Oops, He Did it Again

 

Sunshine Key Rv Resort and Marina, Ohio Key, Florida (high 81, low 75)

 

I’ve been doing so well sleeping in later in the mornings.  At least until today. It’s 4 am and I’ve been awake since about 2:30.    Oh well.   We have to take the boat up to Key Largo this morning, so I guess that was on my mind.  It’s about a 70 mile drive, so we set the alarm for 5 am and intended to leave just before sunrise. 

Key Largo is the first of the many different islands throughout the Keys, but we never stop there since we’re in the motor home when we go through.  Today will give us a chance to see some of the sights up there, so we plan to make a day of it.  We’ll leave the boat there and hopefully we can pick it up tomorrow or the next day with it’s pretty new motor.

I found some interesting facts about the Florida Keys.

There are more than 800 keys, stretching over 180 miles.  The longest key is Key Largo, which is 30 miles long.

The word “key” actually comes from the Spanish word “cayo” meaning “little island.”

The third largest coral reef in the world is off the coast of Key West. That reef is 160 miles long.

The temperature in Key West has never dropped below 41 degrees.

Back in 1889, Key West was the largest city in Florida.

The highest elevation in Key West is 18 feet above sea level.

 

We didn’t do much exciting yesterday.  I cleaned house and did some laundry, while Al worked on the boat. 

We took a walk up to the bridge and then around the park.  Yesterday was the day they were trimming the coconut palms.

I personally think this is coconut palm murder.  Notice the before and after.

 

We did find bunches of coconuts lying on the ground free for the taking.

I don’t know why they waited until the busiest time of the year to do the tree trimming.  If this would have been my Rv, I would have been very unhappy.  I guess it’s better than coconuts falling on the rig though.

 

Later in the afternoon we decided to take a drive down to Summerland Key to try to find a little park and kayak launch that we had heard about.

It turned out it was on Little Summerland Key, not Summerland key, but we eventually found it.

It was a beautiful 2 acre piece of property right on the Atlantic, with a cut through to the bay side.  A family had generously donated it to the state. 

This was our first view of the property.

The entire 2 acres is fenced off with a big gate saying no vehicles permitted.  The entire property is gravel and there were plenty of places to park, but for some reason you couldn’t bring your vehicle inside the gate.  You could use the property, but had to park along the road outside.  I’m sure they had their reasons, but we didn’t know what they were.

These pictures were taken from the bridge above the park.  If you looked one way you saw this property with an open view of the Atlantic.  Notice the nice kayak launch?

If you looked the other way you saw this mangrove area which leads to the open bay.  Either way was beautiful and would make for a nice kayak trip. 

This is what the property used to look like.  You can see they also had a boat ramp.

I was talking to a couple who just came back from a paddle.  While I was talking to them, Al got out of my sight and in trouble again.   :)    Just two months ago, he cracked open his head on the slide out.

See all those big pretty rocks?   Guess who decided to walk down them towards the water?

Guess who fell and almost ended up cracking his head on the rocks right as he was rolling towards the water?

Guess who has a bloody scratch on his leg?  He’s lucky he didn’t get hurt worse.

Tell me, what was he going to see by walking out on those rocks, that he couldn’t have seen from the safety of the land?

We decided we would definitely come back to this beautiful spot for a kayak trip.  Yesterday was just a reconnaissance mission. We also decided it would have been a wonderful spot to put an Rv site.   Maybe they could use a volunteer to guard the park? 

 

By the time we got home, it was time for happy hour (for both us and the kitties)   We sat outside for a while and enjoyed the cool breezes.  No mosquitoes here.

We Made it to the Keys…Despite a BIG Traffic Jam.

 

Sunshine Key Rv Resort, Ohio Key, Florida (high 78, low 66)

 

We left Tampa Monday around 11am, heading south on I-75. All was smooth until we got to Sarasota and then both north and south bound lanes came to a complete standstill. I checked my handy little Florida 511 traffic alert phone app, and it said there was an emergency road repair with lane closures.  Uh-oh.  We moved maybe a half mile in over an hour.  We were worried about the motorhome overheating, and kept a close eye on the engine and transmission temps.   After about an hour we finally got to an exit, where they forced us off the interstate.  Another Uh-oh. In a big motorhome pulling a toad, the last thing you need is an unplanned detour.  Fortunately, once we got off there was a woman cop standing there with a sign with an arrow that directed us right back onto I-75.   It turns out that a tractor trailer dropped his load on the overpass and it damaged the road service so badly that there was an actual hole in the road where you could look down and see the road below. Concrete was falling onto the street below.   Despite the long delay, we were thankful the road was closed and no one was hurt.

Midway campground in the Everglades, is our favorite place to stop on the way to the Keys.  Until recently you couldn’t reserve a site, and you just had to hope something was available.    We had reserved site 21, which was easy to get into, but we had to trim a few tree branches before opening the slides.  Our old favorite site 17 had a pretty big tree that had grown together with the palm tree and made it difficult to get into for a larger rig. 

Midway is an electric only campground.   Perfect to explore the Everglades or just spend a night on the way. 

 

Our site.  

We went for a walk and couldn’t help but notice this really cool camper.

Of course, we had to go over and talk to them and ask about their rig. It turns out they are French Canadians (with very cool accents) and have spent the winter in Florida.  Just like us, their favorite place is in the Keys.    Lise and Michel gave us a tour of their cute little home. 

I took a few pictures inside but it is hard to get a proper perspective.

They have a toilet, cooking facilities, closet, and even hot water.    It’s such a cute rig and the size allows you to be a lot more spontaneous than with these larger rigs. 

The kayak you see is a very long sea kayak.  It fits on the roof when traveling, but has to come down so the roof of the van can lift up in their living area. They have a screen door on the opening. 

We sat and visited with them for awhile and really enjoyed talking with them.  We exchanged Facebook and email info.  Hope to see you again sometime soon Lise and Michel.

oops…picture was blurry.  It was almost dark and I didn’t realize it.

The next morning we got up early and headed out to the Oasis visitor center.   We’ve been there many times, but never tire of seeing all the gators, birds and fish that hangout in one place.

It was very foggy, so we drove extra carefully in case any of the rare Florida panthers were out and about.

It wasn’t as foggy at the visitor center.

 

There were hundreds of these little fish, floating on the top of the water. 

 

This one looks like he’s smiling, doesn’t he?

There were plenty of gators.

Plenty of birds.

I thought this next picture was interesting.  I didn’t even realize when I took the photo,  that a gator was in the background.

These are all wild animals. The alligators are free to come and go.  This just happens to be a place where they congregate.

 

Notice the rail in the picture below?  Notice how clean it is?  No bug poop anywhere. 

It’s because of this nice volunteer couple, but unfortunately I can not remember their names.  Thanks guys.

They have full hook up rv sites behind the visitor center. 

They have been volunteering there for a few years and enjoy it. They are required to work 3 days a week, but said they often work more hours than they are required because there is so much to do.   I asked them about the wildlife programs for the volunteers (thinking of Judy) and they said they have bird counts and things like that all the time.  This might be a good spot for you next year Judy instead of all that snow and ice in Louisiana.  It was in the 80’s yesterday.

We always enjoy our stay in this area but were also anxious to get to they keys, so we reluctantly left to pack up and head south.

 

As we traveled along the Overseas Highway, we noticed both the bay and the Atlantic were flat calm.  How we wished we had been out on the water instead of driving by.

Up and over the 7 Mile bridge.  Our campground is just down the road.

On the way down we passed other rv parks and noticed they were packed full.  When we got to our park, it was much fuller than usual.  I was praying nothing got screwed up with our reservation and that our site was awaiting us.  It was.  We are on site 266 this year because our old preferred sites were unavailable.  As it turns out, I think this one is even better and we even have afternoon shade.

We did a partial set up and went down to the boat storage to check on our little boat.  It was safe and sound and just like we left it. 

Next on the agenda was a visit to the Sunset Bar and Grill for their wonderful sunset celebration.

Wow….was it crowded.  There was no place to sit in the upstairs or downstairs (by the pool) bar.   Al went to the bar and ordered us a drink and I cozied up to a couple who looked like they were leaving.  We talked a while and they left, so we got their seats.  :)   By this time the sun had set, happy hour was over, so people started leaving.  Note to self…go earlier next time!

Despite the crowds it was beautiful as usual.  The upper bar over looks the pool. Beyond the pool is a boat dock and then the Atlantic ocean.

This was our view from the bar. You can see on the right side of the picture the 7 Mile bridge.

Maybe I should have edited out the ketchup bottle?

The next picture is for our friend Pat.  They even have a soft white sand corn hole area next to the pool.  Pretty nice place to play, with the ocean in the back ground.

I don’t know if you can see him, but in front of the huge TV screen is a guy playing a guitar.   It’s quite a lively place.  People eating, drinking, swimming, playing corn hole.

There is a boat dock for people who want to come by boat. 

They put some green lights in the water which allows you to see some fish at night.

 

For some reason, the current was really ripping, so we were careful not to fall in.

 

It was a lovely night until we remembered we needed canned kitty food.  If we went home empty handed, there would surely have been a revolt.  They expect their canned food in the evening, which is their happy hour.  Off we went to the grocery store and when we got home they were dancing around waiting for the cans to be opened.  Little happy campers.

Sorry for such a along and photo laden blog post, but I knew if I didn’t catch up, I’d never get caught up, since I expect we’ll be pretty busy.

Daytrip to Fort Clinch State Park

Jacksonville, Florida (high 88, low 72)

We only have two days to explore the area, so we got an early start yesterday. We went a lot of places, but for now I’ll stick to our favorite place, which was Fort Clinch State Park.

We had been there several years ago, but didn’t really remember the campground very well.  They have a beach campground and a “river” campground.  I guess there is a river in the area but we never really saw it.

As we drove into the state park, we were immediately impressed.  The roads were wide and paved and there was plenty of clearance for rv’s.

There is camping directly on the beach, but the sand dunes are pretty high in this area, so from your rv, all you really see is sand dunes.

Right over this dune is the water.  You still got the nice ocean breezes.

We really liked this campsite.  #8   Al thought we would pull in forward, and maybe we’d be high enough to see the ocean.

I think we could fit into most all the sites and they were all easy to get into.

There was a nice new bath area with nice private showers.

A short walk over the boardwalk brought you to the Atlantic Ocean.

The beach wasn’t the prettiest I’ve ever seen.  The sand was tan, and not soft like some I’ve been to.  It was firm enough so that walking was not a chore and it was a great place to take a long walk.  I’d love to be there for sunrise.

There were some shells along the high water line.

A nice fishing pier.

The sites were $26 (plus tax) a night for  30 amp electric and water. 

This is the view coming back to the campground.

The other campground area was in a very wooded area.  It was very pretty, but you would have a difficult time with cell or satellite service.  The roads getting in were pretty good, but you’d have to be careful and watch any tail swing.

Several of the sites were huge.

I took these for Sherry and Davis because I know they’d love these sights.

We really liked Fort Clinch State Park and we hope we can stay there some day soon.  There were actually a few available sites in the beach side…made me re-think going back to Tampa. 

I saw this interesting cloud formation on the way home.

We got back to Pecan Park last night to new neighbors.   Jim and Dee from Tumbleweed had parked right next door.   You can see our coach in some of their pictures.

We had sat outside and visited with Dee for a couple hours.  Jim had an important ball game so we’ll see him today.

Al pointed out one of our neighbors.  Apparently, he wasn’t happy with his new 2012 motor home.

Feel free to share these pictures.  Maybe it will all spread these pictures it will help him to get the attention he needs from Monaco.

Notice the slide topper?  Notice the lean to the left?  I don’ t know what his problems are, but evidently they haven’t been addressed.

 

and now…..for my cute kitty  pictures of the day.

Little Baxter is getting big and has outgrown his kitty bed don’t you think?

Here he is taking a nap in his bed on the dash.  He is the furriest thing.  Notice all that fluff on his belly?