak by myself.  Kids fast asleep and while Lucy woke up she was content to stay snuggled in the bed.

The water was oil glass and I paddled off to the north.   I decided to take a lap around one of the islands as we had done a couple of times on the last trip.

I just copied the old pic and even the 1 comes into play....  I had a nice quiet paddle up and around the elbow shaped island.  Tons of trout jumping everywhere (about a foot long, maybe a tad bigger).   Pelicans dive bombing for breakfast and saw an Osprey nab a fish as well.

I entered the slot between the two islands and was casually drifting just keeping the kayak straight and sliding forward watching the birds.   Around the 'crook' of the elbow, there was a snowy egret on a low branch.  It would lean forward and the branch would bend down so its beak was just above the water as it was hunting.  I guess the fish would swim away and it would lean back and the branch would go back up.  It reminded me of those drinking birds that you put on the edge of a glass (haven't seen one in years).

It is quiet except for birds and I am very focused on the egret hunting as my boat is flosting down this channel.   Earlier I took a sounding with my paddle and it did not hit the bottom (other areas are waist deep).   

All of a sudden there is an explosion of water literally right next to me and it scares the crap out of me.  My kayak is rocked and the boil area was about 6 ft across.  The water is dark brown so I couldn't see anything.  My initial reaction is I obviously floated over something and it didn't like it!    Gator is my first thought, then I remember where I am so I quickly dismiss that.   Next up is Shark?   It was powerful whatever it was as there was a big swirl of silt to go with it.  Maybe a dolphin, but I dismiss as well as nothing surfaces and I doubt I could sneak up on one...

I decide it is time to paddle away as it was a tad unerving.    After a few strokes I return to glide and about 150 yards later drift aroound the bend see backs in the water.  I have seen dolphins here before so oh ok.  Then I see the big paddle tail.  Manatees!   Now it all makes sense.   One was probably napping on the bottom and it sensed me real close and blew it's ballast and hauled ass.

I also smelled alot of methane when the explosion happened so it all points this way.   So now I see at least 4 manataees, so I give them a wide berth and paddle about 2/3 to the other side of the channel I am in.  Looking at the mouth in the map above.  The manatees are above and to the left of the number 1 near the mouth of the Island all the way to the left west of the elbow island.   I take a few strokes toward the elbow side and start gliding.   As my boat turned toward the ones close to shore I hear a big exhale and smell rotten sallad breath.  I turn to my left and there is a big one with its head out of the water so close I could touch it.  He is checking me out.  I say hello and hangs for a couple seconds and decides I'm chill and he sinks down and swims under my kayak.  I figure there are 5-6 total.   I kept drifting until I leave the mouth of the inlet there and the breeze hits me and carries me away.   

I have been paddling for an hour now, so I set course and head back to the campsite.  It's 9AM now and Lucy and Nate are up, but Naya is still asleep.   We start moving around start on breakfest of bacon, eggs and pancakes.    After breakfast, the kids go for a bike ride.

I have been having issues with cuts on my hands, so I beg off a second outing, so Lucy takes off in the kayak and hunts down the same aggergation of manatees.   Turns out there is a baby with them and she sees it nursing.   I am assuming she got a little too close as she said they pushed her kayak away from the mom and baby.

By now it was getting to time to head to my sisters for the big feast, so off to the showers and a shave and get ready..   By now the wind has switched around and is hard NW with the front pushing through.   We get to my sisters and ocean has a couple of things going on.

The shot from her balcony, there is very local  waves from the NE and a longer period ESE swell both are small. As the afternoon progresses you can see the ocean state grow starting about a mile out.while the temps continued to drop.

Dinner was delicious as usual.   Sadly Nancy is not in the pic as someone had to take it.   After dinner and way too much pie for dessert (we had 3 kinds) we headed back to the camp.

Nothing to report on as we didn't bother with a fire and the wind was now ripping.   Off to bed early!

Thanksgiving Trip 2025

Since our Mom passed in '22 my remaining sister and I have taken turns on Thanksgiving and this year it was her turn to host again.  This trip was a close repeat to one we took in 2023.    Long Point Park in Sebastian is a county park that backs up on the state park at the inlet.   We love the fact they have sites with direct access to the Indian River Lagoon off of the back of the site.     

As it is a busy holiday weekend, the sites sell out quickly so I was on it as early as possible to get one.  I took off of work Wed and we got a good start and arrived around 2:30PM

When I booked the site I recalled one I liked.   The next morning the park called me to inform me I had chosed a tent only site for my coach and after a quick chat they assigned this one.   As you can see there is quite a slope on it!   When I pulled up, I thought we were screwed as backing in the ususal way, everything would slode to the back of the coach.

After walking around the site and looking at it from different angles, I chose this angle and the edge of the rear bumper was actually hanging over where ground dropped off. The water is only a couple of feet away on the other side if that cabbage palm by the kayak.  It was very low here and you can see the mangrove seeds (they look like pens) all over the gound from the last king tide!     This was fairly level although we used the air bags to level it off, The door side to max height and the driver side very low.

First thing out was the kayak as it rides in the middle of everything on the floor so a total PITA when it's in there.

By the time we got everything set up it was around 3:30 and Lucy hopped in the kayak and went off for a paddle as the wind was still.   I recently bought a second SUP, this one is 10'6"  single.   I pulled it out and commenced the inflation procedures.    I am fairly inexperienced with SUPs as the tandem one is VERY tricky with to in a standing position.

I launched off of our site and did a faceplant about 10 ft later as I took a surfing stance on the board quickly realized that would not work.   As you can see by Lucy's stance above, feet parallel is the way to go.

I got my feet under me and paddled out to meet Lucy in the kayak, out be the island in the middle of the pic above.   We went around for a short bit and headed back.   Lucy got on the SUP and I got the two pics above.

I like how this pic makes Lucy look like she is Barbie sized lol.  Shortly later Naya and her boyfriend showed up and they immediately took off on the watercraft as they only had about 30 min of daylight left.

Night comes early this time of year, so it wasn't long and I was building a cooking fire.   We had a 2lb London Broil that had been marinating for 2 days.   It took awhile as the grate was pretty high, but the steak and mini potatos came out delicious. 

We burned through a good bit of wood and the temps were really mild at around 70ish.

Gratutious night shot of the coach all lit up.  I see I had already unplugged the LED Pineapple light so this must have been when I was returning from the bath house just before bed.

Outta this world sites!

 Saturday and Sunday Prairie adventures.   As I was a bachelor for the first night, I went to bed at a reasonable time and slept for 10 hours!  I rarely sleep more than 7-7.5, but it was nice and comfy in the coach, if not a little chilly as is was 65 inside when I finally woke up around 9AM.

Breakfast was the ole' standard Publix Danish (Guava Cheese) and Vietnamese coffee.  I ate outside watching the birds and was surprised that there were no Crested Cara Caras around (maybe I slept right past when they stop by).

As I sipped my coffee it seemed like the Glamping Tent was smiling at me....

I decided to walk over to the ranger station and see if they had any talks or walks for the day.  I didn't go too far when I spotted today's lunch special, BBQ Squirrel.  This little guy was busy eating the leftovers from the Belgin tourists that had stayed in the Glamping tent the night before (I had spoken with them Fri eve).

THere was a fresh char on the local fauna as the ranger said they did a burn about a week earlier.   if you go back to here, they did one back in 2021 in the same area.   I got to drive past that one (video in the link). 

I got to the ranger station and it was closed from 10-1 (was 10:03).  Oh well time for a walk.   I have previously walked from the equestrian campground around to the right and then back up to the Hammock Trail.   This time I went counter clockwise on the Hammock and then down and to the east.  About 2.5 miles total.

360 panorama with the left side of the road facing south.  This was halfway down to the Kilpatrick trail, you can see the Hammock I walked through on the right (north) and left it reached down a bit to the east of where I was.

Saw this very large insect on the Thistle.  Not sure if it was a bee but it was a pollonator.   Have to looke him up.

Hour long walk and all the really cool stuff was right by the campgrounds lol.   Momma and Bambi just off the Military Trail.   There was a second fawn, but it stayed hidden.   Found out later one had been born that morning in the Horse Paddock area!

I didn't know we had dung beetles in Florida!  Turns out there are 7 species!  Who knew?  The poo ball was close to an inch wide and they were busy rolling it across the park road.  I watched them for a good 5 min as I had never seen them before in action.

My walk was rewarded with a cold beer and sammy.   Delicious.   SPent the rest of the afternoon reading a book.

Lucy arrived mid afternoon and we hung out mostly.   Tried to duplicate my hot from the night before, but no dice.....

Enjoying the afterglow of the sunset, we retired to the site and made our dinner.

The Space X launch went off like a Swiss stopwatch.  As soon as the engines lit, you could see the glow in the NE sky and then the rocket about 5 seconds later.   We were twice as close as from our house, and with the low horizon, it is a GREAT place to watch a launch from.

First stage burning bright!

Zoomed in as best my phone camera can do.  It was a great launch, as we were abe to follow it through MECO, then the second stage all the way to SECO, close to 10 min.   Was hoping to see the booster burn back (have seen parts from my home), but we missed it.

Near full moon had most of the sky washed out, we retired to the site and burned a bunch of logs while enjoying a few drinks.

Sunday was pretty lazy as well, slept in, leisure breakfast followed by a short martial arts workout and then pulled stakes and was home by 3 PM

Coach ran like a top, I would tak it cross country tomorrow.   Need to get on the house systems....

Back to the Praire part 2

 The road into the campground is dirt/gravel and becomes washboarded over time.  They are definitely due to get the grader out there again soon! Probably the second worse I have seen the road and the worst in over 10 years there.   It took me almost 45 min to crawl the 4-5 miles from the entrance to the Ranger station.

You can see it in this photo and here it isn't even that bad (took this pic during my Sat hike).  If I had any loose fillings they would have come out.  My 50 year old vehicle was shaking really bad and since I broke a ball joint on this very road a few years ago, I was crawling at idle speed.

As you saw in the last post, I got settled on the campsite before 4PM.   There have been a couple of changes to the campground with the addition of 5 Glamping spots.  2 were Equestrian loop spot, nd the other 3 came at the expense of a few of  the horse paddoks.

View of the glamping tents from our site.

Front view showing the nice porch, fire ring and they also had grilles.  Also AC!  I did like the fact that the lights are red to help with night vision.

Shot through the window.  There was no car but the new guests hadn't arrived yet.  Two queens and bunk beds so 6 people easy!  I heard they were $175 a night so quite a bit more than the $23 I was paying lol.  

Back at the site, I'm all set up for the night.  Even got our flag out.  As you can see I have my pineapple sippy cup on the chair so the cocktail light was on!

I went for a short hike to the south side of the hammock on the trail that leads out to primitive camping.  I only went about 5-10 min just to take a peek.   As the wind was SW it was much more breezy on this side.

Spotted one of the local wild turkeys.   Oddly, the only one I saw all weekend.  Usually, they are all over the place.

The Golden Hour!   Always a highlight of the day.  If you look down and to the right of the sun you see several palms.

I strolled about 150 feet to line them up and got this great shot with one in the middle.  I may make a print of this one if I can sharpen it up a tad in Photoshop.

As I was by myself tonight, I didn't care about flame broiled dinner, so I cooked my Columbian sausage and potatos on the griddle and then lit the fire for sport.

A near full moon (2 days later), the waxing gibbous was reflecting plenty of light.  This was around 9:30PM.

Wide angle shot of our site showing how much light the pineapple LED throws off.  Was neat how it lit up the oak tree.  It was a low key night.  Originally, there was supposed to be a Space X launch, but it got pushed out to the following eve (stay tuned!).   I was in bed by 11ish and slept a whopping 10 hours strait (I rarely do that).

Back to the Prairie !

 Wow, I can't believe it has been over 2 years since our last visit in Nov 2023!.  I honestly think about this park at least once a week.  I absolutely love it out here with the open skies, lack of light pollution, and abundant wildlife.

I took a half day off on Friday, so I could get here early and enjoy the afternoon.   I left the house at noon, stopped for some go-go juice and didn't stop again until I hit the park.   2 hours and a couple min with a delay for some construction work on FL 700.

I took a series of snaps on the way up showing some of the waypoints I use on this now familar trip.

The Boys riding dangerously without a seat belt

Off of I-95 on Blue Heron, heading toward the Beeline to Okechobee.  That's the VA hospital on the right.  You can see it from miles away on the return trip.  In my view, this is where we transition to urban metroplex to more rural driving as soon as you turn onto FL 710 (Beeline Hwy).

Halfway to Okechobee!  Just before the Intercoastal Waterway that runs through Lake O from Stuart to Ft. Meyers.

Coming down off the big bridge into Indiantown.

Made it to Okechobee and there is Sirum's GMC.    I should have stopped, I need the 2025 calendar.  But I was on a mission to just get there.   I NEEDED the decompress time.

US 98 between Okechobee and Basinger, FL.  I rolled pretty hard on this stretch going somewhere a little north of 65 mph. The asphalt was fresh and still black (FL sun fades it to near white in a few months).  Super smooth sailing.  No real traffic and no one had to pass me.  I ran up on a big farm tractor and he pulled off as I had about 5 cars and trucks behind me and traffice was coming from the other way then.  The coach was humming right along turning about 2900-3000 rpm.

Here's my turn off on US 98 onto FL 700.  Not a long road but a little twisty in spots so about 45 mph in the coach.

on FL 700, new high tension poles going in (they were still working on them and had a 5 minute delay for single lane).   I am not a fan as this means more light out by the prairie when they are done and housing developments going in I would guess :(.

The park entrance.  I don't think I have stopped at this sign in 15 years as I know pretty much all the info.

Red shoulder hawk eyeing up Hugo for a snack.   He was about 10 feet away from the coach and while paying attention, was not bothered by my loud noisy machine.

The Pineapple has landed at Tranquility base!   Spot 30 on the Equestrian Loop!

Box Truck at Bushwood!

So despite the delay at the hotel check in, it is a speed shower and shave (first in a weekQ), and don the obligatory Hawaiian shirt (it is The Intoxicators! after all ) as we are goinng to a country club!

Lucy laments the fact she did not pack for an excursion with the upper crust, but Tally seems to be a bit more down to earth.  

We take the shortest route (6 min via GPS) and it takes us on this overgrown country road with big oak branches hanging low.  I comment, we won't be driving the box truck back this way in the dark as I had to change lanes a few times to avoid branches the oppisite side of the road is even more overgrown.   We arrive at the CC and dammit they do NOT have valet parking.  I sooooooo wanted to valet the box truck as I had a lock on the back so no worries....    I park off in the boonies and we head in.

You can see us way out by the road.  even with only a 12ft box, she is bulky and takes up a full space, so I chose where there was plenty of room.

Due to the hold up at the hotel, our reseved seat was given away, but we still were seated outside, but right up against the wall all the way in the back.

As you can see there is a big buffer that we are not quite used to with this band.  Usually, it is so intimate you can reach out and touch them lol.

pic from 2023 from Vatican Tattoo about a 1.5 miles from my house for their big 15th  anniverasry party (Jeff  knows how to do it up right!).

Never say never, I didn't think I would see a family oriented Intoxkcators! show, but here is the proof!

They played two full sets and we had a nice dinner.  It was cool out in the 60s but nice.  Finally it was time for the band alter-ego to show up and while the crowd had dwindled considerbly,  those that stayed were ready for the Disasternauts!

IFYKYK...mostly the Intoxicators! play their originals with a few select covers, but ht e D-nauts are all ;classic surf covers.

Had I known, I could have Amazoned a bananna costumer to the hotel.  That would have blown minds lol.  Yes that is a fake leg bone Lucy is swinging around.   Much fun had by all!

Couldn't resist the urge to pull the truck up to the front door for a photo op.   It wasn't Bushwood, but a nice country club none the less.

The following morning we were up and out by 9 AM, and the drive was fairly uneventful.   A slowdown NW or Orlando for construction, we were in WPB by 4, made a stop to gas up for the return and some shopping and home by 5.  

You can see the jealous GMC scowling over the fence at it's temporary replacement.

Ready to unload the cargo!

Sunday my daughter and her BF came over and we made short work of unloading in about 2 hrs.    

Ready to return tomorrow!

We can barely get into the cabinets, but it's short term workable....much work ahead!

She needs a little love, but I'm confident I will be playing pinball soon!