January 4, 2012
Ahhhh, 2012! How cool is that?! We rolled right into the New Year with nary a word on how we did so. You missed nothing. I did wear a party hat while Skyping with Tsha on the 31st, but other than that, nothing exciting. I think Tony may have done a clappingly good job on one of the six Sudoku’s he works on each and every day. As for us and our travels, we are inching south and south, further toward Key West and all the Jimmy Buffettness that entails; sunsets that people cheer for; snorkeling in aqua water.
Seester Dawn sent TC two books for Christmas, both on Key West: one a novel, the other a biography. Tony has been reading them as if our lives depend on finishing them both before arriving at Big Pine Key. And he’s loving them both, although they are on opposite ends of the spectrum, one being a complicated word-fuck of fiction, the other an amusing foray through Margaritaville. I love to see him caught up in the pleasure of reading, as I am every night.
The last twelve days of camping weren’t as fun as the partridge and a pear tree can be. We were in Clermont at an RV park that was friendly, busy, had activities, and fulfilled our wish to use our RPI club advantage at $10 a night; it was also too tight of quarters for us, the pool wasn’t heated, nothing to see or do in the area, you could hear both freeways, and the folks were satisfied with … just sitting there all winter. Not for us. I felt like a lump the whole time we were there. For the first time someone shooed Roku off by clapping their hands. Hmph.
The further south you go the more filled up the parks. We’re hovering on the edge of both hurricane season and parks that have been reserved since last year. Florida’s “season”, we’ve discovered, is Feb and March with a little bit of April thrown in. Looks like we’ll be leaving the Keys and waddling up the Gulf side of Florida through most of January; we’re going more slowly than we thought, but we’re OK with that. TC does want to avoid killing winds, however.
We took a chance on this park we’re currently in because the RV Park Review said the new owners are working hard to update the place, and that it was an OK stay. So here we are in Moore Haven, sitting on the banks of the Caloosahatchie River, next door to the Otera Lock, at the Okeechobee Waterway RV Park and Marina.
I LOVE this place. OK, so it’s scrubby, the grass isn’t green, the showers could use a little bit of help (they’re clean!), you get burrs in your feet if you walk in the bushes – but I’m telling you, it’s a jewel in the rough. The owner is gracious and genuine, the view of the River and Lock is breathtaking, egrets, kittywakes and herons abound, and best of all for me, it’s soooo quiet. TC likes it too, but he tends to “go male” when he sees a broken pool, grass that needs greening, fences that need mending. His brain just heads to “fix” mode and then I get to hear about all the fixes he would do if he owned the place.
We stretched our stay here for a few more days and thoroughly enjoyed the area of Moore Haven. A little depressed, but trying to get back. I reluctantly said bye-bye.
Onward and upward to Larry and Penny Thompson county park in South Miami. It’s a great park, not really our style again, but all the amenities. Very cheek to jowel. BUT! We weren’t there to make friends, but to see Miami Beach and the environs. We also had a bunch of errands to run, and I had a horrible neck problem that lasted too long and that I needed to make right.
We spent a few hours at South Miami Beach which was a kick in the ass. We were unaware that bathing suits that covered the buttocks are optional. This fashion statement should be encouraged amongst the young and lithe, and discouraged among the long in tooth. Beautiful blue water and white sand beach, we just sat and watched the show. As we were leaving we bought a fresh coconut from a guy for $3.00 and drank the juice, and wandered the deco district of south beach for awhile. Great day.
After four days of intense neck and head pain I found an acupuncturist/shiatsu masseuse who spent the better part of two hours trying to ease my symptoms. As expected, it worked miracles. I’ve continued to do the exercises she suggested and have just a shadow of left shoulder pain. What a relief!
On the 12th we headed for the Keys, not really knowing what to expect from either the area or the park we had booked. Both turned out to be the trip of a lifetime. There isn’t a place on earth like the Keys. From Key Largo forward it’s a fantasy of turquoise water, bridges (one is seven miles long!), islands, beaches and sun. Sunshine RV Park on Big Pine Key was great, crowded like all of them, but at least bushes or palm trees between most spaces for separation. Our neighbors were friendly and didn’t mind a cat roaming. In fact, the guy next to us is a commercial fisherman and had lived in that spot for 41 years! What?! Happy as a clam, probably saw the Keys when they were hopping. We settled in, Roku went to look for geckos and all was well for four blissful days.
Our first adventure was a Christmas gift to each other of snorkeling in the Keys. We found a trip out of Bahia Honda State Park with an experienced captain and a great big old pontoon boat. Most of the 20 or so folks who were onboard had wet suits on, which made us kind of nervous. The water temp at Looe Key where we were diving, was reported as 75 – bathwater to us. But maybe we didn’t know what we were doing???! True dat. I had a private lesson from the well trained young man (Dylan) who acted as a first mate, and felt pretty comfortable with the gear and the upcoming snorkel. Until we anchored with no land in sight! My vision, which I hadn’t verified with the dive pamphlet, was a serene lagoon of blue water in which I snorkeled mere feet off the white sand bottom, while gazing enraptured into sealife’s eyes. There was no land in sight, the Key was visible about a boat length away kind of bristling out of the water, and the water itself was a bit choppy.
The other 18 folks jumped in and snorkeled their way to Looe; TC and I clumsily walk front ward down the slippery aluminum boat ladder and plopped in with little ceremony. The water was heavenly at 75 degrees, as we thought. I hung on for dear life to the ladder, starting to hyperventilate a bit. I just could not let go, terrified to breath through the snorkel tube, afraid to get the choppy sea water in my snorkel. Dylan recognized my distress and tied a float with a long line to the boat, so that I could hang on and practice.
Tony took off immediately, but kept coming back to the ladder too, as he couldn’t make a good seal with his lips, due to the nerve damage in his cheek. It was hard for him, as he kept getting sea water in his mouth, would panic a bit, then clear it and head out again. In the end it was just too frustrating and he went back to the boat as others were too.
I eventually was able to let go and look around beneath me, spotted a few schools of fish. It was disconcerting to look down, see no fish, look behind – and there they were, all staring at me. I’m sure it was in admiration of my supple movements through their realm. Yeah, right. Dylan assured me that I would spot a fish to follow and let go of the float without even knowing it, and he was right. But then I would come to my senses and panic, looking up to see how far the boat was, swimming quickly to get back. I eventually got back in the boat, but not before doing a shin bone bruise on that damn ladder. Getting out of the water was the hardest thing I did during the whole trip, it turns out!
We had such a blast though, despite the insecurities. We LOVED being on the water, had really missed it on this trip, soaked up the whole 30 minutes out and back. I leave you with the beautiful evidence:
The next day we drove to Key West’s Mallory Square to watch the famous Key West sunset – said to be the most beautiful in all the land. Parking is tough, people are everywhere, but we walked to the Square with no problem. There are 1000’s of people who make this pilgrimage every night – and the buskers are there to loosen their wallets. I’ll mention too that this is a town where you can wander the streets with your drink in hand, so alcohol flows, and so do the souls of normally staid people. We crowded up to view the sunset, which we found not particularly majestic on that night.
The next day we sought out the Seafood Fest in Key West. We went later in the afternoon so that we could view the sunset from a different vantage point – that of the enormous land based bouy that marks the most southern most point in the continental US.
First of all, the Seafood Fest was easy parking, small park venue, a few booths of JUST SEAFOOD – no Thai, Ugandan or elephant ears – just conch fritters, fresh peel and eat shrimp, stone crab claws and more conch stuff. They also had a booth of Cuban coffee, which is hot everywhere in the Miami area. It consists of espresso, then you can add, if you want to, con leche (milk) and/or sugar. They ran out as soon as I stepped up, that’s how popular these little sips of coffee are, and I was so bummed. TC, meanwhile, got a waffle cone of praline ice cream. We stood at a 30’ plywood table and yucked it up with a bunch of bikers and others; had a great time.
Next stop was the stage where The Doerful kids were playing – unbelievable and I bought two of their cd’s. They do a lot of covers and also have some of their own songs. Ten kids, mom was standing by, all incredibly talented and not the least dorky. Mandolin, bass and banjo players, as well as the female lead singer just took my breath away. I so wish I had it in me to just let loose and dance, as my friend Joey would. I love music so much, and I used to love to dance. Somewhere along the way, maybe putting the pounds on, not drinking anymore – I don’t know, I just don’t dance. I so felt like cutting loose at this lovely little gathering.
We then ventured over to the land-based buoy and I LOVED this place! It’s a lovely little neighborhood with a Coast Guard station on the point. It contained a steady stream of folks getting their picture taken in front of the bouy - families, people laughing and kids squealing. TC and I were lucky enough to scooch onto great seats on the warm concrete bulkhead, while two young and smoochy couples sat on the sea rocks below us. The sun set in a miraculous display of yellows and a firey red ball, while pelicans winged and dove, sailboats puttered and my heart centered with my mind for a beautiful moment of peace. Ahhhh, those brief pieces of time don’t come often enough for me. But when I get it, I stay there for as long as I can.
January 15, 2012
Left the Keys so reluctantly, with such wonderful sea breezes flowing through our minds. TC had a doc appt on Monday so back we went for one night at Larry and Penny Thompson. His ear skin discoloration turned out to be nothing, although the dermatologist was kind of pissy at our browning bods. She was as white as the underside of a halibut. Yick.
Scooted away from south Miami with reluctance as well, but now that we had experienced the southernmost tip of these magnificent United States, we’re halfway through our trip and it was time to start heading up the Gulf side of Florida. We’ve been on the road for almost six months, and in Florida for over a month. What a great state it is to travel around.
January 16, 2012
We cut across the state heading west, stopping in at Collier Seminole SP. Highway 41 cuts through the most beautiful and mysterious of swamps – Big Cypress. It is incredible in its’ breadth; every inch is covered with gators, great blue herons, egrets, frogs and turtles. We stopped at a visitor’s center, where we counted about 25 enormous gators. You could stand above and view them, unbelievable! And as we traveled along, I counted 75 more just on the banks of the swamp.
The state park was crowded and kind of weird, another one that’s crammed together. And it had such promise!
January 17, 2012
Up the coast we went toward Fort Myers and the Gulf Air RV Park. Beautiful drive up the coast and over bridges – so many white sand beaches. Pulled in to the Gulf Air, registered, took off the car, got the golf cart employee to lead us to spot 294 – except when Tony opened the door to climb in, out came Roku. He immediately ran under Blue, traffic on the busy road rushing by – I could have beaned them both. All stop while we tried to ease him out; meanwhile, he’s licking his butt and looking at us like, “What?!” He finally ambled over to me, I scooped him up and away we went.
Well, around and around we went, the golf carts leading the way, me taking up the rear. Neighbors came out, introduced themselves – it was a party Gulf Air! We felt like the biggest thing to happen at this place in a looooong time. Very friendly, very nice. Crammed into a little corner with green grass and bushes behind for our Roku. Perfect. A little more expensive than we’re used to, but it worked. And right up front is a little blue pool just waiting for us. Heaven.
Fort Myers is another lovely place and Gulf Air was good for us. We tried to extend but missed the boat, and they filled our spot. We were able to stay by moving to another spot, equally as nice. Kind of a pain in the ass, but it all worked out. And poor Roku ran into a mean old brown cat. He came SCREAMING, literally, growling and screaming through the cat door, over the seat, around Tony’s chair, over the couch and onto the kitchen counter. I got up to hug him and he was growling, growling, so afraid. He was holding his little right paw up in the air as if he’d hurt it. TC went out and found the cat, but it ran off. Poor kitten was so scared he snuggled up with me on the couch the rest of the night. His paw is fine but we haven’t let him live down his whoopin’. I’m just glad he wasn’t hurt.
We also took time to go to Sanibel Island – where you pay $6 to get over to it - and sat on the beach and shelled to our heart’s content. It’s supposed to be the best shelling beach in the world! I did a bunch of research on the blog www.iloveshelling.com and pinpointed our shelling beach near the lighthouse. It was great, mounds of shells, although the tide was up so it wasn’t great for the big conchs and other novelties. TC waded in the water and came up with a couple of great shells, and I found a pile of just shells I like. Lots of shellers (the official name is conchologist) and dog walkers. At one point I just couldn’t resist sitting down near a pile of shells, just to get into them and see what was there. Having no core muscles in my flabby belly, I plop down pretty hard when coming from a standing position, and the woman behind me chirped loudly, “Are you OK?!” I was kind of embarrassed and wanted to cold cock the skinny bitch. The lighthouse is very different, put together like an erector set, so the wind comes through it, instead of pushing agin it. “Agin” is a southern word meaning “against.”
The next several days we spent at the pool, morning noon and night. It was heaven. Met some nice folks, saw some very in-shape people – these guys work it! They’re biking, walking, swimming constantly. Interestingly enough, they all look very good while lying on the lounge chairs, however, when they stand up, all the brown wrinkles fall down! Wow. Even the thinnest women, and there were some scary skinny women, had a body full o’ wrinkles that were not attractive. Their faces were usually messed up too, from too much sun and fun through the years. Looked good in clothes though. Made me think that Ton-Ton and I are doing just fine with our bodies. If we were to get ill, our bodies would at least have fat to feed on for awhile. These skinny folks would have no back up! Lots of sun tanning too with these folks, some are so dark it definitely looks weird. Good lesson for us and our sun worship. At this stage, we’re just toasty.
January 22, 2012
Next stop 84 miles up the road was Oscar Scherer SP in Sarasota. We sometimes have a heck of a time finding our next stay. All the maps come out, every book with club prices, pamphlets for SP’s. Back and forth we go, calling the rv places, the club, the parks; looking online, discussing options, figuring out prices. Takes hours sometimes and you never really know what you’re going to get. Oscar Scherer proved to be a good hit, a lovely park with lots of room, but very tough to get into our site. We only had a night so didn’t get to roam around at all, but man it looked good.
We left the next day after promising to meet a Masonic brother’s son for lunch. I wasn’t so sure I wanted to hang around and talk Masonry for an hour, but I’m so glad I did, as Patrick is an ace of a guy. We had the best time talking with this wonderful young man – his father should be very proud of him!
We then trundled on to St Petersburg to our destination – Ft Desoto county park. After passing through two tolls, we turned into the park…and into heaven. We don’t want to leave, ever. It is surrounded by water. It has many waterfront camping spots. It is quite full, but the spots are sandy, spacious with palms in between. It feels like a resort, and there’s nowhere we’d rather be. We hit the sunset the first night, from a beautiful, long pier, where a white crane stood on the rail, its black feet firmly holding on. Little shore birds skittered in front of me, and gulls swooped and hollered. TC stopped to talk with the fishers who were busy catching bait fish…so they could fish for fish. Another moment of peaceful, centering calm came over me standing on the pilot’s pier, watching the fish swim around the pilings, and the sun set.
On our way back to the car Tony, always vigilant when it comes to his beloved Sebring, noticed it was heating up. We parked it and he started in on it first thing this morning. When I lumbered out we began Googley-Googling for answers. Pinned it down to the fans not coming on and a sensor. Taking it to the dealer tomorrow for a fix and to take care of that nagging “creeeeeeeaaaaaak” when we open the doors. I’ve decided I surely don’t need to go with him at 7:00 AM, so Roku and I will be hanging around the campsite together. Hopefully the car will be fixed and we can hit the beach and see an acquaintance we made in Maine, who lives in St. Petes.
Roku is having a blast roaming our campsite, chasing geckos. He caught one right away (which Tony took away from him before he killed it), which has kept him focused on them. They scurry all over the palms and the ground. There’s also a calico cat hanging around, of course, causing Roku flashbacks of the mean brown cat at Gulf Air. He hasn’t backed down though.
February 2, 2012
An epic adventure tonight, containing magic and a dusk so deep you could barely make out the white ears of the deers. We have landed at Manatee Springs State Park, which we thought sounded as though it would live up to both of our new loves – manatees and springs. It does both. The spring is a sandy bottomed, clear aqua blue, tantalizingly paragraphed with two sets of steps. I watched an abrupt-speaking NY gent slowly make his way in for a swim. Like all the springs around Florida, this one is 72 degrees year round. Here I sit waiting for Roku to come back so that we can go take a dip.
Two nights ago we had started a campfire, the wood dry and popping, redolent of hickory and cypress. We haven’t had a fire since Myrtle Beach, which is where the wood was from. It was heaven. Roku sat on a downed log in the beautiful woods that backed up Site 80, the couple behind us were gathered around their fire, talking and laughing.
I kept hearing rustling in the woods, as dusk fell. The forest floor is about 2” thick with leaves and they set up a racket if walked upon. I kept asking He-Who-Is-Hard-of-Hearing if he could hear the rustling, that I was sure something was out there. Nope, he said, giving me his usual “you’re crazy talking” look again. If TC hasn’t seen-heard-felt-or tasted it, it didn’t happen. However, from my peripheral vision I can see movement beyond the trees, in a little gully. As I squint and look, one deer, two, three, four, five – kept coming – beautifully graceful. I think we ended up with about ten to fifteen of them, foraging around for grass and bark. They did a loop to the right, while we tried to keep them in sight in the glowering dark. It was pure magic watching as a white flash of ear or tail became visible to us. Roku sat entranced on his log, I think not able to move, transfixed by these huge, shuffling bodies. As they moved closer to him, they must have gotten a whiff of his particular perfume and paid a bit more attention to him, for he came jetting off that log and dove under Blue in a black blur. To add to the animal drama, the deer then began snorting at him, sniffing the log where he had been sitting. The deer eventually came within about 20’ of our campsite; we could barely make out their shapes at that point. But oh, what a show we had!
February 2, 2012
After a humid, blue-sky day, slipped into the caress of the Manatee Springs boil and swam away an hour or so. Talk about beautiful. 30’ down is the sandy bottom, the water is crystal clear and blue, with fish and turtles running about. There was even a good sized snake lounging in a nearby bush! Algea covered steps lead down to the water, and as we made our way down, we passed a young woman reading a book and obviously watching a friend swim. I asked her if she was jumping in and she said. “No, it’s too cold. “ I said, “Not too cold for a Seattleite.” The swimmer said, “She’s from Washington!” Carla is from Wenatchee in fact! Steph insists she loves the “overcast, dark days and rain!” We three try to dispel the notion of loving a place with 6 – 9 months of gray, but she insists she would love to move to Seattle or Portland.
Tony and I both slipped into the lovely 72 degree water and headed for the sunny party. The swimmer, Stephanie, is a 30 year old native who looks 16 and carries an unmatchable zest for life. Steph could be a stand-up comic. So delighted is she with life, so in love with this perfect blue swimming hole, she waxes poetic about her love of family, life, sun and swimming. She tells us Carla is her favorite sister-in-law, that she loves and dotes on her nieces and nephews, that she has five sisters and four brothers, that she loves her parents and family and spends as much time with them as possible. She vows never to have children as it’s too much responsibility and the earth is full enough as it is. She talks of her need to be at Manatee Springs, that she embraces, loves, cherishes this magic place. She has been coming for ten years at least twice a week, has swum with the manatees three times; she was awed and intimidated by their size, but loved the feel of being with them in these holy waters. She has “about 20” snorkeling masks (without the snorkel) and offered to loan them to us immediately, so that we could see “the millions of cool fish down here!” We declined, talking of our big mistake in not picking up gear while at Costco a few days ago.
Carla took pics of TC and I in the springs – smiling, happy faces that reflect our feeling of peace in this place. Steph insists she feels the best she can feel when she swims here, and when we got out, we agree we just felt great. As we were toweling off we talked again of Steph’s desire to move to an overcast place like Seattle or Portland. TC asks her, “Have you ever thought of seeing a psychiatrist?!” To which she answered, “Have you ever seen my middle finger?!” God we laughed. Tony eventually replied, “No, but I think you’ve answered my question!”
Due to the popularity of this park we had to move from Hickory Loop #80 to Magnolia Loop 1 #29, a pull through. As much as I hated to move from our quiet little forest loop, turns out this lovely site is mucho sunny and spacious. Deer walk through the area during the day, just checking everything out. They’re apparently quite used to people and will look for a hand out, which is illegal and not helpful. Squirrels are everywhere! We’ve been watching three babies play chase on their tree-home, and there are dozens everywhere you walk. This must be paradise for them, as chestnuts litter the ground and the weather is temperate.
February 3, 2012
Today is visit a plough festival, then a moonlight canoe paddle on the Suwannee River. Yes, it is the Suwannee River of the same titled song, although I seem to remember it spelled Swannee. No matter, it is a gorgeous river, and feeds directly into the Gulf. I am equally thrilled and terrified of taking this two hour paddle tonight with our park Rangers; thrilled because I’ve been dying to get out on the water in either a kayak or canoe – terrified because I’ll be paddling with Tony, who, not being a graceful swan, could cause our canoe to sway and tip. I’ve asked him not to MOVE during our paddle, which he will likely ignore. I do NOT want to go into the Suwannee at any time, but especially at night.
Tomorrow is Cedar Key, which is supposed to be like Key West in the ‘60’s; Sunday is a “mudding” contest. I feel like we’re living in the middle of a Larry The Cable Guy redneck weekend!
February 4, 2012
Paddling the Suwannee River by moonlight is a thing divine; it should be done by one and all; it’s a pinnacle of a thing that smells fecund. Black river water like glass, while the shadowed pines, cypress and palms rise from the river’s edge and hold you safe. Sometimes, even in the middle of the river, your paddle touches bottom! It’s a strange experience following the other kayaks and canoes as their passengers whisper their love of that moment to one another.
My favorite canoe was the dad and two boys under 10, squiggling, squirming, barely paddling. Questions and talking and moving and questions. At one point dad was explaining water volume – are you kidding me?! – and their dna wouldn’t allow them to be interested in the least. On our way back, unable to contain themselves any longer, they played their flashlights hectically on the trees, themselves, their dad’s face. Boys! Tony is STILL like that, unable to stop THINKING about FIXING, PROBLEM SOLVING everything. Every park we’ve been in, within about 15 minutes he starts a sentence with: “If I owned this park I’d ____________ (build a dock; start a clam farm; grade the road; water the grass; clean the bathrooms; upgrade the club house; fix the pool; fix the pool’s solar panels).
He was stationed at the front and I in the back – I was the rudder! As we were pushed off into the murky water with the other 20 or so crafts, we adjusted our butts to the hard seats and our rhythm to the paddle. I had brought my usual enormous beach bag (thanks WSF HR!) with water, flashlights, clothes, bug spray and two pillows to sit on. I immediately sat on mine, TC insisted he didn’t need his. He bravely tried to NOT MOVE in the canoe, but his back started hurting immediately and he spent a fair amount of time carefully bending fore and aft, then trying to put his butt pillow under him – didn’t work. I will say though, that he thanked me for getting him in the canoe, something he didn’t think he could do without a backrest. He’s probably right, it would help immensely; we saw a lot of kayaks with backs to them, so that is next! I would be more comfortable paddling by myself.
Our little group went happily upriver for about an hour, moonlight shining down on us, quiet, quiet. The only sound is our paddles slapping the water. When we got back to the landing we were met by the Community Service Organization that supports Manatee Springs State Park and who organized this paddle with the Rangers. They had cocoa and water and cookies, and a little film on manatees. All in all, a stellar evening.
Took the 30 miles backcountry drive to Cedar Key on Saturday and found yet another sleepy, beautiful backwater town on the water. Some say Cedar Key is like Key West in the ‘60’s. Maybe so. We stopped at Tony’s for the three time world champion chowder winner. Oh yes, sweet with a bite – very, very good. Walked around town, went to the fishing pier and watched the pelicans and the fishers vie for a catch, as the sun slid toward the water.
February 5, 2012
North again to Keaton Beach Old Pavilion RV Park. Not sure what we’d find, but upon arrival we are so happy to see that we’re looking out at the water. Owner’s cat Cotton, a beautiful white manx with blue eyes and orange around her face, RAN out to greet us. Roku is quite happy padding on the beach and fighting with the other cats around here. Nice big dock, folks fishing. Sweet times here.
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Happy Birthday to my fantastic brother Bernard Webster Plourd! Whoo hooo!
We love this park and the environs. 'Nough said!
And my current favorite grafitti, apprapros of nothing:
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