Day 52 Travel Day

It was a quiet night in the Santee rest area until a refrigerator  truck pulled in and parked right next to us. The reefer unit ran all night and was pretty loud. We did manage to get some sleep but woke fairly early and were up by 6:30 am and on the road by 8 am.

Again, the traffic was light so we made very good time. Ron was in a driving mood so he drove and drove  and drove. After  330 miles we decided it was time to call it a day. The first place we stopped was a Flying J Truck stop off exit 104 in Virginia that also accommodates MH’s. Unfortunately, the place was difficult to get to, no signage and also a mob scene. We left there and traveled  to a rest area 40 miles down the road. Nope, that wasn’t going to work either because of the angle of the parking lot. Once parked we were on such a steep angle we had difficulty walking in the MH. Although we have leveling jacks its never a good idea to extend them in a rest area. If one had to exit in a hurry it would be a hindrance.

So off we went again looking for a better place to spend the night. Open CG’s that far North are hard to come by so we knew we would be spending another night in a rest area somewhere. We finally settled in a really nice rest area with flat spaces that were set up for MH’s about 28 miles South of DC. Looking for a place to stay added another 100 miles to our travels and Ron was quite tired. We went to bed at 9 pm and promptly fell asleep. Another travel day planned for Friday.

Day 51–Leaving St. Augustine arriving Santee, SC

Well our fantastic winter trip is coming to a  close and we packed up the MH for our 1,174 mile trip back to home base. Jewel was not in the mood to go so she made herself small and hid under the MH parked in the next site.

We left St. Augustine around 10:30 am but not before a nice walk around the park and  a  last look at the beach we love. The cold front had moved in and we realized that wearing our summer clothes was coming to a fast end.

    

The drive was uneventful and the traffic very light so we made very good time stopping in Santee around 6 pm for the night. By time we arrived in Santee we had donned our jeans and fleece jackets. The projected temp for the night -  low 40’s. BRRRR

Day 50–Bryn Mawr CG–St. Augustine, Florida

The rain stopped late last evening and it was a quiet night. Ron was up early this morning and took Jewel for a walk on the beach to catch the sunrise. He was able to get some spectacular pictures.

      

Shortly after Ron got back from his walk with Jewel the  rain started  and it poured. Ron says I’m a tornado magnet because all morning we were hearing about tornado watches that quickly progressed to tornado warnings. Of course the storm front with the  hooked cells representing tornadic activity was expected to pass right over our heads. So, now what to do. Everyone is saying get out of trailers, MH’s etc. and take shelter. Good info but there is NO shelter here, so we just wait and hope for the best.

Nothing but tornado talk on the TV and looking at the red spots on the storm map was disheartening.  10:49 am --- Here comes the storm right over our head with gusty winds,  sideways rain and black clouds overhead moving at 55 MPH. WOW, never saw black clouds move so fast. Thank goodness no funnel appeared but the weathermen were right on the exact timing of the storm moving over us. That is as close to a tornado as I want to get. This story is getting old. It seems that we have been followed by tornados for the last several trips we have been on. I need the tornado curse broken.

The site to our left is flooded because there is very little drainage in  this area. The guy came out and was walking in three inches of water.

   

The rain continued until around 2 pm. Tornado warnings were still in effect until 3 pm but were discontinued once the second front passed over us. Right after the rain stopped the sun came out and the rest of the day was beautiful. So beautiful that we spent a couple of hours  getting sun on the beach. Most of the flooding in the CG had resolved and people were beginning to come out and again feel the kiss of the sun instead of the darkness of the storms.

  

After basking in the sun it was time to get back to business and clean the MH for our return trip home. Ron did his outside stuff and I inside. The temp was beginning to drop as predicted so we were able to keep all of the windows open for fresh, cool air.

While I showered, Ron took Jewel for a walk around the CG. There was an accident  right out in front of the entrance. A mobile dog groomer was coming into the CG and was taken out by a speeding car. People drive like crazies around here and never heard of the right of way. Getting into the CG is confusing because when you see the sign you think the driveway next to it is the entrance but it is the exit, with the entrance another  30 feet away.

Ron got more pictures of the CG. Most of the people own their sites and can decorate as they wish.

         

We went out to dinner at a local Mexican restaurant.  Kelly, who happens to be in New Jersey at Audible for some meetings gave us a call. She had just gotten back from the 9/11 Memorial and was settling in the for the evening at her hotel.  We had hoped to get back there in time to see her before she leaves  but not sure if driving 500 miles a day will be doable.  When we returned we took Jewel for a night time walk and got a great picture of the moon.

From sunrise to sunset it was a very interesting day!!!!!!

Day 49 – Bryn Mawr Ocean Front Resort, St Augustine, FL

Our plan was to stop in St. Augustine for a couple of days to soak up a little more sun before we left Florida. We lucked out and got one of the only two sites available at the CG.  The ride to St. Augustine was cloudy alternating with sun so we were hoping for the best.

When we arrived it was overcast, 74 degrees but with a blustery wind making it feel much cooler. Once settled in we took Jewel for a walk on the very beautiful beach. She was able to run for as long as she wanted and really enjoyed herself.

   

 

We walked for over an hour on the beach and thought – yeah – we will be OK with the weather!!!!!! Not so much.

         

As we walked around the CG we noticed that some  people have a great sense of humor.

          

  Later that evening the rain started and continued on and on. Then – the TORNADO watches. Yep! Here we go again – Tornado watches for our area. This was our fourth time in St. Augustine and Bryn Mawr and  as usual rain, cold, storms. We’re beginning to think that stopping in St. Augustine in the future will be crossed of the list. LOL

What the heck!!!! All they are talking about on the news is the tornado potential. Get me out of here!!!!

On a lighter note – we are surrounded by miniature schnauzers. There are two to our right and  one to our left and couple more prancing with their owners. It’s cool to see them all and how they all act similarly.

OMG – can’t keep listen to the TV – constant tornado talk with a watch in effect until 8 PM.  Hope Tuesday will be a better day.

Day 48–Wild Frontier CG, Ocala National Forest

It was a quiet uneventful evening at the CG. We did our usual multiple walks with Jewel and met some very nice people and dogs and some cranky people with their dogs.

The morning was overcast but  there was just a small chance of rain. Off we went to seek out Ocala National Forest. The forest covers 340,000 acres of flat land with pine trees. Looks like the  pine tree forest in our back yard.

   

We stopped at the Visitor Center for some information. Unfortunately they did not have a map of the forest available because they were sold out. Usually in national forests or parks they hand out free maps of the area with additional inf. Not here, you pay or no info.  We have been to many national parks  and forests,  pay an entrance fee then peruse the area without additional fees. Not here. No entrance fee but a fee for everything else because each individual area is run by a concessionaire. The fees at each spring we wanted to visit was $5.00 per person so if we had visited the four springs it would have totaled $40.00 not counting parking fees. Just a little steep we thought.

We did stop at the Salts Spring and the ranger gave us  a 30  minute free pass to look at it. Since it was a gloomy day and we weren’t planning on spending the day we took her up on her offer and viewed the spring. There were a lot of rules posted at the spring and Ron just had to take a picture.

 

The spring is fed from fissures in the ground and contains lots of minerals and salt. The Manatees love the springs because they are shallow and warm. There were several Manatees swimming around but we were unable to get a good picture because they stay below the surface and were some distance away.

 

          

The area was quite pretty but was essentially deserted. Everything is a good distance away and we had to drive 18  miles to get to this one spring.

           

The forest was nice but we decided that all the fees were over the top so headed back to the CG. We stopped for lunch and spent the remainder of the day enjoying the good weather. The plan is to move on to St. Augustine for a stop over. We really like the CG and beach there. They allow dogs on the beach so Jewel will be finally able to run free. We only hope that our previous visits to St. Augustine do not repeat themselves. We usually get there, settle in, get two hours of good weather, then the rain and cool down begins. The weather is calling for intermittent showers so we will take our chances once again.

Day 47–Leaving North Port to Ocala–Wild Frontier CG

We were up early in preparation for our drive to Ocala. Ron wanted to stopover in the Ocala area so we could go to the Ocala National Forest. He had read a lot about  the area and thought it would be a good place to look around.

Wayne had a little better night but was still uncomfortable. He had been up during the night and looked very tired as did Donna. Kidney stones are brutal so we could certainly empathize with him.

Donna and I took Jewel for her morning walk then she prepared breakfast while I cleaned up our room and brought our stuff back out to the MH. It had been a great visit and we enjoyed spending time with them. We’ll see them again at home in another 10 days or so.

We left North Port around 11 am  and Ron decided to take a little different route to Ocala to avoid the  I 75 traffic. It was a nice scenic route for most of the way. Because we used back roads our 187 mile road trip took longer then usual and we arrived in Ocala around  4pm.

When we were about 60 miles from Ocala we stopped in a Wal Mart parking lot to look up and call some CG’s. After 7 phone calls, and thinking we just might be sleeping in a rest area, we found two CG’s with availability. One was behind a motel and the other  a regular CG. We chose the latter and off we went. It was very muggy and uncomfortable so being able to secure a CG was a plus.

     

After settling in we called our son Tom to wish him a Happy Birthday. Cannot believe he is 42 years old already!!!!! Where has the time gone??????

Day 46–North Port–Wayne’s ER Visit

When we got up in the morning we were surprised to hear that Wayne had been up most of the night with left lower inguinal pain. He has a history of kidney stones but usually on the right side. After some discussion , one Flomax and one Percocet, with only minimal relief he was off to the ER.

A CT scan revealed two stones in his left ureter blocking the flow from his left kidney. Not good! They had medicated him in the ER so the pain was much better but not entirely gone. He will been seen in follow-up on Monday by a Urologist in Venice. Just one more issue to their already stressful post blizzard problems.

Later,  we did go out to dinner and Wayne was feeling a little better. He was in bed early that evening and all we could hope for was that he passed the stone and would not need a surgical intervention.

They felt bad because we were at home alone and we felt bad because he was in the ER. Our original plan was to go with him but as it turned out our decision to stay behind worked out well. We received an e-mail from Ron’s sister that his Mom was out of meds. I had gotten that all set up with her PCP – or so I thought before we left home. In addition her mail-away program had changed its computer interface and was causing issues with reordering. UGHH! We called to find out what meds she needed and in the interim she told us that Ron’s brother Alan was in the hospital. She was very upset and couldn’t provide us with any real info.

Once I got the med situation under control we called Alan at Good Sam’s. He had been in for three days and had been experiencing abdominal pain since Feb 3rd. Had lots of tests but still no answers and pain no better. He was having a couple more tests so will have to wait for the results.  Bad day for Wayne and Alan all around.

No pictures today – Wayne was not in picture posing shape.

Day 45 - North Port - Beach Day

After our morning walk with Jewel we had a light breakfast, sat and chatted on the lanai  then prepared for the beach. While we were packing, Jewel found a new place to relax – under the end table in the living room. She sure looked comfy there.

   

Although the morning  started out cloudy the sun soon peeked through and it was another beautiful day.

 

      

We decided to take a walk along the banks of the canal and hopefully spot  a dolphin or two. Ron, just happened to get lucky and caught a glimpse of one in a photo.

 

   

The water was a beautiful aqua-blue and there were birds everywhere. The beach area was packed – everyone enjoying the warm sun and clear skies. There was a huge catch of shells washed up on the beach with lots of people picking through them to get the perfect shell. We picked through and got some really nice shells to take back home.

As we walked along the canal we wondered – why do we  continue to live in New England???? Oh – family and season changes is the only reason I could think of. Still can’t bear the thought of the snow.

      

Later that afternoon we took a ride to a fruit and vegetable place that also had soft-serve ice cream with unusual flavors. I had a half & half  cone of  lime and chocolate and pineapple and orange. All were very flavorful but the cone was gigantic. In retrospect Donna & I could have shared the ice cream.

We then took a ride through a very elegant and ritzy neighborhood. The houses were huge and expensive. Definitely out of our price range. They were either perched on land facing the ocean or the bay. Lucky them.

We stopped by their friend Tony’s  home  and saw the boat that there other friend David  would be taking us for a ride in on Friday. Looked petty cool to me.

 

   

Later that evening we went to the Olive Garden for dinner. Once again, another great day with good friends with another adventure on the water planned for tomorrow.