2018-02-18 - 20 Last Days at Long Point County Park

After hanging around the park watching the pelicans for a while, we headed for Outriggers (I really like that place) to have a few beers and watch the Daytona 500. We did more shooting the breeze with other patrons than watching the race, but it was fun. 

On Monday, there was a bit of excitement when a helicopter landed in the campground. A guy had fallen off a three story building at a construction site down the road. There was no room to land the chopper there, so they picked him up in the ambulance and met the chopper at the campground where there was room to land and make the transfer.

Tuesday was a good day to relax (aren't they all?). We had a late afternoon rain shower followed by a rainbow. After dinner, we went to the free folk music concert just a few steps from our campsite. A fitting end to a relaxing day.

Tomorrow, we leave for Collier Seminole State Park, outside Naples, on the west coast.

2018-02-14 - 17 Long Point County Park

We arrived at Long Point, at the far southern tip of Melbourne Beach on the barrier Island, on Wednesday. Thursday, we met Marsha's cousins and my brother on the mainland at Outriggers for dinner. 

Friday, we drove 30 miles to the Navy SEAL Museum in Ft. Pierce to finish watching the documentary movies we missed last year because it was closing time. As we were walking in from the car, a rare Ford Tri Motor, the world's first mass produced airliner, flew northward along the beach. The "Tin Goose" belongs to the EAA and was selling rides at the Ft. Pierce Airport.

You don't have to pay a fee to watch the movies and, since we toured the museum last year, we left after we finished the movies. We went over to Marsha's cousin's house. They were at Outriggers Thursday evening, but we hadn't been to their house since they moved to Ft. Pierce last spring, so we stopped for a visit.

Saturday, we went to my brother's house and did laundry. Then we went to lunch. For the last 3 or 4 years, we've flipped a coin to see who pays and this was the first year I've won. Woo-hoo!

Not many pics. I'll try to do better.

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2018-02-07 - 14 Silver Springs State Park

We had a huge campsite at Silver Springs State Park. We could have parked three class A motor homes in it with no problem. Seems like we spent the whole first day at Walmart, which was about five minutes away. 

On Saturday, Don and Dennis came from The Villages for a visit. Dennis' wife, Susie, had gone back to Nashville and Don's wife was busy with one of her clubs, so they brought brats and beer and we sat around and had a nice lunch while we visited.

On Sunday, we went to visit Thom and Kara in Ocala. Kara is our friend Susan's (who lives in Arizona) daughter. They have a beautiful home. We hung out there for a while before going to the Ale House for a nice lunch.

Turns out, our neighbors across the road in the campground, Joe & Delores, are from Riverton, IL. Susan taught middle school there about a hundred years ago and she had their son, Jeff, and maybe their daughter, Jodi, in her class! Small world!

On Monday, even though the forecast was for rain, we went over to Silver Springs and walked around. When it started raining, we sat in the Adirondack chairs under a shelter and watched the rain hit the water for about an hour.

The cormorants were doing a bit of "gang hunting," but it looked like synchronized swimming. Pretty cool!

We left the campground on Wednesday morning for the three hour (+) drive to Long Point Park in Melbourne Beach. The park is on one of the barrier islands near the Sebastian Inlet. More on that later.

2018-02-04 - 06 Super Bowl Party & Stuff

We woke up on Super Bowl Sunday to a blue sky and pleasant temperatures, but as we made the hours and fifteen minutes drive to the Villages for the Super Bowl party, we got into the rain and cooler temperatures. It rained into the evening, but we didn't care.
 
Carolyn usually goes to bed at 7:00, so the party turned out to a a PRE Super Bowl party. The party broke up and Marsha and I went to Dennis & Suzie's house, also in The Villages, to actually watch the game! We got there just in time for the kick-off. After the exciting game, I didn't feel much like driving back to the camper, so we accepted Dennis & Suzie's invitation to spent the night.

Monday morning, we sat around and visited for quite a while before heading back to the camper. We stopped on the way to eat lunch at the Square Meal Cafe in Salt Springs before going back to the camper and getting on the bikes for a ride down to the Springs. We saw some blue crabs and a couple of snorkelers there.

No pictures, but Tuesday (today), we did laundry and packed up the bikes & stuff in preparation for our departure tomorrow. We're headed for Silver Springs State Park which is probably less than an hour away, so we won't have to be in a big rush to hit the road.

See you at Silver Springs!

2018-02-01 - 03 At Salt Springs Recreation Area, Salt Springs, FL

We actually arrived at Salt Springs Recreation Area about 5:30pm on Wednesday, 1/31 after stopping in Satsuma, FL for a quick visit with friends Larry & Kris who used to live in Illinois many years ago. The campground here is very nice. It's a federal park with full hook-ups for $19.00 per night with our geezer card. 

On Thursday, we explored the park. Not much here that you can get to by car. We went down to the Springs and checked for manatees, but didn't see anything that looked anything like a manatee. There was a guy snorkeling at the mouth of the spring, but I didn't get a picture of him. I'm sure I'll get some before we leave because it's quite common for people to swim the despite the alligator warning signs! 

On Saturday, Larry and Kris came over with friends Jim and Jeannie who arrived Thursday from Quincy, IL. We had lunch at Bass Champions, a local sportsmen's restaurant. Then we drove down the road a ways to Rodman Recreation Area that is a state run facility with a very nice campground. We'll keep it in mind for next year.

Tomorrow (Super Bowl Sunday), we're driving down to The Villages to attend a Super Bowl party at camping friends Wayne & Carolyn's new house. Dennis & Suzie and Don & Anita will be there that we know of.

More later!