A Storm and The Calm After

Thursday morning started out very cloudy and all the weather reports were predicting some severe storms.  By noon, they had issued tornado watches so we decided to stick around.  Well, we did get a line of storms come through and the wind was strong, but it was over quick.  The tenters that were out on Tiki Island didn't fare so well as tents were blown down and the waves were breaking over the sea wall drenching them and their belongings.  A fisherman got caught out on the water and I watched him bring his boat in after the worst of the storm was done.  I don't know why he was even out there.  There were small craft advisories and you could see the storm coming for a long way out.

Friday was beautiful and we hit the beach for a couple of hours.  Our friend, Erol, got here around 6:00 we went to dinner at the Island Fish Company in Marathon.  The reviews I had read were true to form.  Great food and great service.  We had smoked fish spread with crackers for an appetizer and it was delicious.  I highly recommend this restaurant!

Doug and Erol at the restaurant

Saturday morning, we set out for Key West with Erol.  He had to meet with the project manager for a new hotel that's being built on Elizabeth St.  Erol's company built the floor trusses and roof trusses for this project.  The location is right behind the Schooner Wharf.  Before we left Marathon, we had breakfast at a great spot called the Wooden Spoon.  Small place with about 10 tables and a counter that seats 12.  Well organized crew and a great cook!

Can you guess why it's called the Wooden Spoon?

We got to the construction site in Key West and got a tour of the project.  I hadn't been on a construction site since before Doug retired.  It was interesting to see a building under construction again.

The construction manager, Tom, and Erol by the trusses.

Some of the bottles that were found when they excavated the site.

We walked around a bit in the harbor and as usual, Key West delivered it's unique flavor.

On the side of this bus sporting the chicken on top, it said "The Life Is Too Short Bus".

The paint design on this bike looked like tattoos.  I'm guessing he is a tattoo artist.

I'm not sure I could even hold one of these rods with those large, heavy reels on them, let alone bring in the fish you would catch on one of these!

We had a great visit to Key West.  We headed back to the RV park and then had dinner just up the road at the The Wreck.  It's owned by the same people who own the Wooden Spoon. They serve giant glasses of iced tea and the fish was wonderful.

It's Sunday morning and I feel a beach in my future.  That is, right after I pour another cup of coffee.

Florida...finally

We left Amy's on Sunday and drove to Titusville, FL.  It was a long day but we made it to the RV park safe and sound.  We stayed at a KOA.  The usual stuff...easy on and off the expressway, cable and wi-fi.  Not where we would stay for an extended period of time, but it worked for overnight.

Monday morning we set out for the last 318 miles to Marathon.  Instead of taking 95 all the way down and driving through the Palm Beach traffic and the Miami Madness, we jumped on the toll road at exit 129.  What a difference!  We will always go this way now.  95 through Palm Beach County is like 5 lanes each direction, lots of traffic and lots of exits.  It's always maddening. Same with Miami.  But by taking the toll road it was easy sailing.

We got here around 3:00 and by 4:00 we were enjoying a cup of coffee in the sunshine and fresh air.  We are at the Jolly Roger Travel Park on Grassy Key just north of Marathon.  This is our third time here.  It's a great RV park and we have a site in the new area where we were last year.  The sites are huge and have a nice brick paver patio.  They have cable TV, free and fast wi-fi, a nice pool and they sit right on the Gulf of Mexico.

Even though I was dead tired, I did go down to the docks to watch sunset.  It was a good one.

On Tuesday, we went to Curry Hammock State Park to the beach.  It's just as beautiful as last year.

I went to sunset again last night.  Some fishermen were cleaning that day's catch and birds were hanging out to catch the scraps.

We hit the beach again today for a couple of hours, sat outside with the dogs and then once again headed to sunset.

The weather here has been great so far.  Sunny and 80 every day but the Miami TV stations are calling for some strong storms tomorrow.  I guess we'll see what happens.  For now, I'm ready to refill my coffee cup and watch a bit of TV.

Heading South

We left home on Thursday morning in the midst of snow and strong winds.  The plan was to drive to Wytheville, VA about 500 miles away.  You know what they say about the best laid plans, right?  Well, that was us.  The snow stopped about the time we hit Toledo and we thought we were in the clear.  The 80 Turnpike was in good shape, so here we go.  Nope.  About 20 miles north of Canton, OH it started snowing and blowing so hard it was near white out conditions.  By this time, we are on 77 South and it was getting snow covered and traffic had slowed to about 40 mph.  My captain, in his infinite wisdom says "I think we better get off the road.  It's not worth it."

There are no RV parks open in northern Ohio in February, so we pulled into the first motel we could find, a Red Roof.  Off to the front desk I go asking "do you take pets?"  Of course they do, so we grabbed a room.  It was only 1:00 pm but we were safe, dry and warm and off the road.  Bob Evans was right next door so we only had to brave a short walk to eat dinner.  This was the view from the room during the snow.

We've been real lucky in all the times we've driven to Florida in that we never had weather like this, but there's a first time for everything, right?  It stopped snowing early evening and by 7:00 am Friday, the roads were clear.  We again headed south.  We notice that Canton didn't have near the snow on the ground as we do at home.  By the time we got to southern Ohio, there was hardly any on the ground.   West Virginia, there was none.  It was nice just to see the ground!

We got to Statesville, NC around 4:00 and camped the night at a KOA.  They had the usual amenities, free Wi-Fi and cable but this park is older and a bit run down.  Great for an overnight stay while travelling but we talked to someone who was from upstate New York and had been there all winter.  Huh?  Oh well, that's why there are red cars and blue cars.  To each their own.

We asked if we could rinse the salt off the MH, but no vehicle washing is permitted.  This rig has never been this coated with salt.

This morning, we took off south again and headed to Sumter, SC to see our sister-in-law, Amy.  We found a truck wash at Columbia, SC and while it wasn't a perfect job, it sure looks better than this.  We got to Amy's around noon and Amy and I ran some errands.

Amy's yard is all fenced in so when we visit, Jesse and Jackie get to run free to their hearts' content.  When we got back, Doug tells us that while we were gone, he suddenly realized that Jesse was sitting with him nearby but that Jackie was no where to be found.  He thought she must have gotten out of the yard by scrunching under the gate so he starts calling for her.  No answer and no Jackie.  He walks around to the patio and there she is in all her glory stretched out on the table.

Jesse, being the good boy that he is, knows that dogs belong in the yard stretched out on the grass.

 We then set out to go visit with Amy's mom, Joyce, and her sister, Bridget.  Joyce had made short bread from scratch which we enjoyed with some coffee.  She gave us some to take with us along with some croutons she had also made.  She is a dynamo who at the age of 88 is still working 5 days a week, giving piano lessons.  We love her dearly.

Bridget, Mary Ann, Joyce and Amy

Bridget, Joyce, Doug and Amy

We had a great visit.  The sun was shining, it was in the 50's and there was NO SNOW!  Great day.  

In the morning, we'll head south some more trying to get in 400 miles, so that on Monday we'll only have 300 miles to go to Marathon.

It's been a long day and I have just enough time for a short cup of coffee and then to bed.  It's going to be a long day again tomorrow.

When It Rains, It REALLY Rains

Tuesday gave us heavy cloud cover and off and on rain.  During one of the rain breaks, Doug and I walked down to the beach area at the RV park to say "so long, see you soon" and throw some pennies in the water for loved ones gone and loved ones here.

Less than an hour after I took these photos, the rains came hard and the wind starting really blowing.  We turned to TWC.com to take a good look at the radar.  Sure enough, a totally red area was headed right for us.  Okay, batten the hatches time.  The MH was rocking and we hurried outside to bring in the chairs and few miscellaneous items that were outside.  The NBC station out of Pensacola was reporting a 60 mph wind gust about 4 miles north of us.  We got another "calm before the storm" and closed up the awning.  Thunder and lightning everywhere around us, to the north, to the south, to the west and to the east.  The mother of all storms we have been in while in our MH. This was worse than the weather we had Saturday morning when there was a waterspout out in the Gulf.

As the storm moved east of us, we realized we had dodged the bullet.  I grabbed the camera and took some shots to the east where you could still see lots of lightning.

We ended up with about an inch of rain, although the total rainfall for the 7 day period was 3.32 inches.  We've had plenty of cool, breezy days in all of our trips to Florida, but I'm sure this is the most rain we've ever had there.  Even with the rain, it was a great stay.  We went to the beach, I took the dogs on lots of walks (the better to walk off all those extra calories from great deserts from Publix), I listened to music every day and I'm on book 18 in the Prey series, Phantom Prey, and will probably finish it tonight.

We headed north this morning and drove to Cornersville, TN and are staying at the Texas T RV Park.  Nice one night stop over.  Tomorrow, we will make our way to Indy to visit with my family.  I'm especially looking forward to hugging my youngest sister, Karen.  She was diagnosed with breast cancer in May, had a lumpectomy in July and then began chemo.  While I've seen her a couple of time this summer, I haven't seen her since she started chemo.  She's a tough broad (and I mean that in the nicest way) having survived lots of things in her short 55 years.  Can't wait for that seester hug.  By the way, Karen, one of those pennies was for you!

We have 2 pieces of mango key lime pie left.  Time to finish it off with a cup of coffee.

You Can't Keep a Good Gull Down

On Sunday, lots of folks left the RV park leaving wide open spaces for us.  The spots here are wide but we've had someone on both sides of us ever since we got here.  It's really nice not having anyone beside us or across the road from us.

Last Thursday, we spent the best $23.99 we have spent this whole trip.  Although honestly, other than paying for fuel, RV sites, groceries and one dinner out,  we really haven't spent anything else.  Okay, back to the best $23.99.  After listening to our awning flap in the wind for a week, we bought some tie downs.

When we were in Camping World we couldn't find any so we asked for some help.  The lady at the cash register says "sure, I know where they are" and took us to their location.  Doug picks up this set and she asked "what kind of awning do you have?  Is it an electric one?".  We told her yes.  She says "oh no, you can't use this kind with an electric awning".  Okay, we'll bite.  "Why not?"  She says "oh gee, I can't remember why, but Bill told me you can't.  Let me go get him".  So she brings Bill back and we ask "why can't you use these with an electric awning?".  Bill says "well, if you forget to take them off, it will put a strain on the motor and fry your motor".  Okay, Bill, seriously.  Who would forget to take these off before hitting the button to retract the awning?  But being the polite people that we are, we didn't say that him, we just said "We don't think that will be a problem".  They work great and were easy to put on.  No more awning flapping in the breeze.  I don't know why we waited so long to buy some.  

The weather forecast for yesterday was mostly cloudy, but the skies said different.  Those weather forecasters don't always get it right.  When Jean, Corey and I went to Italy, one morning one of the people on the tour asked why they didn't have the Weather Channel on cable TV.  The guide says "why are Americans so obsessed with someone telling them what the weather will be?  Open the window and look outside and see for yourself".  And she was right.  When you want to know, stick your head out the window!

We headed to the beach and it was beautiful!  There were some clouds, but tons of sun, too.

Some cirrus, altocumulus and the ever present cumulonimbus.

 

I noticed a seagull who seemed to be limping along.  After looking at him closer, it appeared that he had a broken leg.  He still went in and out of the water getting food and eventually flew off.  He did just fine.  I guess you can't keep a good gull down.

My dear Peg Leg

We had a great sunset last night.  Best one yet.

The forecast for today is a high of 84 degrees, winds east at 9 mph and scattered thunderstorms.  But who cares about the forecast.  When I look outside my window right now, it's clearing in the west and the sun is coming out.  Like I said, you can't keep a good gull down.

It's our last day here, and if we're going to say "so long until next time" to the beach, I better get the coffee brewing.