8/30/2015

8/28-30/2015

Barb got up earlier than normal and went along to watch the sunrise.  Today, too many clouds for a decent look, probably visible for less than 5 minutes.  We went back to the camper and got caught up on this blog and waited out the weather.  Tropical Storm Erika is getting close enough for them to start predicting paths...some are up the east side of Florida.  With our next stop being St Augustine, that is a concern.  I looked at our current location and our site is available for the next 2 days, so we are now reserved through Wednesday to stay put.  That can all change if the track of Erika shifts west.  We rode back to the lighthouse to use the internet and discovered & corrected an issue with Directv...what did we ever do before the internet came along?  Oh, I know, wait weeks for the USPS. While we were there, we took in the tour of the museum for the Cape George Light, which is now in its 3rd location after locals re-erected it after it collapsed during the storms associated with Hurricanes Issac & Wilma.  I love touring those places, lots to learn in our world, lots of great folks have been among us over the years.  We spent a couple hours reading the history of the light, first erected in 1833.  Here is the history: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_St._George_Light.  We went back to the camper and I took a nap.  We then went to visit some of the local establishments.  At The Blue Parrot, the sun set and the clouds made it look pretty amazing...took a bunch of cool pictures. Then we went a few blocks for some dinner and listen to a band play at Harry A's...fun night.

By morning, the track of Erika had shifted west, some had it coming up the center of the peninsula, some had it coming up the west coast and right at us in East Point.  I made a decision at that point to leave this morning and make a beeline home.  I would rather ride this out with our motor home in the garage and us in our home, than at a camp ground within 1000 yards from the Gulf of Mexico.  So I got on the internet and started cancelling reservations and making plans to head home.  I went back to the camper and started packing up between raindrops which had no relevance to Erika, just rain. We are on the road about 915 am, and it being a Saturday, we expect a lot of traffic.  But our route takes along US 98 east along the Gulf Coast, then south on US 19 down through those places you have to try to go through, Perry, Cross City, Chiefland and as we go across Florida from Chiefland to Ocala, we pass through horse country with miles of wooden fences, beautiful pastures with horses galore and the little town of Williston, that is 1000 times prettier than the Williston, ND we drove through last summer.  The traffic starts on I-75 at Ocala to the Turnpike and south to Orlando.  It is good to see familiar surroundings, but we have had a great summer...4355 miles with the motor home and an additional 3260 miles with our trusty little car...7615 miles of beautiful countryside, a lot of it for the first time.  As we pull onto Brown Rd, it starts to rain again, do tell.  We are glad we are home. Oh, and they are reporting that Erica has broken apart and is no longer a threat, so cutting the last 4 days off our trip was, in the end, for naught. But the summer isn't over yet though, we will be back on the road in about 3 weeks.  Stay tuned. We will help Tyler celebrate tuning 18 and be at it again.

Steve & Barb Larson

Early morning over the Gulf...so peaceful

The sun appeared, if only for a couple minutes

Florida sure has its share of cool critters

The amazing sunset from The Blue Parrot on St George Island

The Josh Buckley Band

The moon is trying to peak out

On US 98 along the Gulf

Yes, there is a Florida town called Sopchoppy

Along the Florida Turnpike...getting ready to get serious

The rain 4 minutes later

On Brown Rd...good to be home

8/28/2015

8/26-27/2015

Last night’s sunset was pretty lame, too many clouds.  We went back to the camper and ate some leftovers for dinner and watched some TV…Tuesday night…NCIS re-runs.  This morning, we just hung out in the nice cool camper…it is definitely still summer.  About 430, we went for a ride, got some gas for the car and drove to Port St Joe, about 25 miles west.  The county (Gulf) is one of few in the US that has 2 time zones in the same county, and Port St Joe being in the western part, we are again in Central Time.  We had a recommendation to try Sunset Coastal Grill so we decided to give it a try…delicious dinner and a view of St Joseph Bay.  As the sunset got closer, I went out the door and took a few pictures…beautiful sunset but unwanted people in my picture.  We drove a little ways north on US 98, turned around and headed back to the camper.  Time to get some rest.

I got up early and drove west a couple miles where I could get both some internet and a view of the sunrise.  It did not disappoint…very peaceful place to sit and wait…beautiful way to start a morning.  I went back & after some breakfast, we took another ride.  Apalachicola is a cool little town at the point where the Apalachicola River flows into the Apalachicola Bay, providing a perfect breeding ground for the huge oyster crop that is harvested daily.  This has been going on since the mid-1800s and is still a very big part of the culture of the area today.  Dr John Gorrie moved there in 1833 and his desire to help those stricken with Yellow Fever led him to invent a way to mechanically make ice, which was used as the first form on mechanical air conditioning.  There is a museum in town that is also a Florida State Park.  Dr. Gorrie was issued Patent 8080 in 1851 but died just 4 short years later, unable to witness the far reaching effects of his invention.  So the next time you have a drink over ice in an air conditioned room, give a salute to Dr Gorrie, nearly 165 years since this great invention…salute!  We then drove about 6 blocks NW and visited the other State Park in town, Orman House, an Antebellum home built in 1838 by Thomas Orman, a local entrepreneur who made his fortune shipping cotton back to the US east coast and to Europe.  The Civil War was also the demise of his livelihood and thus his fortune.  Both of these State Parks are open for tours and are worth the $2 admission…very interesting history of Florida.

We asked the Park Ranger at both Gorrie House & Orman House about dining and both recommended the Up the Creek Restaurant & Raw Bar.  We drove by and looked at others and decided to take their recommendation.  We got a seat overlooking the Apalachicola River and sat there watching oyster boats come & go and ate some dinner.  I had some oysters (been quite a while) and Barb had a really good fish sandwich.  Nice way to end the afternoon.  We then drove back to St George Island, stopped at Harry A’s on the water on the NW part of the Island and listened to some live music, watched the sunset and enjoyed the island atmosphere.  I think we will come back here more often…we both enjoy it a lot.

Steve & Barb Larson

Sunset over St Joseph Bay

Early morning on the Gulf of Mexico

Sunrise over the Gulf off St George Island

Sunrise

The beach sure is peaceful

Alone on the beach

St George Lighthouse

Where I have to sit to get internet-yes, it is rough

The bridge from St George Island to the mainland

My cool partner

Replica of the first ice machine

Where we had dinner last night

4 of these went by while we were eating dinner

been a while since I had oysters-boy, were they tasty

Music fest coming up...whole bunch of Rock Boaters

The sunset from Harry As

St George Island Bridge

8/27/2015

8/23-25/2015

Sunday morning, we were packed up and down the road by 9.  Our next stop is south of Atlanta, which we anticipated to be about 6-7 hours.  We arrived at Chattahoochee Bend State park about 415, got signed in and set up, both got a shower and headed to Newnan, dinner with our friend Patti.  We got there about 6 and talked a bit and then we were off to Senoia, GA for a walk around the historic part of town and some dinner at McGuire’s, nice little pub in a basement of the historic district…nice spot.  We drove back to Patti’s and called it a night, stayed at Patti’s.

Monday morning, Barb & I both slept late, had some coffee & talked.  Patti is a great host, and her 3 dogs are great entertainment.  About noon, we headed out again, this time Rome, GA is the destination.  It is almost 2 hours away, so Barb & Patti sat up front and jabbered…me in the back seat just relaxing. Rome is a thriving small town in NW Georgia, enough out of the way that it is not on the way to anywhere, so it is a quiet little place where 2 rivers (Etowah & Oostanaula) meet to form the Coosa River, which flows into Alabama and eventually into the Gulf of Mexico at Mobile Bay.  We had some lunch at a place called Curlee’s Fish House & Oyster Bar (2 other people in the whole place) and then drove around downtown checking out a few sights.  It was almost deserted, so we had it almost to ourselves. The ride there & back was really pretty, traveling through several small towns & the foothills of the Appalachian Mts.  It is named after its namesake in Italy, as both have 3 rivers and seven hills rising in the city.  We visited the Rome City Clock and the Myrtle Hill Cemetery, home to 368 Civil War graves from both sides, both on one of the seven hills in the city, founded in 1834.  Much of the original city was burned during the Civil War.  It is a pretty place and was fun to visit.  It was a very nice day.

We said our goodbyes and headed back to the camper…tomorrow is another long day.  But it will be back to Florida after 69 days away.  We are out of Chattahoochee Bend by 9 and head south, mostly on secondary roads, which means less traffic but more traffic lights, small towns & narrow bridges, etc.  We see several local cops ruining folk’s day but we motor on. Near Columbus, GA we actually end up in Alabama and spend the next several hours following US 431 from Columbus to Dothan & US 231 down into Florida.  We end up on SR 71 to Blountstown & SR 65 from Hosford to US 98 just east of East Point.  The GPS takes us on a route we would not likely have picked, but it is also on roads we have never traveled and through towns we would never have been through. We both enjoy the ride.  We arrived at St George Island State Park, which is on the far eastern tip of St George Island, a skinny barrier island in the Gulf of Mexico just east of Apalachicola, world famous for their oysters…bet I have a few while we are here during the next 6 nights.  We are keeping a wary eye on a hurricane (Erika) out in the Atlantic, which likely will not make it here before we head east next Monday, but we will watch it anyway. Today, we are just relaxing, catching up on this blog and getting pictures organized.  We have pretty poor internet, so we need to go for a ride in the car to send or receive, so we are just hanging out.  We are planning to go for a ride after a while and catch some dinner and maybe a sunset…tough day.

Steve & Barb Larson

Tennessee

Northern North Carolina mountains

On our way through Atlanta

Dinner in Senoia

The 2 Musketeers

Zac Brown's place in Senoia

The many spires in Rome, Ga

3 rivers in downtown Rome

On our way south

We can smell salt air

Old SR 300 is now a fishing pier

St George Island

Barb checking out the Gulf of Mexico