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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