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