Day 115. November 29, 2013. Margaritaville, here we come!

Before leaving our nice hotel in Homestead, FL, we popped over to Key Biscayne National Park.   It was nice, but the glass-bottomed boat was not operating, so we didn't see too much.  Then on to the Keys!  We stopped in a dive shack for some smoked fish.  It was party-time already.

Our first three nights are at a commercial campground, as that is all we could find for these dates.  It is  a "resort" with pool, beach, marina.  Quite nice.  Most campers are here for the season.  We talked with this RV owner.  See pic.  He bought this bus from a rock band.  It pulls another huge storage truck with his car and motorcycle.  It is 75 feet long.  He converted it from a 14-bed "dorm" to a house with full bedroom, bath, kitchen and laundry.  That compares to our car plus camper @ 32.  We are dwarfed by everything around us.  It is at mile marker 39, so not far from Key West.  

There are lots of parasail surfers on our beach.

For dinner, we grilled red snapper, and served with rice and peas.  A nice welcome to the Keys. During the night, we heard a noise and our camper started shaking.  George went to look.  It was a big raccoon jumping on our bike rack, like a seesaw!

Day 114. November 28, 2013. Happy Thansgiving!

TWe are staying at a Courtyard bt Marriott for 2nights.  Really nice hotel, but no kitchenette, so I 'me having to improvise.  

I did about 5 loads of laundry so the room is strewn with clean clothes.

We listened to MN Public Radiio to "Turkey Confidential" by Lynne Rosetta Kasper.  It is a call show with people calling in for advice. Some are hysterical. We were streaming the show on the laptop do heard local news, including the cold weather.  All this while we had oysters on the half shell on the hotel patio

I cooked mashed potatoes in the microwave, and then George grilled a Cornish hen.  We didn't want anything too big as we don't have space for a lot of leftovers.  I made dressing on a skillet on the grill.

 Then cranberry sauce, cold pea salad, and key  lime pie.  Very enjoyable day.  We have so much for which yo be thankful!

Day 113. November 27, 2013. Monsoon

It stormed all night long with lightening and thunder.  When we got up, the campground had turned into a swamp, with water standing all over.  Mosquitos chased me relentlessly.  We packed up and left.   On our way out of the Everglades National Park, we stopped at another section.  We hiked the anhinga trail where we saw lots of birds and alligators.  The anhinga are birds that dive and swim underwater to catch fish.  Then they perch on a tree, spread their feathers, and once dry, can then fly.  

Then we stopped at a fruit stand that has become a "must" stop for tourists.  They sell all kinds of unusual fruits and also sell milkshakes in flavors like mango and key lime.  The owner is a real success story..started a little stand when he was 8 with a sign called "Robert is Here".  The place (now large) still has the name.  Here is George with owner Robert. 

We shopped for Thanksgiving grocery shopping, and went to our hotel, a brand new Courtyard by Marriott.  I can use my reward points to stay free.  It is quite fancy.  I felt embarrassed schlepping my dirty laundry, cooler, and cooking utensil boxes through the lobby.  The hotel has a gas grill on the patio, so we can use it to cook our Thansgiving dinner.  The room has a microwave so I did some of the prep work for tomorrow's dinner.  

Then we went to a local Cuban restaurant for dinner.  We were the only non-Spanish speaking people there. It was a real local hole-in-the-wall place, the kind we really like.   I had a delicious Cuban sandwich and George had sopa de mariscos, a bowl of soup full of different shellfish.  

Day 112. November 26, 2013. Mosquito hell!

Another nice morning in the Everglades National Park.  We went fishing in several lakes and ponds.  All beautiful, but no fish.  After a roadside picnic, we went to another ranger-led educational program.  This one was on manatees.  We didn't see any, but did see a crocodile and an osprey prepare a live fish for its babies.  

After a bike ride, we went back to the campsite.  Since we didn't have any fish, I made some rice and veg, which we had with our final leftover meatballs.  

We had  been lucky with the Mosquitos for our first two days.  The strong breeze kept them away.  At dinner tonight, however, the wind died down, and they came out in full force.  We huddled in the camper and wore face netting when we were outside.  Have I mentioned how much I love my air conditioner?!!

Day 111. November 25, 2013. Vultures!

Our campground here in the Everglades is quite nice...right on the bay.  It is really breezy so the humidity and bugs aren't intolerable.  We are surrounded, though,by huge turkey vultures.  They are hovering around us, just waiting for food to swoop up.  They are very bold.  See photo of one on the garbage dumpster.  

We went to the visitor center later in the day.  They have signs warning people that the vultures will damage cars, and provide complimentary tarps to protect cars.  Apparently they also like rubber and ruin  windshield wipers and tires.

This area is famous for its hordes of Mosquitos.  See photo of meter in visitor center...we are  lucky.

We biked to the marina and then took a 2-hour pontoon ride in the bay with a park ranger.  Saw beautiful birds and learned the history of this area.

George went fishing.  He caught a nice snook but had to throw it back as it was slightly smaller than the 28 inch minimum.  So, we didn't have grilled fish for dinner as I had hoped.  Instead, I baked a potato and served with sautéed leftover meatball with onion and tomato sauce.  I also cooked broccoli with cheese.  

Day 110. November 24, 2013. To the Everglades

We got an early start as the drive from Siesta Key (west coast) to the Everglades is 5 hours.  We drove through swamps.  Lots of airboat tours.  We saw lots of birds...herons, wood storks, egrets.  Lots of signs warning of panthers crossing the highway, but we didn't see any.  

When we arrived on the east coast, we were south of Miami, near Homestead.  We drove through miles of tropical nurseries and fields of melons, sweet corn, squash.  More Spanish than English signs. We stopped in the USA's most southern winery/brewery.  It was quite nice.  Music on the patio.  I took pictures of the Christmas decorations next to the tropical foliage.  Strange

We had lunch at Rosita's, which is a Mexican local spot recommended to us.

Then we drove about 40 miles south to Flamingo, the campgrounds in the Everglades National,  Park. It is at the end of a road through the park, on the southern tip of the bay.  There is nothing here except the park.  We will be here 3nights, so I stocked up on food.  We are hoping to catch a fish for one night's dinner.

As we were cooking dinner, a rainstorm came through.  I am worried about Mosquitos as they are supposed to be terrible here.

Day 109. November 23, 2013. Air conditioner crisis

I made a gourmet breakfast to use leftovers.  I made quesadillas with last night's goat cheese.  A bonus was some fresh oregano and basil that our friend from Gainesville had given us.  Also scrambled our remaining egg and added a bit of leftover cooked rice.  I love my 2-burner stove.  Quite gourmet for breakfast a la campsite.  

We biked around the campground and its trails.  I decided NOT to swim in the park's lakes....see warning sign.  

We had lunch in a nice riverside restaurant.  We split a blue crab sandwich.  Very good.

We decided that we MUST get a new air conditioning unit.  Weirdly enough, since it is "winter" here, most stores don't have A/C units in stock right now.  (Even though it is 86).  An RV store told us to check at Home Depot. We went to one in Sarasota, and they had ONE unit in stock.  George spent the day removing the old one, and installing the new one.  Was a full day's project,

Day 108. November 22, 2013. To FL West Coast

We had a nice breakfast at our friends' house on their lanai.  Then hit the road to Siesta Key (near Sarasota) where one of George's former coworkers is vacationing.  We drove on the back roads, enjoying the scenery of large horse farms.  

We are camping near Siesta Key.  We met our friends on the beach to watch the spectacular sunset.  Apparently it is a ritual there...lots of folks with drinks gathered around.  

Back to the campsite for dinner.  Since it is hot, we didn't make a fire...just had cold foods.  We had shrimp cocktail, then a salad with blackened shrimp, goat cheese, kalamata olives and croutons, with a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc. 

More wild life here....a possum with beady eyes ran in front of our camper, and a raccoon family scooted away from our picnic table as we were eating dinner.

Wouldn't you know....Sarasota is having record hot weather.  High today 86.  Our a/c definitely is not working.  To get through the night, we turned it on, just for a breeze along with our vented fan.  

Day 107. November 21, 2013. Gainesville, FL

Biked around the campsite.  Drove into Gainesville.  We dropped off the camper at our friends' house and drove around town.  We looked at the 2 houses we used to live in.  We bought our first one for $45k in 1980.  At 1200 square feet, we thought it was so spacious that we rented out one bedroom to a UF student.  We designed the second house ourselves.  It looks pretty much the same, except that the bushes and trees are a lot bigger.  We went for dinner at an Asian restaurant and stayed overnight with our friends...in luxury with real bed and bathroom

Day 106. November 20, 2013. In Gainesville, FL

We spent the AM trouble-shooting the A/C.  We turned it on when we were in Jekyll Island to remove some of the humidity, and discovered that it is not working well.  We think it needs freon.  We don't really need A/C right now,  but want to be prepared for hot nights when we get to the Everglades and Keys.  The problem us that automotive/camper places say they don't service air conditioners, and the A/c places won't work on RVs.  We might just have to buy a new unit.  

Biked around the campsite and visited the nice visitor center.  Went into Gainesville and had dinner with some friends.  The fellow is an Englishman we met years ago while traveling between Spain  and Morocco on a ferry.    We kept in touch over the years.  After his divorce, he visited us in a Gainesville, and we matched him up with one of George's coworkers.  They later married.  Nice to get together.  

Day 105. November 19, 2013. Gators in the swamp!

We met a lovely couple from Belgium at our campgrounds.  They shipped their custom RV (small like ours) to Canada, and then are traveling USA and Canada for 8 months.  Thry have been doing this camping, around North America, Central America and South America for 9 years.  Seems like  they have been everywhere.  We and they went on a ranger-guided pontoon boat tour of the swamp.  I counted about 60 alligators.  The ranger said you see more  in the summer, and that they estimate the swamp to have about 13,000.  We saw beautiful birds, turtles and vegetation.  Fish jumped all around us.  Beautiful and peaceful.  After the 2-hour tour, we headed for Gainesville, FL where we lived and worked from about 1978 to 1988.  On the way, we stopped at a boat ramp on the Suwanee River for a picnic lunch.

We are camping in Paynes Prairie State Park, just outside of Gainesville.  The city seems to have quadrupled in size.  I didn't recognize a lot of it.  We met up with a couple who had been our neighbors in Gainesviile

 for a nice dinner.  

Day 104. November 18, 2013. To the swamp!

We left Jekyll Island and headed inland to the Okefenokee Swamp.  We visited a visitor info center on the east entrance, then circled the refuge and entered from the south...in Fargo (Georgia, not North Dakota).  It was very swampy and rainy.  As we drove in, we passed some ugly wild black boar.  By the time we set up camp, it was dark.  Since it was sprinkling, we didn't want to cook anything over a campfire, but wanted a fire for "ambiance" and to create smoke to keep Mosquitos at bay.  A bunch of deer came snooping around.  Once it was pitch black, I shone my lights on them, and it was a "deer in the headlights" experience ....they just froze.   Owls hooted loudly.  I was afraid the boars would attack us.  A raccoon raced towards me standing by the fire.  I let out a piercing scream.  Then, just as I calmed down from that, a tree frog jumped into my wine glass!  

We cooked pasta in the rice cooker and warmed up the last of the shrimp and veggies.  I added a little white wine and Italian salad dressing to make a sauce.   Quite good, I must admit.   There are only two other campsites occupied.  

Since it gets dark so early, we find ourselves reading a bit after dinner, and then going to bed early.  I guess we are getting rested!

Day 103. . November 17, 2013. Jekyll Island

We decided to stay one more night here.  This campground has free wireless, so I did a lot of internet work.  We planned our itinerary through Christmas, and thought we should reserve some campgrounds in South Florida since the snowbirds may start filling things up.  Boy, was I in for a surprise.  I naively entered on the campground's reservation website a week's stay in a nice state park in the Keys.  It showed no availability until April!  So, I checked other campgrounds, all with the same result.  After a lot of back and forth, I was able to cobble together most of our stay in the Keys.  Unfortunately, we won't be able to stay in one place for an extended time.  Instead, we will have to move around every few days.  Daughter Meredith will join us on the Florida Panhandle for Christmas week. Daughter Alexis is working on a trip to visit us in January in Texas.

George bought squid for bait.  He sautéed half on the George Forman for himself (see photo), and fished off the pier using the rest.  

Since we didn't leave the campgrounds at all today, we were able to cook all 3 meals.  George used the rice cooker to scramble some eggs for breakfast.  We wrapped them in leftover tortillas, which turned out well.  For lunch, we had salami and cheese paninis on the George Forman.  Dinner continued the Mexican theme....black beans and rice and leftover shrimp and veggies.  I had leftover salad greens that were no longer at their peak, so chopped them up in the beans.  Good way to use them up, and to get our veggies. With a side of tortillas.  

Since we are here an extra day, George set up our awning.  It gives the feeling of an extra room..see pic

Day 102. November 16, 2013. Brunswick Stew in Brunswick

We stayed at the Jekyll Island State Park campgrounds.  The entire island is a state park, so consequently it is not built up like some beach communities.  We drove over to St. Simon Island, which is very upscale.  Lots of shops and restsurants.  Then we drove to Brunswick, a coastal town on the mainland.  George had to have Brunswick Stew since we were at its origins (we think).  We ate in a marsh-facing outdoor restsurant that had shrimp boat tours..see photo.  Perfect weather

....sunny and low 70s.

We bought shrimp for the fajitas at a shop where they had just come in.

Then, back to the campground.  We biked around the perimeter of the island, about 6 miles, stopping for a drink at the wharf of the old glamorous hotel.  It was built in the early 1900s and is surrounded by mansions (called cottages) where JP Morgan and others had vacation homes.  The hotel was built to house the millionaires' guests.  It is still quite posh.

For dinner, we cooked some  of the shrimp for shrimp cocktail and sautéed the rest along with a lot of veg for fajitas.  We listened to Prairie Home Companion over dinner, a Saturday night ritual for us. 

Day 101. Warren Buffet sing-along? November 15, 2013

We took a walk on a nature trail in Fort Clinch State Park (where we had camped near Fernadina).  There were signs warning about alligators.  I was afraid one might be on our path, but they must have stayed buried in the swamp ponds.  We also visited the fort which was interesting.  Volunteers were dressed in uniforms and spoke /acted in that period.

We are taking a bit of a detour north before we head farther south, to work around friends' schedules in Jacksonville and Gainesville.  We wanted to visit Jekyll Island and Saint Simon Island before leaving this area.  So, we are camping at Jekyll Island State Park for a few days.  Most of the rigs are the big boys, planning to winter here.  Our little camper is dwarfed by them.  

I bought all the ingredients to make shrimp fajitas, except for the shrimp which we had hoped to buy at a roadside stand.  It started raining and we couldn't find any shrimp, so we went to Plan B....a local seafood restaurant next to the marina.  Apparently there are lots of places like this up and down the intercostal waterway where boaters dock and eat. Ended up being great decision.  In this place, there were rooms and a swimming pool for the boaters in addition to the restaurant.  I had delicious shrimp and grits with smoky bacon, and George had chowder.  Happy hour was $2 drinks!  An added bonus was live music.  Two brothers from the town sang a variety of songs.   They asked the audience for requests.  George thought he would be cool and yelled out  requesting a song by Warren Buffet.  (Of course he meant Jimmy Buffet).  It was hilarious.  

Day 100! November 14, 2013. Cute Fernandina

Hard to believe we have been on the road for 100 days.  We walked along the beach at Anastasia State Park before heading out.  The campsite was so cute and compact.  We went a bit north to Fernandina Beach where we stayed in another state park.  After setting up the camper, we went into town.  It is full of cute shops and restaurants.  We had veggies in foil packs thrown on the campfire for dinner along with a salad of tomatoes and cucumbers.  I made a dressing using plain Greek yogurt.  Quite good!

At night the raccoons came out.  They are a menace.  These were quite bold, prowling around before people went to bed.  One skirted under our camper right under my feet.  They can be vicious and tear into everything.  

Day 99. November 13, 2013. More beach time

Enjoyed the morning with our friend at their condo.  Top photo is view from their west deck overlooking the intercostal waterway where we watched sunsets.  As you enter their condo, there is a beautiful view of the ocean on the eastern side.  We took off at noon and drove a bit north to St. Augustine where we had dinner with my brother Ken to celebrate his birthday.  We had blackened red snapper, creamed spinach and grits

Day 98. November 12, 2013. Luxury at the beach

We are staying with some Gainesville friends at Crescent Beach.  We had omelettes on the patio overlooking the ocean.  See photo.  We took a long walk in a nearby state park.  In the PM, we sat on the beach, relaxing. Our friends invited us to stay another night. We ran into a bit of a problem with the camper.  They live in a beautiful high-rise condo with a rule that doesn't allow RVs in the parking lot.  They were able to get us an exception for the first night, but were denied for the second night. I was able to arrange with my brother in nearby St. Augustine to park it in his driveway.  We had a great dinner at South Beach, which had always been my mother's favorite spot.  We had blackened wahoo with Gorgonzola massed potatoes.  Yummy!

Day 97. November 11, 2013. Thanksgiving Dinner early!

We scavenged some old carpet from someone who had left remnants on the street for the garbage man.  We spent the morning replacing the carpet in the camper with this remnant.  Then we headed south to Crescent Beach to visit friends from Gainesville.  They were thrilled with our timing as they were planning an early Thanksgiving dinner, as they will be out of the country on November 28.  We had a real traditional dinner....great food and fun conversation with friends. 

 

Day 96. November 10, 2013. Great boat ride!

Our campground is full of kids.  Since Monday is a holiday, I think many families took a 3-day weekend.   Kids on bikes everywhere.

We met a Mayo colleague, Kevin, who took us out on his beautiful boat.  We fished for about 3 hours.  Absolutely perfect weather.  When not fishing, I watched the endless sailboat and yacht parade....huge boats sailing south on the intercostal to south Florida.   One about every 15 minutes.  Amazing

We spent the evening and night with another Mayo colleague, Dan...see photo of great dinner we prepared together....venison on the grill and lots of veggies

Day 95, November 9, 2013. In Jacksonville, FL

We took a long bike ride around the campground and park (along the beach).  This is my kind of biking.....nice and flat.  We ate lunch in Mayport at a seafood shack on the intercostal.  See photo of Mahi Mahi sandwich that we shared.  

George fished in the afternoon and we ate dinner at a Greek restaurant.  Good!

Day 94. November 8, 2013. On to Florida!

We left our cousin's house in Central Georgia heading toward Florida.  He gave us a nice venison  roast from a recently-shot buck for the road.

We found a campsite in Jacksonville.  Really jungly.  See photo of George chopping down some of the palmetto branches with his machete.  (How many people camp with machetes?!)

 The sites are all wooded, with other areas with beach access.  

We met up with one of my former Mayo colleagues, Kevin, for a beer in a brewpub.  For dinner, we grilled a fresh Florida triggerfish filet.  Again, we used the George Foreman grill, and it turned out perfectly.  We had rice and salad.  Now with the time change, it gets dark really early.  So we took our plates and sat inside to eat.  

Since we have internet here, we watched an episode of PBS "Call the Midwife", a fabulous series.

Day 93. November 7, 2013. Fire ants and rattlesnakes!

We went with our cousin to some land he owns outside of Millen, in central Georgia.  Really far away from it all on sandy roads.  

The farm has an old mule barn....left from Civil War days and an old building where the tenant farmers could buy provisions.  

George fished on one of his lakes and I relaxed with a book.  I didn't actually relax as I was constantly on guard watching for those terrible fire ants.  He had killed a huge rattlesnake recently, so we were watchful for them, too.  He did some target-practicing while George fished.  He makes many of his own bows and arrows.

We cooked the rest of the shrimp from Savannah with some garlic, bell pepper, artichoke hearts and tossed with pasta and goat cheese that had herbs and kalamata olives in it.  Really turned out well.

 

Day 92. November 6, 2013. Rural Georgia

At the motel's breakfast bar, we met a group of tourists from Australia.  (The jars of Vegemite were a hint).  I helped one lady figure out biscuits and gravy, as she was quite puzzled.  Before  leaving Savannah, we went to a local seafood shop to buy some shrimp to take back to our cousin's house.  The shop was really authentic....bars on the outside, freshly-arrived shrimp, and lots of local customers.  Fish, shrimp, conch and crabs.  

Felt like we were in a different country.

On the way back, we went through several scrappy towns.  We found a local "local home-cooking" place for lunch.  It was sort of a buffet....fried chicken, fried pork chops, Jo Jo's, lots of different vegetables.  Customers select whatever they want, and the servers dish and tally it up.  We opted for the healthiest item we could find...pulled pork and broccoli with cheese.  The server assumed we wanted it to go.  We found a side road to have a picnic.  We had just stopped and opened a beer when the local sheriff came by.  Gave us a scare, but he was just making sure we were ok

Spent the PM working on the camper and car.  We ate dinner with our cousins, including mustard and turnip greens from their garden.  All for now, y'all

Day 91. November 5, 2023...,.sophisticated Charleston, SC

We stayed overnight in Savannah and made a day trip to  Charleston.  Charleston is so beautiful.  For some reason, it seems more refined than Savannah.  We walked around the old downtown area.  The homes are beautiful.  Everything seems so old and historic.  We had lunch in a craft beer restaurant that was upscale gourmet.  As an appetizer, we had boiled peanuts, with an interesting twist ....boiled in vinegar and beer.  Delish!  We had some clams with house-smoked  bacon bits on top.  

Back in Savannah, we went downtown to a nice bistro for dinner.  We split a charcuterie platter.  The owner was there ...all very Southern