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Not our first camping trip . . .

Posted on July 2, 2015 by Doug and Jackie

Got to thinking that we must have some pictures of our early adventures camping in a motorhome.  So I pulled out a photo album, scanned (and color corrected) some prints of us in 1978 as we made a camping sweep across Florida that summer.  It was in the quintessential van of its time: the VW micro-bus, camper edition.  It was really quite convenient for two people – small sink that you pumped water from a tank, an icebox that relied on a nice big chunk of block ice to keep cool, food storage and prep tables on the swing out doors, and then you converted almost the whole interior to a bed at night.  Oh, and a pop-up top for extra headroom and ventilation.

No AC, in fact the heater was on for the whole trip.  If you ever had a VW van, you know how the lever and cable to the heating unit usually would rust shut or open, so you either had heat or you didn’t – whether you wanted it or not.

These pictures are from Fort Wilderness Campground at Walt Disney World Resort (sorry, it was an evening arrival), and Daytona Beach.

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Daytona Beach 1978

Daytona Van 1978

Daytona Beach 1978

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Fort Wilderness 1978

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Fort Wilderness 1978

It seems we also were in St. Augustine that summer, too.  37 years ago … gosh we haven’t changed a bit!

St Augustine Doug

St. Augustine 1978

St Augustine Jackie

St. Augustine 1978

On a later trip through Cape Cod we put a bike rack on the front of the van with two bikes attached (extra protection in a crash, no doubt), but that’s another story.

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Fawns and Fitbits

Posted on June 29, 2015 by Doug and Jackie

Back home again and enjoying the deck!  However,  it seems we have interrupted the lives of our sometimes guests, the deer herd.  It’s almost laughable, since we had deer around us at St. Andrews and wandering through the campsite at Manatee Springs.  Now at home we had three roaming the yard, one young buck now in velvet, looking at us as the intruders. These must be last year’s fawns.

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Oh, you’re back home?

(Horseshoes anyone?)

Mother doe checked in next door with the single fawn, now about a month old, and the twin fawns appeared on the other side, also greeted by mom and taken off for a stroll.  Will post some pictures soon for those of you who haven’t seen any deer lately.

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The new twins beyond the fence.

Great news today!  My Fitbit arrived. I have to say that the company was very responsive and prompt once they got a copy of my receipt.  It was a simple process to replace the device without any loss in history.  Nicely done, Fitbit!   Not so nicely done was my request for an electronic receipt from Kohls from the road. Somehow they claim not to have a record of individual receipts other than at the local store. That was no help (Fitbit was purchased at Kohls).

It’s ok, back to counting steps, and no tan line on my wrist!

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Tires and bearings

Posted on June 25, 2015 by Doug and Jackie

We are spending the day in Lake Park at Camping World while all our tires are replaced. Now we learned that one of the wheel hub seals is bad so after the tires are done we head to another repair shop to have that repaired. The tire change is a 5 hour repair, so we won’t be back on the road for a while. We transferred pets and cooler to the Rav-4.  With the heat its a matter of the car’s AC or staying in the store.

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Jackie is cruising the store with the cat in shopping cart. These two pets have been great.

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A shot of the RV and car loaded up and ready to leave Anastasia State Park in St. Augustine Beach.  By the way, a pair of Pileated woodpeckers decided to fly about on the live oak above our campsite on the final morning (Teasing us?  But I did get the shot this time).

Anastasia St Pk (4)

UPDATE: After 6 hours of tire change waiting and a determination that a wheel bearing seal could not be found in S Georgia, we hit the road and are now back home. Another 5 hour nerve-wracking drive but we are all safe. Did I say I love my shower? Bar’s open! Adventure recap later.

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Lake Park Blues

Posted on June 24, 2015 by Doug and Jackie

Anastasia St

Well, we broke camp this morning after a rainy night last night and said goodbye to St. Augustine.  Had to do a quick shower at the beach rinse since it was so sticky hot. Just before Jacksonville we pulled in to a Pilot gas station to check gas and tires. Then round about the Lake City area of I-10 we heard a loud BANG and I looked around for propane blast or who knew what. All I saw in side view was the wheel well flapping a bit, figured we blew a tire. Pulled over and discovered we lost part of the side panel by the gas fill. No visible flat to either of the dual tires. Hmm.
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We continued on to I-75 and just before the state line a couple more thumps and we figured we had a problem. Exited at Lake Park, found another Pilot station and pulled in. Well this time the mud flap was flipped up and shredded so I unbolted it. Did I mention it is like 95+?

This gave me a better view of the inner tire which was shredding and obviously blown. So here we sit while the tire gets replaced… the spare is good, but they are all ’03 manufactured tires. No wonder. So now we are on the phone with Camping World one exit away about getting all of them replaced. Sounds like they will put us up in their campground on site and replace tires in the morning.

Ah well. Fitting end to a flawless trip otherwise.

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Last Night in St. Augustine

Posted on June 24, 2015 by Doug and Jackie

We just had a great meal at Creekside with good friends Jen and Phil Brownlee.  Although they are now blog-worthy, I may have to reconsider since Jen beat me to the photo posting.  Drats.  So of course I am sitting in the car in the rain at the snack bar to get wifi and keep up the blog.

Good friends at Creekside restaurant

Good friends at Creekside restaurant

We head out in the morning for a trip to Adel, GA and one last night of camping at Reed Bingham State Park.

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Photo Frustration

Posted on June 23, 2015 by Doug and Jackie

Well, it started out like a great morning… hot, but Jackie and I set out to find the spoonbill by walking a path in front of the secondary dunes along the bay where we paddled earlier.  Clicking pictures with my Canon 35mm (wildflowers and a cool young gopher tortise who posed very nicely).  Then the gorgeous pink Roseated Spoonbill appeared and I snapped about three shots in flight, quickly trying to get the telephoto to follow and focus.  Wow.  But then a red light kept flickering lower right side of the camera, as if it was still trying to process the pics.  Despite my best effort, it looks like all I got was the very first picture of the morning (nothing special) and no tortise, no wildflowers, no spoonbill. Arghh.   Well, let me post some of what I got yesterday anyway.

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Big thunderstorm Monday night and now a wet afternoon and aborted trip across the desert to the beach due to another thunderstorm.  I mention the desert, as the walk from parking lot to water’s edge is a loooooong one and hot as heck when the sun is out.

Tonight it is dinner with the Brownlees on the bay, so we shall try to update things later.  Tomorrow we pack up for Georgia and say goodbye to our beach adventure (drats).  Oh, should mention that this week there are 6th and 7th graders (horrors!) all around as the local school district hosts a summer marine sciences class/camp.  Canoeing, beachcombing, sailing, kayaking, arguing, poking, spraying with water… well, you can imagine some of the familiar behaviors and comments.

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Father’s Day – A Legend in my Own Mind

Posted on June 23, 2015 by Doug and Jackie

St Augustine Harbor 1 4x6

Father’s Day was great fun here in St. Augustine.  Went into town with Jeff and Vic to search for parking..er, to explore the old town.  Jeff was itching to eat at Meehan’s Irish Pub and have some Guiness, so why not?  Sat at upstairs deck and watched the boats in the harbor just beyond the Castillo.  Oysters cold and sweet, fish and chips, Reubens and cold creamy ale.  Pretty great.  Favorite part was a Father’s day gift of “Old Guys Rule” tervis cup (sheesh what a name dropper).

Old Guys

No, wait, let me amend that — BEST part was checking in with Dad to wish him well and having all my children check in with me and do the same.  Yeah, old guys DO rule, if only for a day.  Nice to have peeps, eh Vic?

Great wildlife here, besides the fun of paddleboarding, biking and wave jumping.  Another swallowtail kite sighting, a great new one: spoonbill; a gopher tortise booking along the road, cool stuff.  Working on posting more of the pictures. Spoonbill not on camera yet, so we are hiking in search of one this morning.

Gopher Tortise St Augustine 1 4x6

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St Aug 722 (59) 6x4

St Aug 722 (64) 6x4

St Aug 722 (42) 6x4

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Salt Life in St. Aug.

Posted on June 20, 2015 by Doug and Jackie
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Great upper deck!

Great day at the beach and a shady campsite behind the dunes. My brother Jeff and wife Vickie joined us for the weekend and we are out at Salt Life Food Shack…they say it’s the start of the phenom.  Anyway it is a great night on the deck.

Salt Life celebration

Salt Life celebration

Hmm, what shall we order?

Hmm, what shall we order?

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No-Manatee Springs

Posted on June 18, 2015 by Doug and Jackie

Manatee Springs 6-18 (52)b

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Oh, yeah, the Manatees WINTER here (are they from New York?) So none of them are around this month. Otherwise pretty wild times here in Manatee Springs. I think maybe we made a wrong turn and ended up in Disney’s Animal Kingdom. First night in camp we had nearly a dozen deer walking through the campsite (I think our guys from home sent out a text message to be on the lookout for us) and on a walk to the spring we had two sharp-shinned hawks swooping and perching near us and two pileated woodpeckers flying to a tree trunk in front of us, making their way up the trunk.

Then when we were on the boardwalk along the Suwannee River we heard the barred owls hooting like back home and the huge Gulf Sturgeon jumping out of the water. We are told they can get up to several hundred pounds, but don’t feed in the river (just knock out a few boaters every season, seriously). Of course I didn’t have my camera.

The camp is nice and quiet, but swimming hole/spring is pretty busy with daytime swimmers. The water is crystal clear, 72 degrees (bracing) and has a pretty swift flow. Not much underwater except catfish and a few bass and sunfish. When paddleboarding down to the Suwanee River we passed a small gator, later spotting a 7 foot one just off the mouth of the spring in the river.

On a bike hike this morning we found a gopher tortise who scrambled into his burrow (good thing Jackie took that field class in South Georgia to learn about Indigo snakes and gopher tortises. She said rattlers and others share the burrow). This time I had my camera with me and we spooked a barred owl, caught up with another sharp-shinned hawk and just had a nice (hot) ride. A dip in the spring took care of that! later in the day I spotted a swallowtail kite and a bright yellow warbler that turns out to be a Prothonotary warbler.

Friday we travel to St. Augustine to meet up with my brother and his wife and hopefully to have dinner out with the Brownlees. Benji and Merlin say hi.

Manatee Springs 6-18 (78)b

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Manatee Springs 6-18 (38)b

Gopher tortise in his burrow. Probably a foot in size.

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Sunset view as the springs reach the Suwannee River.

Manatee Springs 6[19 (22)6x4

Banded water snake, probably was 4 foot long.

Manatee Springs 6[19 (14) Pileated 4x6

Got the Pileated later on…

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Another day another beach

Posted on June 16, 2015 by Doug and Jackie

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Loving this vacation in Florida.  We are on St. George Island, which sits between the Gulf and Apalachicola Bay. Quite a barrier beach, reminds us of Ft. Pickens near Pensacola Beach.  Quiet campground with more tent campers.  We rode bikes along the dunes, Doug did a bit of paddleboarding in the bay and we swam in the Gulf of course.  Windy, so the surf seems more like the Atlantic Ocean than the Gulf of Mexico, lots of waves, but the water is warm and clean.  Did I mention I got my fitbit wet in Panama City and it crashed, dead.  So now none of my exercise steps count (if you fitbit, you know the withdrawal).  But fitbit will replace it, soon as I get home and send them a copy of the receipt (yippee, but will I make it until then?).  One more of my “smart purchases” is Omaha Steaks before we left.  Easy portions that are frozen and ready to defrost and grill.  Yeah, we could do the same thing with vacuum sealer and all, but this worked out just fine (lots of steak on the grill, some chicken and burgers – good eats).  We roll out of here in another day, then on to Manatee Springs for some cool water snorkeling and maybe a manatee sighting.

BTW, I finished up “Edge of Eternity”, book three in the Century Trilogy by Ken Follett.  Great read, even though it took me from Christmas until now.  Now in the midst of “The 6th Extinction” by James Rollins.  What are you reading this summer?

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We are now in Manatee Springs and were finally able to post pictures from their snack bar. Bought a triple meat platter of barbecue for dinner at the snack bar. Delicious and finger licking.

More when we can…

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