Jacksonville, FL…Week Roundup

Me, Helen and Cousin Larry

I can’t believe how fast this past week has flown by! To recap the adventure for these past few days… We left Patrick Air Force Base and headed Northwest to Winter Springs, Florida. The many visits so far have been on Helen’s side of the family. This time it was my turn. We visited my cousin Larry Pellerin in Winter Springs. Larry's son Skip came over with his daughter Jessica and we had a wonderful visit. That night, we again did a driveway camp as we always do. The next morning, the Boomers were headed Northeast to the oldest city in the United States, St Augustine. When I mean historically old, I mean "old" 1565! The old downtown is devoted to tourism. The buildings are preserved and full of shops of every descriptions. St George street is devoted to pedestrians. Restaurants, wine and spirits abound. They even have a special parking lot devoted to buses and RVs. We spent a good part of the day shopping, exploring and taking pictures at the water front fort. 

Cocoa Beach near Patrick AFB

Two Cruisers, Two Fisherman, One Porpoise and One Sunset!

Our destination for the night would be  Navy Station Mayport in Jacksonville. It looked like a difficult drive on the map. It is located naturally on the water front with the entire city of Jacksonville around it’s perimeter. You know the kind of driving that takes you from I-95 to I-295 to this Boulevard, to that one and so on. I finally reached the main gate at mid afternoon. I only had to reverse direction one time, maybe a mile out of way. At the main gate, after showing ID, I asked “Where’s the RV campground?” The guard said “which one?” I now had a problem because we wanted to meet our Key West friends Paul and Joyce, (pictured below) who were camping here. The guard said I’ll send you to Pelican Roost, most likely their destination. A few rights and lefts and here we are at the camp host' RV. His wife met us and soon we had a spot. Pelican Roost is located at the confluence of the St John River and the Atlantic Ocean. The river here is maybe 300 to 400 feet wide and this is the entrance for all of the big Navy ships into the harbor. It is pretty impressive to see monster size ships go by so close to shore. I am talking about Navy guided missile Cruisers, one size down from a battleship. The campground staff and campers here are like Key West… very friendly and make you feel at home. We did have to dry camp here for one night as we didn’t have reservations. It was $8 for that night and the next two nights were $18 a night for full hookups. Free laundry, Wi-Fi, excellent restroom facilities, a large community room with computers, two large screen TV’s and many other amenities. Saturday and Sunday, we were at the other RV campground (Osprey Cove) with full hookups. Osprey Cove is the long term RV park. It is not on the water, but has a lot more real-estate between RVs. Saturday morning, there was a pancake breakfast at Pelican Roost. We had breakfast with Joyce and Paul. The topic of discussion was their upcoming trip to Alaska. We offered our tips and suggestions. We said our good byes and wished them a good trip home and to Alaska!

I wanted  to pickup a couple items at a Camping World RV dealer and off to spend a little money. I picked up the items and we also found a nice 9X12 exterior patio mat that we got at a very reasonable price. We headed back to Osprey Cove... two happy Boomers in tow. That evening we went to Easter Vigil Service on base. It was a full day, but a satisfying day!
Sunday morning (Easter Sunday) we rested and I blogged all morning. Helen prepared a good ham dinner (our traditional Easter meal). She  called family members to wish them a Happy Easter. Oh, I forgot to mention that this morning when I opened the camper door, I found two Easter Eggs! That was nice of the camp host to do that. The chocolate was well appreciated.

That is what we did  and saw!

Satellite Beach… Patrick AFB…The Cold Wind!

 
Marc took us to the church that he plays the organ at. We stayed for a mass, especially seeing that it is Holy Week. The ride over to Patrick Air Force Base was only about a hundred thirty miles, an easy trip for us road travelers. Patrick AFB is close to Cape Canaveral, on a barrier island. I can see from the inner coastal waterway to the Atlantic. I’m guessing the distance at 1-1/2 miles away. The RV campground is at water’s edge with water and electrical hookups. $17 a night is not bad for the amenities. We are situated next to the runway, but it is not a busy AFB, at least since we’ve been here. We registered for two nights. On the down side is the weather. It’s been sunny, but extremely windy and cold temperature. The weather man this morning said the record low temperature might be broken tonight. That low temp. is 43 degrees!  I know people up north are laughing as they read the low temperature record, but coming from 300 miles south (Key West) it is a shocker! It reinforces my determination to crawl north even slower. 

Patrick AFB...Next to RV Campground

It didn’t take very long to get acquainted with the layout of the base. They have a very good dining facility and that’s where we had dinner. The facility sits on the very edge of the water and we watched waves splashing over the seawall. It was impressive, but I’m glad we were inside and not walking along the sea wall. (Brrrr…even at 61 degrees )
Walking in the RV park, we already spotted three RV campers from Key West. They also are heading north, but very slowly. One guy from New Hampshire said he was staying here for a couple of weeks.
That is what we did and saw!

Wellington, FL…Bye, Bye ~ Key West…Crawling North!

Me and Luke

Early on Monday, even before sun up, I knew leaving Key West would be sad. I was watching lightning outside of the camper. You know the kind that flashes, but has no sound or is too far away to hear. The forecast for 30% showers was predicted. We got up and very quickly, we were on the road. I wanted to make it to Marathon before sunrise. As it turned out, I worried for nothing. The sun would not be shinning into my eyes heading east. It drizzled just after arriving in Marathon.
One of the last things that happened in Key West was us walking along the docks and watching five or six sharks feeding on bait next to a boat. Someone hollered my name from the restaurant next to the dock. It was Assistant Police Chief Barney Valliere, from our home town of Berlin, NH. He and his wife Sue had just flown in for a winter getaway. It’s a small world!
Wellington was our target for today. We met Helen’s cousins Marc and Lucille Croteau at their beautiful home. Wellington is a community that is well known for racing horses, Polo and Equestrian events. The town has many high end developments with well manicured properties. Mark and Lucille had their grandson with them when we arrived. Luke made a remarkable impression on us. He is eleven years old and is very knowledgeable, especially when talking about fishing!

Marc, Luke, Coco and Lucille

Later in the evening, we ate at one of Luke’s favorite restaurants. Naturally, he had fish and we enjoyed prime rib. The evening ended when Luke’s father Jules  and Luke’s sister Julia came over to pickup Luke. It was a memorable evening chatting with their family. We showed them the truck camper as they were leaving.
That is what we did and saw
     

Key West.. Boca Chica… The Naval Air Show!!

Close and Tight!

Our original departure date was scheduled for yesterday the 22nd of March. The two day air show was the determining factor for our stay. I got all of the info on getting there, how to avoid the crowds and such from Paul, another Lance  Truck Camper owner. The gates opened at 9:30 and in no time, we were parked fairly close to the main event area. Our first activity of the day was to visit all of the vendors, checkout the static displays. The vendors were from many varied sources. Not all military as one would expect. A NOAA booth was particularly interesting. They explained how weather information is gathered across the country at the same time to make up a national weather map. Of course, I probed into the hurricane predictions and weather warnings that we always hear about on TV. They explained in detail how everything flows together.
After lunch in the camper, the folding chairs were spread out and soon aircraft of every type were doing aerobatics. I must say the parachute team did a spectacular job opening the show with the “Stars Bangle Banner” playing on the dozens of loud speakers set up on the tarmac.

Two Aircraft...One Flying Upside Down and Close!!

At two thirty the Navy Blue Angles took to the skies. Wow! They are tremendous aviators! From the left to the right, up and down, in formation or as individuals they were nearly indescribable. When one sees these pilots preform aerial maneuvers. I took 313 pictures in my Nikons' burst mode. I briefly looked at them and I do have a lot of keepers!
The Naval Air Station here in Key West also has what is called the Conch Air Force. This is Navy Fighter planes that are painted in camouflage colors with Russians Stars painted on them. The pilots are Americans but they fly Russian Tactics or what ever opposing country is needed to train against. I’m told that these F-5 Fighter Pilots are some of the worlds best.
That is what we saw and did!

Key West… Numbered Days

Sunset on the Dinner Cruise!

Before today’s adventure blog, I have to write a little on yesterday. There is a saying here in Key West that every day is Sun Day!  and that is so true. It was in the mid eighties, but the humidity was up and it felt like the nineties.  As strange as it may seem, the RV park down here in Trumbo Point is thinning out considerably. You see as late April and May approaches the temperature climbs and the nights stay in the eighties. This may not seem like a problem, but with no electricity other than  generators and a rule to shut down generators by eleven pm, that makes it uncomfortable to sleep, hence they shut down this RV Park around the first week of May. Most of the campers here have been here for nearly six months. Some people stay here year round, but they move to Sigsbee's where full hookups are available. The problem there is that you can only stay in one spot for two weeks. If another full hookup spot is available you can take it, if not than you have to go to dry camp. They tell me that people there are not as friendly or I should say “not as a community” as here at Trumbo Point. Here you pick a spot and stay as long as you want. (Of course for $13 dollars a night). Yesterday, I also called an old National Guard buddy to tell him of this wonderful place. Dave and Lu would fit in this place like fingers in a glove. Yesterday, we also said goodbye to our camping neighbors Loren, Dixie and of course their dog Liberty! Loren is a retired NG Motor Sargent and we had a lot to talk about in our short stay here at Trumbo.

Friday night is fish fry dinner night at the church of St Mary Star of the Sea. You can’t go wrong with a dinner like that. Eat as much as you want and so well prepared! After the dinner a walk was in store. One place to check off on our list of places to visit was the large cemetery in the center of town. “Remember the Maine” the battleship that was sunk in Havana Harbor. Many of the sailors who died on the ship are buried here. There are also soldiers and sailors from many past conflicts buried  here. The  cemetery is large that there are street names and large enough for vehicles. This cemetery like most in low lying areas have above ground mausoleums. It’s neat to walk around and checkout the names and dates on the grave markers. Some go back to the eighteen hundreds and some are as recent as 2008 that we saw. It was around 6:30 in the evening, about a hour before sunset. The sun was still warm. A note here on the condition of the tombstones and large concrete markers. Many of them were sinking with open holes on their sides. This makes for comfortable living quarters for Iguanas. Needless to say we spotted at least a dozen of the critters sunning themselves before sundown.
That is what we did and saw!

Key West…So Much to Blog About!

The “Boomers” have been so busy “seeing and doing”, it’s nearly impossible to recount all of the places, events and people that have crossed our paths. The people here at Trumbo Point especially are the ones that make this campground special. This is one of the best “People Friendly” places that we have ever visited. It is no wonder that some have been coming here for fifteen years! Every day, I get a new tip, advice or some other valuable bit of info to make this and future trips easier and interesting. This morning, Paul (another Lance Truck camper owner) gave me information on accessing the upcoming airshow. His wife, Joyce, is gone exercising this morning at Sigsbee's with Helen. (Zumba followed by Yoga.)  I stayed back to exercise the dump station for the camper and refill the fresh water tank.


Butterflies at Work!

A couple of days ago, I forgot to mention or blog about our visits to the Audubon House and the Butterfly Conservatory. First, the Audubon House. We had tickets to this wonderful old house with antiques and flowering gardens. Upon entering, we were given a history of the building and its owners. The building as been restored due to Hurricane damage. The wood work inside is on Long Pine, Mahogany and Cypress. You can see the close grained rings of this lumber making it from old forest growth. A chair upstairs is made from Birds Eye Maple. It was a neat experience. The gardens also stood out with their flowers and plantings. Of course, one does associate Audubon with birds. Mr. Audubon studied the 22 different species of birds in the Keys! He was also a painter and all of the native birds are depicted in the Audubon House. Reprints are available, but are expensive!.

Where's That Butterfly?

The Butterfly Conservatory was next! This attraction had been suggested by several people. Sherry gave us a ticket from her coupon book. How could we refuse! It was, as it turned out well worth the visit. Walking through the double doors, we were greeted with hundreds of butterflies of different species not to mention colors! It is extremely difficult to take a good picture of butterflies. They are always moving or their wings are in the closed position. Some have color only on the open side or back side. Well both Helen and I took a multitude of pictures. We did managed to get a few keepers.

That is what we saw and did!   

Key West… A Small Hurdle! Nice End of the Day!



Helen and Sherry (who is traveling around the
country by her self in a Lance Truck Camper)

Monday night, during the night, we ran out of propane. That is in one tank. I wanted to see exactly on the gauge where empty was. When full, it read 3/4. In any event, it did run out and I switched tanks. Here starts the problem. The refrigerator was the only thing running when it ran out. I re-lit and it started, but it went off a few times during the day. Tuesday night, it wouldn’t stay lit on propane. It automatically switches to A/C, (if none, it switches to D/C). The situation here is that the camper battery will not sustain a long draw of current. Soon the battery was depleted! The only way to recharge the battery, other than solar panel is to run the truck. We went for a ride around Key West. After tapping the refrigerator gas valve, it was working  fine again. My neighbor Loren offered to let me plug into his generator. Boy, it is nice to have that full power! The fridge is now working “A One” and I have generator power. It was just another hurdle on the adventure.

State Park... Fort Zachary Taylor

I try to be positive in life, especially when I write the blog. We do have our stress moments as mentioned above. Today for example, I will be conducting a Berlin Water Works Board meeting at noon. That is done with the help of Skype. The problem here is with bandwidth. With my MiFi Verizon Jetpack 4G Lite, I use about 2Gigs an hour. The solution here is to buy time on the CampWiFi. That will solve the usage issue. The problem here is to stay online and do something on the internet until the meeting starts. If there is no activity for 5 minutes, it will disconnect. Once the meeting starts, Skype will take care of that issue. These little issues makes life interesting. It is not always “peaches and cream”. I am glad that I am knowledgeable in several different trades to handle what has come up so far for problems. The above was written before the noon board meeting. At the meeting everything went nearly according to plan. I did have to shut down the video portion because of (I think more people getting online after lunch. I was running on computer battery and truck camper battery and that ran low. I asked my friendly camper neighbor to start his generator and the meeting finished without further hiccups! So life is not always hunky dory, but we get over the hurdles.
I felt like unwinding after the meeting and off we went to the Navy side of the base to their private beach area. I like it here because I can park the camper literally on the beach. We took off our flip-flops and walked the edge of the water. We ran into this guy walking out of the water backwards. He was wearing fins with the rest of his snorkeling gear. I said to him “that's' the way to come out of the water”. He answered me in a deep foreign language. I could not make out his words. I than asked, “what country?  He said “Russia”. He had two Conch shells he found in his hands. He said in broken English “Cook?” We shook our shoulders. Now reflect a second and think! What is a guy doing on a US Navy base with snorkeling gear? Did he swim across from Cuba their country”s allies? Soon, he said “Sister” and pointed to a girl in a blue bikini. He than said “Stationed in Virginia Beach”. Boy I’d like to hear the rest of this story!
We had dinner in the camper on the beach. What a relaxing  afternoon! Paul Doucette, (Helen”s cousin) had told us to checkout “La Concha Hotel”. He said to go to the top at the bar and view the island from the tallest building in Key West. We did. Waiting for the sunset, we met another couple from NY. John and Giselle, the note worthy acquaintance here was that he, I think, bought the hydro electric dam from the demolition company that is tearing down the old Groveton Paper company mill in Groveton, just 30 miles from our home town. It truly is a small world! I did put a plug in for our two hydro rake manufacturing machine shops in Berlin. Got that Rod and Rick
That is what we saw and did!    

  

Key West… Boca Chica Air Field Visit

It could be Hawaii or Boca Chica either way it's beautiful!!

Key West Naval Air Station is made up of small parcels all over the island and keys. The actual airfield is in Boca Chica, about four miles away. We would explore this area, especially the Marina and Aviators Lounge later this afternoon. This Sunday morning was especially nice weather wise. I couldn’t help from going outside the camper and doing something that I like doing back home in the summer time. That is wax my truck. I just wanted to cleanup the rims and get that grill sparkling again. I spent an hour or so doing just that. Helen asked if a BBQ would be good for lunch. I climbed on top of the camper and handed down our Weber propane grill. Lunch was soon on the table. After lunch cleanup, we headed for Boca Chica Airfield. A couple of minutes before leaving, a fellow NH camper stopped by for a chat and I told him where we headed. He said there is a girl who bartends in the Aviators Lounge and she said she going to Gorham, NH for a class reunion. Marsha is her name. She doesn’t work on weekends, but we will stop in and see who she is later in the week.
The ride to Boca Chica was a little longer because, I wanted to explore the Atlantic side of Key West. To my surprise the road is wide, little traffic and ample parking along the beach. There was three to four miles of this sunny beach road. The highway circled around to connect with US 1 North. The Air Field exit came up fairly fast once we crossed into Stock Island. At the gate, I asked “which way to the Marina?” “Go straight to the stop sign , take a right to the end of the road” he said. The Marina stood out with the armada of sailing ship masts. I parked the “Boomers On The Move” camper in one of the last spots. Wow! What a south sea replica. From the beach to the thatched roof huts to all the yachts and people living on them. Even the water was encircled with netting to prevent creatures from the deep from encroaching on kids swimming close to shore.
The Aviator lounge was open, but Marsha as we were told was not working. Back outside we watched boat people scrubbing their sailboats. Another couple got into one of those rubber dinghies. I wondered how they would board their sailboat anchored off shore. They did it very gracefully.
On the way back we read the sign close to the runway. “Look both ways before crossing, low flying aircraft!” I stopped and looked both ways! To my right was two jet fighters. They were idling at the end of the runway facing away from us. Then the one on the left opens the throttle and both afterburners kick in. They heat and power generated was unbelievable. He let the brakes go and off into the sky in a very short distance. Five seconds later his wing man does the same thing. Directly to my right is a large sign! “Absolutely No Photography Allowed” I told Helen, that she just witnessed a jetfighter takeoff that she will probably never see again unless she was on an aircraft carrier. You see those fighters are, most of time are on some aircraft carrier out at sea. I was a good boy and didn’t sneak a memorable photo of this event.
That is what we saw and did!

Key West…The Cuban Restaurant

The morning again was filled with daily chores. I installed a plug-in charger next to the dinette. This will enable us to charge small devices, phones, Kindle Fire, I-pod and even a our laptop. This plug runs off the camper battery which is recharged by a solar panel and the truck alternator (when running). Everything is running up to par, but one always wants more.(It’s the American way). I most likely will buy a Honda EU2000i generator when I get back home. The best price comes from a company in New Jersey. They will even free ship to this campsite lot address. I just don’t want to gamble on delivery time.

Paul Doucette and Helen

After lunch, we went to the “Ship Wreck Museum”. It was a learning experience. A whole industry sprang up from the salvaging of goods lost on sunken ships. Hundreds of them went down during hurricanes. Many of them were over a hundred  feet long and forty feet wide. Tons and tons of valuable cargo was to be had. The men who did these salvage jobs were called “Wreckers”. The people who would carry all this cargo to shore were called “Lumbar”. Entering the museum, we were met by staff who played out the different characters of the day. They got us involved by asking questions and saying things like, “remember this, it’s going to be on the test”. The building itself was the original warehouse where this priceless cargo was stored. At the top of the second floor stood a tower. This tower is, sixty five feet from the ground. The purpose (originally) was to have lookouts to spot ships that ran aground on the reefs. These towers were placed all the way up the Keys. If a ship was spotted a call was shouted “Wreck Ashore!” The whole town would run for the rescue and possible salvage claim.
A short walk back to Trumbo Point for a rest before the Cuban dinning experience. I should point out that there is a man gate near the waters edge. This gate is locked. I was lucky enough to get the entry code number. This saves us a couple of miles (to and from) the main gate.

I just had to add this for show!

Being at a military installation is so unconventional. This morning around six am a platoon of Navy sailors were jogging in formation. I love to hear the platoon leader singing cadence and repeated by the sailors. Yesterday, I spotted this helicopter high, high in the sky. It was maybe eight thousand feet right above the campground. All of a sudden, six black dots appear. Soon the parachutes deploy and in a line they all come down and land in the water just off into the bay! Where else can you see something like that on a daily occurrence. The day before they jumped out of a C-130 aircraft.
We met Paul Doucette at the church parking lot as planned. The restaurant was just around two corners. I think it was called “Si Bonne” (spelling most likely wrong) It wasn’t high class, but very packed. A good sign. You can’t go wrong with a family run restaurant. Helen and I tried grilled Grouper. Paul ordered us an appetizer. The appetizer was chopped Plantains, flattened, grilled and served with marinated onions. It was flavorful! The Grouper also came with sliced onions, sweet cooked bananas, yellow rice and black beans. (Excellent!) Did I mentioned the bread? Cuban bread, yummy! The meal exceeded our expectations and was very reasonably priced.
It wasn’t long before we were back at Trumbo for the night and with that goodnight.
That is what we did and saw!
 

Key West… Mallory Square…A Time To Reflect!



Isn't A Picture Worth a Thousand Words!

Houdini? Maybe Not!

When one says Key West, usually the next associated words are “Mallory Square”. This is the ritual night time meeting place for hundreds and hundreds of people. They all gather here for the breathless sunsets. Many hawkers and performers also gather to entertain and hope for a donation. They do everything from straight jacket escapes to fire eating. From dogs that walk a tight rope to mimes that stare relentlessly without blinking or laughing. I average taking between a hundred to a hundred and a half pictures a day. That is my problem! It takes me a long time to select three or four for the blog. You’ll have to rely on my verbal description to fill-in the blanks. As the sun gets closer to setting, many sailing ships take to the wind. The larger Catamarans go out with their tourist on board and stay off to a distance. The three and four mast ships slowly bite their time  at dockside, crossing for the photographers who shoot pictures of these ships with the sun approaching the horizon. It is spectacular in any event! Mallory Square also offers a multitude of restaurants for dinner. You can probably imagine open porches with candle lit tables. The temperature comfortable in the mid-seventies. Many of these restaurants are Cuban. Cubans’ are noted for there fine cuisine, I especially love there  bread rolls! One can walk off the dinner by strolling along Whitehead Street and shop or in my case watch all the people stroll by.
The mornings we tend to stay around the RV park and do our catching up on what ever. In the afternoon, we pick a destination to visit. A couple of days ago we went to Fort Zachary Taylor Park & Beach. Now just a few feet away past the fence is the military side for free. The attraction to the State Park is the Fort, beaches and also a Geocache! That’s why we paid the $2.50 a head for the visit. We found the cache on a secluded birding trail. Now I always say that geocaching brings people to places they wouldn’t normally go. Well, this turned out to be our most southern found cache in the US, but the Fort was the real jewel to discover. We walked up down in and out and were amazed at how this place was built. The Fort defended this country all the way from early times to the Cuban Missile Crisis.
That is what we did and saw.

Key West…Taking Care of Business

With the time change yesterday, it is nearly dark at 7am. You can’t miss 7am as everybody seems to go outside and start the generators. It is not a loud affair, but more like someone mowing their lawn. One Vietnam vet has re-written Margarita Ville with different lyrics. It goes something like this;

Generator Ville by John R. Gillette

Gassed up my “Onan”,

While it was still going,

And somehow it created a”spark”!

The Navy then asked me, to please leave.
After, I burnt up half of the park!

Wasting away again in “Generator Ville”,
Searching for my lost voltage and  watt
Some people claim there’s a connection to blame!
But I know, it’s my Yamaha’s fault

This goes on for four more verses with every generator manufacture named.

This is the place!

Off to Sigsbee’s campground office to officially register. The going rate of $13 a day was ok by me. We moved our departure date to the 25th of March. That will enable us to stay over the weekend and see a giant two day airshow at the Naval Air Station. It may be the last time the “Blue Angles” appear (the sequester will affect them also) I feel fortunate to be able to attend this event.
Next order of business was a haircut for me and Helen at the Navy Exchange. We both are satisfied with results. It seems that it’s always time to replenish our vittles. A short drive down the street to a Publics Grocery store to check off this detail.
After lunch, we headed for town with the truck, but we parked it at the church parking lot. The lot is centrally located. We decided to find Helen’s cousin Paul Doucette. He would be working on Duval Street as bartender. We soon were sitting at the bar and had a cold beer while chatting with Paul. Now you would think that the place wouldn't be busy at 2 o’clock in the afternoon, but in fact he was hustling drinks left and right. Remember this is Key West and people come here to unwind and party.(especially young people)! We set up a time for Friday evening for dinner and left Paul to his work.
A mile drive to Generator Ville for a rest before we walked to Mallory Square for the finish to a perfect day “The Sunset”!
I’ll talk about Mallory Square on a separate blog post.
That is what we did and saw!

Key West…The Historic Town

Sunday Mar. 10, 2013 HP

The Marina about a 1000 feet from Trumbo RV Campground

Besides “Jimmy Buffets’… Margarita Ville”, Key West in 1889 was the richest per capita city in the US. In 1930, it bellied up and was bankrupt. The “Pink Gold” was a primary source of wealth. The Pink Gold referred to the Shrimp harvest. Their were 500 shrimp boats hauling tons of shrimps. The railroad to Key West was considered  the 8th wonder of the world. A man named John Flagler built the overseas railroad. It was built to bring tourist to his hotel. In actuality, he wanted and got trade with Central and South America.
President Harry Truman, who vacationed in the “Little White House” on Front Street was another one of cast of famous characters. Writers like Ernest Hemmingway, Tennessee Williams, Robert Frost and maybe TravelmanNH, were just a few who were inspired by the islands’ colonial charm!
The Island has known more than its share of conflict, from the Civil War to Spanish-American War to the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Its Old Town section is rich with historic sites and architecture. The Island is so compact, many venerable houses and other buildings now function as inns, restaurants and museums.

Historic Architecture not to mention the bikes!

We sent the day wondering on foot, getting our bearings and the lay of the land. Most all of the streets are extremely narrow. Even with my expertise, driving the camper around was a challenge to navigate. At one point, the road dipped and I rubbed against another pickup truck mirror. With that incident, we took to the sneakers for most of the downtown exploration.
That is what we did and saw! 

Key West…Home Base…Getting to know you!

Saturday, Mar 9, 2013 HP

Our Military Beach!

Slowly getting into the routine of RV Camp life is what today was all about. Our neighbors still giving us needed info, how to get there from here, how to save a buck here and there. We spent the morning talking and enjoying the sun. After lunch, we headed out with the camper to checkout Sigsbee's (the main Naval Air Station complex). It is actually fairly small in real estate size. The Navy has Annexes all over Key West, most are guarded and gated. Back at Sigsbee, we found the campground registration office (closed as expected) the Navy Exchange, the Commissary and so on. Next on todays list was to find the Catholic church to get a mass schedule. The church is now a Minor Basilica (The Basilica of Saint Mary Star of the Sea). This was a change from our visit ten or so years ago. This church is a hundred years old and it is so well designed with both sides of the church having doors every few feet for cross ventilation. The church owns a lot of real estate here and their grounds are immaculately groomed.

No not Hawaii... but close!

The only place to park was in the church parking lot. It was 4:30… nearly to late to go back to the RV park. It’s nice to have your home with you. We would stay here until mass at 6 pm. After church services, we asked the priest if we could park here for another hour or so while we went out for dinner. He said, “don’t worry about the tow away signs, you came to church and that qualifies you for free parking”! Off we went for an evening stroll down Truman Ave. trying to choose a place to eat. So many choices! Finally, we found a place that suited our taste. Returning later to Trumbo RV park, we discovered that our canopy had been blown over by the wind! I didn’t even try to set it up again this evening. A half hour of reading and we were in bed. We were satisfied with todays’ adventures.
That is what we did and saw! 

Key West, FL ~ “Houston…Boomers On The Move Has Landed!”

Everglades National Park behind us and the Keys ahead of us… we were on our way for another adventure. A stop at Home Depot for a squeegee for the shower, a brush for the BBQ grill and another Wall-Mart grocery restocking and off to Key West a mere 129 miles from Homestead.

Seven Mile "Over Seas Highway"

US-1 South is a two lane highway. The traffic is moderate, but often the road has those concrete barriers in the middle. This makes for very attentive driving. Once you get south a ways the waterways start to really get beautiful. The Aqua color, the boats, the small offshore islands keep you looking! All of this attention does get you tired after a 100 mile run.

This is Key West... Even the Dogs are Cool

Naval Air Station~ Key West was the first stop. You need a military ID, registration for your vehicle pass. Next we were suppose to check-in at Sigsbee's for an RV spot. Construction screwed that up, so go to plan “B” Trumbo (this was were we wanted to be, the Coast Guard RV Campground). The Camp Host was on duty and we signed in (at least temporarily until Monday when Sigsbee's would be open. We had a spot! Trumbo has many RV’s. A water hookup every fifty feet, our spot has water. No electrical hookups anywhere. It looks like everyone has generators. The park is at waters edge. The one thing about military campgrounds is that people are friendly! We no sooner pulled into our spot when the guy in back of us introduces himself and so did everyone in a short time. They gave us so many tips I needed a stenographer to take notes! The evening was soon upon us. It was hot and I took a shower before our evening stroll down to the pier a couple of hundred feet away. Many Coast Guard vessels were here. They had their navigation lights on. With the sun setting and the navigation lights on, it was colorful, but I took no pictures here as we were told not to when getting a pass.The Home Land Security were there also. They had this speed boat with four 350 horsepower motors on the back, that’s 1400 horsepower!

When we returned to the RV Campground. All those Honda generators were quietly humming around powering all the satellite TVs. We fell asleep very quickly.
That is what we did and saw!

Everglades NP ~ Royal Palm… The Red Eye Experience!



Bird Protection!

Notice the windshield wiper thief and also the door weather
strip pulled from the right door!

This morning we are in Flamingo at the campground. The wind was strong before sundown last night, but this morning it was calm and temperature was 51 degrees at sun up and climbing. There are plenty of RV’s here, but they are on the other side. The advantage of a truck camper is its ability to get into small spaces. The point that I am making is that there are plenty of tent campers and spots to park. Tent campers are mostly young and in small groups. It is interesting watching them getting started in early morning. The Vultures are parked around the tent sites waiting for an opportunity to grab any tidbit to eat. Yesterday afternoon, I watched the Vultures going around pecking at everybody’s stuff on the tables.There were black headed Vultures as well as Red headed ones (these also known as Turkey Vultures). There is something repulsive about Vultures. They look spooky. They will eat anything, including hanging around the dump station, enough said!
Leaving Flamingo, we slowly headed back to Long Pine Key. We, this time, stopped at every point of interest. A couple of lakes had birds by the gazillions. I got some interesting shots and especially close-ups. Mid-morning, we made it to Royal Palms to attend the Ranger talk. Here, the story takes a twist. Driving into the parking lot a sign reads “Danger, Vultures can damage your car!” Well, we drive around the corner and there’s a half dozens cars with blue tarps over them. Wow! Getting out of the truck we talked to another couple who was just finishing covering their car. I said, “Boy! I didn’t think that the bird poop was so serious”. “Oh, No!” said the guy. “The Vultures developed this thing of pulling apart anything rubber on a vehicle about three years ago”. We watched across the parking lot, as a pickup truck was having its rubber door strips and windshield wipers being ripped off the vehicle. The “Black Headed Vultures” don’t eat the rubber, they just like to pull it off. Hence my statement above and about those repulsive Vultures stands!.

What's for Lunch? The next picture says "Not Me!"

Royal Palm is an interpretive center and there are Ranger programs all of the time. We sat in on a 10am session. I love to listen and learn. I always leave with new knowledge at these places. The Ranger took us on a walking tour. The wildlife is accustom to people and is easily more approachable, at least to a few feet. My best close-up pictures, so far, were taken here.
The afternoon was spent at the Long Pine Campground reading, resting and working on a tan.
Ok, the “Red Eye Experience!” One of the main reasons for returning to this campground for another nights’ stay was to be able to go on a Ranger walking tour in the Everglades at “Night”. The purpose was to see alligators feeding. When you shine a flashlight, their eyes reflect back a deep red.

The Ranger was scheduled to meet with us at 7:30pm . About a dozen people showed up for the walk. The Ranger never showed. The group decided to do it on their own. So, here we are walking with flashlights along a trail for about a quarter mile, in the dark, no moon present. Fish and things jumping in the water next to the trail. Flashlights on and spotting Garr fish three to four feet long just off shore. We walk deeper into the glades and then a large pond is to our left. The flashlights all beam towards the pond. There two, three, six, ten sets of red eyeballs approaching! Right below the viewing overlook a loud trashing! A 12 foot male trashes around with a fish in his mouth. The Gators seem to have a plan of attack. They come in from several sides and roundup the fish. The water is now turbulent, the Lilly pads are going every which way. I'm trying to get a picture with a tripod and no flash to get the red eye captured. The problem is that the camera is steady but the Gators are not. I got a few shots, but the real experience will only be captured in our minds.
That is what we did and saw!

Everglades National Park…Another Stick Pin

The Walking Stick gets another National Park Pin!

Another sunshiny day in Florida! I’m not rubbing it in. It is a perfect start to the day. Looking out of the camper, I see a low ground fog towards the pond. The long pines standing straight above the surrounding fog. The sun now hitting the tops. The tree bark is a warm yellow. It is very quiet, I don’t even hear a bird. This was a morning for a big breakfast with eggs, toast, juice, jam and of course our “us Baby Boomers” won’t go without our morning pills.
I have a walking stick that I decorate with little stick pins, that I have acquired on our many journeys. The National Parks are the prime source of my stick pin collection. Hence, a new Everglades National Park stick pin was purchased.

Ground Fog ~ Long Pine Campground at Sunrise

We packed up and stopped at the gate to pay our $8 bucks for the night. It is 34 miles down to Flamingo, the end of the road for vehicles. The ride down there took us to Rock Reef Pass (elevation 3 feet). The big Ford it made over with no problem. Phew! What a relief. Now one might expect this whole area to be wet, but in fact there are several regions that we drove through. The Freshwater Marl Prairie… this was covered with knee high grass. Here the birds of prey are soaring watching for the movement of little critters. There are several turnouts to access trails. One of the noted trails was Long Pine Key Trail. Many ponds were also good places to watch wildlife and canoe treks. To name a few of these; Pine Glades Pond, Sisal Pond, Ficus Pond and Sweet Bay Pond. We didn’t stop at these places today, but will tomorrow on the return voyage.  Our mission was to get a good camp site down at Flamingo, preferably with electricity. We got in, but all electrical sites were booked. Oh well, we’re pretty comfortable here. We spent the day walking around, going to the ranger talk at 2pm and reading a good book (The Greatest Generation by Tom Brokaw). Our site had a big shade tree and it was in the eighties with a nice breeze. I couldn’t wait for the evening meal, a cold beer and steak…Life is Good in the Everglades!!

That is what we did and saw

Big Cypress National Preserve… A Change of pace!

Helen... Do you ant to get out of the truck
and get a closeup

Blackhead Vultures waiting for lunch

After leaving Fort Myers Beach and heading South on US –41, the tempo changed quickly from urban to rural. We had driven this road before, the old Tamiami Trail also known as “Alligator Alley”. I wanted to experience a new “Adventure”. I took a right at Monroe Station for a 26 mile loop road into the Big Cypress National Preserve. The first twelve miles were dirt road. It soon was apparent that this road would be full of wildlife viewing. Helen spotted a couple of crocs sunning alongside of the road. Every culvert was a stopping place for us. At first, we didn’t get out of the truck fearing the alligators. They seem to only charge about three feet at a time. Back out the word charge, it was more of a retreat away than forward. The gators weren’t the only wildlife in the neighborhood. Birds of every description, we saw deer and many black headed Vultures. Ironically, there wasn’t much traffic, but we did talk to a couple from Amsterdam. He was a civil engineer. Later, at another small bridge a couple from Italy asked if I could take their picture with their camera. They were from the Tuscany area of Italy. We had just been in that area last year.
It took a good part of the afternoon to cover the 26 miles. We were happy to have done this small loop. It was going in the same direction of travel and we didn’t have to backtrack at all.

You wouldn't think deer are in a Cpyress Swamp

Our original plan was to put up for the night at the Casino located at the corner of US 41 and CR997. We stopped and walked into the casino. Boy, they never change! Does everybody who goes into a Casino, smoke, drink and gamble? I’ve had it with Casinos! We decided to travel another 40 miles to Everglades National Park and take our chances for a camp site. What a good gamble! The entrance station to the park was closed, but the park was open. We drove in and soon came to Long Pine Key campground. The sign said closed, but find a site and pay in the morning. This place was heaven! Many sites available, all with easy access to restrooms, paved back-in sites, it was heaven sent for tonight. Even Wi-Fi
That is what we did and saw!

Fort Myers~Fort Myers Beach…Friends & Family

Anne Cartier and Helen...Fort Myers

This morning it was warming up and the sun was shinning. Helen called her cousin Anne Cartier. She answered and was on her way to the dentist before work. She was available for lunch and gave us a place to meet off at exit 128, at the Olive Garden Restaurant. Perfect timing! We had lunch and caught up on family stuff. Anne works for a company that specializes in laser concrete floor leveling equipment. She travels around the world marketing this equipment. It was a nice visit with a nice cousin.


Henry... The Master of the piano keys!

Next phone call was to Henry Turgeon (“Helen’s former boss, when she worked at the City Diner, during her high school days”) Henry thinks of Helen as a daughter. If there is ever a couple that make you feel welcomed, it is Henry and Jeanette! Henry with his mastery of the digital piano can play any kind of music you want. His piano can do just about anything a whole orchestra can do. Jeanette is a young spirited 82 year old. She is absolutely remarkable with her knowledge of computers and digital gadgets. After Henry’s entertaining afternoon, we went to dinner (I ate too much!) and returned to their home. We spent the night in the camper, reminiscing the days adventures and soon fell a sleep.
That is what we did and saw!

Rotonda, FL…The Circle City Visit

(A quick note...We have been in the Everglades National Park without WiFi for a few days~sorry for the delay in posting the blog)
Leaving Mac Dill AFB for the last time in this part of or journey, I was looking for a Wall-Mart to buy a new battery. I had a store locator with a store in Brandon. I found an Auto Parts Store that was open. I knew they could check the battery to make sure that this was the problem. It was. Soon the new Marine battery was installed and we felt much better with the new power source.

Left to Right Me, Helen, Pam and Rod

South on I-75, headed toward Rotonda for a visit with fellow “Berlinites” Rod and Pam Legendre. Racing down I-75, we were in Rod’s driveway in early afternoon. Rod and Pam gave us a tour of their winter getaway. It was impressive with the pool and the spacious rooms. Rotonda is a very large circular housing development in the shape of a wagon wheel. The spokes would be the access streets with the two outer circles being the main access to the area.
Rod and Pam took us to Gasparilla Island to a lighthouse/museum. The ride to the Island was also of great interest with plentiful bike paths, mansions of every kind, again with the superb flowering landscapes. The day was windy and cool, but we could see that this is a wonderful spot in Florida.
Rod and Pam offered us a stay over, but we wanted to contact Rosemary Verrill, who is the daughter of my mother’s cousin Mary Lane. She (Mary) lives in Lincoln, ME. She will be celebrating her 100th birthday on the 6th of this month. We had been invited to a special birthday in Lincoln, but obviously we are in Port Charlotte. Rosemary lives here in Port Charlotte. Unfortunately we missed her as she was flying up to Maine.
Now, we had to find a place for the night. A sign said campground this exit. We couldn’t find it and stopped at a Home Depot and asked the store manager if we could park for the night. “Sure, but the store assumes no liabilities. I would end this blog right here except for an 11pm item! "Knock, Knock, Police Open Up!” They ran my license plate and the officer said it came back to a Lincoln Continental. I said in NH this number could be on as many as four or five vehicles. I have National Guard plates, it could also be POW, Veteran or even just ordinary NH plate number. He then tells me that there is an ordinance that bars overnight parking. I replied that I had asked the store manager and been given permission. He said I did the right thing and this was in fact private property. We finished the night without further incident.
That is what we saw and did! 

Mac Dill ~ The CenCom Asian Coalition!

Asian Invitation!

Left to Right.. General from Mongolia, White Mt shirt
is a pilot from Thailand, Red tee shirt is from Korea

Pot Luck?

I was barely finished writing today's blog in the Marina. We were the only ones there, when this foreign military officer came in with another Asian looking man at the Marina lounge. He came over and said in broken English, "We would like to use this place for a gathering, but you can stay". We said, "no problem". A few minutes later a couple of dozen Asians came in and started to setup food tables. We finished our computer stuff and were getting ready to walk out. The Asian man came over and asked us to join them. We said, "Oh, no". He kept insisting. He said, "all these people are coalition forces from Central Command. He also said they are from Korea, Japan, Mongolia, Philippines, Thailand, Tibet and Nepal. He kept insisting for us to join them. Each country had prepared a food dish from there country's specialty. We eventually broke down and joined them for the festivities. Now don't ask me what we had, but I'm sure their was some Sushi, Curry Chicken, and maybe ??? meat? It was Friday, and being good Catholics during lent, we don't usually eat meat on Fridays. We didn't want to create an international incident and elected to use the church traveling rule.
Their were women, men and a few young adults at this function, I think the women were dependents. The men, at least some of them were pilots. We did meet a Mongolian General. This wasn't your everyday tea party for sure!
Tomorrow will be the aerial combat training exercise and maybe it won't be just the Canadians' doing the aerial dog fights, time will tell and I'll keep you posted.

That is what we did and saw!

Mac Dill AFB... The ID Update

Shark or Porpoises?

This morning the temperature was cool and about  8 to 10 knots wind coming from the North. I finished three days of blogs and downloaded pictures. It is disappointing that I am limited to only a few pictures on the blog. I know that I could upload several to Picasa and then have a link in the blog for viewing. Maybe I'll give that a try soon.

Could This Be a Carnival Cruise?

The shower room is across the street which is helpful. We are dry camping and doing fine with all the facilities close by. I actually got a call from the Fam Camp Office for an upgrade, but we decided we liked the spot we were in an declined the offer. We must be getting hard core.

This is not a Canadian Dog Fight!

Last night at the SeaScape Beach Bar we noticed several military personnel from many countries. The Canadians are here with there F-18 Hornets and are schedule for a dog fight training tomorrow. I can't wait to see these aircraft do their thing. Other countries present here are England, Israel, I think the Philippines. I couldn't recognize all of the patches on their uniforms.
Oh, ya, back to the ID Update. Helen's ID is expiring at the end of next month and we wanted to update it while we were here. After finding the ID Issue building we discovered that ID can only be updated not more than 30 days from expiration. Oh well, around April 1st we'll check into another military base and get it done.

Even the Air Force has Boats Protecting US!

 

This afternoon we walked the beach and were surprised to see two sharks just off shore. Well at least we taught they were sharks. A retired Coast Guard guy was at the Marina and were showed him my pictures. He said they were Porpoises. So much for our nautical knowledge.
It did warm up this afternoon and the sun was shining. Our beach walk made us tired and a half hour nap felt good. We are parked at the Marina and are actually writing this blog nearly live.