Archive for Uncategorized
November 2, 2006 at 8:57 am · Filed under Uncategorized
One of the perils of living in a Florida State Park: the dreaded affliction, “Lizard Butt”.
Another odd thing that roamed by today: the “Cruzin’ Cooler“. David Young, a dealer in these things, whipped by at about 13 MPH riding atop his electric cooler, towing a trailer with his dog!
I can’t think of a good reason I need to go 13 MPH in a campground on my cooler, but perhaps you can. If you do, a 500-watt battery powered Cruzin Cooler will cost you $349.
For our part, we will be pulling our cooler (a Dometic refrigerator installed in the Airstream) at about 65 MPH down to Kissimmee, where we have a reservation at Fort Wilderness.
November 1, 2006 at 8:12 am · Filed under Uncategorized
On Monday we noticed a new arrival in the state park, right next to us: an Airstream Safari 25. After our sunset beach walk we dropped in to meet Steve, Misty, and their three-year-old daughter Brianna (and a cocker spaniel pup).
As is often the case when we meet Airstreamers, we found we had a lot in common, so they became instant friends and we made plans to take the girls into town for Halloween trick-or-treating together. Last night Emma and Brianna went out as the angel and the fairy through the old Spanish quarter of St. Augustine.
We wrapped up trick-or-treating by 7:15, so we hit a local seafood restaurant, and then ended up at our Airstream. Steve and Kristy have a terrific story about how they met — “mortuary telemarketer meets surfer airbrush artist during a sales call”. The next thing we knew it was well past 11 pm and we were still talking, and the girls (both night owls as it turned out) were still playing wildly on Emma’s bed.
So it was a successful evening and we’ve decided to spend yet another day in St. Augustine. The weather continues to be absolutely perfect and there are still more things we want to do. Fortunately, the state park is half empty during the weekdays, so there’s no problem with extending. But this will be our absolute last night here — we have reservations at Ft Wilderness in Disney World starting Thursday.
October 30, 2006 at 12:28 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
It’s Monday for me too. There’s a pile of stuff to be done today, mostly related to the Spring 2007 issue of the magazine. Yes, we are already well into the Spring issue, and a lot more besides. I only mention this because I want you to know that if you are stuck behind a computer today, I can relate. The major difference is that my computer is sitting on my lap in the bedroom of a 2005 Airstream Safari 30, in a park in Florida. That helps me face a long day of administrative work.
Yesterday we explored downtown St Augustine. We’ve never walked the residential part of the “Old Spanish Quarter” before, and it was really beautiful. Most tourists never go there, which is a real loss for sure. It has the history and architecture of New Orleans’s French Quarter and Garden District, without the grime, sleaze, and criminality.
We broke two guidelines of our trip (diet and budget) by stopping into a French pastry shop on a narrow side street, and having pastry for lunch. But we also abided by another important guideline: be spontaneous and enjoy the little things. It was a good choice. I had a French cheesecake, Emma had an eclair, and Eleanor had a little almond pastry.
The Denoel Pastry Shop, recommended!
Thus sugared up, we met up with a few nice ghouls and rode the free St Augustine shuttle over to the other side of town, where a kids’ Halloween parade was getting geared up. They marched through St George street (the merchants’ row) and the parade culminated with a costume contest.
When I get on broadband next, I’ll upload a bunch of other St Augustine photos. It’s a very photogenic city.
While we were awaiting the costume judging, I spotted this “sign of the week” on someone’s t-shirt.
No One Cares About Your Blog
St. Augustine has a nice little community downtown and some very cool real estate in the Spanish Quarter, but nothing we could afford, so we’ll keep looking. We’ll be here two more days, and I’ll try to break away from the computer
October 29, 2006 at 9:17 am · Filed under Uncategorized
St. Augustine is a fascinating little old city. There are several historic sites worth visiting, an architecturally interesting and diverse downtown, great beaches, a lighthouse, a stone fortification, and much more. The famous “Bridge of Lions” is just one of the many unique things about this town, but it is currently being dismantled and rebuilt. We haven’t walked the town yet on this visit, but we may today.
Saturday afternoon we hit the beach. As I expected, it was nearly deserted. Floridians seem to think that the beach is too cold this time of year. For us northerners, an air temperature of 75 and even higher water temperature is summertime.
The beach at St. Augustine is shallow and hard-packed with sand so firm that you can ride a bicycle on it, or drive on it. Driving is not allowed along the state park seashore where we are, but it is a few miles down Rt A1A, and we took the opportunity to go a couple of miles in the Nissan along the one-way (southbound) “road” marked by cones on the beach.
Last time we were here, with our Argosy, we were very tempted to tow the Argosy along the beach road just to get some photos. We didn’t do it, but I think it would have been fine, given a 4-wheel drive tow vehicle for the soft spots. I wouldn’t attempt that with the Safari 30 we have now. It weighs nearly twice as much as the Argosy and distributes that weight over the same four wheels. The sand would have be very firm to avoid getting stuck. Perhaps someday after an exceptionally high tide packs the beach just right …
In the evening we took Emma to the state park’s Haunted Hayride. This was a real hoot. A local community group staged terrifying little scenes in the forest and got more than a few authentic screams from our wagon of kids and adults. Emma LOVED it. (In fact, Eleanor and I did too.) There’s nothing spookier than a dark forest with mangrove and oak draped with Spanish moss … a perfect setting for a creepies to come out waving machetes. Happy Halloween.
October 25, 2006 at 9:14 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
We’ve made a change in plans. While it’s very pretty here in the state park, and the beach is nice, we are well past the beach season. So instead of taking the coastal route down the Outer Banks of North Carolina, and slowly exploring the seaside, we are going to head for Florida.
Rushing ahead to Florida means a couple of days in the car, which we wanted to avoid. But the cold, windy, and occasionally rainy weather we are expecting in the next few days makes even the prospect of a couple of days on I-95 somewhat appealing. We’ll have a longer stay in Florida than we had planned, instead.
Our scammer has written back to Ayres. He didn’t comment on the check having a bad routing number, but he promised to send another check in the next week. It’s obvious now that as long as he thinks he can steal $1800 from a dumb American, he’s going to keep pursuing this scam. Any gullible person who falls into the clutches of one of these people will be robbed, without the slightest remorse.
October 24, 2006 at 1:04 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
From the congested and complex highways surrounding our nation’s capitol, the road has given way gradually to the smooth and quiet Route 13, which beelines down the Delmarva peninsula. Escaping the frantic and seemingly endless suburbia of the Baltimore-Washington corridor has also yielded other benefits: the road is more scenic, we are less tense about driving, and gas prices are lower. Yesterday we filled up for $1.98, the lowest price we’ve paid since we started our Tour in October 2005.
In short, while we’ve all loved the visiting we’ve done over the past weeks, it’s nice to be out in the more rural areas on our own again. Now the little things feel like adventures: the long toll bridge to the eastern shore of Maryland ($7.50 with our Airstream), passing through the small towns (every one of which has an “historic downtown”), even the indescribable stink of the Tyson and Perdue chicken processing plants further down the peninsula.
Last night we enjoyed one of those most sublime boondocking situations. We are parked behind a very old empty house in a rural part of town, bordering nothing except open fields and forests. It is wonderfully quiet here, with not a sound except the breeze in the trees and a few birds talking about the coming winter. Because the house and trees completely hide the Airstream, no one knows we are here except the owner, who lives in New Jersey, and a hunter who happened to be parked on the land when we arrived.
We are here to check out an Airstream, a rather old one that I am going to buy. It’s a 1953 Flying Cloud. The 80-year-old owner has had it stored here for 20 years, and it has not moved in at least seven or eight years. This means two things: it is still in remarkably original condition, and it is definitely going to be a challenge to get on the road again.
When we arrived I spent the last two hours of the daylight carefully photographing the trailer inside and out. It has been unfortunately modified with modern clearance lights on the outside, meaning a few holes will have to be filled with rivets later, and there is a partially crumpled rear dome, and some deep gouges along the curbside affecting the door. Other than that, the body is very nice.
Inside, it is amazingly original, including the floor, cabinetry, and kitchen. The ceiling has been repainted white (over the original Zolatone “splatter” paint), but that’s not unusual. The layout is a very unusual rear bedroom with a narrow side bath & shower arrangement that I’ve never seen before. The bath and shower are separate and only about 2 feet wide, placed longitudinally along the streetside, one in front of the other. They are separated from the bed only by curtains. The front is the typical Flying Cloud layout with a center table that folds down to create a wide-open living area.
The trailer has been used to store things, so the interior is cluttered to the point that I can barely stand inside to take photos. Every closet and cabinet is packed to the brim, making close inspection difficult. But from what I can see, the trailer is in good condition ““ for 53 years old! It will need considerable renovation to be useable, but I can see the potential.
Being the first night we haven’t been able to plug into house power in many weeks, we are now testing our solar electric system under Fall/Winter conditions. Last night we were flagrant with the power use, watching three movies (Emma watched Disney’s “Return of Jafar” and Eleanor & I used a laptop to watch “Double Indemnity,” the classic film noir directed and co-written by Billy Wilder, then after Emma was in bed we stayed up late to watch “The Fifth Element”), using lights and water pump extensively, and running the furnace to chase off the 50-degree temperatures outside.
As a result, at 8:30 a.m. the Tri-Metric shows we have consumed an incredible 83.7 amp-hours! That’s about 1/3 of our total capacity with four batteries, and about half of our maximum useful capacity. I doubt we will be able to recover that amount of power in one day. This time of year, in the east, there are more clouds than sun. I will be satisfied with regaining about 40 amp-hours today, and even that will be a challenge.
Part of the reason is that I expect to be underground part of the day. We are only about 30 miles from the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, one of the most fascinating pieces of engineering in the world. We’ll drive through that, and then come down through Virginia along a scenic parkway, and stop for a seafood dinner or lunch. With luck, we’ll end up tonight on the Outer Banks of North Carolina near Kitty Hawk. Today will be a really fun driving day.
—
This blog entry is posted courtesy of The Great Machipongo Clam Shack, right along Rt 13 in Nassawadox VA (26 miles north of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel). Colin Hyde tipped me off to this place. Free wi-fi in the parking lot, plenty of RV parking, and great food! I had the “lump crab cake sandwich,” Emma had steamed shrimp with apple sauce and a granola bar, and Eleanor had flounder stuffed with shrimp and crab on a sandwich roll. We also got a corn and shrimp chowder with roasted red peppers and spicy seasoning, to share. Mmmmmmm…. we’re planning to order some seafood frozen for later, too.
October 22, 2006 at 9:45 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
We took the morning slowly, to catch up with things before heading out to be tourists again. I caught up on some work items, Eleanor did the laundry, and Emma slept in until 10 a.m. At noon, we met up with Bobby, Danine, and Elisa for another trip into Washington DC. This time our goal was the Museum of Natural History, located on The Mall.
The Smithsonian visitor center
The Museum of Natural History is filled with things kids like: animals, dinosaurs, insects, colorful stones, and skeletons. So we had no trouble keeping the two girls entertained for hours.
This is our last day in the area. Tomorrow we’re heading down to Cape Charles, south of the eastern shore of Maryland. We had one last dinner with our new friends and said goodbye. But I’m sure we’ll be seeing them again, hopefully in their own Airstream next year!
« Previous entries ·
Next entries »
