The Woman is in ecstacy!

After 550 miles on the Camino de Santiago, dozens of miles on the Appalachian Trail, the same on the Arizona Trail, and likely over 100 miles on the PCT (Pacific Crest Trail), including hiking to both the northern and southern terminus, the Woman just had to check out the Florida Trail.

The Florida Trail is a 1,300-mile-long footpath that runs from the Florida Keys up into the Florida Panhandle, the length of the state. Most of its path is up the middle of the Florida peninsula, so in the locations we have been staying on the east and west coasts, we really haven’t been near the Trail in order to check it out.

Robin is always excited to hike on trails, especially those that have been signified as National Scenic Trails. We Googled some maps, and learned that much of the Florida Trail near Miramar Beach is inside Elgin Airforce Base, and you need to get a special permit to enter. Having no luck in reaching anyone at the Base, I was fortunate enough to locate some coordinates that should get us to the Trail heading east from the edge of Elgin. Brenda took us right there, and we spent a really nice (although a bit chilly) morning doing about 4 miles of the FT.  There must not be much traffic on the Trail because we didn’t see a single footprint the entire 4 miles – in fact, the path didn’t look worn at all. Even though, the Woman couldn’t have been happier. The pooch was pretty happy as well.

Talk to you soon. 

Welcome to Miramar Beach

After being on the Atlantic and watching sunrises every morning, we were soon stunned. We hadn’t thought about the fact that Miramar is essentially on the West coast of the Florida peninsula, and so we would be able to now enjoy sunsets, not unlike being in California. With glorious weather on the day we arrived, our welcome to Miramar Beach came along with a beautiful sunset!

We were lulled into a feeling that every day would be glorious, but we were soon brought back into reality. Overall, it is still considerably warmer than being on the Atlantic, even though we are quite a bit further North of Flagler Beach. But we soon learned that the normally changing weather in Florida is in play here as well. Strong winds are frequent, and soon the rain clouds moved in. But that wouldn’t keep us from venturing out.

We had forgotten how wonderful the beaches are on the Florida Panhandle. The sand is almost white, and is almost the consistency of powdered sugar. We found an off-leash dog beach near Panama City Beach, which allowed us to run Kona ragged chasing his squeaky ball. As you can see, somebody really enjoys this sugary sand.

Talk to you soon. 

Marathon adventure

We weren’t exactly close, since we had only 2 National Parks in the lower 48 that had not visited, we decided to make a multi-day trip to Georgia and South Carolina to visit Congaree National Park. It required us to drive Colectiva II to a state park in Georgia, and then a pet friendly hotel in Orangeburg South Carolina to make it work. It was a 3-hour drive to get there, but it turned out to be worth the effort.

Allegedly in the late 1700’s, the entire coastal ranges from Virginia to Texas were hardwood forests. Because of logging in the early 1800’s to build homes and whatever, nearly all hardwood forests were gone before the Civil War. In the Congaree River drainage area, the forests were owned by the Chicago based Santee River Cypress Logging Company. Because of the nature of the terrain – water levels in the basin very by as much as 10 feet – it was very difficult to log effectively. The owners, Francis Beidler and Benjamin Ferguson, stopped logging the area in 1910 hoping it would be more valuable after other forests were depleted.

Logging resumed in the 1960’s, and a local named Harry Hampton began to advocate to preserve the last remaining hardwood forest in the East. This forest is dominated by Loblolly Pine, which grow very tall and only carry their branches and needles at the very top. I didn’t think that trees could thrive in standing water. But most of this forest lies in standing water for much of the year – at a minimum in the winter when water from snows fill the basin.

In the areas of the forest where Cypress grow, the trees show an interesting phenomenon that scientists don’t have a definite answer of the “why?” The roots of the Cypress surrounding the tree grow up and break the surface of the soil, creating knee high stubs. Scientists think that maybe these stubs may provide the tree with some additional stability in the muddy swamp. But they don’t know for sure. They were very eerie looking – almost alive.

Since the weather was cold and rainy, we settled for hiking through the center of the forest on their elevated boardwalk, and ended up leaving a day earlier than planned. We got an unexpected surprise! When we told the we told the folk at the Country Inn we were checking out in the morning, without even asking, they gave us an immediate credit for the 2^nd  night. When we got back to Laura S Walker State Park, they did the same. We’re used to folks saying “Sorry, you needed to have given us more notice to get a refund – how refreshing! Check out this Pileated Woodpecker we spotted in Congaree – a lifer for us!

Because we knew it would be too cold for a campfire if we got back early, we took the opportunity to head to Charleston to try to find a Whispering Giant, even though it took us 2 hours out of the way. Landing Brave was Peter Wolf Toth’s 23^rd Whispering Giant. We had alleged coordinates, but when we arrived, they took us to a parking lot for Charles Town Landing State Park, and were pointing some 500 feet into a dense wooded area, where there were not paths or even openings. We made the decision to venture into the State Park and asked the docent if the statue was there. She said yes, and pointed it out to us on the Park map.

So, we ponied up the entrance fee, and walked over to where she had pointed. Sadly, we found a metal statue of Cassique, a Kiawah Chief. Disappointed, we headed back toward the parking lot, but I looked at the Park Map and saw that there was part of the park adjacent to the parking lot in the general direction that Brenda had suggested. So, we just decided to take a look near the African American cemetery, and BINGO! There was Landing Brave. If we can find one more Whispering Giant, we will have seen a full half of the sculptures that still exist!

Now, after watching the SpaceX launch we are moving on to Miramar Beach.

Talk to you soon.

Moving on

We’re heading to the Florida Panhandle next. The weather reports are that it will be warmer and dryer there than in Flagler Beach so we are anxious to get there. I was also interested in seeing whether we liked moving between stops in Colectiva II. However, after learning a bit about Fort Caroline when we visited Fort Matanzas, we decided to head through Jacksonville to make sure we didn’t miss a chance to tie some things together. Named for the folk that were here when the French arrived, the Timucuan Visitor Center gives a great historical perspective.

The French claim that Fort Caroline was actually the first European settlement in Florida, before Menendez established St. Augustine. Jean Ribault left France in February 1562, landed near current day Jacksonville, and erected a monument on what he named the River May, now known as the St. Johns River. We visited his monument – well at least the spot where he erected it. The monument was lost over time, but in 1924, Florida chapters of the Daughters of the American Revolution had the monument rebuilt to the original specifications. It sits on St. Johns Bluff, the highest point in the county.

We visited what they believe was the original site of the Fort. It turns out that Ribault didn’t establish a settlement in his first visit, but a group of Huguenots returned in 1564, making them the first settlers fleeing religious persecution in what was later to become the United States. Archeologists have never found any remains from the Fort or its occupants. They have determined where they believe it was located based on very precise maps created by French sea captains during the 1500’s.

The tragedy we learned about, the slaughter of Ribault by Menendez near Fort Matanzas, was not contained to the St. Augustine area. The French commander at Fort Caroline knew of Menendez’s forces in St. Augustine, and believed he had them outnumbered 3 to 1. So, shortly after Ribault’s slaughter, he sailed 3 war ships down to St. Augustine, anchored outside the harbor, and demanded that Menendez surrender. While anchored, a freak hurricane hit and destroyed all 3 ships, and Menendez killed all survivors that came ashore. Menendez then assembled his men, marched up to Fort Caroline, and murdered all settlers, with the exception of any Catholics that were tradesmen and, therefore, useful. Because a city was never established here after the slaughter at the fort, St. Augustine claims to be the oldest city in America.

Nearby we discovered Waterboro Army Airfield. This base served as a training ground for Army airmen, including a group of the Tuskegee Airmen. Since both white and black pilots were trained here, the Tuskegee Airmen had to endure far more prejudice than their counterparts trained in black only units. Locals honored their valor by erecting a monument to both there ability to persevere as well as their skill as pilots making a huge contribution to the war effort.

Talk to you soon. 

More exploring

Since we had been here before, we had done a pretty good job of taking in the local attractions. Somehow however, we missed a few of the National Park Service managed sites near to Saint Augustine. It’s hard for me to believe that we hadn’t figured out that Fort Matanzas National Monument was nearby.

The Spaniards had an outpost here since 1565 when they founded St. Augustine. The Spaniards had quarreled constantly with both the British and the French over who was entitled to these lands, and the Spaniards had to defend what they believed was their rights to the land as the first settlers. The French had established Fort Caroline on the inlet to Jacksonville to emphasize their claims to Florida – it actually stood on Spanish land. In late 1565 near the current day fort, Spanish forces attacked the French – on the first attack, 111 were killed – 2 weeks later another attack claimed 134. The river was thus named Matanzas – the Spanish word for “slaughter”.

In the early 1700’s the Spanish finally got around to building an actual fort on the inlet. Normally you are able to actually visit the fort and walk around its ancient ramparts. But sadly, the boat dock was damaged during Hurricane Dorian, and therefore the ferry to get to the fort on the other side of the river is not running. We’d hoped that the ferry would be back in service before we left the area, but no such luck!

We headed to St. Augustine to scope it out. Built by the Spaniards in the late 1600’s, Castillo de San Marcos (National Monument) is the oldest, and the largest, masonry fort in the continental US. Stone is not something that is prevalent in Florida – however near St. Augustine are immense quantities of Coquina – the Spanish word for Shellfish – a limestone made from the shells of sea life, and an excellent building material. We may have actually been here long ago, but it may have been before we kept track of our visits to sites managed by the various federal agencies – the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management and the US Forest Service.

We lucked out, arriving at about 3 o’clock to learn that their daily cannon firing demonstration took place at 3:30. At that time, the gun crew appeared, dressed in Spanish military uniforms from the time period. The actually conducted the demonstration speaking in Castilian Spanish appropriate to the time period as well. After the cannon went off – loud by the way – you could hear the echo resounding from the opposite shore. It turns out that the Coquina was an excellent building material that would last centuries, it also was nearly impervious to attack. Whereas normally forts taking cannon fire would see their walls crack and crumble, the Coquina would simply absorb the impact, the cannon ball just sticking in the wall.

We also stumbled onto the St. Augustine Lighthouse. Built in the 1870’s, it survived unlike most lighthouses in Florida. Because of the soft, shifting soil on the Florida coast, most brick lighthouses were so heavy that they would settle and eventually collapse. This one survived because its foundation was built from Coquina – the same material used to build the Castillo de San Marcos. 

At first the Woman said "I've climbed lighthouses before, I don't need to climb another one." So I asked if she minded if I just climbed up myself, and I promised not to take too long. Luckily she thought about it a little more, and decided she would tough it out and we would do it together. We climbed the 219 steps to the top of the lighthouse, taking in the spectacular view of the oldest city in North America.

Before leaving St. Augustine, we checked out their Night of Lights. For the last 26 years, beginning on Thanksgiving, the entire city is decorated from ground to rooftop with decorative lighting. National Geographic has named St. Augustine’s Night of Lights in the top 10 holiday light displays in the world. We found a nice pub, grabbed an appetizer and a beer, and waited for the sun to go down. It was worth the wait!

Talk to you soon.

A new chapter

We had a general plan that when we got back to Vegas, we would look into replacing Colectiva. At well over 12 years old, lots of stuff no longer worked, and wear and tear had taken their toll on some of the structural integrity. In addition, all of our technology in the coach was over a decade old. We were also running into RV parks that had instituted a 10-year-old age limit on rigs staying in their park, So, even though the idea saddened us, we agreed it might be time to see her go.

Little did we know that we would make the switch in Florida. We visited a dealership outside Daytona that carried Forest River FR3 products, which we had focused in on as our likely replacement coach. They actually had our unit, the 30DS, in stock, and were discounting it over $40,000 from its list price. When we described Colectiva to them, they offered us nearly 5 times what we had generally felt she was worth. So, I set off on a marathon project to actually get a copy of Colectiva’s title from the Nevada DMV, which included a flight to Vegas to show up in person at the DMV office because of their unwillingness to make any attempt to help us do it by mail. In the end, we got the title, registered and insured Colectiva II in Florida, and made the trade.

Lots of stuff to deal with. When I pushed the tow bar for the Equinox into the receptacle of the FR3, the holes for the hitch lock didn’t quite align – I could not push it in. Luckily I found a lock designed for a 5^th wheel connector that you wouldn’t otherwise use for a tow bar – but is was just a bit smaller, and actually fit quite snuggly in the space we had – bonus! Also, this rig is not set up for a theater system. I bought a Blu-ray DVD player and tried to set it up, with cables to allow for external cable connections. I bought cables at Target and completely struck our - nothing worked. I went to Amazon and ordered their basic cables - when I got them, both the cable connections and the DVD player worked - another bonus!

Now we’re well into the process of trying to fit all of our stuff into a coach that is 8 feet shorter – meaning 8 feet less storage. Not only has the storage space shrunk, but we have gone from living in about 300 square feet I Colectiva to only about 100 square feet in Colectiva II – sheesh! 

It is a good thing that we still had a couple of weeks to spend in Beverly Beach because it was clearly going to take that long to figure out how to make everything fit. After several visits to Goodwill to donate things we knew wouldn’t fit, and several visits to Home Depot for storage boxes and other supplies (like this huge sewer pipe to store our sewer hose), we managed to fit it all in. Santa watched over us as we worked.

We have kept up our daily walks somewhere near the Atlantic. Sometimes the walks are actually on the beach, and other times they are on nearby walkways. We are used to seeing certain emergency equipment available in public spaces, such as defibrillators, lifesaving buoys near the water, etc. But only in Florida have we seen this kind of emergency equipment!

Talk to you soon.

Camino memories

We lucked out and got a chance to reminisce a bit about our 500 mile walk of the Camino de Santiago. Alicia Darius and her hubby, Marino Zara, own a condo in Miami, and they were stopping in there on their way back to the family home Tafalla Spain, outside Pamplona. We spent the afternoon with them, stopping for a really nice lunch at the Versailles, “the world’s most famous Cuban restaurant.

We spent most of the afternoon touring the area of Miami where they live. We checked out the Coconut Grove, Coral Gables and all of the upscale trendy residential and night life neighborhoods. We then retired to their 31^st story condo to spend the afternoon. Marino, who loves to cook, made a Cuban omelet for a snack (which was amazing), and we spent most of our time on the balcony overlooking Miami beach. We even got a chance to watch Ken Jennings win his first match in the Jeopardy Greatest of All-Time tournament. What a wonderful day!

Since we were sort of passing by it on the way back to Beverly Beach, we headed to Fort Lauderdale beach to take in another Whispering Giant, our first of the new decade! Nobody seems to know the name of this Peter Wolf Toth statue, but what we do know is that it was moved here from the Seminole Reservation in Hollywood. That brings us to a whopping 29 of these Giants, just a bit shy of half of the ones that still exist – pretty cool!

Talk to you soon.