Saint George's Island, State Park, Eastpoint, FL
Trip Start
Nov 19, 2007
1
28
171
Trip End
Ongoing
St. Georges Island,
Florida,
United States
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Drove up from Silver River and had a very long day on the road. We both did a lot of driving pulled into the campground at about 10:30 PM. Luckily, Jodie was able to go into the back of the RV and connect to the State Park site while I drove through a long stretch of forest. She called them up at about 6:00PM to see if we could get in after hours and they gave us the electric gate code. Calling ahead is a good thing for us to remember for the future. This time it saved us from parking along side the road somewhere.
Feb. 24th- Sunday
Got up late and took an 8 mile round trip peddle to the ranger station to register. Went down to the beach and over to the bay to see what was up
entrance sign
. The beach is beautiful and almost totally uninhabited. The sand is ultra fine powder white sugar dust that feels so fine that you can hardly feel it.Jodie and I started re-webbing our "vintage Ebay aluminum folding chairs" when we met up with Don Cummings who drives an '07 Navion (just like ours). Nice guy, we had some wine and smoked mullet at his place and traded used DVDs. Don's from Vermont and has been on the road since August, with a short break in between. He's on the road waiting 3 weeks for his wife to retire and join him.
Feb. 25th. Mon.
We took a long bike ride and walk on the beach with Don and we all lost track of how long we had been walking. At one point, since it was high tide, we ran out of wet sand to bike on, so we locked all 3 bike together and took off on foot. Don showed us that the sand actually "squeaks" when you shuffle your feet along. The sand is so fine that it's hard to understand how it makes such a loud squeaking sound.
When we finally turned around to head back, we kept wondering where the bikes were since it was taking far longer than any of us expected
Modeling our new chair webbing
. Finally, we reached the bikes and all three of us were pretty beat from the walk, wind and sun. When we reached the campground we went our separate ways to catch some rest.Feb. 26th, Tues.
We went for a drive so that we could do our laundry on the mainland. A thunder shower was predicted for later in the day and the sky was a little cloudy when we left. Well, the sky went dark grey, the wind gusted to 45 mph (per the ranger the next day) and the waves were between 6' and 8' off the side of the bridge. The bridge is 5 miles long and gets very high in the middle so that ships can pass under it. The worst of the weather happened as we got to the high point of the bridge and it started to micro burst to boot. What an incredibly scary 10 or 15 minutes. I dropped the speed down to about 10- 15 mph and the RV was rocking side to side and getting pelted with big rain drops. Jodie asked "is this a hurricane?" and I quickly said....NO, IT'S NOT A HURRICANE, but I was thinking that it might actually be getting close to being a mild one......what a time to be at the peak of the bridge (about 100-120' up or so). The one saving grace was that it was a concrete roadway and not steel, so we didn't slide into the side of the guard rail with all of the wind. So far, being on that bridge with all of that wind and rain, has been the freakiest thing we've had to deal with- even worse than driving over the "Dragons Tail", a/k/a "The Blender", going through the Blue Ridge Mountains in Georgia
Andy and Don
.While at the Laundromat I spoke to the fellow laundry women there. We discussed the lousy conditions of this particular laundromat and discovered what each other knew to be the "good" washers and dryers...etc. One of the women turned out to be the owner of the RV parked next to us in the lot. We struck up a deeper conversation about mud dauber wasps and how they build homes in ones heater exhaust vents and cause havoc down the road with one's heating unit. Her name is Priscilla and we find out she is camped a few sites over from ours on the Island! The next day Priscilla comes on over to say "hi" and she has her right arm in her pocket, obviously favoring it. It turns out she has sprained it and is anxious about breaking down her pop-up cap as well as driving. We talk and find a million things in common. Like...she was born in Chappaqua although she was raised in NYC and has spent her adult life out west in beautiful and exotic surroundings of dessert or mountains. She even used to travel from NYC to Brewster, where I was born and raised, as a teenager to be part of a spiritual community centered there at the time! I wish I had known her then!
We decide to travel together to make it more comfortable for Priscilla and her poor arm. Andy un-popped her cap and was amazed she has been getting it popped and un-popped all by herself!! Took all his strength and she is probably 85 lbs of pixie. Miracles happen all day long! I drove her truck and Andy drove ours to our next State Park along the Florida Panhandle. It is so interesting to feel the camaraderie of RV life. We all feel out friends and try to be helpful in our lives but this life somehow makes it even more poignant. There was no question in my mind I would drive her truck if she needed it. We bond fast in this common denominator called "the RV".
Comments
Frog stew
Did you mix that frog in with some mullet? Fess up now. How is Maudie doing with her iv? Does she hunt crabs and frogs? P.S. Doug is my grandfater.