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!