WILDLIFE

We enjoyed several beautiful warm, sunny days at St. Joseph State Park and then the overcast and rain began yesterday. During late afternoon when the rain let up we went out to get some fresh air and exercise. Two great horned owls were talking to each other and we decided to try and locate them. It took about 30 minutes. They are so well camouflaged they blend right in with the pine bark. We finally spotted them when the male flew to the female to mate with her. It was amazing. Our patience and persistence paid off.

This picture wasn’t taken by Dick even though he now has a new hobby as a “wildlife photographer.” When he was convincing me he needed a new camera he said I was going to really like it because he’d be gone taking pictures and it would give me the time alone I needed. Worked for me.

We’ve enjoyed fun visits with Shiona and Randy, the campground hosts. They’re the ones with the “VIP LOUNGE.” We always meet good people when we travel. We’ve kept in touch with so many, hoping to meet again somewhere along the way. We also enjoyed good conversation with a woman (picture below) from Vancouver Island, British Columbia who bought a small travel trailer and truck and left home in June. She, with her dog as her traveling companion, has ventured all across Canada and down through the eastern U.S. to Florida and then will head west and north to be home by late March. She had never done this before but just decided to go for it.

Remember the snake I mentioned in the last blog that killed someone’s dog? While our Canadian friend was walking her dog one day, ahead of her in the road was a huge black snake that stopped and lifted its head to check her out and quickly slithered away. We think it was the same snake who killed the dog because it came from the site where it happened. I'm always looking ahead wherever we walk. I don't want any surprises.
We're leaving in the morning, not because of the snakes, but to check out St. George Island State Park 40 miles east of here. On to new adventures!

LOVE FLORIDA STATE PARKS

We left Grayton Beach, following the Gulf SE to the St. Joseph Peninsula. We're staying at the 2,500 acre State Park. We discovered this park two years ago and love the peace and quiet, the secluded white sand beaches, dunes and the heavily-forested interior. The weather has been perfect and it's wonderful sleeping with the windows open. We listen to the Great Horned Owls talking to each other as we fall asleep and then they're still hooting when we wake up at dawn. Every morning we walk along the boardwalks and roads as the sunrises, coffee in hand.
Our Traverse City friends also traveled here for a couple of days. Diane told us when she walked to the bathroom one night the light on her headlamp spotted large spiders that had glowing green lights coming out of their "butts". Of course we all laughed and didn't believe her. The next night she had us all out looking for glow in the dark spiders. She could see them but we couldn't. Then we finally figured out why. We had to put on her headlamp to see them. That is the trick. A flashlight held in hand doesn't get the right angle of light. We looked them up and identified them as Wolf Spiders and it's their eyes reflecting in the light. That cured me of going barefoot here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38_V1e9qNb4  We were talking with another camper who said she just about walked by a water moccasin (Cottonmouth) on the board walk but looked up in time. After hearing that and the host telling us someone's dog got bit last week and died. I'm more aware of my surroundings now.
 We plan to stay another week. We enjoy exploring on bikes or on foot. We've had fun and laughs with the campground hosts at their "VIP LOUNGE". A great way to meet other campers too. There was a karaoke party going on at one of the campsites. I said to Dick we should go check it out and he said, "Somebody thinks they can sing and I don't want to encourage them." Dick has recuperated from his gate injury. Funny Face (the cat) hasn't tried to escape again and I enjoyed a day to myself when Dick walked into the Wilderness Preserve 14 miles to the end of the spit and back. All is well.

For those who are interested in our wildlife spottings:

Florida Box turtle (endangered - beautiful design)
Osprey
Immature Bald eagle
Bob cat (small one crossed the road)
Cow Nose Ray (jumping out of the water trying to fly)
Great Horned Owl (still haven't spotted them, but hear them)
Kingfisher
Great White Heron
Egret
Wolf Spiders
Dolphins

PRE-DICK-AMENT

We are still at Grayton Beach State Park in Florida and our Traverse City friends, Dean and Diane Tobias, happened to be here for a few days too. We’ve had a great time visiting with them while beach-combing, bike riding, etc...One afternoon we decided to go explore the nearby towns on our bikes. As the four of us approached the campground gate, the steel arm went up and we all rode through.  At least we thought we all rode through. All of a sudden we heard a loud crash and groan. We looked back to see Dick stopped and holding his head.  The heavy gate arm came down and hit him in the face.  It bent his glasses and the right side of his face was bleeding. He's OK but doesn't look so good. Later when I asked him if his face hurts he said he wasn't going to fall for that trick. He always asks people that and when they say "no" he says, "Well, it's killing me." I hope this is the only “pre-Dick-ament” we have on this trip. 

This morning as I went out the motorhome door, Funny Face did too!  There’s a pattern with this cat. Whenever we start on a new trip she just has to escape one time and then realizes it’s scarry outside and we chase her out of the bushes and back into the motorhome. Usually that one time cures her of wanting to go outside and she doesn’t go near the door for the rest of the trip. This time it didn’t happen that way. We couldn’t find her for several hours and when she returned she looked at us as if to say, “That was great fun.”  Sure enough, she tried to escape again this afternoon.  She's wearing a collar with a tag but it really wouldn’t do much good because she’d never let a stranger catch her. 

When we lifted up our electric box cover to plug in the motorhome at our site, there were several green tree frogs sleeping there. They are so tiny but all together make big sounds in the night. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEbdtDbM6uo

Birders - While here at Grayton Beach we've seen a bald eagle, osprey, sanderlings, mockingbirds, great blue heron, wrens, cardinals and a Dick E. Bird among others.  

Did You Know?

The stunning sugar white beaches of this area along the Gulf are composed of fine quartz eroded from granite in the Appalachian Mountains.  The sand is carried seaward by rivers and creeks and deposited by currents along the shore. The long physical journey (about 350 million years) has broken down, bleached and polished the bits of quartz that we see today.

GRAYTON BEACH IS GRAYT

A row of vintage Airstream restaurants in the town of Seaside.

When you spend some time in cold and snowy weather it sure makes you appreciate the warm weather. We arrived at Grayton Beach State Park on the Florida coast and shed our jackets, opened all our windows and went for a walk on the beach in the sunshine. We can't stop making the comment how wonderful this weather is.
Salt marshes, sea oats covered dunes, crystal-white sand and beautiful blue-green water of the Gulf make up this 2200 acre park. We've enjoyed the hiking and birding, and biking on the extensive bike trails to the unique seaside towns.
As a good friend once said, "This is sucking the juice out of life."

Western Lake at Grayton State Park

SUNSHINE ON MY SHOULDER

After six days on the road we are now on the back roads of Alabama (much more interesting than the freeways), and within 100 miles of the Florida beaches. Yes, we take our time. Along the way we stopped in Nashville, TN to see the Rockettes Christmas Show. A friend of ours is their Assistant Company Manager. What an amazing production. I kept saying, “Wow” whenever I watched those girls dance in their beautiful outfits and perfectly sinchronized. The town was decorated for the holidays with thousands of twinkling lights and decorations. We walked around downtown among the many street musicians and honky tonks and had dinner next to the Ryman Auditorium, home of the Grand Ole’ Opry. Driving the “spaghetti” of roads, as Dick called them, and listening to him swearing, we were only lost once. When we were trying to get out of town in our 29’ motorhome, he took a wrong turn and ended up in the airport parking lot. It was a very tight and scary squeeze getting through two gates for “small vehicles” only (adversity makes for good stories). We try to avoid big cities, but Nashville was fun and it’s put me in the Christmas spirit but we’re looking forward to being where it’s warm, quiet and natural. Funny Face too!
 FYI for you RVers/Travelers:
1. In some states, with certain Walmart cards you can get another 10 or 15 cents off per gallon at Murphy or Walmart stations.
 2. If you purchase or renew a Camping World President’s Club membership for $25, you get a voucher for $25 off at a participating Good Sam commercial campground.
3. If you’re traveling through Nashville and want a neat experience during the holiday season, camp at Jellystone Campground along I-65. There is a spectacular Christmas light show in the woods around the campground.

WELL I'LL BE GOL DURNED

Brrrrrr!! We’re in Bowling Green, KY at the Camping World (free camping) and woke up to a beautiful orange sunrise and frost covering everything. Thank goodness for our goose down comforter. We’re taking our time heading south, staying on the super slab which I don’t enjoy but driving through Louisville was interesting to see banners hanging from buildings commemorating the famous people who were either born/raised or lived a significant period of time there. When we are making time and stay along the expressway either at Walmart or places like this, it usually means noise and lots of light. I wear my ear plugs and a face mask and sleep like a baby. We are amazed at how much truck traffic there is on I-65, and I-75 is the same. The economy must not be too bad. Wish we could go back to train transport. Just makes more sense.
I remember January 1978, we were in our 20‘s and on our first trip with an RV. We waited patiently for a break in the storm when we could get out of Traverse City and head for Florida. We headed for I-75 and drove until dark to hopefully get out of the bad weather. We took the Corbin, KY exit planning to camp somewhere. The road we turned on was a sheet of ice and the trailer started to pass us on the left. Dick remembered his grandfather told him if he ever lost control of the trailer to not hit the car brake but pull the trailer brake. It did the job and straightened it out and we pulled off to the side. Immediately a couple of good ole boys pulled up in a tow truck (we figured they’d been waiting for suckers like us) and said “You’all call a wrecker?” They hooked onto the front of our car and trailer and pulled us to the local gas station where we spent the night. After a sleepless night, we decided to treat ourselves to breakfast at the Cracker Barrell restaurant and the waitress asked Dick if he wanted Rooster eggs or hen eggs. He looked at her with a blank stare and I said, “Try the rooster eggs, they’re bigger.” So he ordered the rooster eggs. The waitress replied, “Don’t ya’ll know that Roosters don’t lay eggs?”

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

After a full day of loading the motorhome and cleaning and then winterizing the house, we slept in the motorhome to be ready to leave at first light. With one last look around the Ole’ E Ranch, to make sure we had everything, we sat in our driver and copilot seats and just as Dick turned over the ignition it all of a sudden came to mind, “Did we call to have the insurance put on the motorhome?” “OH NO, it’s Sunday, now what?” We called the main office but no help there. We emailed our agent through his website and after waiting an hour we decided to wait instead at our favorite breakfast place downtown. If we couldn’t leave by 11:30 a.m. then we’d go to PLAN B and leave Monday morning. Fortunately, our agent has an iphone and received his email (either at church or hunting) and gave us the go ahead. The roads were still icy in spots and on the expressway there were a couple of cars flipped in the median, so as I always say, there was a reason we were held up for a few more hours. When we drive this route down 131 through Niles and into Indiana there is a stretch of farmland where many farmers raise pigs. It always reminds me of the years when Maggie was a child and we’d travel through this area to visit my parents. One such trip as we traveled by the pig farms, Maggie was probably two at the time, she says, “I Mell pigs!” So, of course, we have used that line many times when we smell anything foul. We had an appointment at 8 a.m. in Elkhart to get one hydraulic leveler fixed. It had a small, slow leak. I always knew when it started to get low because whatever I was cooking on the stove would flow to one side. Our destination is Florida and who knows from there. To be continued......