Panama City Florida

Sun Nov 24, 2013
We decided out of Chiefland to head to Panama City, but couldn't decide where to stay.  We called St. Andrews State Park and were told they could find us a spot if we arrived by 5pm.  We left Chiefland at 10:15.  Got into Panama City at 4:30.  We desperately needed groceries and gas but only had 30 minutes to get to the park before they closed.  BUT....our trustly GPS told us our arrival time was an hour earlier.....what????.... Oh yeah...somewhere we crossed the time zone line into Central Standard Time and didn't know it.  We had an hour to kill...It was only 3:30!!  So we stopped at a Publix grocery store and bought some groceries.  We made it to St. Andrews at 4:45.  It was getting dark and pretty windy.  I fixed gluten free spaghetti with turkey sausage and onions in a sauce with garlic bread and salad for dinner.  I did venture out later to find the bathhouse so I could take a nice shower......ahhhh.... it was a very nice shower!!!!

Monday Nov 25, 2013
Holy Smokes!!!  Did it ever get cold over night.  The wind howled all night.  It was in the low 50's when we got up.  We both decided to go for a run.  I wore capri's with my fleece top and bike jacket with hat and gloves.  If the wind had not been blowing it would have been comfortable.  Greg left before me but we wound up at the beach at the same time.  I may be just a little prejudice since I grew up coming to Panama City Beach, but the Gulf of Mexico has the most beautiful beaches of any of the places I've gone.  Even when it's really cold the beach looks just perfect.  I could stay here forever.  On my run I didn't see any alligators but saw a couple of deer who thought I was going to feed them as they walked very closed up to me.  We didn't leave this camp until noon.  Heading on to Mobile tonight.

view from campsite at St. Andrew's State Park

Campsite

Can't read the sign but I ran by this on 11-25
It is for "Gator Pond" warning about alligators

I ran by this???????

This is why I wanted to come here

The beaches are beautiful!

My arctic running gear for the beach

Greg, barefoot running on the beach

My friends the deer

Done to perfection.... grilled Mahi Mahi with
brown rice and broccolli 

Manatee Springs Florida

Saturday Nov 23, 2013

Manatee Springs.... we arrived!

the Springs! 

Greg getting ready for snorkeling

Our campsite

Nature hike (I just woke up)

lots of buzzards waiting around for something to die

Suwannee River

fall colors at the Suwannee River

We pulled out of Lake Placid at 8:20am heading to Manatee Springs in Chiefland FL.  We had called the State Park phone number to get reservations but Manatee Springs had no openings.  I called (but did not reserve a spot) at a RV camp in Old Town not far up the road from Chiefland.  Our intent was to hang out at Manatee Springs for a while then drive up the road and spend the night in Old Town at Suwannee river Hideaway. The trip from Lake Placid took about 5 hours.  It was 4-lanes all the way but through lots of small towns with stop-n-go traffic.  We drove thru beautiful horse farms outside of Ocala.  Once getting to Manatee, the park ranger said they could get a camp site for us!  We parked and immediately went to the springs to snorkel.  I was here when I was very little but for some reason it did not look the same!  The springs were much smaller than I remembered.  We did get in the freezing cold water (it was 72 degrees) and snorkeled around.  Nothing to see.  No manatees, some fish, no snakes, no alligators.  We snorkeled for about 30 minutes then went back to camp.  Got on the bikes and road the trails for about an hour.  Still didn't see any wild life until coming back to camp and saw a couple of deer on the side of the road.  The wind was starting to blow but the temperature was very nice in the 70's.  Dinner was frozen pizza (cooked in the convection microwave) and salad.

Sun Nov 24, 2013...  It was 68 degrees in the RV (without the a/c running).  The wind was chilly.  We walked back to the springs and along the boardwalk but no signs of manatees.  Back at camp, our neighbor said they saw a "cow and calf" earlier that morning.   Aw... we were too late getting there to see them.  We broke camp at 10:15 and the temp was 58 when we left.  We don't exactly know where we are going next.  No cell coverage at Manatee Springs but we had called a friend of Greg's who lives in Port St. Joe about 3-1/2 hrs away.  Couldn't connect with them last night so once we left the park we had to pull off on the side of the road once we got cell coverage again and called them back.  They were in Tennessee!!!  St. Port Joe will have to wait until our next trip down.  We studied the map a while and came up with Panama City as our next destination........stay tuned!

Lake Placid

Friday Nov. 22, 2013
Left Key West and the Florida Keys this morning at 9:00am after Greg went for a run and I worked out with resistance bands (trying to keep up with weight training).  We drove thru some heavy rains off and on all day.  We stopped in small town of Clewiston for groceries and arrived at Sunshine RV Resort Park at 3:15.  Greg went for an hour run.  I jumped in the outdoor pool to swim laps for 35 minutes.  For dinner we had steak fajitas (left over steak meat from the other night) and rice and beans (left over from another night).  The facility invited us to Bingo at 6.  Too cute!!!  We didn't go but it would have been fun!

On the road again...... Key West!

Wed Nov 20, 2013
I slept so good last night probably because of the nice, cold shower I took before bed.  I could never get the hot water to work.  It's ok because I was so hot and sticky the cold shower felt good.  It was 89 degrees in the RV at 6pm.  We ran the air conditioner!
Left the campsite at 9:45 this morning to make our way to Key West.  It was an uneventful drive down US 1.  Lots of water on both sides of the road in plenty of places.  I can't imagine what this road looks like when there is an evacuation of any kind (it is the only road for 120 miles that runs from Homestead/Florida City to Key West!!!!)  We got to our next destination, Boyd's RV Resort at 1:30pm.  The RV resort was not in Key West as we thought but on an out-lying island (Stock Island).  We rode our bikes into Key West to get groceries.  It was about 3 miles to the grocery store, most of that was bike path, some on road ways.  Not too bad getting around.  Lots of traffic and where we went to the store was some construction so we have to maneuver around that.  For dinner, Greg grilled steaks.  We had baked sweet potatoes and salad.

On Thursday the 21st we rode our bikes into town about 9:30.  It was about a 5-1/2 mile ride into "Old Town" section.  We walked around Old Town, went to the Wes Fisher Marine Museum (he was a dive salvagor who found a ship wreck with millions of silver bars and artifacts on board.  After walking around, we had lunch at the Turtle Kraal restaurant on the docks.  I had conch cerviche and Greg had grilled fish tacos.  We splurged and had a piece of Key Lime Pie for dessert!  Got back to the RV around 5:15.  I was so hot, I jumped in the pool for a few minutes before starting dinner.  We had grilled chicken breast, canned corn with green peppers, and cole slaw.
Here are a few pictures:

Dona at the southern most point in the continental U.S.

Greg in front of Wes Fisher's Maritime Museum with GIANT statue of dancing couple in the background

KEY LIME PIE!!!!!

Smather's Beach on Atlantic Ocean - Key West

Flamingo Campground Everglades National Park

Mon Nov 18, 2013
Left Treasure Coast RV Park at 10:30 am.  This was a really nice "resort".  Too bad we couldn't have stayed longer.... We stopped along the way at a Whole Foods Marketplace and at a Best Buy.  We decided to get a Verizon hotspot so we could have internet where ever we go (since we didn't have cell or internet at Ocala National forest).  Our ever trusty Garmin GPS routed us on the Florida Turnpike which is a toll road but no toll booths to pay at.  They apparently take a picture of the vehicle you are driving and then they send you a bill for your toll fees..... since we haven't gotten the title and license changed to our names AND the license plates we have on the vehicle were expired Greg was pretty adamant about getting off the toll road as soon as possible.  Unfortunately, the GPS had an issue with us getting off of it's preferred route and so we wound up driving thru south Miami not around it.  While Greg was driving and cussing I opened my new hot spot wifi only to see the map of service areas in the handout which didn't show any area south of Miami or west of Homestead...... we are going to the everglades (west of homestead) and to Key West (south of Miami)....what?????  I, then began cussing!  I couldn't believe I spent money for something that may not even be useful.  I did get wi-fi reception past Homestead so called the campground we were headed to and made sure the gates would not be locked if we arrived after dark.  All was good for anytime arrival!  We arrived at our camp site at 6pm which sadly to say was too dark to check for alligators or crocodiles before we set up camp.  I did NOT walk to the restrooms that night.  Dinner was tortillas with hamburger and frozen /microwaved steak taquillos.  AND we did not have verizon wi-fi for the 2 days in the Everglades BUT we had excellent GCI cell service! (GCI is our Alaska carrier).

Tues Nov 19
From our campsite to the visitors center/marina was 1.5 miles.  We rode our bikes to and from 3 times today.  Very hot and muggy.  Lots of mosquitoes when there was no breeze.  We tried to hike one of the trails but the bugs were so bad we aborted after about 50 yards.  We rented canoes and rowed up one of the canals.  Saw a couple of crocodiles but nothing else.  We did see some kind of snake in the parking lot by the visitors center and a couple of bald eagles on a separate bike ride.  It was really disappointing not to be able to do the hikes we wanted but we had a good time camping.  Dinner on tuesday night was grilled shrimp kabobs and brown rice with beans and avocado.

sunset at the everglades

going on a bike ride in the everglades

Dona with crocodile in the background

crocodile sliding into the water

small crocodile on a log

Greg and Dona on the coastal plain of the everglades

Dona's attempt at a "selfie"

Shrimp on the bar-bee

Yum.... grilled shrimp with rice, blackbeans and avocado

campsite at Flamingo campground in the Everglades

Flamingo campground

On To Alexander Springs

Friday November 15, 2013

camping site at Astor Park RV in Astor FL

Woke to rain, but we're used to that, right?  It was a little chilly overnight but being in an enclosed camper kept the chill out.  I slept really well.  The mattress is memory foam and it felt great.  The RV is the perfect size for the 2 of us.  While drinking our morning coffee, we made tentative travel plans for the next 2 weeks or so, then a shopping list.  We checked with our Garmin and found the nearest Walmart was about 25 miles away.  We headed in that direction about 10:00.  Once we got there the GPS routed us completely in the opposite direction of the Walmart parking lot (not that we could see the Walmart sign, but once we were in a residental section of town and going toward a dead-end we were pretty sure we were not going in the right direction!)  Eventually we made it to Walmart and got everything on our list plus a few extra things "just in case".  We ate lunch in the RV then headed to Alexander Springs.
Arrived at Alexander Springs at 4:00pm and found out since it is a National Forest they accept the National Park Senior pass so we got 50% off the rate for camping!!!!!  Yeah to Greg for being over 60!  The campground was wooded with really nice private spots.  Clean restrooms with showers.  Bike trails and a spring-fed lake for swimming.  There was no electric, sewer, or cable hookups so we ran the lights off the battery and only cranked up the generator once.  We're pretty used to back woods camping so this was easy.  It was raining when we pulled into camp and let me tell you how wonderful it is to NOT have to set up a tent in the rain!!!  All we did was take the bikes off the bike rack and push a button to let the slide-outs out and wah-lah.... we were ready to camp!!!  Before it got too dark we rode our bikes to the lake to check out the possibility of snorkeling.  It started raining really hard just as we got back to camp.  I had forgotten what it's like to be in rain that is WARM.  For dinner we grilled hamburgers on our small butane grill outside and had baked beans.  The sound of the rain on the roof-top made for a wonderful white noise for sleeping.

Days 1&2 at Alexander Springs

Saturday Nov 16, 2013
Started the day off with a run.... I ran a couple of miles thru the campground while Greg took off on one of the bike trails.  I wasn't ready to go off on a trail adventure quite yet.  After breakfast we walked to the lake; watched some scuba divers go in; then we took a 2-mile interpretive walk around the lake.  No alligators were spotted (yeah!) only saw a couple of really big spiders.  We got back to the RV around 1:30 for lunch.  It started raining really hard.  So hard was the rain that it put me to sleep (for a nap!).  It was raining too heavy to venture out to snorkel at the lake.  The rain didn't stop until around 5:15 and by then it was starting to get dark.  We managed to grill salmon patties (from Alaska salmon that I canned myself) with brown rice and spinach salad.

Saturday Nov 17
We had an early breakfast then off for a 7-1/2 mile bike ride on trails for an hour and half.  Forgot all about alligators and snakes when I saw hunters with rifles along side the trails.  How does a bullet know when the boundry of the national forest butts up against private property?  I was really hoping we didn't get caught in a line of fire.  We did see some little deer happily bouncing around.  They knew they were on the protected side of the forest!  After the bike ride and a shower we packed up and headed to Fort Pierce on the Atlantic Ocean at 11:30am.
Arrived at Treasure Coast RV Part at 5:15 pm (after several stops along the way.... Micky D's to use the wi-fi; Sports Authority; Dick's sporting goods, and Advance Auto Parts....).  It was getting dark after the RV was set up so we heated jalapeno hot dogs with white beans and steamed spinach for dinner.

Bike ride in the rain at Alexander Springs

Dona Cooking dinner

Grilled hamburgers and baked beans

Alexander Springs Camp site

Scuba divers at alexander springs (not dona and greg)

Greg at Alexander Springs

Swimming area of Alexander Springs

Camp site at Treasure coast RV park in FT Pierce

The Maiden Voyage

Thursday Nov 14, 2013

Leaving Waycross on the maiden voyage

Packed and ready to roll out of Waycross GA at 2:30pm.  First stop:  Camping World in Jacksonville FL to buy more "stuff"! (I love shopping)  Left Jacksonville around 4:30, kind of a bad time to be traveling down I-95 thru the heart of Jacksonville with a brand-new-to-us RV.....but we did it without incident!
Our plan was to drive to Alexander Springs Recreation Area in the Ocala National Forest and camp there for 3 nights.  But it was 7:15pm before we got there and the gate was shut and locked with a padlock!!!  The sign out front said they closed at 6:00....what????  If you're camping how can they lock you in or out????  We were so confused but thankfully we have the "trusty" (I use that word loosely) Garmin GPS and we "asked it" for directions to another campground in the area.  We stayed about 10 miles down the rode in the town of Astor at Astor RV Park.  It was an OK place to park with wi-fi, electricity, sewer, cable, water.  Not that we hooked up to anything but the electricity because we didn't have a water hose with us.  Ummmm...... I'm thinking another trip to Camping World is in order.  Anyway, we didn't get settled into Astor Park until 8:15, so we quickly heated jalapeno-cheese hotdogs and backed beans in the microwave.  Perfect camping food.
Tomorrow on to Alexander Springs after a quick jaunt into the closest town of size, Deland FL to go shopping!  Did I mention I love to shop........

The crate arrives!

The crate after the lid was taken off

November 11, 2013
Greg and I drove the RV to Lake Park, GA. today to pick up our crate of household goods that were shipped from Anchorage.  We were allowed to unpack the crate at the ship-yard and leave the empty crate there.  Items in the crate included:  bike rack, 2 mountain bikes, helmets, hiking shoes, sleeping bags, backpacking tent, sleeping pads (Greg is thinking "hiking in Grand Canyon"?), ice chest, electric heater, electric fan, 2 blankets, 1 set of queen sheets/pillow cases, pillows, 2 towels, 2 beach towels, hand towels, wash clothes, 16 quarts of canned salmon and halibut (10 quarts will be left at mom's------ I'm keeping count of them, Donald!), kitchen utensils, plates, bowls, cups, glasses, kitchen towels, pot holders, tools, scuba BCD's, fins, masks, & snorkel gear.  Pictures below show the crate and how it was packed.  I did not get good pictures of what all came out of it and where we put it all.  We are still trying decide how to get it all packed in the RV and the very small storage spaces.

The inside of the packed crate

Putting the bikes together

Ta-dah!!!! We're ready to roll.

Close to Road-Ready

Sunday Nov. 10, 2013
We arrived in Waycross on Monday Nov. 4 at 11:00 pm after a flight from Anchorage (departed at 2:40am), then Portland (departed at 9:30), arrived in Atlanta at 5:30pm, then a 4 hour drive south..... whew, it was a long day.  We spent the next day helping mom with doctors appointment and picking out cracked pecans.  On Wednesday we drove to Jacksonville and St. Augustine FL to look at RV's.  We didn't find any we really liked so on Thursday we drove 7 hours to Durham NC and bought a used one from craigslist on Friday.  See pictures below.  We drove back to Waycross on Saturday night.  After going to Sunday School with mom, we picked up pecans and cleaned her backyard and checked out the storage compartments in the RV.

We are waiting to pick up our crate of household (RV) goods that have arrived in Valdosta (1.5 hours from Waycross).  We're hoping to get that tomorrow so we can see where we are going to put everything.  Departing from Waycross is dependent on how we can get everything we need packed.  We still don't have an itinerary but we could be stopping by YOUR house soon!!!!!

right side with back slide-out

galley and looking toward back

Retirement Rig from the front

left side with dining slide-out

Looking toward the front.
Captains seat swivel around to look back into coach