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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Easter Getaway

 Last minute call as we reailized we didn't really have anything planned for the weekend.  Looked online Tuesday evening and found availabilty at Phipps Park in Martin county.   We have stayed here quite a few times over the years with my first stay with JT when he was about 5 or 6 years old.   Back then all the sites were primative with no power or water.  Now they have about 100 sites with full hookups and of course the prices have gone up quite a bit.   

I was surprised as there were 8 or 9 spots open which is rare this time of year.   The girl working when I checked in affirmed that only in the past few days they have has a few open spots after being booked all season so far.

I got a little bit of a head start Friday to try and beat rush hour through West Palm, but hit a few thick patches.  The ride up took close to 90 min with the backups.   Today on the way home, clear sailing in 1 hour.    The exit is exactly 50 miles from my exit so about 55 miles each way door to door..

Freshly arrived and got plugged in for the fridge and AC.   There was a nice breeze though. And we had chamber of commerce weather all weekend.

We look so smaill next to our neighbors.  The trailer on the left was about 30' and the class A was a 36'.   Both neighbors were nice with the Class A being a retired couple and the others two nice ladies and thier little dog that was welll behaved (not barky like the one across the street).

Lucy left about half an hour after I did as she had to go to work Saturday morning,  The shuttle arrived about an hour later so I know traffic got worse.
 

Nice sunset and unusual that I'm cooking before it got dark.   Potatos with butter and garlic wrapped in the foil.  They were tasty!

I'll whine here about the crappy phone I'm using as my Pixel 5a bricked a few days ago.  These clouds had great orange and purple on them, but I could get the settings right to capture....

New crewmember representing NASA on this mission of the Intergaltic Space Pineapple.  Astronaut Snoopy was a welcome addition to the crew although he did not perform any EVAs on this mission.

T-Day weekend

 Going to wrap up the next two days in one post here.

Saturday was almost a rinse and repeat of Friday.   Lazy morning, although I went for a spin on the bike before the girls got up.  We made breakfast burritos for breakfast.

Nothing like cooking bacon with a view and cup of coffee!   Beautiful sunny morning and the temps were close to 70 at the start of the day.  Still a North wind, but it had clocked around a bit from the NW the day before and had the good grace to back off alot so only about 8-10 now.

I had to dump the bacon grease somewhere, so I poured it on some deutritus we had thrown in the fire ring.  I didn't know ibis liked bacon, but who doesn't?   They were jumping in there and pulling out greasy paper towels, etc.   I ran them off and flipped the grill over which took care of that isssue.

We made breakfast burritos with eggs, cheese, onions, bacon and salsa.  They were yummy.

The welcome sign was out as my sister was coming with 2 of her kids for the day.

The campsite all set up.  This dent in Naya's car was not her fault as someone merged into her.  

My sister arrived around 11 AM and we swung into action fairly quickly.  With the 3 of them and the 4 of us and 3 seats on the craft, it was going to be shifts.   The three girls (Lucy abstained) went second and my sister and nephew went with me.

My sister and nephew are not very experienced paddlers so my sis was on her own in the kayak and Michael and I went on the SUP (configured as a sit on top).  Today we launched from our campsite and beat into the wind up around the little island and then a similar route to the day before.   For me it went quickly as it was shorter than the day before, although I did most of the paddling and my nephew basically went for a ride (which was fine).

At spot number 1 as we were leaving the sand bar, I saw a big splash over by the big island.   It was a dolphin (saw one at first).   As a motorboat was traversing between us, I used him as a blocker and headed straight toward the dolphins (I now saw there were 3).   We got within about 40 ft or so and at one point 2 of them turned and headed in our direction, but they got about 25 feet away and turned off, keeping their distance.

My nephew was excited as was my sister (it was cool, not going to lie).   We paralleled them for a bit but they kept diverging from us as we needed to head toward our site and use the wind to help get us there with minimal effort.

We beached with no issues and got ready for lunch.  We had a nice picinic lunch of sammies and snacks and then the girls were off for a lap.   I had briefed Naya on the route and they did the same loop and saw the pod of dolphins as well.

Departure was a small production.

Parental supervision of the young adults lol.

And off they go!

Rounding the corner.   That is Scout Island as a backdrop.

While they were gone, we put my nephew on a bike as well as my sister.  Probably over a decade since either had ridden a bike.   We did a few laps around the campground and when we got back, the girls had already returned.   They powered through it in probably half the time.

It was past 3 by now and my sis and family packed up and headed home.  The girls went to play frisbee and I tried out the hammock.  It was nice with the shade and breeze.  Lucy rode her bike up to the bait and tackle shop to buy a bottle of wine for our steak dinner (I bought 2 bottles and forgot them....a theme on this trip).

View from the hammock.   The sites were a nice size with plenty of room. 

I was super impressed with this photo from my Google phone.   Such a clear pic (zoom in on it).   This was after we cooked a London Broil and baked potatos on the fire.  It was delicious.   No stars as a high cloud deck came back up from the SE just before sunset.   We burned alot of wood and had a good time hanging out by the fire.

SUNDAY:

I woke up a little later but still well before everyone else.  I went outside and it was warm and humid and completely still.  The river was oil glass like a summer morning.  I woke Lucy up and prepared the SUP.  We were on the water by 8AM.

  

As there was no wind, it was time to paddle the other way!   Keeping in mind we had to be off the site by 11AM and that the girls might want to paddle, we kept to circumnavigating Scout Island (and the little one).  We were gone about 40 min or so as we piddled around looking at various birds and jumping fish.   Not a breath of wind the whole time.

Got back to the site and the girls were less than interested, so I got right to cooking breakfast.

As mentioned we didn't have a good to go list and forgot alot of stuff.  Like cooking spray for the waffle iron.  The waffles cooked,  but it took Coral 20 min to get them off the griddle.   We made the rest as pancakes on the grill above and used the all of our butter (about half a tablespoon left).  I also forgot pancake syrup.  We were a mess lol.We also lamented not saving bacon grease to lube the pans with....oh well.

We finished and started cleaning up.  I had already packed the bikes the night before, broke down the SUP and started converting to travel mode.   

We were off the site a couple min after 11 and when we pulled up to the dump station, it was a 4 deep wait.   I said nope, and headed home.   

The Pineapple drove like a dream and we were home in under 3 hours.  Traffic was thick on Thanksgiving Sunday and glad we didn't leave later as I'm sure it got worse.

Sure is nice having a sewer clean out next to the docking station.  Pulled her up and dumped the tank.  The macerator was probably the single best purchase I made on this rig (other than the purchase) to date.   I can dump and be gone in about 5 minutes.  No stinky slinky for this guy!

When I got a new roof last year I wasn't paying attention to the rain gutter guy and he went about 3 inches past the end of the house.   I was sketched about it for months and months and finally figured I would pass just under it.

Wrong!   I had a little too much air in the bags and was backing up and heard CRUNCH!  I thought I jacked up the rain gutter and my roof, but luckily only the LED marker light took the hit (rain gutter also fine).    

Now that I have a new gate and the neighbor put up a new fence I have a little more room, so it shouldn't be an issue moving forward.

You can see how tight I park it to the wall (5-6 inches).

We blast off again for a quick 2 nighters in mid December!