Outer Banks or Bust!!

We made it to North Carolina and are at the doorstep of the Outer Banks. We looked into taking a ferry to the southern end of the banks, but the morning ferry is already full and the only other trip is at 4:30 and takes two and a half hours. We decided to spend the night on the mainland on the Pamlico Sound just south of New Bern (find it on the map!) In the morning we will drive on highway 17 to 64 and get to the barrier islands. We plan to spend three nights there and take day trips to explore the seashore along North Carolina's coast. I will take pictures and update you if we have good airwaves for Internet connection.
The trip has been good so far and we are still planning on being back to southeast Michigan on April 5th.
Love to all!

The campground here was hit by a tornado last April and a hurricane in August. Trees were toppled everywhere and clean-up is still underway. 

The campground host was here during the hurricane and huddled in this restroom during the storm. Two trees fell on the building, but no one was hurt!. 

Myrtle Beach; What a zoo!

This morning we took about a ten mile bike ride on the beach from the state park south. There were several resorts and a lot of beautiful homes along the ocean. The beach here is hard packed sand just like Daytona and bike riding was awesome! Later in the morning we took a tour of Myrtle Beach and were amazed at how developed it is. We knew it was a popular destination, but didn't know it was so developed. The resort hotels go on for about five miles, and there are non-stop restaurants and shopping along the main drag for miles. There is a nice boardwalk in the main downtown area that goes along the beach for about a mile in between two piers. Lots of hotels, gift shops and bars along the boardwalk and restaurants and arcades. It looks like this place would be busy at the height of peak season, but right now it is still a bit slow.

On Friday we are going to make another move further up the coast to North Carolina and the outer banks. We plan on camping there for four nights and do some more exploring.

Happy trails!

The gang at Key West standing at the southern tip of the continental US

Ospreys nest anywhere they can build on an elevated platform. Here at Flamingo on a radio tower.

A picture from the boardwalk at Royal Palm visitor's center, Everglades National Park.

The fort at St. Augustine, Florida

George Street, St. Augustine

Just read the sign.

St. Augustine Beach at Anastasia State Park.

Now we are at Myrtle Beach. Self Portrait.

The boardwalk at Myrtle.

We made it to Myrtle Beach

Well, we are actually about 12 miles south, but we found a really nice state park campground and set up for two nights. Tomorrow we will take a ride into Myrtle and do the boardwalk, but the beach here at the park is much less crowded. The temperature seems to be cooling down quite a bit, but we did get up to 83 while we were driving today. Now at 8:45 it is probably about seventy or even 65.

My internet signal is slow here, so not condusive to posting pictures. We took quite a few at St Augustine, but so far nothing from this park. Once I have good reception I will post more pictures from Key West and beyond.

US1 heading south in the Florida Keys

The beach at Bahia Honda Key

I hope everyone is well and doing fine.

St Augustine, Florida

We spent a day exploring St Augustine today and were amazed at the history and the beauty of this area. The town dates back to the 1500,s and has lots of history. St. Augustine is a city in the northeast section of Florida and the county seat of St. Johns County, Florida, United States.^[1] Founded in 1565 by Spanish explorer and admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, it is the oldest continuously occupied European-established city and port in the continental United States.^[2] St. Augustine lies in a region of Florida known as "The First Coast", which extends from Amelia Island in the north to Jacksonville, St. Augustine, and Palm Coast in the south. According to the 2010 census, the city population was 12,975.^[3] St. Augustine is the headquarters for the Florida National Guard.
My internet reception is slow here so I'll post pictures later. Tomorrow we are going to work our way north along the coast and will be headed to the Myrtle Beach area.

Our last day in the Everglades

We've been camping and touring with the Bozins for the past five days and all is well. They left for Disney World this morning and Nancy and I went to Biscayne National Park for the day. We were in Key West and the Florida Keys on Friday and toured Everglades National Park on Saturday. The weather has been good and hot and sunny. In the morning we head north along the east coast to northeastern Florida.
I hope this finds everyone well.

We saw our first wild rattlesnake at one of the boardwalks in the Everglades. Nice and fat and probably around six feet long.

Joe trying to shake hands with a gator!

The boardwalk at Royal Palm Visitor Center.

An Anahinga at Royal Palm.

We went for a boat ride at Biscayne National Park south of Miami and north of Key Largo.

We went to Boca Chita, an island that is part of the National Park.

Friday Heading to Key West

We are on our way to Key West this morning with the Bozins. We met up with them again in Collier Seminole State Park south of Naples and are camping with them now in Everglades National Park. We are having a great time and enjoying great sunny weather in the 80's every afternoon. We packed bikes this morning for a full day's adventure in the Keys. Yesterday Nancy and I went back to Shark Valley and did the fifteen mile bike loop to see all the alligators and wildlife in the glades. It' a great place to view the areas nature.

Birds at Clyde Butcher's Everglade's Art Gallery

At Shark Valley

And of course the gators!

On the road again !

We left Mayaka River this morning and are staying the night with Bob and Donna at Port Charlotte. We will be pulling out of here on Tuesday morning and heading down to a state park near Marco Island.
Here are some pictures we took at Mayaka River...

This place is awesome for seeing wildlife. These are Roseate Spoonbills. They are pink like flamingos.

You can see the pink better when they are flying.

From the boardwalk we saw this huge flock of white pelicans. There were also a couple of bald eagles flying around.

This is a yellow rat snake. We know that because there was a sign that talked about yellow rat snakes and we saw this guy crawling up a tree about twenty feet down the path!

This was a huge alligator, about eleven feet long. He'd make a great suitcase!

We Will Say a Prayer for Brad Today

The hurt is healing and the pain subsides, but the love remains as strong as ever. We will miss our baby boy till we are with him again. We count our blessings for all those we still have and pray for those who have gone before us.
Love one another and celebrate life.

Happy birthday Margaret!! 39, just like me!!

Sunny Saturday at Hawthorne

Another beautiful 84 degree day in Leesburg. We helped with some painting and then went down to the pool for the afternoon. The water was great and the sun was hot!

Tomorrow we are moving further south to Sarasota and back to Mayaka River State Park. We camped there last year and really enjoyed it.

We took a couple of pictures at sunset. The palm trees were inspirational!

Another day in paradise!!

Ketchup on Friday

We made it to Leesburg this morning and are at the Goodfallow's. Everything is on track. Sunny skies and 82 degrees.
Here are some pictures from the past couple of days...

We loaded the bikes into Joe's van and went to Cedar Key on the gulf. We rode around here for a couple of hours then had lunch and relaxed on the beach.

The gulf at Cedar Key.

The gulls and pelicans hanging around.

We saw this mural painted on the side of a building. The building in the picture is the building that the picture is painted on!

If you see Joe the Fisherman pat him on the head.

Ibis in the water at Manatee Springs and Suwanee River.

Here are the manatees. We saw five of them on Thursday.

Big sea cows!!

Our campsite at Manatee Springs.

The stream leading from the river to the spring was full of these fish (mullet??)

Still at Manatee Springs

Tonight will be the fourth and final night here at Manatee Springs State Park. Tomorrow we are headed to Leesburg to see the Goodfallows.
Joe and Lynda left this morning, headed for Lakeland to watch the Tigers at Spring Training. Yesterday we all loaded our bikes in Joe's van and went to Cedar Key on the Gulf and had a grand old day biking and beaching and eating lunch and watching the dolphins. It was a great little Island with a real old Florida fishing village character. I am writing this post at the campground with a slllllooooowwwww ssiiiigggggnnnnnaaaaalllll so I can't post any of the pictures I've been taking. I will catch up from Leesburg.
We walked down to the spring this morning and there were five manatees playing in the water. I will post a picture of them when I can.

We are having a wonderful time so far!!

Tuesday In Chiefland, Florida

We are at Manatee Springs State Park in Chiefland. Near the gulf, and 130 miles north of St Pete's. We broke the 80 degree barrier today. Warm and sunny.
We hooked up with the Bozin's and are camped with them for three nights. All is well!

Joe and Lynda Bozin watching the deer come through the campground last night. There were five of them apparently looking for handouts.  

Nancy in front of Manatee Spring. The water was crystal clear and came up at 72 degrees year round! 

Manatee facts.

Monday, Monday

We are at St. Joseph Penninsula State Park, but could only get one night here. We are trying to see what our options are for today to see if we can get another night or to move on. Spring break has all of the campgrounds pretty full. We were hoping to hook up with the Bozins at one of these parks, but we can't find anyplace with two available sights!! (They got into Florida yesterday).

The weather is pleasant in the seventies, so we are enjoying that.

Camping in the palm trees.

White sugar sasnd beaches here.

The boardwalk is a short walk to the beach on the Gulf.

Saturday at Pensacola

We had a better day today. No rain and temps around 70. The sun was out most of the day but through thin clouds.
We had to switch campsites at this campground since the site we were on was reserved for Saturday night. We made the move at around 11 o'clock and enjoyed the rest of the day. We did some biking and walking around the campground.

The remains of the main fort at Fort Pickens.

A blue heron at the beach.

A bunker that used to house a small canon at the fort.

Military housing on the beach. The sand here is as white as snow.

Pensacola Beach

We arrived in Florida today and a cold front arrived with us. We got big rain overnight in Alabama and a few sprinkles here in Florida. The high today struggled to the mid sixties and tonight is going down to 48 degrees. I guess we'll have to tough it out! Tomorrow is supposed to be 72.
Hope all is well with everyone.

Driving into Pensacola Beach this afternoon. Where's that Florida sunshine?

Camp three at Ft. Pickens National Park. There is an Air Force base on the mainland and the jets have been out and rumbling the sky all afternoon.