Our Road Trips

5/14/2016 5/1-15/2016

May is here and it is going to be a busy month. As we get set for several big events, we are also going to take some time to relax and get set for the summer. The first 5 days are spent with doctor's appointments, going to lunch/dinner with friends, getting a few issues corrected on the motor home & chilling. We also learned we had won the grand prize door prize while at the Orlando Firefighters Benevolent Assn. picnic...a free week at a cabin in New Hampshire at a time to be determined...nice!

On Friday, 5/6, we were supposed to be on our way to Flagler Beach but we had decided to postpone it a day and take in a Classic Albums Live concert at Hard Rock Live at Universal Orlando: David Bowie: The Rise & Fall of Ziggy Stardust. Fun night of great music done very well...thanks to our daughter Lisa & Dan for the tickets & to CAL for the great show, we enjoyed the show a lot.

So on Saturday morning, we made the 2 hour trip to Flagler Beach and a 10 night stay at Gamble Rogers State Park campground on the Atlantic Ocean. This is our first time here. We have camped 6 miles north a lot of times, but never here. We have a nice spot, close to the bath house & the steps/ramp and facing the water. It is a horrible thing to look out at the ocean all day...well, not really.

Sunday was Mother's Day and we spent the day on the beach under our canopy enjoying the day. In the late afternoon, we came back to the camper, got showers & spent the rest of the day outside, playing Yahtzee & cooking shrimp & steak on the grill for dinner. It was a wonderful day.

On Monday, we are off to visit some more of Florida's State parks in the area. We visited 3 parks and then ended up in Ormond Beach at Outback Steakhouse for Bloomin Monday. Our friends Tom & Lynne Marine from St Augustine stopped by too and we had a nice dinner together. Then it was back to the camper for the night. Bulow Creek, Bulow Plantation Ruins & Tamoka Creek State Parks a very pretty places and all 3 very close to Daytona. Hard to believe these very rural looking places are that close to both a pretty major metropolis & to the ocean, maybe 3 miles from both in some areas.

Tuesday was more State Park exploring. We stopped at Flagler Beach on the way and had lunch overlooking the ocean & pier...nice spot. Then it was on to Washington Oaks Gardens & Faver-Dykes, which are both north of us and unattended on a Tuesday, but are both pretty nice places. The State Parks are not staffed like they should be, so the lack of staff is not too surprising. We spent the rest of the evening back at the camper.

Wednesday, I drove to St Augustine in the morning and together with 5 other OFD retirees, we replaced a fence at our friend Rob Mitchell's house so the dog has a place to roam. We all went to lunch and had a good time re-living old times & telling Rob stories. It was a good get together and we helped Rob's wife Sydney out...nice way to spend a day. Glad to be able to help.

Thursday, we drove to St Augustine and toured two forts, one a State Park & National Historic site, the other a National Monument. St Augustine is known as the Country's oldest city, so there is a lot of History there. Fort Mose (Mo-say) has an interesting history, dating all the way back to 1738, 38 years before the Declaration of Independence. Here is the story: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Mose_Historic_State_Park. The Visitor's Center is very nice. Then we went by Castillo de San Marcos, a 344 y/o fort in St Augustine...over 100 years older than the US: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castillo_de_San_Marcos. It was getting ready to close, but we spent a 1/2 hour looking around. We have been in numerous old forts and all are very similar in construction and design, that's why they all survived all these years. After they booted us out, we called & went to Tom & Lynn Marine's house and then went to Beaches at Vilano for some dinner and to watch the sun set...nothing like the Keys, but cool in its own right...nice way to end the day.

Friday, our daughter Lisa took the day off from work & drove up and spent the day. We took the canopy to the beach and spent several hours on the beach, just gabbing and enjoying the day. Late in the afternoon, we came back to the RV and changed and drove 4 miles up A1A to the Turtle Shack for dinner. While there, a big storm could be seen forming just north of us and it was fun to watch. We were sitting outside but never got rained on. Lisa headed home about 7 and we came back. I put the awning up and 5 minutes later it was storming here...lots of wind & rain. Perfect timing.

Today is just relaxing & working on this blog and watching a race on TV. I have a feeling tomorrow will be more of the same. The next two weeks will be pretty hectic and then we will be off on our summer cruise...166 days on the road, we probably need to just relax some more.

Stay tuned, we are just getting started.

Steve & Barb Larson