Well, Fred, the Service Manager at Safari Condo, asked that we take the awning to a shop to see if it can be repaired. They will ship material if necessary and pay for the repair. When he saw the picture, he said that the end of the channel should have been flared, like a funnel, to prevent ripping when the awning is installed. I told him I'd rather wait until we get home and take it to Armbruster's so that if there are delays, I'll be working with someone near home. So, we'll use the awning on this trip, then have it checked out when we get home.
Our first night at Tomoka State Park was Super Bowl Night. We couldn't get a TV channel that carried the game, so we found the Pirana Sports Bar and watched the game from there. Great place! Had a few beers and they had free food during the entire game, including meatballs, chili, boiled shrimp, and a bunch of other stuff!
One day, we went into Daytona for lunch at the Oyster Pub, recommended by my friend, Mark. When we walked into the place, I realized tat I'd been there years ago during Bike Week. I had Clams Casino. Excellent!
Then we went to the Ponce Inlet and toured the lighthouse and museum. It was really interesting. All of the buildings were still there including the Keeper's house, First Assistant's House, Second Assistant's house, and several other buildings. At 175 feet, it's the tallest lighthouse in Florida, and still operational today.
After we toured the lighthouse, we walked across the street to the marina where a fishing boat had just docked after a day of fishing. There were a lot of fish to clean. As they were cleaned, the guts were thrown into the harbor where several pelicans were waiting for dinner.
Right next to the dock, there happened to be a bar, so we stopped in for a couple before heading back to camp. Thursday, Feb 5 was the first day of the Florida Tear Jerkers camper gathering. There were about 30 tear drop trailers there. They invited us to join them at the Meet & Greet on Thursday evening and the pancake breakfast on Friday morning before we hit the road.
One of the group rolled in towing his tear drop with a 1948 Buick Roadmaster with Illinois plates on it.When I asked his wife where they were from, she said, "Charleston." I looked at her husband and recognized him as a guy whom I'd worked with at Moore Business Forms back in the mid 1960's. Wow! What are the chances? John has a car collection and this Roadmaster is one of his favorites.
We ate breakfast with the group on Friday morning before heading for St. Petersburg. More later!
We left home at about 7:30am on Thursday, the 28th. Drove 670 miles that day to get south of Atlanta and stayed in our camper at the Flying J Travel Center in Jackson, GA. We stayed in the same place three years ago, I think. Had dinner at the Denny's in the Flying J, then turned in for a good night's sleep.
Got to Crooked River State Park outside St. Marys, GA at about 2:30pm on Thursday. We just hung around the park and got used to the new camper that evening. Marsha watched TV. They have cable TV at each campsite in the state park! Very unusual!
On Friday, we went to the Walmart, then to the Bloody Bucket, a biker bar just outside the entrance to the park. We've been there before. It's a very small place and everyone in there was smoking. One beer and we were headed into St. Marys to check out Seagle's Saloon and see if Cindy was there. We were disappointed that she wasn't there. She hurt her back and hasn't worked for about three months. Her name was Cindy Dean, but then she got married. She's now Cindy Chubb. Thus, the two signs in the picture. We had a couple of beers there before going to St. Marys Seafood Restaurant for a nice seafood dinner.
Saturday, we went back into St. Marys and walked around. There was a tall ship called the Peacemaker in the harbor. It belongs to "The Twelve Tribes," some cult group that's trying to preserve the simple life. We read some of their literature. You can look it up on the Web. The ship was REAL nice!
After touring the Peacemaker, we ate lunch at the Shark Bite Restaurant across the street from the harbor. The view was great. The food was good. The service was lousy. It took an hour to get Marsha's soup & salad and my sandwich.
We putzed around St. Marys for a while then went back to camp and putzed around some more. In preparation for leaving the next morning, we decided to take down the awning so it wouldn't be wet in the morning. When we did, we discovered a six-foot rip in the fabric around the bead that goes into the channel on the camper to hold the owning on. Upon further inspection, we saw that there was a sharp corner on the metal channel on the camper that ripped the fabric when we installed it on Thursday. The service rep. from Safari Condo is going to check on Monday to see what our options are.
Tomorrow, we'll be in Tomoka State Park in Ormond Beach, FL. See you there!
