Abbey's Road

My first day out of Paisley I was hoping to make it to St. George Island, but it wasn’t meant to be. When I called from about an hour away they only had 2 campsites left. So I stopped at a state park I stayed in last year on the Ochlockonee River. Hearing from a couple of people that nearby Apalachicola is famous for it’s oysters I decided that sounded better than cooking. The drive was a bit longer than expected, but since I have a car now it’s a lot easier, and cheaper, than it used to be. I guess I was expecting Apalachicola to be a little bigger than it is. I was thinking it was going to take me a while to choose from one of several seafood restaurants serving up the finest oysters. Well, let’s just say I spent more time driving around thinking “where is everything” than I did deciding which place to go. I had a 50-50 shot so I went with Boss Oysters’ and it did not disappoint. I know raw oysters are supposed to be some kind of delicacy but I prefer mine cooked. So I was a bit surprised when I ordered a half-dozen flame-broiled oysters, with some topping I can’t remember now, that the oysters were still raw. Only the topping gets cooked. Oh well, they slid down nice and smooth regardless.

The coast along the panhandle is kind of funny. It seems to me that it is either nearly deserted, or is booming like crazy with huge high-rise condo complexes. In hindsight, I should’ve left the coast after passing through the nearly-deserted sections, but I made the mistake of following the coastal route all the way to Pensacola. Now I know why I didn’t want to tow a car the first two years. On the open highway, it’s no problem, but when you’re in a crowded city and not knowing which way you’re going to have to turn next, it is a real pain. You can’t just shoot across two lanes of traffic at the last second. Not to mention that I was paranoid that I was going to turn down a dead end street and would have to unhook the car in order to turn around. It didn’t help that I arrived in Pensacola at rush hour, but I finally made it through to the other side. My destination that night was Gulf State Park in Gulf Shores, AL. Normally, this wouldn’t warrant much of a mention, but this was the first time in my life that I had stayed the night in Alabama – my 48th state! 3 ahead of my brother, Michael, I might add. I got a little nervous when I saw this sign in the campground while walking Abbey in the morning, but we made it out unscathed. On the way out of town I stopped at a fish market and bought some of the freshest fish and shrimp I have ever had. If you had blindfolded me I don’t know if I would’ve been able to tell there was fish in the bag. When I pulled it out of the bag that night to put it on the grill I couldn’t smell a thing. If nothing else I’ll remember Alabama for the Red Snapper.

Lake Charles, LA, on the other hand, probably won’t stick in my memory too long. The state park I stopped at wasn’t bad at all, but the area around there isn’t the most memorable. It was at least a quiet, safe place to stay and we were off early the next morning headed for Austin.

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After leaving the Keys I set up camp for a few nights at a county park in Pembroke Pines. Some family friends of ours, the Weisenbergers, now live there along with two of their daughters, Jean (David), and Peggy (Evancho). I haven’t seen any of them in a number of years, and they gave me grief for not stopping by last year so I made it a point to see them this year. I actually went out to dinner with them two nights, though not everyone could make it both nights. During the day, besides walking Abbey, I went to the library to work of all things. Intravation, the name of my brother’s company, was putting out a new release and Michael thought it would be a good idea for me to do the testing so I could learn the software. I have to say that first week I had a real hard time getting motivated to work more than an hour or two at a time. It’s been a while! But I managed to get my act together and get the testing done in time, though I had to work one weekend to do it. Needless to say, I had to take several days off after all that work in order to recuperate.

Luckily, I had a great spot to recuperate. One of Mary Beth’s cousins, Veronica, and her husband, Harold, bought a house on a lake in Paisley, about an hour north of Orlando, last year and spent a good part of the time since fixing and cleaning it up. It’s hard to believe this place is in Florida. Veronica likes to call it Stillpoint. I like to think of it as an oasis in the desert of Florida. It is so peaceful and quiet. The wildlife is amazing. You never know when sandhill cranes or red-tailed hawks will land in the yard. Deer walk around like they own the place, but then again, so did Abbey. The yard is fenced in so I could let her roam and she usually found a way to get into trouble. There’s a little inlet of the lake which juts into the yard, and unfortunately it was a bit muddy. Of course Abbey found that right away and I think I had to hose her down a dozen times in the first 3 days. She finally stopped going in so much. It was either because cooler weather moved in, or she figured out that if she went in the mud she would get hosed down, which she dreaded more and more each time it happened. They had a place for me to park the RV out front so Abbey and I had our own little place there where we wouldn’t bother anybody. However, I’m not one to turn down a dinner invitation and occasionally Abbey and I joined Veronica and Harold on one of their early morning walks so we got to spend plenty of time with them. Veronica, Abbey and I even managed to get in a 7 mile hike the first Sunday. I was surprised Abbey had enough energy. She was ahead of us the whole way.

Veronica’s father, Mary Beth’s Uncle Louis, lives in his trailer on the property. I didn’t get to see him as much this year, though, because Aunt Anni had some health issues while I was there. We still made it out to dinner a number of times. Abbey remembered his trailer and barked like crazy when she saw it. I opened the door and she ran in. She only wasted a minute or two wondering where he was before she started “cleaning” the floor. Uncle Louis’ knees aren’t holding up too well these days so he gets around the property on an old golf cart. He uses it to feed their lone chicken, Matilda, and the crazy fish in the lake. I went one day and the fish started jumping out of the water as soon as we got close to the dock. Talk about Pavlov’s dog.

Veronica’s brother, Andy (you may remember him from my trip to San Diego last July), showed up for a few days though he spent most of the time with Aunt Anni. He tends to fly in and out at a moment’s notice since his work tends to keep him traveling about 90% of the time. Another cousin, Pat, came down the second weekend I was there. I had never met Pat, nor had Mary Beth, so it was interesting to get to know her a little. With everyone coming and going, it didn’t exactly live up to its name, but it was still hard to leave in the end. I didn’t want to overstay my welcome, though, and I was ready to start heading west. After all, when I went into Mt. Dora the traffic reminded me I was still in Florida.

On my way “up north” from the Keys I also managed to stop at my Aunt Jean’s in Sebring. She lost her husband, David, last year so it was nice to spend some time with her and take her out to dinner. I stayed the night and the next morning my cousin Kim came down. I hadn’t seen her in over 20 years, and I had only seen her twice in my life, so it was nice to catch up. She and her husband live in a fifth-wheel (another type of RV), so we at least had that in common.

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For a while now I’ve wanted to visit the Florida Keys, but last year I didn’t want to have to deal with the traffic, the people and the high prices. In the winter months the RV parks get ridiculously high prices and it is still hard to get reservations. So when I heard that there is a Habitat for Humanity in the Lower Keys and you can stay right at their place, I signed up. It wasn’t like the other builds I was on where a group of RVers all came in and left at the same time on a scheduled build. Here everyone comes and goes on their own schedule and you work on whatever needs to be done each day. Unfortunately, they weren’t able to get any permits lined up for new construction for the winter season so we were left to do repairs and rehab stuff. I got stuck working on the same project the whole time. Some houses that Habitat built 3 years ago weren’t done right and they had water damage and wood rot. The hard part was that we had to take out parts of 3 beams that were in a tough place to get at. I’ll spare you the details, but let’s just say it was pretty frustrating the first few days as we kept running into one thing after another that made the job even harder. As one guy said, it was like cutting down a redwood with a pocket knife. After about 3 ½ days it finally felt like we were making progress.

I don’t know if it was because we were all on our own schedule, or because some of the group were staying elsewhere, but the camaraderie of this group wasn’t like the other Habitat builds I’ve done. Most of the time I went off on my own on our days off or after work was done for the day. We were staying on Big Pine Key, which is about 30 miles from Key West so I didn’t get down there too often. From what everyone says, the Keys aren’t “what they used to be”, but then again most places aren’t these days. Even though they have gotten much more built up and much more commercial, compared to many places I still don’t think they are that bad. Except for maybe Duval St. in Key West. The shops, restaurants and bars stretch for dozens of blocks. It’s kind of like a tamer version of Bourbon St., though not nearly as seedy. I didn’t get to go out at all in Key West, though I did take Abbey to the dog park there twice and I went on a tour of the Hemingway house. The tour was actually very interesting, but the most interesting story was about the cats. Hemingway loved cats and all of his cats were polydactyl meaning they have more than 5 toes on their front feet and some have more than 4 toes on their back. Actually, they all carried the gene but not all had the extra toes. Since Hemingway died, the house has been owned by a family friend and it is managed by a historical society who runs the tours. They also have taken care of the cats, all descendants of Papa’s originals, since they started the tours. There are currently about 50 of them on the premises, which is walled in but not fenced. These cats have the life so why would they ever run away. Plus, they run off any strays who try to horn in on their good fortune. The most amusing story, though, is that a neighbor complained to the USDA that the cats were being used for profit like circus animals. In its infinite wisdom, the USDA sent someone down to Key West for 3 weeks to stay in a hotel next door to spy on them and try to videotape the cats being “abused” and taken advantage of. No abuse was found but they are undaunted in their quest to have the cats put in cages or moved off the premises. Yes, this is our tax dollars at work.

Another interesting place I went was close to where we were working. It’s called the No Name Pub and is on, of course, No Name Key. The parking lot seems continually full but the wait is worth it. Inside the walls and ceiling are covered with dollar bills which people have signed, drawn on, or written witty sayings on, and tried to find a sliver of space to staple them up. Supposedly, someone recently counted them and there is over $100K. Amazingly, I don’t think too many are ripped off. The second time I went in there I took a spot at the bar and had my beer before I had warmed up the seat. I turned around to see Andrea and Kent waving me over to their table. They are 2 U. of Delaware business school profs who came down for 10 days to volunteer with Habitat before school started back in session. They don’t have an RV so they actually paid quite a bit of money to stay down there. They were one of the more fun couples to work with. The other one was a couple who retired from Proctor & Gamble in their early 50’s. They now live on a houseboat on a lake in Kentucky for 7 months of the year, volunteer for Habitat in the winter for 3 months or so and travel the rest. See, I’m not the only one who does this kind of thing!

I was scheduled to leave on Super Bowl Sunday but people convinced me that driving out of the Keys on a normal Sunday is awful, but it would be even worse since the Super Bowl was in Miami. Staying ‘til Monday meant that I could go to one of their biggest annual fundraisers, Terry Cassidy’s Pickin’ Party. It’s a pig roastin’, deep-fried turkey and folk music extravaganza with musician’s playing everything from a mandolin to the washboard. They were even going to have wood-fired pizza this year and I was going to help with the pizza. Only problem was that it poured like hell all day so the party was moved into the home center. It wasn’t quite the same, and the turnout was a lot less, but most of the musicians still came and the food was all cooked so someone had to eat it. We skipped the pizza so I served food until my back couldn’t take it any more. Terry Cassidy, it turns out, is a local musician who started this 18 years ago cause none of his friends were hired to work on Super Bowl Sunday. It’s turned into one of Habitat’s biggest fundraisers in the Keys, but unfortunately it didn’t work out too well this year, the first rainout in 18 years. The featured band was the Piper Road Spring Band from Whitewater, Wisconsin. Any of you Wisconsin guys heard of them? Even if you don’t like bluegrass, they are fun to see live. I got to see them the night before at a backyard BBQ dinner at a local restaurant. That was an interesting crowd. One thing I noticed was that many of the people in the Keys like to drink a lot. It’s no wonder things don’t get done in a hurry down there. Another thing you notice in the Keys is a lot of guys with pony tails. I felt right at home when I went several days without shaving.

On Monday I hooked up and we pulled out to head back to the mainland. I think Abbey was happy to leave cause the weather was hot and humid much of the time we were there. She doesn’t do well in that kind of weather. It also cooled off in general right when we went “north” – all the way to Pembroke Pines.

Unfortunately, I didn’t take any pictures early on in my stay, and I didn’t feel like doing any more driving than I had to so I don’t have any pictures of Key West or of the water or anything. I only have one of the Pickin’ Party musicians. The guy in the baseball hat is Terry Cassidy in case you were wondering.

Posted by Ed at 9:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I spent a good part of the first few weeks of January getting my car ready to tow behind the motorhome. I ended up doing all the work myself, which is kind of scary since I’ve never been real mechanical. I did have some frustrating problems with the wiring kit for the lights, including something that flared up on the morning I was leaving, but I ended up getting everything working in the end. I didn’t get out of Wilmington before the cold weather hit, but I did manage to drive south without having to go through any bad weather. My first stop was at Greg Scheu’s in Raleigh. Greg was a high school friend of mine and I hadn’t seen him since around the time I got married. It was great to see him again, and to see his wife, Kim, and meet his two kids. I only got to spend a night, but it was real nice catching up.

My next stop was St. Augustine where I caught up with some RV friends, Doug and Liane, and their dog Max. The state park they were staying at was supposed to be full, but thanks to some clandestine work by Liane I got a spot for the night. Their campground neighbors left a day early but never told anyone so the spot was never filled. So they called me and gave me the combination to the gate and I had a free spot for the night. I left early the next morning, turned around and got in line to come back in when the gates were opened at 8AM. It pays to have RV friends! I’ll have to return the favor someday. Abbey was getting restless from all the driving, and quite frankly I was getting tired, so I decided to stay an extra day to rest up and get to the Keys a day late. Since we weren’t starting to work that day anyways, and I was far south enough not to have to worry about winter weather any more it didn’t really make any difference. Abbey and I took a long walk on the beach, and then I took a long nap. I woke up with plenty of time to get ready for dinner with Doug and Liane. Except for the long drives, it felt good to be back on the road, though I do notice the difference with the car behind me. At least, when I’m starting up or driving over bumpy roads. I kept looking in the mirror to make sure I could see the shadow of the car on the road since I couldn’t see the car itself. I was still paranoid on the 3rd day of driving, but I was getting more used to it. I’m hoping the day will never come that I get stuck trying to turn around on a narrow street because you can’t back up when you’re towing a car.

I made it into the Habitat yard on Big Pine Key around 4:30 on Monday only to find out there was a van parked in my spot. One of the other volunteers told me not to worry because they usually leave the keys in them. Then he said, as he jumped in the driver’s seat, “Let’s hope this one starts.” I soon realized that is true with a lot of the trucks, vans, tools, etc. around here. They have a lot of equipment but not all of it works. This is different from the other Habitat builds I have been on in that it isn’t a scheduled build. In other words, people come and go at all different times so it will be interesting to see how it works. More on that next time.

First campsite with the car

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In fact, the closest I got to Disney World or any of the other parks around there were the signs on the highway. The reason I stopped there was to see some relatives of mine and of Mary Beth’s, and some old friends. Like a lot of places in the southeast Orlando has been growing like crazy lately. To make matters worse it’s winter which means the snowbirds were there in full force. Traffic, to say the least, was really bad. It didn’t take me long to decide not to go much further south than Orlando. I never would’ve found a place to stay anyways. When I first got there I stayed in the state park at Wekiwa Springs. It wasn’t a bad park and it had over 13 miles of hiking trails. I was thinking that Abbey would want to get out of the RV after driving down there, I thought I’d try and take her out for a walk despite the fact it was sprinkling. She was reluctant from the start and I should’ve known better than to force her, but I did anyways. The hike wasn’t too exciting and she kept stalling most of the way. It didn’t help when I got a little lost, but we were both happy when we got back to the RV.

On Tuesday I went to see Veronica, one of Mary Beth’s cousins on her mom’s side. She had been up to visit us a lot in the last few years so it was nice to spend some time with her. The next day I moved to the RV park where her father stays in Mt. Dora. I think I was the only one under 60 in the place, but that could probably be said for most places in Florida this time of year. Uncle Louis, Mary Beth’s mother’s brother, lives in his trailer all year round – half in Mt. Dora and half wherever his son lives at the time. He loves the mountains, Colorado and hiking so we had a lot to talk about. Unfortunately, his knees are in too bad of shape to be doing any more hiking. He took me out to lunch a number of times saying that he needed a guinea pig to go with him. He likes to try new places but not by himself so he waits ‘til someone comes into town. I was happy to oblige but I think I put on 10 lbs. in the last couple of weeks. Abbey was real comfortable there and in Uncle Louis’ trailer but she didn’t like the thunderstorms that started Friday morning and didn’t finish until Saturday noon. It took her a day or more to get back to her normal semi-neurotic self, as opposed to her very neurotic self.

While in the Orlando area I got down to see my Aunt Jean and her husband David. She’s one of several relatives I haven’t seen since my sister Susan’s wedding. Unfortunately, she has emphysema now, but is not faring too badly at the moment. She and David keep very busy with the Lion’s Club and other volunteer work. I also saw Anne & David Dore and their 2 kids. I went over to their house in Maitland to watch the Super Bowl, which was quite the dud this year. At least I got to talk with them without missing much of anything.

I left Mt. Dora on Tuesday, the 7th, and headed west to the panhandle. Abbey and I found a nice state park called Ochlockonee a little west of Tallahassee. They had some short trails but Abbey again wasn’t interested. So I gave up after a while and left her in the RV while I went for a walk on my own. The next day we stopped for a walk on the beach near Cape San Blas. There were a lot of jellyfish on the beach and Abbey was too curious of them for my liking. Some were the clear kind, which I wasn’t sure were poisonous, but I didn’t want to take any chances. She smelled the first one, tried to lick the second one, and tried biting a 3rd one, which is when I decided not to let her get anywhere near them. I also saw some blue ones, which I was later told were Portuguese Man-of-War. I’m not sure they were, but I’m glad I didn’t let Abbey get them. She then proceeded to put all kinds of things in her mouth including seaweed. After several minutes of this I decided a walk on the beach with her was not all that enjoyable. So we headed back on the road to Pensacola, where my cousin Debbie lives. Her son Hunter still lives at home, but her husband John was out on an international trip. He’s a pilot for Northwest when he’s not golfing (according to Debbie). When I arrived at Debbie’s we tried to let Abbey and her dog, Bonford (he came with that name so she swears she’s not responsible for it) get acquainted but Bonford didn’t like Abbey from the start. He’s a miniature Schnauzer but he wasn’t at all afraid. After he jumped on Abbey a few times Debbie sent him off to a friend’s house for a few days. I felt pretty bad for kicking him out of his own house, but she said he loves going over to this house. Abbey was happy to see him go. I had a real nice time catching up with Debbie on everything that’s gone on with her side of the family since we were little kids. She and her brother were much older when I was growing up so I didn’t remember most of the things she did about their visits with us. I just remember we all thought her brother, David, was really crazy.

I have yet another cousin, Nancy, who lives in Luling, LA, about 30 minutes outside of New Orleans, so on Friday morning Abbey and I were off again.

Uncle Louis
The Dores
Ochlockonee River
Abbey on the Beach

Posted by Ed at 11:52 PM | Permalink

On Monday we had a long drive so we didn’t do much besides find a campsite and eat dinner. We stayed at Laura Walker State Park near the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge in southeastern Georgia. Tuesday afternoon I took a boat tour in the refuge that started on the Suwanee Canal (of “Way Down Upon the Suwanee River” fame) and went out into the swamp. Our guide, Joey, informed us that technically it is not a swamp. It is a peat bog. It was still cool either way. Joey is a seventh generation “swamper” and a self-proclaimed redneck, though it was obvious he cares pretty deeply about the swamp, or bog if you prefer. His wife, however, is an eighth generation “swamper” and is known to “pull rank” on him every now and then. Poor guy. Seventh generation and he’s still doesn’t have seniority in his own house. He was a helluva guide in any case and spotted most gators long before we did. All in all we saw a dozen or more, several pretty close up including one he snuck the boat right up behind so I could get a good picture from the deck. Don’t worry, the zoom makes it look closer than it really was. I had to be at least 6-8 feet from it when I took the picture. Luckily, I was on the boat! As funny as it may sound, the swamp was beautiful. The water is black, but since it’s not technically a swamp it didn’t stink at all. And the reflections off the water were like looking in a mirror. It’s too bad the cypress trees were leafless, but the moss added a nice touch. We also saw several pair of sandhill cranes. They stand a good 5 or 6 feet tall so we could see them a long ways off. It felt good to be back out in the woods. It’s been great visiting everyone, but it feels good to be back out in nature.
Can you find the gator?

On Wednesday we moved over to Crooked River State Park along the coast near St. Mary’s, GA. St. Mary’s is a quiet little town compared to the rest of the Georgia coast, or so I’m told. It has a nice historic district down by the riverfront and you can take a boat to Cumberland Island National Seashore from there. I didn’t get a chance to check that out unfortunately, but everyone says it’s beautiful and they have wild horses on the island. I was able to set up a kayak tour for Thursday afternoon so I decided to stay another night before heading to Florida. Thursday did not start off too good. In fact, it was downright disastrous. I had something else on my mind when I pulled out of the campsite only to hear a popping noise behind me. Yes, my first RV disaster. I forgot to unhook the water hose and the electric cord. The electric cord just pulled out of the outlet with no damage, but I wasn’t so lucky with the hose. It ripped the “city water” hookup right out of the side of the RV. My heart sank, not to mention I felt really stupid!!! After running through all the worst scenarios in my head I asked the campground host where the closest service center was. It turned out to be in Jacksonville, only 25 miles or so away. To make a long story short, they took me in right away and had it fixed within an hour. And they didn’t even make any comments about how dumb I was. I guess they’ve seen it before. It only cost me $92 – not as costly a mistake as I had thought. Luckily, when we got back I still had plenty of time to take Abbey out for a walk around town before going on my kayak tour. My guide was a young kid and his mother (…still married) decided to come along. He was excited because I was going to be the first paying customer to go on this new route cutting through the marsh that they had recently found. He had only been on it once himself. The night before I felt a cold coming on and my throat was sore. Plus the wind was pretty strong and it was fairly cool in town so I was a little apprehensive about going. But once we got on the water you could hardly feel the wind and the sun was strong enough to make me feel hot. We didn’t see a lot of wildlife but it was cool seeing the marsh from a different perspective – the level of the water. The cut through the marsh was quite narrow and his mom wasn’t thrilled about it being so tight, but we made it without any real problems. We went late in the afternoon so the sun set before we got back. The color of the clouds was spectacular and when we stopped paddling it was so quiet and peaceful. I was pretty tired by the time we got back to the dock, but I was surprised to see we had only been gone 2 hours. It was long enough for me. When we got back to camp I warmed up leftovers for dinner (thanks to the Luckes) and went to bed.

The Ocala NF is not exactly remote. I guess being in the middle of Florida not too far from Orlando doesn’t allow it to be. Plus, being a weekend in January when the temperatures are still bearable I’m sure brings out all the locals to the campground. I was worried about getting a site on a Friday, but it turned out to be no problem. I was pretty tired after the drive and still fighting off this cold so I just took it easy the rest of the day. Saturday was pretty uneventful. I found a decent hike I could take Abbey on to get her some exercise. There was a little water and it wasn’t too warm so she really did well. I never know if she is going to be apprehensive or not, but today she was leading most of the way. On Sunday I was hoping to get in a short hike for Abbey and then a canoe ride for me later on. It was a lot warmer so we didn’t get real far on the hike. After a while I gave up and turned back. She was just too hot. We got back to camp with just enough time for me to rent a canoe before they closed. We were staying at Alexander Springs, one of several in the Ocala. Apparently Florida has the highest concentration of underground springs anywhere. I remember going to Weeki Watchee Springs when we were kids to see the mermaid show. I probably won’t get to see that this time. I seem to remember reading an article saying that it had gone bankrupt and shut down a while ago, but someone is trying to resurrect it. Kind of made me feel sad since it’s one of the memories I have from my first trip to Florida. I wonder if Monkey Jungle is still around.

There were a number of other people out canoeing and fishing, but it still felt peaceful and quiet. I saw several different kinds of birds, turtles, fish and even an alligator. It was pretty big, but luckily it was on the bank. They don’t seem to bother people much. I was more worried that it would move before I got the canoe close enough, but not too close, to get a good picture. It’s a lot quieter here today since all of the weekenders have left, but something is stirring around in the woods and it’s getting Abbey pretty excited. Hopefully, it’s not a bear. Well, that’s all for tonight. I’ll have to let you know later if it was a bear.
Abbey on the St. Francis Trail

Alexander Springs Wildlife

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