Travels of Geo Nova: March 2015

Friday, March 20, 2015

INTO THE NEXT TIME ZONE

Self Explanatory

Our tight spot at Ochlockonee SP

Puppet Show

Our Spot at St Andrews SP

Wet lands St Andrews SP

A walk on the beach

last nights campfire

Little Blue Heron in the wind

Alifia River

Lilly on the River

Pair of Turtles on the river

White Devil

Downy Woodpecker

Late Afternoon on the Ochlockenee River

Ochlockonee

Eastern Towhee

Yellow Bellied Sapsucker

Brown Thracher

Long Leaf Pine of Ochlockonee SP

INTO THE NEXT TIME ZONE

We are now approaching the end of our third week in various state parks. It is difficult to say which is the best! Our first park was Alaifa River SP located in a rural area south and east of Tampa. It is far enough away to offer peace and quiet. There were also spectacular night skies without the ever-present pervasiveness of light pollution. After a week of lots of riding on their great single track off road trails, some exploring with the kayaks and hiking we made our longest voyage to date. This time we headed north and west to what is referred to as the big bend area of Florida.

Ochlockonee River SP.

This park is located in a very rural area about 40 miles south of Tallahassee, the capitol of Florida. It was our first opportunity to back the Airstream into the campsite. Wouldn’t you know it we had the most difficult site in the campground to back into? Very narrow roads and lots of live oak trees with an abundance of both vertical and horizontal limbs. I shocked myself by backing the trailer into the site on the first try. (With Diana’s help) We had several people come by and comment, “how did you get that trailer in there!” We had both great hikes and kayaking trips throughout the week. This parks ecosystem is primarily long leaf southern pine that offers the preferred habitat for the Red Caukated Woodpecker. We looked all week and were not able to find one but there were lots of trees that showed evidence of them being around. One small highlight of our stay in the park was a puppet show put on by a fellow camper from Minnesota. There was a hand made sign on the bathroom door one day that stated Free Puppet Show 4PM campsite 13, bring your own chairs. The women puppeteer had a specially made trailer to accommodate her show. It was lots of fun. There was one side trip to Tallahassee. Diana has been watching an area of skin that has been changing. She called her dermatologist in Maine and they said see someone asap. Long story short after 2 biopsies she has Morphea. Once the stitches are out next week she will apply medicine and be all set.

We are now finishing up our stay in St Andrews State Park in Panama City Florida. It is located so far west that we are now in the Central time zone. This park offers spectacular pristine pure white sand beaches. It is situated such that one side of the park faces Panama City Bay and the other The Gulf of Mexico. We have landed one of the best sites in the park, both large and private. We have been hiking, kayaking and biking on a daily basis. The only down side to this park is that it is located in a relatively populated area with high-rise buildings rimming the shoreline not far away. It is an island of great wildlife habitat for many birds and lots of alligators.

In two days we move on to Black River SP about 100 miles west and slightly north of here. This will be our last stop in Florida for this year. The Park is purported to have some of the best river kayaking in Florida. We will let you know what we think.

Pileated Woodpecker

Tuesday, March 3, 2015

The Voyage Has Begun

This time it's not through the water but over the road. The great thing is Diana isn't carsick like she was seasick so it is much better for her. The last several weeks at TGO were a blur. Each day seemed to fill in before you knew it with Tia chi, biking, sewing, socials, walks, birding and kayaking. The last week was filled with lots of goodbye social get together with friends.

We departed Titusville February 24th for Sarasota to join an Airstream Rally. This was our madden voyage with the Airstream. I am happy to say all went well. It's not too tough hauling a 30-foot trailer. Driving down the highway was less stressful than we realized. I am sure there will be challenges in the future but we aren't going to think about that now. The tires on the trailer are only rated for 65 mph so I keep it around 62 and let everyone pass me. Now I am the slow guy in the right lane. Wave when you go by, hahaha.

Alumaflamongo, the rally, was held at the Sarasota Fair grounds. About 165 Airstream Trailers attended it. They ranged in age from brand new to vintage 1958. Also there were Airstreams that they don't make any more, buses, class B motor homes and 34 footers. On the last day it was open house so we got to check out many of the vintage trailers. We also attended several seminars and learned a lot. On that note when we arrived and were setting up the trailer we went to deploy the large main awning and quickly realized we had forgotten how to do it. It was too tight in Titusville to use it and the last time it was deployed was when we got our demo last spring when we bought it. Not to worry our neighbor was an experienced Air-streamer and came to the rescue. We also met many nice people who we hope to meet up with in the future. It really made us feel like we did when we were cruising on the boat, pulling in to a new spot, meeting like-minded people and everyone helping each other out.

The other highlight of last week was a visit from Abe. He joined us Wednesday night after work. We had a nice dinner then later we got a knock on the door asking if we were going to volunteer for Habitat For Humanity through the Rally. We looked at Abe because it was his day off; he said of coarse "sign us up". We worked the next morning from 7:30-11. We were asked to paint and later David helped dig a trench and fill it in. Thankfully the rain stopped at 7am so we were able to accomplish what was needed.

On Sunday everyone went off in they’re own direction. Our direction was to visit the first of 4 State Parks here in Florida. Alafia River SP was only a 2-hour drive north and east of Sarasota. It is very quiet and serene here. Last night the marsh beside us came alive. A symphony of bird and frog sounds. We didn't know if the noise would keep us awake but it serenaded us to sleep. The park is home to the best off road bike trails that Florida has to offer. They range from easy to difficult. I plan to stay alive and avoid the difficult trails. After today's ride both my bike and I were caked in mud. There is abundant wildlife, hiking trails and kayaking opportunities. We have since found out the because of the rainfall here the day before we arrived the river is off limits at the county and state day park. We ventured to the day park thinking we could kayak there but that branch of the river was too high. Even though it has reseeded 18 inches; all the docks are still under water and the current is still to strong. It could wrap an aluminum canoe around a tree. We have found a branch that is usually is only inches deep and has lots of dry spots but right now is navigatable so we will be trying that tomorrow.

In a week we have our longest leg of our journey North up to the panhandle of Florida.