February 25

Hi, Just realized that we have not blogged since Memphis, if anyone is there to care.   We didn't do very much there, but did drive down to Beale Street and had lunch at one of the establishments there. can't even tell you the name, the reason we there was that they had an outside balcony and it was very  sunny there.  We had been to Beale Street two years ago on a very cold Saturday night and there was a lot of music but it was very cold. it was nice to sit in the sun and hear just a little music. Oh, we stayed at the Graceland RV park, again, at our neighbors were 'Aussies'.  What interesting, friendly people who are travelling around the country until August.  They were going over to Graceland, and then we were going to meet them later, which we did.  They are about these age as we are and we just compared lives, families, travels and countries.  Made some suggestions as to where they should go and asked them to visit us while up north.    It was just a fun evening.  The weather was not very warm when we got up the next morning, so we all decided to leave.  Their travel agent told them it would be summertime so they were not prepared for our weather.  They headed to Florida and we headed for Paducah, KY.  Paducah is the one place that I did not want to head home without stopping at.  We are here and I'm in paradise.  Our furnace has stopped working so we had to address that issue this morning.  t still isn't working, but we have an extra electric heater, so we are toasty.  Tomorrow AM we are going to Mayfield to have it repaired.  this afternoon we went to Hancocks of Paducah, a quilters dreamland.  Russ is so wonderful and patient and helpful and we have lots of material to play with once we get home.  I probably won't share it with him, as he had his pick in Pensacola.  After that we went to the National Quilting Museum.  It was wonderful, everyone should have the opportunity to visit.  The ladies volunteering there were delightful, and it was just a great afternoon.   Then we went for lunch.  Just a fun afternoon.  Unfortunately, it was raining so we were not able to walk around the downtown or see the murals that have been painted on the Riverwalk wall.  Oh, that wall is on the Ohio River and Illinois is on the other side.  We will be visiting Paducah again.
So tomorrow we have the furnace fixed, and then we decide whether to go left or right.  We will let you know later which way we go.... See  you all soon.  Linda

Feb 22 Belle Chasse, La

hi,  
                                         This is the Carnival cruise ship Triumph that was towed in from the Gulf of Mexico and tied up in Mobile.

                                          This is coming into Biloxi, Mississippi

                                      This is bridge over a canal where we started our "Swamp tour".
                          The neat part is that is looks very much like the Memorial Bridge in Kittery. The same lifting setup just this one was built in the 30's and it has a sign saying to call operator 4 hours before needing the bridge opened.

                 A typical house along the bayou

                        Two Navy ships tied up in New Orleans. "RORO's ( roll on / roll off) standby transports

                                      A view of New Orleans from our steam powered paddle wheeler cruise down and back 11 miles of the Muddy Mississippi. ( the only way I can spell is by singing it as we did in early schooling)

                         The Dole sugar refinery next to the Mississippi. They take the raw sugar from barges with crane buckets and dump it into huge pierside hoppers. They produce over a million pounds a day

             well here's the alligator that I was scheduled to wrestle . Poor thing was so small I decided to let it be. plus the water looked to cold to be in.

 we decided to stay here(new orleans/belle chasse) one more day and just veg around the camper. we did drive out Rt 23 looking for Cajun food and didn't find any place we thought looked good so we ate at Popeye's . what a trick, they call it Louisiana's kitchen and the chicken was SPICY and the red beans and rice was very good. got fuel for $3.89/gal and came back to the base. We are on a very large Military base in a nice park. we can hear and see the helicopters and planes coming and going but it's not loud at all and they stop at dusk. Linda says they all go home for the nite. The bad weather they have been predicting has mostly gone around us. we have had some light rain and overcast skys but the temps have been in the 60's.  I am going to upload some photos while the internet connection holds. I have to sit outside to get a free signal from the park. 

If anyone has any place they want to recommend seeing along the way from here to Memphis, call us and let us know. Looks like a quiet ride for tomorrow. hope to make it to Jackson,MS and spend the nite and head up tp Memphis the next day, or at least in that direction. The weather looks colder up that way so we are in no rush.

February 21

No sun again today, but it is our second ful day in New Orleans.  I started typing this  earlier, and apparently hit the wrong button and erased it.  Very discouraging.  So to tell u what we were up to yesterday I will start again, and remember to save.

In the morning we drove out to Slidell to go on a swamp tour.  We were going alligator hunting, but fortunately we weren't going to be providing meals for everyone on the boat, as the only gator we saw was about 4 feet long.  Guide said it had been warm for the past few days and the gators had been out, but the air was cold so they went back into hibernation.  Gator bury themselves in the mud and bring their heart rate down to one beat a minute.  Sound like a great diet plan.  Gator season is in September so we didn't see Troy or any of his friends.  Wouldn't have made much money on that little guy anyways.  So, not seeing any gators, we went hunting for other wildlife.  Really didn't see anything to speak of, but did go into the swamps.....as far as I wanted to go.  There were people frome every place on that tour, so it made for an interesting few hours.  Learned more about the changes people have made in their lives since Katrina.  heck, our storms are nothing....even Irene when we lost so many trees on our island.  The tour guide lost his house; had to sell his shrimp boat and build a new home on a higher level of land.  Driving through New Orleans, you can still see places which were destroyed and have not been repaired.  The French Quarter wasn't one of those areas.  Water didn't get to the French quarter as it is on the Mississippi, and it was Lake Pontchartrain that caused the damage by going over the levees.  There is so much water around here, and so many bridges.  I really don't like high bridges, especially when we are towing,  but we made it here.

We did drive by the Super Dome, and I had to send a text back to one son-in-law to ask if it was a new one, but it had just been rebuilt.  Super Bowl was there this year, I think.  It really is beautiful, although it looks like a spaceship. We camped in a completely different area last year so did not bump in to it.

Oh, while on the swamp tour, we had to sail under a drawbridge, which was in much worse shape than the old Memorial Bridge.  Doesn't get used much, about three times a year.  But one of our fellow tourists had never seen a bridge like that and wanted to know what all the stuff was above the bridge was.  Just a miniature old Memorial Bridge.

Going to have to stop now, as we need to figure out what we re going to do today and get moving.  Hope. I hit the right spot to save this so I don't have to start all over again.
Its evening now, still on the 21st and we are sitting outside, doing our laundry.  Such a fun thing to do, but works well when there are more than one washing machine and dryer.
Well, today, we went back into the city.  We were considering going on the NATCHEZ, a steam powered paddle boat, and thats what we did.  It has two day time cruises, both with meals, but we decided to just get something to eat before hand and go on the 2:30 cruise.   Last night, while on the cocktail tour, Russ asked about the best place to get a roast beef po boy.  Found it, and had lunch there.  I had chicken three decker sandwich and Russ had his beef po boy.  No complaints from either of us except mine was huge.  His was the special, so was just a half, and they don't serve half po boys unless they are on the special.  Well, we wondered around the city for quite a while after that and before we could get onto the boat.  Found a place where we could get our 'to go' cups of hurricanes and margaritas.  New Orleans has no problems with their quests wandering the streets with a drink in hand, as long as its not in a glass cup.  The cruise lasted two hours, and first we went down the river.  We were shown where the piers were prior to Katrina, and were burned during the storm, and where the city is planning on rebuilding piers for the tour boats.  Carnival is going to be sailing out of NO, so we have heard.  Also went by two Navy cargo boats, the KNOX and the KENNEDY, which can be loaded and sent overseas for a 6 day crossing of the Atlantic.  Some of the areas looked like Portsmouth, with the salvage metal being craned out of the hulls of barges, in this case.  Also, saw Domino sugar being taken from barges and going to the refinery.  Just like Portsmouth, but on a much larger scale.
New Orleans is 110 miles from the Gulf, so we didn't go that far.  Did go up past the pier, which is an area we have not walked to.  Coming back down to the pier, the captain came on the loud speaker to ask everyone to remain seated as the winds were stronger than normal, and it took a little extra time to get docked.  All's well, and we are now back at the campground doing our laundry.
Oh, mentioning Carnival.  When we left Pensacola, we drove through Mobile on Route 10, along the river.  The Triumph is under repair there, and we were able to see it from the truck.  I'll ask Russ to download a couple of those pictures, as I am sure it will be so interesting.  Just looks like a cruise ship, a big cruise ship.
Oh, another thing, this campground, in case I hadn't mentioned it before, is across the river from NO, so today we took a ferry to get to NO.  Had to drive about nine miles from the campground.  Walked onto the ferry, for the 20 minute ride, and then returned the same way.  Ferry is free, apparently paid for by the state.  Beats going over some of these bridges.
Well, wash almost done, and we are leaving in the morning.  Russ is on the IPad trying to figure out where we are going next.  Can't stay in any one place for too long.
We'll let you know tomorrow where we are......

February 19

Hi folks, if anyone is still out there.
We have not been very good bloggers this year.  Not sure why, but it may have something to do with our 'unstable' wifi, but we are still alive and well and now in Louisiana.  Not quite in New Orleans, but across the river in Belle Chase.  We are at the Aviation Arbor RV park, at the Naval Air Station pint Reserve Base.   This is our second 'military base' park, and it is again a nice park.  Wifi leaves a little to be desired  and the television is limited, but the price is a definite plus.  This appears to be an actual base, as there are jets flying by, and we actually heard taps.  I thought it was the call for YANKEE at Seabrook dog track.  Flights have stopped so it is quiet now.  The ride from Pensacola was enjoyable, as we. Detoured and went along the beach.  Sun was out, so it was beautiful.  Biloxi has numerous casinos.  Great place to go, I presume, and the beaches were good.  May be a place to consider for next year.  But there are a lot of foundations without the houses on them, so there must have been storms.  Just something else we need to look at before making a choice for next year.  
Tomorrow we are going on a Swamp Tour.  Neighbors here in the park went today, so gave us the brochure.  Also we want to go on the 'walking cocktail tour' in the city, so that might be tomorrow or Thursday.  We have 'reservations' here for three nights, but may stay longer.  Who knows.
Oh, we did go back to the quilt shop in the pharmacy. I still was not able to pick out fabric for what I want to make, but Russ went wild.  Wait to u see what he wants me to make.  I want everyone to know that he picked some beautiful material and it may be on the table in the breezeway at some time.
Enjoy your winter, and we will also.  Let us know when the snow stops so we can head north.....not too soon, we have a swamp tour soon.

Feb 16 Pensacola beach

Update!!! Linda found a quilt shop that overwhelmed her so much that she couldn't even find any material to buy.   This is the place that holds that shop. It is advertized as a Pharmacy, which it is. Inside is a old town pharmacy, a appliance store, a "Michaels" type crafts etc, a little area for hardware and a HUGE, HUGE material shop. We walked around and around and there was just to much to pick from and I got a headache so I went outside while my quilting queen continued to wander aimlessly. She had her prescription filled while she shopped and when she came out she was empty handed, I was flabbergasted!!!   a great place to visit.  We stopped at another place that was advertized as a quilt shop and found out it was the factory where they make a special rotery cutter that she already had. the girl there was kind of pushy but showed us their new products and taught Linda how to make her existing cutter work easier. Was really worth the stop even though they didn't have much material.  We then headed to Pensacola Beach.  It is alot like South Pardre island in Texas. lots of beachy wear type shops and eatery's  then condos and motels that tower over the dunes, then just a road with sand and beach on either side. We stopped so Linda could stick her feet into the water. then on our way back into the over developed area we stopped to watch some guys "kite surfing"     a huge kite type parachute and a wake board. the wind was really strong and they were flying. Litterially flying. they would turn the chute and scream along parralell to the shore then go out from the beach into the waves and become airborne and I don't mean just jump the waves, they would be 30 or 40 feet into the air and we both wondered if they could get down and then they did something and came back down fast and into the water and back to travelling so fast along the shoreline. very fun, and Linda said that "she could do that" she took my line.
   The Dock
 

 The Dock ceiling fan, notice the sag in the blades

we then stopped at "THE DOCK" for lunch. It is right on the beach and quite the dive lounge. Not bad food and I am sure on a warm weekend nite it would be the hot place to be.

 back to the campground and turn the heat on. cold predicted for tonite (might be a freeze) wind is almost as strong as on Port A beach last year.
Note from Linda.  I plan on going back to that quilt shop tomorrow.  I just had to check how much room was left in the camper for storage.  After all, we are going to Paducah, KY, and I want to have space available for my purchases there!

ya right,RB

Feb 16, 2013 Pensacola,FL

Hi all you happy campers,
 We are in Pensacola Florida without much to say, but as you all know me, I will try.  We are staying in our first military base campground and it's very nice. We have kniown for quite a while that as retired "DOD" (dept of defense) employees we are allowed some perks and campgrounds are one of them.  I found this place on line and it looked nice and had great reviews so i called and they were very helpful and nice so we thought whu not.  we are right on the Pensacola Perdido Bay and huge flat concrete pads, full services, huge shower and restrooms cheap laundry. couldn't ask for a better place, other than the free "wifi" signal is very weak so we can't get online line that way. last evening I was talking to our neighbor and he has a couple of books that have to do with DOD perks. one is a list of all bases and what they have for services etc and the other is cheap flights that we are allowed to use. He and his wife took a military charter flight to Germany form Washington dc and it was only $25 PP. I need to get these books.   enough of that rant other than to say we are looking into other base campgrounds for our next stops.

Yesterday we went to the Pensacola Naval Aviation Museum.  The place is HUGE!!! they have every sort of plane, moon landing capsule, helicopter and more. all day event at this place that is a must do for anyone. we went on the aircraft carrier flight deck simulator, all the wind, noise, smells of the real thing.  climbed into the  Blue Angle jet cockpit, toured the flightline, and lots of other neat stuff.

 Its Linda now.  And today we are going to Quilt shops!!  Found two on line, and I hope these will be open.  While staying at the Grayton Beach State park, we had addresses, but now shops.  One of these today is in a Pharmacy, and the other is near by.  Weather is going to be cool, but sunny, so that is nice.  We want to find Pensacola Beach which we have been told is the most beautiful beach in the world.....think we have been told that before.  Oh, while at the Naval Aviation Museum, we saw a NH plated car with AYUH on the plate.  I know I have seen that plate up north.  Anyone know who it might be?  We were headed for the flight line on a trolley, so couldn't stop to leave a note.
Last night we were making plans for our stop over in New Orleans.  We are going to be staying in a completely different area (Military installation of some type) so will be taking a ferry to New Orleans.  Last year it was a shuttle.  Russ is having fun trying to plot our travels along the locations of these camp sites.  It continues to be interesting and fun.  Just always hope for another beach day!
Enjoy the weather, love to you all.

Mardi Gras in Mobile, AL

We have just returned from watching two Mardi Gras parades in Mobile.  What fun.  It was a miserable day, raining just about all the time, but pouring buckets when it wasn't just raining.  Mardi Gras, in the US, was first celebrated in Mobile.  Don't know why or when, so I'll have to get back to you on that.  Mardi Gras is celebrated over a period of about a month and ends on Fat Tuesday.  I know we have celebrated Fat Tuesday, as just a reason to go out with friends, and that it is the beginning of Lent, so all this has to do with Easter.   Well, in Mobile and also New Orleans, parades go on over this period of time.  I think there were five  or six parades scheduled for today, but we only stuck around for two.   We found a good spot on a corner, and naturally asked the locals what to do.  This is serious business.  Lineta, and her son, Tanner, spend every year on this corner, watching all the parades.  This spot is at the beginning of the parade and again at the end, plus, all the float riders throw lots of beads at this corner.  I didn't know how much they hurt when they hit your finger tips, as you are grabbing for more than one at a time.  Plus they toss cups, stuffed animals, flowers, moon pies, and I don't know what else.  Moon pies is something else having to do with Mardi Gras.
Everyone loved the fact that we were new at this, so we were loaded down with beads.  I think we now have about 25 pounds of purple, green, gold, and silver beads.  It was a fun afternoon, and now we are just trying to dry out.
One more day here in Mobile, there's a barbecue place we want to hit, and then we are headed back to Florida.  Want to spend some time in the Pensacola area.
Russ is going to add some pics from today.  Enjoy....... these are just a sampling of the photos we took.

what a haul!!!! we could have had twice this much, without even trying. the Moon Pies and roses aren't even in the pile.   you need to try this if you ever get the chance. A total ball even in the pouring rain.

Sunday Feb 10, 2013

Hello Blog followers,

Today is Sunday Feb 10, 2013 and it has been pretty overcast and windy today. We have been slowly putting things away and readying for our Monday departure from Grayton beach State Park. We went up the road to Public's grocery store and did a little shopping and just out to see what the store has to offer in “southern items”. Nothing that really stand out but lots of friendly folks that keep calling Linda “sweetie or dear”. We also went East for a few miles thru Watercolor, Seaside and a couple of other vacation vista's and found a pizza joint that the park rangers said was a local place that they all eat at. It was ok but nothing to write home about. Watching tv and relaxing inside due to the wind and clouds. Last nite we could hear music and realized it was coming form Seaside common half-shell. That's about 3/4mile from us and half that is over water. Great music and loud. It must have been ear breaking at the common, but at least it was good music. This campground has been really nice. A small park but folks come and go all the time, with at least 6 rigs changing every day. We have decided that we are going to Mobile, Al in the morning and stay for 3 nites. He 12^th is their last day of MardiGras so we hope to get into town for the parades. The weather is predicting rain and high winds so we are not sure how that will affect the event. As always we will try and find neat things to do and see. After Mobile we are heading back to Florida and going to stay at Pensacola Naval Air Station RV park. Being retired Department of Defense employees we can use the military parks. The prices are pretty good and it's right on Perdido Bay and only a few miles from the Aeronautical Museum that everyone says it a MUST SEE. Looking forward to seeing just how much red tape is required to stay at a government park.

I will try and attach pictures of me wading in the Gulf of Mexico. I have already posted a couple on Facebook just to spin up my friends at home that are still shoveling the massive amounts of snow that they got. The water was not warm, but not as cold as York beach in Maine. I will be honest, I didn't stay very long, but just had to do it. That was yesterday after we walked a 1 hour loop around the park thru dunes, pine groves, and nature trails. It was neat, but we keep looking for sneaky southern things like snakes and other unknown threats. Didn't see any or even hear them.

I do hope everyone at home is safe, warm and all dug out from the storm, I jest with you all about how great the weather here is and that we are in shorts and tee shirts(which we are) but our hearts are with you dealing with the new England weather.

I am starting to get over my cold and all the coughing, and runny nose. I am still hoping that Linda doesn't get it as I need my copilot healthy to guide me along the way.

            sunset over gulf of mexico , taken from Seaside Fl

 another Seaside sunset

 black squirrl

 i am huge!! actually the wind is billowing my shirt

 in the gulf!!!

 linda trying to get in the gulf

 Sunrise over our campsite

Saturday, February 9

No snow here yet, but it is a little chilly-crisp 48 out.  Had to pit the heat on this morning.  I know, just what u want to hear.  Understand that it is still snowing, but not hearing of power outages yet, so I'm glad to hear that.  Thank you very much to the Smiths and the Zilms for watching over our home.
Still at Grayton Beach.  Yesterday it was warm enough to spend time lounging on the beach.  We were there for several hours and even got our feet wet.  Lots of wave action, and since we were the only ones on the beach we didn't  venture out too far.  By the time we left there were about a dozen sharing the beach with us.
While driving around, we have seen small shopping areas that we thought we would at least browse through.  First one was here in Santa Rosa, which is where The state park is.  That one was a bust.  Building were all cute, but nothing of interest so we went through Watercolor, and up to Seaside.  Yea, the town is Watercolor.  The main road is very narrow, and the street lights have shades on them.  The houses along the road all seem to have three floors and on the beach side they are atleast two houses deep.  And they are all pastel colors.  There are some parking spots for access to the 'public beach' but we whew passing through onto Seaside.  Seaside also has shops, but these were open, so we could browse.  That's about all we did. Very pricey.  In one of the magazines we had picked up, there was a write up about the 'Airstream' dining.  On the corner of one street, there are four Airstream trailers being used.  One sells grilled cheese sandwiches, but tsince they didn't have them with grape jelly, we didn't dine there.  (My Brightman family knows about those delicacies).  So we had Barbecue nachos with pork (and baked beans).  I told Russ that I'm hoping that the cheese was not velveeta.  They were good.  Russ had his I'm on island time Tshirt on, so the owner told us he lived in St. Thomas for twelve years.  We knew that as we had read it in the guide book.  Not to be outdone, I told him we owned a small island in Maine.  He'd heard the weather report so he knew why we were in FL.
Also got a few pictures of the sunset, and Russ tells me he took pics of the sunrise this morning.  He's out washing either the truck or the camper right now, so he'll download those later.
Hope you all get shoveled out, and the electricity stays on.  Love,Linda

Wednesday, February 6 Grayton State Park

Wednesday, February 6

We are in Santa Rosa at the Grayton State Park. Arrived here yesterday afternoon, after a nice three hour ride from St. George's Island. The state parks are all so different. Here we have sewer hookups, which are so nice!!!!! There is also a laundry here, which we took advantage of yesterday to do two loads. Not everything dried, so the inside of the camper looked like our backyard in Pannaway Manor , when I was a kid. Its all good, and we have clothes for the next week.

Hopefully, we will finally be able to put on bathing suits and head for the beach, although right now it doesn't look like it. Its 8:58 on the computer and 7:58 on both of our phones. Looking at the map, there is a time zone change around Mexico Beach, and our phones changed at that time, but the computer did not. Also, watching television last night, we were getting channels from two different zones. Very interesting.

Just turned on the television, and sorry folks, I won't complain about the weather here; just heard about the weather up north.

This is another small park, and we will have to drive to the beach, we think. We haven't ventured out that way just yet. There is a town, and seems to be shops and restaurants to take advantage of, just from what we read. The sites are large and covered with fine crushed stone. We won't be bringing sand into the camper. On the down side, the sites are closer, and there are no trees, so we have our awning out. This is the first time we have been able to do that, and it feels good.

We'll write more once we check out the area.

Back from a trip riding around in the area, and having lunch at Stinky's. We heard about Stinky's from folks at St. Georges Island who are from Alabama. Haven't mentioned them yet, but will get back to them after talking about today. I can do that, Russ just fixed me a margarita, and I have been sitting in the sun for the past hour or so.

This morning we drove the truck up to the beach. Not a long drive, I think Russ measured it at about ½ mile, but we didn't know how far it was. The beach is beautiful, but very few shells. Also, looking both to the left and the right, we could see huge building both ways. We walked east for about a mile and got to the end of the state beach owned land. The sand is not as easy to walk on as on St. Georges...its much softer. Met more people walking than we would at St. Georges, but we do have to share. Walking back we were able to find a couple of shells and many, many pieces of sand dollars. None whole, but if they were, the dollars would be about 5 inches across. We'll try to find some as the week goes on. When coming back across the boardwalk (crossing the dunes), we met a couple from Missouri. They are about 900 miles from home. It was another interesting conversation. Its fun to chat with folks from other areas, and to learn about places they have been, especially the one's we will be interested in visiting. And they mentioned quilt shops. After travelling around the area, this afternoon, we sat outside on our site and enjoyed the breeze and the sun. Tomorrow, weather is supposed to be rainy, so quilt shops here we come.

So, the folks from Alabama. The last night we were at St. George's, Russ was outside and heard music.

We went for a walk to see where it was coming from and it was a few campsites down from us. It turned out to be a couple camping in an oversized van (my description), towing a boat-not a big boar, but a boat. He (Linwood) was playing an accordion, and his wife (Jean) was playing a washtub, with pole and Russ said wire. Interesting folks. They are from someplace in Alabama, couldn't tell you what town, but 250 miles from home. They follow the music festival circuit....whatever that may mean. But they camp anywhere, the cheaper the better, and Hardee's is a good place to camp. They were down Key West several years ago, and a police knocked on their window in the middle of the night, to ask them to move. There's an ordinance that people cannot sleep in their vehicles in Key West, so they moved to Hardee's. They had so many stories, I think that's where they slept that night. They were great folks, and they are the ones who told us about Stinky's. Good choice, and I have leftover salad for tonight. So that's it for tonight. Hope you are all enjoying the winter weather, we are.

Feb 4th St. George Island

Hello my fellow countrymen,

Linda and I are still on St. George's island just over the bridge from Apalachicola, Fl. ST G's is a true barrier island and is really neat. We are in the state park campground, 4 miles from the entrance gate and 8 miles from the bridge onto the island. With speed limits of 25 MPH in the park and 35Mph on the town streets, it takes a while to get around, but there is hardly any traffic so it's easy traveling. I will try and attach some pictures that show how different the roads and area are. On the Gulf of Mexico side

of the island there are small, low sand dunes and clean white sand beaches that are over 9 miles long. We have walked a lot of it and have seen very few people. The shells are a lot different here that at home. One way is that there are tons of them and they are all shapes and sizes. Linda has picked up a lot that look neat, but we decided that we will bring home just a few, as what do you do with them once you are home. There isn't much wave action as the water is quite shallow and it appears that there are a lot of sand bars out from the beach. By the way, the water isn't quite warm enough to swim, but we have stuck our feet in just to make sure. So to describe this area of the park. There is the beach, low dunes, the asphalt road(narrow) and then sand and really high dunes. Some over 40 feet tall and then there are short crooked wind blown yellow pine, and then tall skinny pines. Our site in the campground is tucked into a tall pine grove behind the dunes. Behind us a little ways is the “bay side” of the island. The trees go right into the water and not much beach. The water near shore had lots of something like seaweed but more like pine needles so we wouldn't feel like getting into that. The bay is about 4 miles wide and is shallow and fairly calm. Sort of like a big lake. There are quite a few local fishermen in funny looking flatbottomed boats. The bay is the supplier of about 10% of the USA's oysters and they must be hand raked, It looks like a miserable way to make a living!! they have double handles poles about 12 feet long with metal tines to pickup the oysters. Sort of like a oversized post hole digger. The men that do this must have huge arm and shoulder muscles. They also small net for shrimp.

We have travelled along Rt 98 thru Carrabelle, Eastpoint, and into Apalachicola, which is driving right along the water. There is the bay, sand, grass and then the road. You wouldn't want to fall asleep and go off into the beach. It's so different than any place we have been. I really like Apalachicola, it's a small town with all kinds of neat places. Old homes, that were owned by the “barons” of yesteryear and also

small underfunded workers homes. It is all laid out in a grid and easy to find your way around. The river comes right into town and there are many big shrimp boats and even some quite nice recreational yachts tied up there. Yesterday we went to see a few museums but only one was open on Sunday(I think they were closed because of the football game). We did toured the Orman house and it was really neat and well kept and run, by the state parks system. We talked to the ranger there and he is the park ranger for the area and lives within the park on St George(where we are staying) He offered us a job for next year f we are interested. 20 hours a week for each of us for a free campsite. Not a bad offer and as I like it here it might be interesting, but we didn't jump on it. It would have to be for at least a month or up to six months. One never knows, so I got his number. Right next door, and part of his responsibility is the Chapman Botanical Gardens, a newly started garden area with all kinds of plants and trees. I wonder if this was part of Curt and Betty Chapman's heritage that they never knew about. I hope so as it is beautiful.

We will be heading to Grayton beach state park tomorrow. Just about 100 miles west of here and just west of Panama City, for those who are looking at a map. It's also close to Pensacola and it's military base and museum. This should be a 6 night stay before crossing into Mobile, Al.

We are having a great time and enjoying the sun and warmer weather. Cool nights and mornings with nice sunny warm days. Don't mean to rub it in but this is why we are here.

Hope you are all well and making the best of this time of year.

Jess, Jason, Jeff and all of you that help make this trip possible a huge thank you! Smiles and Hugs, Russ and Linda

 

PS: Linda showered with a frog this morning, she was not impressed. she's now laying in the sun.

 Bayside

Bayside

 

 Bayside sunset

bayside sunset

 bayside sunset

bayside sunset

 Gulf beach side

Dunes between beach road and campground

Orman house(note the keg of nails on the top right of the roof, this signified to all southerners that Yankees were in town so beware)

Hello my fellow countrymen,

Linda and I are still on St. George's island just over the bridge from Apalachicola, Fl. ST G's is a true barrier island and is really neat. We are in the state park campground, 4 miles from the entrance gate and 8 miles from the bridge onto the island. With speed limits of 25 MPH in the park and 35Mph on the town streets, it takes a while to get around, but there is hardly any traffic so it's easy traveling. I will try and attach some pictures that show how different the roads and area are. On the Gulf of Mexico side

of the island there are small, low sand dunes and clean white sand beaches that are over 9 miles long. We have walked a lot of it and have seen very few people. The shells are a lot different here that at home. One way is that there are tons of them and they are all shapes and sizes. Linda has picked up a lot that look neat, but we decided that we will bring home just a few, as what do you do with them once you are home. There isn't much wave action as the water is quite shallow and it appears that there are a lot of sand bars out from the beach. By the way, the water isn't quite warm enough to swim, but we have stuck our feet in just to make sure. So to describe this area of the park. There is the beach, low dunes, the asphalt road(narrow) and then sand and really high dunes. Some over 40 feet tall and then there are short crooked wind blown yellow pine, and then tall skinny pines. Our site in the campground is tucked into a tall pine grove behind the dunes. Behind us a little ways is the “bay side” of the island. The trees go right into the water and not much beach. The water near shore had lots of something like seaweed but more like pine needles so we wouldn't feel like getting into that. The bay is about 4 miles wide and is shallow and fairly calm. Sort of like a big lake. There are quite a few local fishermen in funny looking flatbottomed boats. The bay is the supplier of about 10% of the USA's oysters and they must be hand raked, It looks like a miserable way to make a living!! they have double handles poles about 12 feet long with metal tines to pickup the oysters. Sort of like a oversized post hole digger. The men that do this must have huge arm and shoulder muscles. They also small net for shrimp.

We have travelled along Rt 98 thru Carrabelle, Eastpoint, and into Apalachicola, which is driving right along the water. There is the bay, sand, grass and then the road. You wouldn't want to fall asleep and go off into the beach. It's so different than any place we have been. I really like Apalachicola, it's a small town with all kinds of neat places. Old homes, that were owned by the “barons” of yesteryear and also

small underfunded workers homes. It is all laid out in a grid and easy to find your way around. The river comes right into town and there are many big shrimp boats and even some quite nice recreational yachts tied up there. Yesterday we went to see a few museums but only one was open on Sunday(I think they were closed because of the football game). We did toured the Orman house and it was really neat and well kept and run, by the state parks system. We talked to the ranger there and he is the park ranger for the area and lives within the park on St George(where we are staying) He offered us a job for next year f we are interested. 20 hours a week for each of us for a free campsite. Not a bad offer and as I like it here it might be interesting, but we didn't jump on it. It would have to be for at least a month or up to six months. One never knows, so I got his number. Right next door, and part of his responsibility is the Chapman Botanical Gardens, a newly started garden area with all kinds of plants and trees. I wonder if this was part of Curt and Betty Chapman's heritage that they never knew about. I hope so as it is beautiful.

We will be heading to Grayton beach state park tomorrow. Just about 100 miles west of here and just west of Panama City, for those who are looking at a map. It's also close to Pensacola and it's military base and museum. This should be a 6 night stay before crossing into Mobile, Al.

We are having a great time and enjoying the sun and warmer weather. Cool nights and mornings with nice sunny warm days. Don't mean to rub it in but this is why we are here.

Hope you are all well and making the best of this time of year.

Jess, Jason, Jeff and all of you that help make this trip possible a huge thank you! Smiles and Hugs, Russ and Linda

February 1, 2013

February 1, 2013

We are on the Florida Panhandle. We arrived and set up at St. Georges Island State Park, early yesterday afternoon, after a fantastic trip from Spring Hill. We travelled on no major highways, but with lots of stop lights and many small towns. It may not sound wonderful, but it really was. Our campground in Spring Hill, was a great park, and I would stay there again, as it was centrally located, but it was just off from a busy road, and you could hear the early morning traffic. Quiet is nice.

Tuesday night was our last evening there, and as we listened to the weather, it didn't sound like it was going to be a very good ride up along the coast to the Panhandle. The wind blew several times and had the camper swaying as if we were again in Port Aransas. Fortunately, did not last long. I had just looked at the directions to get where we are now, and found out that we would be travelling over a 4 mile, two laned bridge, so that made me a bit nervous. But, when we got up yesterday morning, the weather was beautiful, not quite the beach weather I want to find, but nice. So it was a great ride up routes 19, 319, and 98. The route we were on once we 'made the turn' to the Panhandle was GREAT. Picture driving along Long Sands at York Beach, with no sidewalk and the Atlantic Ocean lapping the shore at the foot of the steps. This is the road we travelled for the last twenty miles til we arrived at the bridge. It wasn't a high bridge, so I was okay. Once on the island, we took a left headed to the state park. The gate was another 5 miles or so, and then from the gate, it was another 4 miles to the camp sites. There are 60 campsites, with two bathroom/shower facilities. State parks are a little more rustic, as we have electricity and running water only. Get my drift?? What comes out doesn't go anywhere until we dump at the end of our stay, so its very nice that we have bathrooms close by. Russ has fixed it so that I can do dishes and take showers here, as that is clean water can go into a five gallon bucket which can be easily taken to the dumping station.

So, yesterday, we took a walk on the beach. We walked forever and saw one other couple. The other end of this island appears to be commercialized (we'll find that out later today), but this end is not. The water was not particularly warm-York Beach at the beginning of the summer, but the walking was great. There are shells galor and we were 'crunching' them as we were walking on the shore. This morning we are taking a left onto the beach, and that goes towards the intercoastal waterway. We are hoping to be able to find west, so that we can watch a sunset. We tried in the Spring Hill area, but the clouds got in the way.

Having a great time, wish you were here. I need company walking the the bathroom!

Hi, again. Its now Friday night. Tomorrow there is a campground breakfast get-together to discuss work on the bay. Time is 9:00AM, which is doable; coffee is provided, but I suspect we need to bring our own cups; and we have to bring a breakfast food to share. Yogurt, muesli, box of cereal, bread for toast, or what Russ wants to bring is one pop tart. It is a way to meet the neighbors. We'll let you know about that on a later post. Met Ted today. He has NAVY sweatsuit and Michigan hat and is retired Navy. He told us about camping at the National Seashore in Pensacola and stopped by later with a brochure. We haven't made plans for after Mobile, AL, so we are considering that. We'll see.

We took another walk. Took our left off the walkway to the beach and walked and walked and walked some more. Picked up a bunch of great shells, with lots of color. Even managed to find a few complete sand dollars. Yesterday we found pieces, but not the entire dollar. We found pieces that that made the dollar about 5 inches across. Today, we found littler ones but intact. Russ tells me there are dollars at York, but I have never seen them. It was a fun walk, and I think we saw a total of 8 people. It is just so beautiful here, and quiet. After our walk, we headed to the other end of the island. I thought that it was going to be more commercialized, but it wasn't really. We did find a 'grocery' store, a little larger than a corner store; a liquor store; and two restaurants. Oh, and a Subway. We ate at the Blue Parrot, which was on the beach. Russ had a cheese burger and I had a 'bay scallop po boy'. The scallops had a cornmeal batter on them, and it was funny to see them. They were round and about the size of a nickel. Ate a few, and they were good, but then took the batter off them, and they were very, very small......still good. Cole slaw was great, and so was the marquerita.

We then took a ride back onto the mainland (across the four mile bridge) onto another three mile bridge to Apalachicola, and I hope that is the correct spelling. We needed propane and the campground 'host' told us to go across the two bridges, through the town, past the Burger King, to the Ace Hardware, to find the propane. Most of this road, was along the water. It's just so beautiful. On the way back to the campground, we went through some of the neighborhoods. There are beautiful, huge, old homes that have been refurbished. The main, downtown area, was so nice. Russ said that of all the places we have been, this was one place he could move to. I don't think that will happen too soon, so the Christmas Gathering is still on!

Tomorrow another day, breakfast, walk, oh, and maybe another campfire. Oh, forgot to mention, we were having a small fire, while it was still light, and Russ saw two racoons roaming around just outside the camp sites. He missed one, there were three. They weren't interested in us, just kept on walking. Don't see that up at camp.

Hope you are all enjoying your winter... We are!