Traveling along the Gulf

     The day started as usual before sun-up, when Dudley decides it's time to get moving. A photo of the beach outside our campground is just above this writing, and it is a beautiful place to see the morning sunrise from.

     It's a travel day today, and we caravaned behind Bailey and Lois 132 miles to Destin. Pretty ride much of the way, as we were along the coast and moved into more prosperous areas than the "Forgotten Coast".

Earlier we mentioned we had seen bear signs along highway 98. Here is a picture of one; standing joke is that we can't take Dudley in the woods around here, as he might be mistaken for one!

     We arrived at "Camping on the Gulf" around 1:00pm, and were now in the Central time zone.

After setting up our campsites, which are overlooking the beach, the four of us took a long walk for about 3 miles. The beach is a gorgeous white powder, with quite a few shells. Lots of college kids on break here, but Destin is not known for rowdiness.

     We all ate dinner out at Carrabbas, and we all enjoyed their Italian specialties. Back at the campsite, we watched some of the Oscars, read, and updated the blog.

     In any event, that's about all the news for now.

Jim and Becky

Camp Gordon Johnston and Apalachicola

      The day started with a special breakfast in Bailey and Lois's RV, the Chateau. Lois showed us how to make omelets by boiling them in a plastic bag. Came out quite well!

     We decided to visit the Camp Gordon Johnston in Carrabelle, which was a huge amphibious training base during World War II. It is housed in a deserted school, and is 3 rooms of memorabelia with some very enthusiastic docents. Linda the docent, pictured above with Becky, was one who just couldn't share enough about the Camp, the museum, and the veterans. She gave Jim a wallet honoring Vietnam Veterans, and we enjoyed hearing the story of what happened here during WWII.

       We drove over to Apalachicola, a historic town, shrimping center, and the home of a museum honoring J. Gorrie, the doctor who invented the machine that was the precursor of the modern air conditioner. A photo of the story is above with Lois reading about it.

       It's a quaint old city, lots of historic buildings and a few modern ones. They even have a Vietnam Veteran's memorial, with a bronze casting of the 3 military men that is at the Washington "wall". Lunch was at a local seafood grill, and we topped it off with ice cream at an old fashion ice cream parlor.

     Becky's allergies have been getting to her, and Benedryl was the order of the day (and night!) to combat the pine pollen that is so prevalent at this time of year.

     When we got back to the campsite, we washed the RV which was filthy, took care of the dogs (who had been terribly neglected, as usual!!), and spent the evening reading (Becky) and working on the computer (Jim).

Jim did take a few pictures around sunset, and the one above showing several campers will give one the idea of the great spot we had overlooking the beach and the water.

We meet up with Bailey and Lois in Carrabelle, FL

     As we were going through our morning routine at the Campground, we received a call from Bailey and Lois that their new Campground in Carrabelle had a vacancy for Friday and Saturday nights, and would we like to join them there. Though we were looking forward to exploring the San Blas peninsula and finally trying out our bikes, the invitation came at just the right time for us. Our campground was fine for us, but not a great one for Dudley and Rosie as the dogs are not allowed on the beaches in the Florida State Parks, though they are on most of the public beaches. Also, the lack of phone and internet service was a real problem for us. Carabelle was 57 miles back east, but it was a pretty drive and we decamped and were on the road by 10:00am.

     Arriving at the Ho Hum Campground, right on the beach, we were met by Bailey and shortly thereafter by Lois and their collie, Sadie. Sadie is Rosie and Dudley's best friend, and boy were they all happy to see each other--albeit a bit confused as to where they were all meeting! As we settled in to our site overlooking the water, the dogs decided to meet the neighbors (who also had two dogs, one very unfriendly and inside its RV). Unfortunately, the unfriendly dog was friendlier than its grouchy and territorial parents, who felt that their campsite extended well into our territory. Massachusetts folks! Guess we've been lucky up till now, as these were the first unfriendly folks we've met on the whole trip so far. The campground hosts are from Pennsylvania, and they have 2 dogs (seems that many RV'ers do). One is named Harley, and he's a very large brown Newfoundland. Not as big as Dudley, but a big boy nevertheless. Our pups and Harley met, and seemed to get along well.

       Bailey and Lois and have been in Florida for two months now with their 35' motorhome, nicknamed "the Chateau". Like many RV'ers with big class A motor homes, they have a "toad" vehicle (comes from the word "towed"!), a jeep Liberty that is quite useful for exploring the destinations they are at. After lunching at our campsite (they're about 20 parking spots away), we headed off to explore the area. We drove through the town of Carrabelle, 4 miles away, and then over a very long causeway to St. George's island, another barrier island. Along the way we saw scores of strange looking small boats out in the water, which we found out were Oyster boats. The photo at the top right depicts some of them, and if you can see the little shack-like structure on the back it is typical of the style. They're manned by one or two folks, who scoop the oysters from the seabed, then sift through them on the boat throwing the small ones and debris back overboard. We understand it's backbreaking work.

       Arriving on St. George's island, the first thing one sees is the historic lighthouse and museum pictured above. Note the long line of bright blue portapotties--seems they are getting ready for a huge chili cookoff this weekend, that we plan on missing. The beach was quite beautiful, wide and white powdery. Millions of shells, so we went walking and looking for specimens to add to Lois's collection. Even Katahdin helped Lois look (note photo above left!). We treated ourselves to ice cream, Becky bought a St. George's "Hoodie", and we headed back to Carrabelle.

       After a brief stop at the local IGA and ACE hardware, we arrived at the campground in time for the dogs afternoon feeding. Dudley and Rosie love this place! They can walk on the beach, there is plenty to sniff and see, Dudley reall wants to go into the ocean. Jim has been able to keep him out so far, but tomorrow is another day!

       Bailey and Lois grilled steaks and we ate at the Chateau, and our dogs had quite the time exploring their beautiful vehicle. Rosie in particular enjoyed jumping up on the bed, the couches, and chairs, and wanted to know why Sadie had a bigger home than she did! The final photo is of Becky enjoying one of the Chateau's couches. The rest of the evening was spent looking at Lois's terrific photo collection that she has taken over the past two months here in Florida. She's a great photographer, and we thoroughly enjoyed hearing of their adventures in the Sunshine state.

Cape San Blas

This was a pretty boring day overall, basically traveling from St. Augustine in the east to St. Joseph Penisula State Park on Cape San Blas. Jim actually beat Dudley up for a change, knowing we had to get moving. We decamped and were on the road by 8:30am, and took the Interstates I95 and I10 until we were nearing Tallahassee. We had decided we wanted to see some of the "real" Florida, so we got off on route 319 and headed south. First stop was Sopchoppy (yes, and it's correctly pronounced Sop-choppy!) to mail some cards and a package to Beth and Drew in Texas. We got to the southern coast, and headed west along US 98 all the way to Cape San Blas.

       The drive was quite interesting, and very pretty in spots along the water. We were particularly impressed with the architecture, and how so many of the homes (like most) are built on posts and pillars 10-20' off the ground because of the hurricanes and floods. Must be a real pain carrying groceries up them! The most remarkable thing was how many are for sale, in several places every other house literally was on the market. If one is looking to buy a bargain, this is the place to do it!

     In Carrabelle, one of the larger towns along the "Forgotten Coast", there is this neat little Memorial to Veterans from all the armed forces, photos above. Carrabelle also has one of the few supermarkets along the route, an IGA.

     We arrived at St. Joseph Penisula State Park about 4:30, after a 318 mile drive. Cape San Blas, which it's located on, is a barrier island that runs for several miles. Very pretty out there, with hundreds of beautiful beach homes and cottages overlooking the sea. A good chunk of the Peninsula is owned by the Air Force, part of Eglin Air Force base. We had heard how beautiful this was many years ago from our friend Lynnae, and it is. Beaches are fine white sand, lots of the usual coastal vegetation, and we understand quite a few deer and bobcats. The campground is well laid out and clean, with large sites. Biggest problem is virtually no Verizon phone coverage, and we have found we really need to be "in touch" because of various family issues in different locales. We set up the campsite except for the awning (way too windy!), and the dogs were very happy to be out of the car and walking. It was really dark there at night, great for viewing stars but not for walking the dogs. Fortunately, I had my LL Bean hat with the built in flashlights on the brim!

Touring St. Augustine

     It got really cold again! Down in the high 30's, damp and overcast in the morning. This was the day for our trip into St. Augustine, where the "Ripley's Believe it or not" tour company picks folks up at the KOA and drops them off from their shuttle to the tour jumpoff point. They use red trains for 1 1/2 tour with 22 stops, and offer "hop on, hop off" service with running commentary. Pretty good deal for $16. Unfortunately, we were practically freezing in the open air touring coaches.

     A very pretty city with it's Spanish architecture, St. Augustine is the oldest city in North America and will celebrate it's 450th birthday in 5 years. It was founded by the Spanish, and the Castillo de San Marcos fort has been around for centuries and has never been lost in battle.

      We got off around 11:30 to go into some stores to get warm, and ended up buying some cute doggie items from "Faux Paws". Lunch brought our bodies back to normal, and it was actually sunny and pleasant as we walked all over the ancient city and checked out the shopping. Only complaint is that it's way too commercialized, with a lot of souvenir and tee-shirt shops.

       The architecture around the city is beautiful. The most impressive, though, comes from the late 1800's when Henry Flagler decided this would be where he set up his new career. He had already become a multi-millionaire, as a co-founder of Standard Oil with Rockefeller. He built several beautiful hotels and churches; the most magnificent later became Flagler College, and the photo is of Becky in front of his statue and the main entrance. It was the largest of the 3 hotels he built, and all are now in other uses; one is a 4-star hotel under a different name, and the other is now the St Augustine city hall. The final picture is of another hotel, the Villa Zorayda built by another gentleman who was in love with Moorish architecture. It is now a museum.

       We enjoyed exploring the Castillo de San Marcos, and took a number of movies there that will eventually be pieced together. As it was getting late, we went back to the campsite where the two dogs were thrilled to have us back. We wrote a number of postcards and notes, did some financial work on Quicken, downloaded and edited photos--and relaxed after a very busy day. Tomorrow we're off to the panhandle, and it will be a long driving day. No internet for the next 3 days, so we'll catch up with our next adventures Sunday night.

       Oh, by the way. Can you find Katahdin the Moose in any of the pictures?

Easy day at the St. Augustine campground

     We woke up early in a driving rainstorm, which was supposed to be on and off all day but wasn't. After breakfast we drove up to Jacksonville to Sun Coast RV to have our water pump looked at, plus a few other minor items. Took less than two hours, and the main problem seemed to be the wiring was somewhat helter skelter and needed rerouting--how's that for a technical description!

    We decided to stay a 3rd night here, so we could spend tomorrow visiting St. Augustine and seeing America's oldest city. There is a "train" tour (like open trolley cars pulled by an engine) that's run by Ripley's Believe it or Not for only $16pp, and they'll pick us up at the campsite and return us here for no charge. Should be fun.

     Becky did our accumulated laundry, Jim took care of the dogs and some other chores, and we made it another easy afternoon. Evening spent reading, blogging, and relaxing. Another easy day!

Driving to St. Augustine

      As one might imagine, Dudley and Rosie went sniffing for armadillos during their morning exercise, to no avail this time. We took our time packing up, and had a easy 95 mile drive down to the St. Augustine KOA park. Nice place, completely full of huge RV's and lots of motorcycles, and of course dogs for Dudley to bark at (in spite of our best efforts to get him to stop!) and greet. He loves to greet everybody and every dog, but his bark sounds so ferocious he scares most others off (at least we don't worry about break-ins!). The spaniel in the picture wasn't intimidated, though--it has bad legs, and Dudley was fascinated at it's mobile rear end.

     This was a very lazy day for us; Becky read, Jim wrote some blogs and edited some pictures, and we reminisced about the great time we had on Amelia Island.

     Not much else to report!