St. Augustine, FL Oct 2015

Monday, October 12, 2015

Saint Augustine

Woke early and Greg contacted Jack Wilson Chevrolet and set an appointment for 10:00.

In the meantime we drove over to the St Augustine lighthouse which opened at 9:00.  We walked around the grounds and to a park across the street while waiting for it to open.  Beautiful morning in the high 60’s.

Entered the lighthouse at 9:00 and, after reading some history, we climbed to the top which is 165 ft., 219 steps….not bad.  There were a couple of local women there doing the stairs as part of their exercise routine. Pretty ironwork on the staircase.  Nice views of the surrounding area.  We didn’t get to the keeper’s house – may come back later if we have time.

Spent from 10:00 till 4:00 at Jack Wilson Chevrolet.  Got all our electronics charged and caught up on emails, Facebook, blog, etc.  We walked to a nearby restaurant, Ichiban Buffet lunch. Back at JWilson, The Astro’s playoff game was on, so we watched 5 innings of that (they blew it in the end L), read, etc.  The Trek needed new oxygen sensors, which apparently is pretty complex and they had to wait for the parts.  Also threw in an oil change while we were at it.  It ran like a charm when we left!

Not a lot of time till things closed, so we went back to town and hiked over to the fort, Castillo de San Marcos.  It is a national site, so our passes once again came in handy!  Listened to ranger give an overview and then did a self-guided tour.  When I mentioned the similarity to El Moro in Puerto Rico, the ranger agreed and said that is their sister fort. 

St Augustine was founded in 1565 and several forts have stood on this site.   The French, Spanish and English all laid claim to the area and fought over it.  For a while, Florida (divided into east and west) was actually the 14^th and 15^th colonies of Great Britain and they did not join the Revolutionary War.  The existing fort was built by the Spanish in 1672  from coquina, a rock formed mostly from shells,

then modified by the English before falling under the US flag.  During the Civil War it was first Floridian (when Florida was briefly an independent nation), then Confederate, and finally Union, but it was handed over without battles.  It was used as a prison for Indians during Florida’s turbulent Indian wars and again during the Spanish-American war in 1898.

We left when it closed at 5:30, walked the 3-4 blocks back to our parking spot and then headed south.  We passed by Michael, who was practicing walking on a strap between palm trees that was about 1-2 inches wide.

We took A-1A south, looking for a boondock spot and found one at Moses Creek Conservation Area, in the parking lot at a trailhead. Greg tried to exercise outside but the mosquitos kept us in.

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Fort Matanzas

We drove over to Fort Matanzas National Monument early in the morning.  Another gorgeous day with 59 degrees at 7:30.   The  Monument Visitors Center didn’t open till 9:00, so we parked across the street at a lovely beach and walked.

Instead of bringing them home, I took a picture

Came back to the Trek and made some breakfast tacos before heading over to the Visitor’s Center.  Fort Matanzas is a small fort – a watchtower with a couple of canons – on Rattlesnake Island.  The park service runs a small ferry there so we got tickets and watched a short film till it was time to board.  We (two rangers and about 20 visitors) made the short ride and as we docked one of them, Grant, gave us a brief history.

There were only a few rooms, as the fort was manned by 7 soldiers at a time and the staff rotated every month.  It was built in 1742 to control “the back door” to St. Augustine.  It was never fired on, but did fire warning shots in several instances.

We climbed a wooden ladder to the top, from which you could see 8 miles.  Lots of birds – osprey, great blue herons, egrets, etc. in the area.

We noticed a sign outside the Visitor’s Center about gopher tortoises and Greg asked the ranger about them.  He told us of a trail over by the dunes where there were quite a few burrows.  We drove over there and walked a boardwalk through the dunes – lots of burrows visible, but no tortoises. 

Burrow a little right of center, below mid-photo

We stopped to watch a couple of very large spiders and while we were standing there (the boardwalk is a few feet above the dunes), a huge brownish snake (looked huge to me – 5’ or so)whipped through the brush –he was incredibly fast!  I took a quick picture but only got part of it and it looks like part of the foliage.  Then we saw some sort of rodent and assumed that the snake had been making a move on it – but missed.

This is as far south as we are going, so we turned back northward, by St. Augustine and onward through heavy traffic to Jacksonville, where we stopped at another LA Fitness for a workout and nice hot shower.

We headed further north with Jekyll Island in our sites.  Stopped at the Georgia border for a map and realized that most things would be closing when we arrived at Jekyll Island, so we decided to look for a boondock spot and head there in the morning.  Beth had sketchy directions for a boondock spot near Fernandina Beach so we headed that way, but had no luck finding it L.  Went through Amelia Island – wow – gorgeous homes, country clubs, etc.  and ended up backtracking to a Walmart in Yulee, FL.    Salads and meatball sandwich for dinner.  Tomorrow, Jekyll Island and on to Savannah.

Panama Beach City Pirate Festival, Oct 10

Saturday, October 10
Arrggh! Matey!

69 degrees when we awoke this morning about 7 AM.  We headed east on Hwy 20, which wound through a nice slice of rural Florida.  Quite the contrast from the shore road 30 miles or so south!

 A mix of logging and agriculture, nice homes and trailer parks and all in between.  Beth spotted a small boat launch area surrounded by trees, beside a river (just east of the town of Bruce).  So we turned around to park there and have breakfast.  There were a few boat trailers but the boats were already on the water so we had the place to ourselves.

Continued on to Panama City Beach, where we had read about a Pirates of the High Seas Festival.
Greg drove into town and was met with road closure.  We spoke to a policeman directing traffic and learned that there was going to be a parade shortly, and the other festivities would be at Pier Park a little further down the road.  So we parked at a closed Oyster Bar and watched the parade which was a Shriners Parade - or, as I think it should be called,  Big Boys with Toys Showing Off.

We drove down the Pier Park, which turned out to be a HUGE shopping area with hundreds of stores, restaurants, amusement rides, movie theaters, etc.  We walked quite a bit and checked out some of the unfamiliar stores.

 Talked with a policeman who had security detail and he explained some of the things going on.  He told us where the staging area for the BIG parade would be and we wondered over there, took a few photos and talked to some people setting up the floats. Some of the floats are used in other parades - notably Mardi Gras and Christmas.

This one featured Jack the Jester, who has several outfits to fit the theme.

 Back to Trek for lunch, then we wondered down to the pier where a "pirate invasion" was to take place.  The pirates must have chickened out, because after some canon fire and saber waving, they left.

Lots of interesting characters gathering!

After watching a pirate costume contest, we had some time to fill before the parade, so went to Dave and Busters where we had lemonade and a snack and watched their wall of TV's showing sports. Did I mention they were air-conditioned while it was sunny and 90 outside? There were some vocal fans for the Tennessee vs Georgia game.

Since we had fortuitously parked near the beginning of the parade route, we went back to the Trek and Greg set up our chairs nearby.  We had fun watching folks get into character as they set off - probably 30-40 floats.  We got quite a lot of beads too, which now decorate our rearview mirror :).

And as soon as the last one got in line, we hightailed it out of the parking area and headed back to our breakfast spot to boondock.  Got there near dusk, had a few snacks and settled in.  Good nights' rest.

Sunday, October 11
Off to St. Augustine

It is a L-O-N-G way across the top of Florida!  So after cleaning up a bit, we headed out, heading north to I-10 again and then east toward Jacksonville.  We listened to some music and began a book on CD - the newest book by the author of The Kite Runner.  Stopped at a McDonald's for a breakfast sandwich and Greg's coffee.

After a few hundred miles, we saw a sign for Olustee Battlefield and decided to check it out and stretch our legs a bit.  Turns out that it was the site of a Civil War battle, the largest of the few in Florida, and was won by the Confederates who turned back the Union forces intent on blocking supplies going to the Confederate troops and thereby, according to the signage, preventing a Sherman-like invasion of Florida.  Still, nearly 3,000 men died.

We turned south shortly before reaching the city of Jacksonville and stopped at an LA Fitness in the suburbs there (we are members in TX).  Had a good workout and luxuriated in long, hot showers before getting back on the road to St. Augustine.

We headed for the Visitor's Center, arriving just at 5:00 when most things were closing :).  They had great free parking for rv'ers, only a few blocks from the historic part of the city and St. George Street.  We expected historical buildings and there were a few, but it is mostly shops, restaurants, bars and more shops. Cloud cover has kept the temps in the 70s today but oh! that humidity!

   We did pass the oldest schoolhouse in the US, and the tiny but beautifully frescoed St, Photios Greek Orthodox National Shrine, where we learned about the many Greek and other Mediterranean people who were recruited to come to this area in the 1760's.

We walked along the harbor and saw the drawbridge open for a tall-masted sailboat.  Walked around the Castillo de San Marcos which we will revisit tomorrow.  It looks much like the Forts that we saw in Puerto Rico.

Speaking of Greeks, there was a Greek Festival going on adjacent to where we parked, and while we didn't pony up the $ to go in, we did speak to a young man, Jeremy,  who lived across the street and was renting parking spaces around his house to festival goers.  Greg asked if we could park there overnight and he decided we could for $10.  It is a large older house with a big parking area surrounded by trees and we parked near the back of the property, away from the street noise.

We had a light dinner and talked about plans for tomorrow.  Unfortunately, the check engine light has come back on and there is something not right, so tomorrow we will try to get in to a Chevy dealer to get it checked out.  We had a major tune-up not long ago, so hope they can figure out what's going on!

OCT 8, 2015 ACROSS THE SOUTH AND UP TO BOSTON

Thursday, October 8, 2015

On the Road Again….

Today we left home about 7:30AM, joining heavy traffic heading towards town until we turned eastward on Beltway 8 to I-10.  I-10, which runs the whole way to Florida was typically busy, especially with 18-wheelers.  Through Beaumont,  Orange, and into Louisiana.  On through Lafayette, passing many sugar cane fields and bayous.

Gas was $1.89 at home and is just a little higher here, still mostly under $2.00.

First stop for gas and lunch was in Baton Rouge.  We tried a little Cajun place called Heads and Tails, which was decorated with LSU memorabilia.  Trip Advisor recommended it and reviews were good for their poboys.  We make it a point to try shrimp poboys whenever we are passing through Louisiana and these didn’t disappoint! 

A short while after getting back on the road, Beth noticed a piece missing from the back of the camera!  Couldn’t remember what was in the spot that now showed a film of dried adhesive, but all the controls seemed to work.  After looking for a camera shop in several cities and speaking to one owner, we determined that the missing piece is probably just for appearance so we will continue on and contact Canon at a later date.  I called back to Heads and Tails to see if it might be there and they were super nice and looked through trash and all around, but nothing.

Continued into Mississippi and left I-10 for “Scenic 90” which goes closer to the Gulf coast.  We stopped in Bay St. Louis just to walk around a bit and see the beach.  There was a huge car event going on with hundreds of antique and muscle cars and trucks; many parked and many cruising the main streets.

 Greg found a parking spot near an old cemetery which had a couple of “angel trees”, carvings of angels made from trees otherwise destroyed by hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

After walking and people watching, we headed back to I-90 and then the Check Engine light came on.  Yikes.  We stopped at an auto parts store where the clerk hooked up the machine that reads the codes to tell you why the light is on.  He seemed awkward and confused, so we asked if there was a repair shop nearby and he pointed us down the street.

A young man who worked there checked things again and said there was random misfiring. Other than noting and correcting the overfilled transmission fluid and oil, he couldn’t find a problem and suggested bad gas.   He turned off the check engine light and sold us some gas additive, and we were on our way – with hope and a prayer!

It seemed to be running a little more smoothly and check engine light didn’t come back on as we continued across the bay to Pass Christian.  Greg spotted an RV that was boondocking  at a small park just along the beach there and we decided it was a great place to stop for the night. 

Beth walked the beach and took sunset photos and played with hermit crabs, while Greg did some PT. 

 We enjoyed the breeze, the sunset and quiet wash of the waves. The folks next to us – in a huge rv – are here for the weekend and the car show.  Tiny sickle moon tonight and a few stars among the clouds.  Today was in the 80s but has cooled off to about 70 tonight.

Friday, October 9

Mississippi, Alabama to Florida.

We both woke early when the sun was just a thought, and decided to move on down the road.  Stopped near Gulfport a little while later and watched an awesome sunrise at Harrison County Sand Park.

Lots of birds waking up too and fish jumping near the shore.  We found a bench and ate breakfast as the day brightened.

There were many rv’s boondocking along the highway, most with their cars nearby for the show.  Chairs and canopies everywhere, as this is where the cars will cruise later in the day.  Quite an event!

Stopped again near Biloxi to take a few photos.

 Passed several fancy casinos, many hotels and businesses catering to the beachgoers.  Decided we’d seen enough, so we headed north to I-10 toward our next destination – Gulf Shores, Alabama.  Through Mobile, where we spotted the battleship USS Alabama along with a submarine in their bay.  Dropped back down to the coast and Gulf Shores.

The attraction here was the National Shrimp Festival, a popular annual event.  We were early so found parking easily and walked the many aisles of arts, crafts and food.  We bought a piece of locally made yard art featuring three hummingbirds. 

Many of the crafts featured area schools - no, Toto, we aren't in Texas any more!

Two stages featured singers who sounded pretty good! And the food looked amazing!  We tried a Cajun Pistole first, which was tasty!  A soft fluffy beignet-type roll filled with a sweet, spicy sauce with shrimp and fish.

 Later we tried some generous free samples of boiled shrimp, some gumbo and coconut shrimp.

 Yum.   We decided we could easily eat our way across the South!

Lots more people, so a few hours later we left Gulf Shores and headed towards Florida.  Crossed another huge bridge – there are lots of them along the coast.  Decided to stop at the National Museum of Naval Aviation near Pensacola, home of the Blue Angels.  We had to show id’s to get a pass to enter since it is an active Naval site.

Huge facility with lots of videos and history and many many airplanes.  Most but not all had the fold-up wings necessary for an aircraft carrier.  Watched interesting footage and interviews about the USS Enterprise , a very active carrier in WWII commanded by Admiral Hulsy. 

Greg leaving helicopter 1 - used by Nixon and Ford

Stopped by the Pensacola  lighthouse across the way but were too tired to climb it...  Another day….

Back on 98 along the coast which was ALL commercialized. Not much opportunity for boondocking here!  Destin, Fort Walton, etc.  A few state parks which were packed.  Decided to head inland a bit to Niceville, which is quieter and has a nice (really) Walmart.   We’ll take some small inland roads tomorrow en route to Panama City and a Pirates of the High Seas Festival.

The van is still idling roughly but running fine otherwise.  We will try another tank of gas with additive.