April 21, 2006 at 7:46 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
Not wanting to leave the Little Talbot Island area too quickly, we went to visit the nearby Kingsley Plantation. It’s a National Park site, so we scored another stamp in our parks passport. It’s a beautiful spot on the river, with some fascinating history related to slavery, but unfortunately the two main buildings were closed for renovation (termite damage).
Still, we spotted a bit of wildlife along the trails, including some venomous-looking spiders (probably not in reality), and this salamander. He was about eight inches long. Anyone know what species this guy is?
The ride up I-95 was uneventful, except for the alligator on the highway somewhere in South Carolina. I hadn’t realized they lived that far north. It’s a shame we weren’t quicker with the camera, but it was all I could do to swerve out of his path without hitting someone else on the highway. I-95 was crowded enough without six-foot gators wandering around on it. I was glad the Hensley hitch was on the rig … the abrupt swerve was a non-event.
I got one of those lucky wifi breaks that happen when you’re on the road. We stopped for lunch at a restaurant off I-95, but I wasn’t hungry, so I went into the trailer and found the Days Inn next door had a wide-open wifi network. That’s always good news for getting work done quickly.
But overall, it was just another day. 250 miles covered, and here we are in Charleston at a commercial campground. (The park has Tengo wireless Internet “at every site” but of course the signal doesn’t penetrate the Airstream’s skin, so I’m still using the Internet In Motion system built into the trailer.) Tomorrow we will tour Charleston and whatever else seems interesting in the area.
April 20, 2006 at 9:41 pm · Filed under Places to go
Now, this is a nice state park. Coming from Jacksonville, you head west past the St John River and the little ferry that crosses it, over some salt marsh, and suddenly you are on Little Talbot Island, a tiny barrier of gorgeous sand and shells on the Atlantic Ocean.
The park is across the road from the oceanside, bordering a creek. It’s a maze of tiny lanes which we had to navigate very carefully with our 30-foot trailer. Most of the sites are like ours: shady with overhanging live oaks draped heavily with Spanish moss. It’s just beautiful here.
Our site is small enough that we had to unhitch to get the truck out of the road, but it seems worth it. I wish we could stay a second night — there’s a lot to do here: beachcombing, bicycling trails, a nearby plantation home, a few seafood restaurants, the scenic little ferry, etc. But the park is booked up for the weekend, so we did what we could today.
First stop was the beach. It is wide and flat, miles long, hard packed enough to drive on (but you can’t here), and littered with shells at low tide. It was also virtually deserted today. Signs warn of rip tides but the water was warm and people were coming out of the water when we arrived. There’s enough space on this beach that the park service felt obliged to post signs warning that nude bathing is not allowed.
Dipping our feet in the Atlantic Ocean means we have finally crossed the country. Our last few swims have been in the Gulf of Mexico, and before that we last touched salt water in the Pacific Ocean at Carpinteria State Beach near Santa Barbara CA. Now we can go only a bit further eastward before we point the rig back to the blue Pacific.
After the beach we took a ranger’s recommendation and hopped the 3-minute ferry across the St John River to Mayport. You can ride over as a passenger for $1.00 or take the car for $3.25, each way. It’s pretty expensive for such a short ride.
But it’s worth it. A hundred feet from the dock on the Mayport side is Singleton’s Seafood Shack, a family-run institution that has a richly deserved reputation for serving great food. We left absolutely stuffed full of crab, fish, scallops, shrimp, clam strips, collard greens, coleslaw, rice & beans, and hush puppies. This place is highly recommended! The big collection of hand-made wooden boat models in the back room is a free bonus.
We have decided that our Open House/Happy Hour/Meet’n’Greet/Free Snacks events for blog readers and other friends will be next Friday from 1 pm to 2:30 pm, and Saturday 1 pm to 2 pm. We’ll be in site I-46 at Ocean Lakes Family Campground. If I can find a flagpole kit for the Airstream, we’ll be flying the Airstream Life flag. Come on over if you can.
April 19, 2006 at 10:19 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
The fates took retribution on me for taking the day off yesterday. Yesterday one of the back-office systems we use for the magazine started outputting errors, and I only found out about it this morning. Apparently the software went haywire somewhere around the time I was watching Cleo the sea lion.
Then I discovered a bug in one of the database queries, which would have resulted in even more errors if I hadn’t fixed it today. So the whole day was spent glaring at my laptop computer, mumbling to myself, and occasionally pounding out emails to our programmer. No wonder the keys on my computer are wearing off.
Meanwhile, the Florida sun continued to shine, the heat again rose to nearly 90, and the humidity became so thick that you could iron shirts without plugging in the iron. Florida would still be a largely uninhabited place if air conditioning had not been invented. Between the programming problems and the intense air outside, it was a day to spend at the dinette working.
I also invested about an hour in pre-planning. I don’t want to give away too much about what’s going to happen next, but from our Schedule page you can tell we’re going to be doing a lot of traveling in the next month. We’ve got a lot of things we want to accomplish, so every day I can, I’m spending time researching places to go and calling people to make various arrangements. I only mention this because when things start happening quickly, you’ll know what went into making it happen.
But it wasn’t all work today. I finally cured the last computer problem by 6 pm, and Emma and I headed off to the pool. It’s a great stress reliever to play with Emma in the water and watch her progress as a swimmer. Now she swims 25 feet or so unassisted, either under water or above water. And she dives for things on the bottom like a much older kid.
In keeping with our plan to celebrate Emma’s birthday all week since we might be in the car on the actual day, Eleanor and Emma made a cake together. The frosting was Eleanor’s own marscapone cream frosting, which is really superb stuff. The middle layer of the cake contained a chocolate ganache, by Emma’s request. You should have been here for a taste … it’s a great cake. There won’t be any left over in a day or two.
By the way, we are going to hold a Happy Hour or some sort of get-together at the Region 3 Rally in Myrtle Beach, next week. It’s for any blog reader or any subscriber to Airstream Life. Anyone who is planning to go to the rally, check this blog in the next few days or the bulletin boards at the rally for information on when and where. We’re still trying to work out the plans right now.
April 18, 2006 at 9:34 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
We just dragged ourselves in from SeaWorld. We’re wiped out from nine hours of walking around the park in 80 degrees … four live shows, two fast rides, six large cups of sugary drink, and more sea mammals than you can catch in a drift net (just a bad joke, pay no attention). In short, total sensory overload.
Emma and Dad waiting for a stingray to swim by … so we can pet it!
We’re done with the theme park experiences for a while. It was a good day but my brain is becoming numbed. I think we all need some “real” experiences over the next couple of weeks, involving natural places and people who are genuine (or genuinely bizarre). Shouldn’t be hard to work that up.
But first, a good night’s rest. The air conditioner is humming and the air inside is comfortably dry & cool, unlike outside. We’ll sleep well, and dream of dolphins.
April 18, 2006 at 9:47 am · Filed under FAQs
Hey, I just noticed we were featured in the Full Time RV’er newsletter this month. About 100 new people have started reading the blog as a result, so I wanted to say “Welcome!” and give you some pointers to information in this blog that may be helpful to you.
First off, if you are searching for something specific, try the “Search” box in the left column. We’ve talked about a lot of topics related to full-timing over the past seven months, so you’ll probably find the answers you want there. As of today, we have posted over 190 times.
Second, you should definitely read through all the Tips and Ideas entries.
Third, feel free to use the “Comments” link below every post to ask questions, or add your thoughts to anything we have said. Your comments are really helpful, not only to us, but to other readers of the blog. Let us know what you’d like us to talk about.
You might also want to browse the photo albums we’ve posted online. We have hundreds of photos for your enjoyment. They are organized by location, so if there’s a particular place you are interested in (especially western parks), check the Pictures link.
Finally, if you’d like to meet up and talk in person, check our Schedule page for the details. We plan to cover the entire USA coast-to-coast at least two more times this year, so eventually we’ll be somewhere near you!
April 17, 2006 at 9:43 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
As scheduled, the Tour is back on the road … but not far. This morning, we rolled up the awning, hitched the trailer, cleaned, and prepped to head to Kissimmee, 80 miles east on I-4.
Amazingly, my eBay seller finally came through, so our first stop with trailer in tow was Pak Mail, where I picked up the missing bike mount. We tossed it in the trailer with the second bike and kept on going. I installed it 40 miles down the road when we stopped for lunch. Now our bike rack is complete, and no longer a worry.
There’s a Roadtrek (B-van) rally going on at this “RV resort”. There must be at least 40 Roadtreks parked around us. Our 30 foot trailer looks like gigantic compared to the little B-vans. I took a tour of two of them this afternoon. They are cute but it would be hard for 2 of us to have more than a long weekend in them. With all 3 of us, I can’t even imagine it. And at $65-85k, I’m not rushing out to buy one.
Since we lived for a chunk of two winters not far from here, being in Kissimmee feels like going home. We know where things are, and have a list of things we want to re-visit. We talk about local restaurants and shops like we’ve lived here all our lives. This actually feels strange, because normally we have no idea where anything is. For a few days, we’ll embrace this sensation and try to hit at least a couple of our favorite spots.
Meeting the train in Winter Haven FL, March 2005
One of my favorite spots was Winter Haven, a town with a wonderful center. What I love about Winter Haven is that Amtrak still comes right through the middle of town and stops to disembark passengers on the town green. It’s the kind of place you want to get off the train after a long voyage from some snowy spot up north. I took the picture above in March 2005 when we were in Winter Haven for their annual art show.
Tomorrow is slated for Sea World. We have decided to call this Emma’s birthday present, since she will be turning SIX on Saturday. It looks like we might be on the road on Saturday, depending on how things work out with campgrounds in South Carolina. So, we are planning to have birthday presents and cake earlier in the week, starting with our Sea World day. Emma is happy with this arrangement, since it effectively means she gets a birthday week instead of just a day!
April 16, 2006 at 6:34 pm · Filed under Travel / lifestyle musings
The Easter Bunny was here last night! We left him some celery and carrots, and he left us a nice basket of candies. (The basket strongly resembles one we were given by a couple we met in Mystic Springs. I wonder if they supply the Easter Bunny too.)
Emma & Eleanor’s eggs
Emma and Eleanor spent the morning boiling up eggs and coloring them, while I wrestled with our trip plans for the next few months. We’re leaving Tampa tomorrow. After several hours with a road atlas and browsing dozens of websites, we have a plan … sort of. It’s as much of a plan as we ever have.
Our intermediate goal is Myrtle Beach for the Region 3 Rally. But we don’t need to be there until the 25th, so our intention is to break it up into several short drives of about 150-200 miles each. So we are going to try to make a few scenic and fun stops along the way.
First stop will be Kissimmee. We promised Emma she’d see Sea World back in San Diego and we forgot to go. We used to spend winters nearby in Haines City, so we have a few other old haunts we plan to visit as well.
Next stop would have been St Augustine but unfortunately with the weekend we couldn’t get a reservation. Instead, we booked one weeknight at Little Talbot Island State Park near Jacksonville, and we’ll see if we can convince the rangers to let us stay longer even though the reservation system says the park will be full.
After that, we’ll wing it. I see a nice county park in South Carolina we might want to head to, and I’ve researched some other possibilities as well. There’s not much to do along I-95 in Georgia or South Carolina, so if we want to have some fun we’ll need to bail out to Rt 17. (Blog reader Brad Arrowood suggested that, and he’s right.)
Even still, I had to pull out all the stops to find a few ideas. There was nothing along our route in our “Watch It Made In the USA” book of factory tours. Nothing in “Howstuffworks.com”. No festivals along our route during that period. Nothing going on in the state parks, except for the interesting state parks (Hunting Island, Edisto Beach, etc.) along the coast, and of course they were booked solid.
Commercial campgrounds were unhelpful as well. They were either outrageously expensive or incredibly dull. I spent an hour today reading online reviews only to conclude there wasn’t any place I’d be happy to pay for, in a place we could use. I finally concluded I’m happier NOT planning sometimes … and instead just picking up what appears interesting along the way.
No, the kitchen isn’t in danger. That’s the rum burning off!
Tonight, Barry dropped by for dinner and dessert. Eleanor decided to make her famous Bananas Foster dessert, which is a favorite of mine. A nice sweet ending to our three weeks in Tampa!
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