Almost home!

We had our first rain of the trip yesterday while traveling up I-95 from Georgia, across South Carolina and into North Carolina, where we are spending the last night of our vacation near Fayetteville.  While people here have commented on their warm temperatures for February, I felt chilly all day---ready to head back into some warm sunshine!

But the daffodils are blooming in this campground, so spring is on its way.

I do need to return to work, and there's still unpacking to do.  It should be a short day of travel, and we do get to sleep in our own bed tonight (and enjoy the extra space in our own shower!).

An excellent vacation----one of the best!  Now back to reality.....

 Crooked River State Park is on the Georgia side of the GA/FL border, in St. Mary's.  We had a relatively short day of driving yesterday, arriving here at a little after 2.  That allowed time for a late lunch and a walk along the river, as well as a hike on a very easy trail, to allow Ranger to let off steam.  We had stopped here two years ago and the campground was full, but my memory of the place was as the location of Ranger's first sighting of an armadillo.  Sure enough, he heard one in the palmettos behind our site last night (and went nuts).  I was not able to catch a view of it, however.

The park is excellent, with large level sites. It's only about 20% full so we had lots of privacy and a pull-through site.  This is a park that is worth staying at for more than an overnight, so maybe next year.......

 Our campsite at Little Manatee River has been a good one: enough vegetation to provide privacy from neighbors, a mix of sun and shade, and level.  It's a good place to relax. (I finished a second novel while here.)  Yesterday morning we took a leisurely walk around the nature trail to the river, seeing a huge flock of warblers at the picnic area.  Then we returned to the site for a big brunch of eggs, ham, potatoes and toast.

 An afternoon bike ride around the park allowed us a good view of a gopher tortoise.  I guess the original settlers used to eat them, but it does not look very appetizing to me.

This park is geared up for horseback riding with a camping area specifically for equestrian camping and lots of marked trails.  A short walk along one of the nearby horse trails took us to Dude Lake.

All in all, this has been a relaxing couple of days in a well-run, clean state park.  Well-worth the trip here and probably the only Florida park of this trip that I would highly recommend to anyone!

Here's everyone's image of Florida----our first white sandy beach of the trip!

We left Collier-Seminole SP yesterday morning (no plans to ever return--one of the worst of the Florida state parks!) , and rather than jump on I-75 for a three-hour drive to our next destination, we decided to stay with Tamiami Trail (Route 41) up the gulf coast.  We discovered that between Naples and  Fort Myers, both sides of the road are FULL of stores---strip malls, chain restaurants, and so forth, non-stop!  And of course, lots of traffic, making it a slow trip.  We turned off Rte.41 toward Sanibel Island, and as soon as we went over the causeway and saw all that blue and green water, it seemed the side-trip was worthwhile.  Sanibel is a beautiful place, with easily accessible public beaches like the one above.  The community is cute and quaint, lots of little shops and bike paths everyone.  What it is not is RV-friendly!  Narrow two-lane roads and bumper-to-bumper traffic!  Bicycles are definitely the preferred mode of transportation there.  We did manage to find the one public parking area with spaces for "vehicles 20 feet or more in length", which allowed us to take Ranger for a walk on the beach.  Yes, surprisingly, they do allow dogs on the beach there, with just a request that they be on leash and be picked up after.

Little Manatee River State Park is just east of St. Petersburg/Tampa, and it is a small park with only 30 campsites.  We were greeted by an extremely friendly and enthusiastic ranger---always a good start to a stay!---who provided maps and lots of suggestions for things to do.  Our site is private and level, just across the road from clean bathrooms with nice new showers.  Hurray!

Having come about 150 miles north from the Everglades region, it is noticeably cooler--cool enough for a campfire last evening.  Today's high expected to be mid-70's, after 55 this morning for the dog walk.  Still sunny--no rain at all so far on this trip.

 Our morning walk was along the one trail adjacent to the camping area at Collier-Seminole State Park. It passes through a "hardwood hammock" area with many royal palms which are fairly rare.  Mostly it was quite jungle-like!  The trail took you to an observation platform looking out over a salt marsh where we were able to watch quite a few ibises.  Ranger seemed to find lots of interesting things to sniff.

We later unplugged and took a day trip into Naples.  We visited the Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve where they had a nice display of critters that live in the mud.  This picture of the display with parchment worm is for you, Kelly!  We also walked around the trails there which were supposed to be a good location for bird-watching; however we saw only a few hawks.  From there, we drove around Marco Island, which seems to have much high-dollar real estate---big houses on canals with large boats parked behind them.    The afternoon ended with some relaxation and reading around the campsite.

 Yesterday we traveled from Jupiter, FL to just outside Naples, following Florida's Turnpike south to West Palm Beach, then picking up I-75 to cross the state.  The highway took us through the Everglades and Big Cypress National Preserve.  We stopped for a lunch break at a rest area which was right along a waterway, and there were dozens of wading birds: ibises, great egrets, wood storks, tricolored herons, and moorhens.

We picked up route 29 south toward Everglades City, and then Route 41/Tamiami Trail.  Along 41, I noticed an alligator sunning itself along the canal that ran parallel to the road---then another---then another!  There were dozens of them!  We'd better keep Ranger close while camping here.

We are now at Collier-Seminole State Park. It is a very small park and the campsites are very close together--not much privacy and there's noise from the road that runs directly behind site 39.  We went to a program done by a ranger about pythons in the Everglades.  I guess people buy them as pets, then let them go, and they thrive in this jungle-like environment, growing up to 20 feet long.  There's a contest going that gives a bounty for killing them, as they are throwing off the balance of the environment here, eating almost anything they can find.  (Nice comforting thought as we camp out.  Glad we're not sleeping on the ground in a tent!)

Yesterday, we took a bike ride to explore the rest of the state park.  We pedaled to the east, toward the park entrance and picked up quite a nice bike path along which we did some bird-watching.  The path took us to the other campground in Jonathan Dickinson, Pine Grove Campground.  Seeing it made me appreciate where we are in River Campground!  Pine Grove is definitely newer, and I'm sure their showers are better, but who wants to camp in a big open field along Highway 1?  The whole trip was over 11 miles, and I suspect we'll both feel it in our legs today.

Earlier in the day, we took a walk along a path that led us to Kitching Creek.  Although the birding has not been as good as in other parks, we did see a white ibis along the way.

It's been a relaxing few days at this park,but today we move on to Collier-Seminole in the southwest part of the state.

We are back into the rhythm of life in the RV.  Yesterday we had a lazy morning---reading, checking emails, breakfast and walking the dog.  We took a short hike around the nature trail, returned for some lunch, and then took the river cruise up the Loxahatchee River.  The boat looked like an old party barge outfitted with white plastic chairs, holding 25 people.  Our guide pointed out various types of wildlife along the way (alligators and manatees), interspersed with some of the history of the park.  At the turn-around point, we got off the boat for a tour of Trapper Nelson's place.  Trapper Nelson was a man who lived along the river from the 1930's into the 60's, trapping, building all of his cabins and outbuildings by hand, and establishing a wild animal zoo to which he charged admission to see alligators, bobcats, raccoons, and snakes.  He also wrestled alligators and swung out over the river on a rope (in shorts and bandanna), earning him the name "Wild Man of the Loxahatchee". Quite a story!

In the afternoon, Dan did some birdwatching and I rode my bike.  The birdwatching is not great here, but we did see cormorants, a grebe, a pelican, great blue herons, ospreys, and eagles.

The weather continues to be lovely----mid-70's in the afternoon, mid-50's for the early morning dogwalk.

Another four hours of driving south on I-95, and we are settled in at Jonathan Dickinson State Park, near Jupiter, for the next few days.  The park entrance is close to the Atlantic, but after registering, we followed the park road for four miles west, to the campground which is on the Loxahatchee River.  The campground is not one of the better ones we've seen at Florida parks: sites quite close together and poor showers.  But it was 71 degrees yesterday afternoon, so who's to complain?!

 Photo taken along the nature trail at Faver Dykes: lots of palmettos and Spanish moss.

Look like Florida!

Ranger and I took a long walk early this morning (50 degrees) and scouted out the area. There seems to be a lot to do at this park: river boat tours, kayak rentals, horseback riding, bike trails, and many hiking trails.  The weather is supposed to get steadily warmer as the week goes on, so we are definitely getting into vacation mode.

We awoke this morning in Faver-Dykes State Park, south of St. Augustine.  The tourism bureau’s booklet describes this park as “pristine” which should probably be translated as “no paved roads”.  Considering its proximity to St. Augustine, it feels very remote, with a small campground of 30 sites, each of which is tucked back into the vegetation allowing some privacy.  I have no “bars” out here so I’ll probably need to post this later in the day.

Our drive yesterday took us through Georgia and into Florida.  It felt great when we stopped at the Florida welcome rest area for lunch to leave the winter jackets behind.  Highs yesterday were around 60, which, while not beach weather, is a great improvement over recent temperatures in Montpelier.

We arrived early enough (around 3:30) to take Ranger for a walk around the campground and the little nature trail that goes along the salt marsh & river area.  Dan grilled our dinner and we sat around a campfire for awhile, though Ranger remained restless the whole time, hearing critters (probably raccoons) behind our site.  Sure enough---after we had moved inside for the night, after dark, and Dan stepped outside for a moment to get the water dish---off he ran, escaping into the woods!  I thought he would never be found, but shortly afterwards, he circled back to visit a couple of dogs at another site.  Dan had headed that way after hearing dogs barking and recognizing Ranger’s voice, and the woman at that site grabbed Ranger’s collar and held him so that Dan could put on his leash and bring him back.  Phew!  Too much excitement for me.

Today we will continue south on I-95.  I hope to have a strong enough signal soon to post some photos.

Our third annual "escape from the cold" camping trip began yesterday, Feb. 1.  We left home on a cold, clear morning, fortunately without the snow flurries that were in the forecast.  It was, however, extremely windy, and it continued to be so all the way to our first stop at Santee State Park in South Carolina.

We stayed at Santee last year as well.  It's located just a short distance off I-95 on the shores of Lake Marion, and at this time of year it's a quiet place .  We arrived early enough to take Ranger for a walk, but as soon as the sun went down, the temperatures dropped, so we retreated into the RV to enjoy our little heater.  A good night for soup and grilled cheese sandwiches!

25 degrees this AM, but the wind has died down.  One more long day of driving, and we'll be in Florida.