Earth and Sky

As you know, I try to have some sort of theme each time I write an addition to this blog. I had a difficult time naming this one because we have been busy doing many different things. I believe that "earth and sky" will cover it and everything in between.
First of all, most of you know that John has been having more and more trouble walking long distances because of his feet cause him pain. And you also know that he is not happy just sitting around. That's one of the reasons we got the Jeep this summer... so he could drive around the countryside instead of hiking. One of the other things he enjoys doing is going around the RV parks looking at various RV's and the additions/accessories people find to enhance their RV experience. "Getting around" the parks (especially the larger ones) has become more painful and frustrating for him. So we found a small scooter for sale here, by a fellow RVer, that he really liked and doesn't make him feel like he's in a jazzy. Here he is on his new toy. Now he is able to go exploring and visiting.

Keeping focus to the earth, there are these tiny little barb type things that are in the sand and grass. The dogs get them in their foot pads and can't walk. When I remove them, they stick into my fingers. They have several different names, "goat heads", "sand spikes", but I call them a nuisance. We encountered them first in Texas last year, and now here in Florida this year. The first picture is just the barb and the second one is next to my finger so you can see how small they are. Avoiding them is impossible because you can't see them prior to them embedding in your foot. Very few people wear sandals when walking off the paved paths around here for this reason.

The other ground problem is the fire ants....  they are everywhere. Whenever I walk Sydney and he wants to stop and sniff, I always check the ground where I stand to make sure I'm not near an ant hill of red ants. Their bite is very painful and they are quick to go after you and bite. Here is a picture of their home....  this is a larger one that's easy to see. Most of them are smaller and not visible until it's too late. 

Now to the sky. This past week there was a Delta rocket launch from Cape Canaveral. We were able to see the rocket go up and follow the trail in the sky.  Here is a picture I took. That is not the moon... that is the booster rocket burning. The squiggly smoke is the trail it left as it assended. We were hoping that a shuttle launch would be scheduled while we were here but no such luck....  we settled for a spy satellite.

We have been here for about 2 weeks and have had only 1 rainfall....  a very brief one at that... it barely wet the ground. But boy was the rainbow it left behind beautiful. This picture doesn't do it justice.

We spent Thanksgiving with our friends Ray and Millie.   We shared a wonderful turkey dinner at the RV park where they are currently staying, about 10 miles from us. The park furnished the turkey, ham, potatoes, dressing and gravy. All the participants made a side dish or desert to share. There were about 100 people... it was very nice.

Celebration

I have another place to add to the list of places to retire......  Celebration Fl.
In the early 1990s, the Disney Development Company (DDC) established the Celebration Company to spearhead its development within approximately 4,900 acres of land. Total investment for the project is estimated at $2.5 billion.

The master plan for Celebration was developed by Cooper, Robertson & Partners and Robert A. M. Stern and the extensive landscape, parks, trails and pathways were designed by the prominent San Francisco firm known as EDAW. Celebration is planned in an early 20th century-architectural style and is not zoned for high-density residences. Celebration was named the "New Community of the Year" in 2001 by the Urban Land Institute.
The first phase of residential development occurred in the summer of 1996 with Celebration Village, West Village and Lake Evalyn; this was followed by the North Village, South Village, East Village and Aquila Reserve and the final Artisan Park phases. Disney CEO Michael Eisner took an especially keen interest in the development of the new town in the early days, encouraging the executives at Disney Development Company to "make history" and develop a town worthy of the Disney brand and legacy that extended to Walt Disney's vision of an Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow (EPCOT). DDC executives collaborated extensively with leaders in education, health and technology in addition to planners and architects to create the vision and operating policies for the town. As of the 2010 census, the population numbered 11,860.The Disney Corporation has gradually withdrawn it's oversight of the community and it has been incorporated as a town.
Here is a picture of the overall design of the business area of the town. Note the large water area in the center.

These are some candid shots around town. We spent the whole afternoon walking around and window shopping. The side walks are brick. There are solar lights beside the sidewalks for illumination at night.

We ended the day by sitting in rocking chairs by the water feature in the center of town eating ice cream. Here's John. Right after I took this picture.....

A cormorant came up on the cement area to dry it's wings........  I decided to take a picture of it.......  YES, the dark bumps in the water behind it is a baby alligator.

I decided that I could live here.

Jurassic Park

Do you remember the movie Jurassic Park, with the dinosaurs? Do you remember those smaller evil critters that hunted in packs and communicated with each other with that clacking sound? Well that is what we hear, off and on throughout the day. The makers of the movie had to find a sound for the dinosaurs..... having no auditory record of the sounds they actually made. Well they choose the sounds of the Sandhill Crane. When the cranes start vocalizing to one another, I immediately thing of dinosaurs. I wish I knew how to add sounds to this blog so you could hear them. Don't get me wrong, it's not continual or annoying, it's just that my mind goes to "danger", without thinking. I told John that I will forever refer to this place as Jurassic Park.
I came across one of the gopher tortoises out and about and was able to get a few pictures. Here is a shot of his burrow. They are scattered throughout the park.

And here he/she is. Notice the dirt/dust on the shell. It was just meandering around eating grass/plants. It would go into it's shell whenever I got too close but it would come right back out and continue on it's way within a minute.

I took a picture of it next to my foot so you can get some perspective of it's size. I am told this is a young one and that they can grow to be pretty large. Most of the burrows I have seen are about the size of this one's. I have counted about 9 burrows so far but this is the only inhabitant I have caught outside.

Yesterday, Millie and Ray took us on a tour of the area. They have been coming to Clermont for about 5 years now. They gave us the insiders perspective and some helpful hints. Of course, knowing John, they showed us the location of the local flea market. John being John, we had to stop right away....  he bought another hat.

Today is football Sunday so he is parked in front of the TV. I will probably do some laundry and clean up. I am making New England Boiled Dinner for all of us tonight. Ham, potatoes and green beans. I'll cook it here, but we will take our pot over to Millie's since their coach is larger and we can be more comfortable. Another couple that they know will be joining us also. YEAH, MORE NEW FRIENDS !!!!

Easy Street

We arrived at the Thousand Trails Park in Clermont Fl (outside Orlando) around noon on Thursday the 11th. This is the largest RV park we have ever been in. There are 850 campsites. The grounds border the Disney property so around 9PM we can see the fireworks from the park. As with most Thousand Trail parks, this is a preserve. Here is a picture of some of our neighbors.

They are Sandhill Cranes and many of them wander around the park. If they think you have food they will actually approach you. Feeding them is not encouraged. The dogs are not quite sure about them. Big Birds. Standing upright they are about 4 - 5 feet tall. Also on the preserve are a species of endangered tortoises, but I have only seen their burrows so far. Hopefully, I will see one before we leave. You know me and critters. There is also a large lake and a catch and release fish pond. They say there are alligators in the lake. As I was perusing the park map I discovered that the name of the lane that we are parked on is named "Easy Street". I said to John.... we have finally made it... we are now on Easy Street. 

After settling in we walked around to find where our friends the Surrettes were parked. Before finding them, we ran into Nick and Terry Russell, the writers and producers of the Gypsy Journal. This is a newspaper for RV travelers that we subscribe to. John follows Nick's blog. We have learned a lot about this lifestyle from the paper, blog and the Gypsy Gatherings he has twice a year. We will be attending the next gathering in Yuma Arizona in March.

We eventually found Ray and Millie and got caught up to date on news. Today they took us to a place called the Cherry Pocket. It is a Steak, Seafood Shak and Oyster Bar. It is also a "Fishing Club". Here are some pictures. The founders name was Mr Cherry and the inlet looks like a pocket,,, hence the name. We also checked out an orange grove where you "Pick your own". It was a very pleasant afternoon.

 There really aren't any Yacht's here, just individual fishing boats.

The Golden Isles of Georgia

We have spent the last week mid-way between Brunswick and Kingsland Georgia in a rural area called Woodbine. This is one of those campgrounds that are typical.... not really pretty like Sycamore Lodge, no fancy amenities...  but the access to things to do and see as well as the friendliness of the people who staff the place, make up for everything else. We met Charlie and Betty when we stopped here last year and have kept in touch. It was nice to talk in person for a change. Charlie and Betty

Last year when we were here we took a day and went to the Cumberland Islands. This year we went to Brunswick and Jekyll island.Our trip to Brunswick was timed so that we could participate in the annual Brunswick Stew competition. John and I were 2 of many "official tasters" to determine the best "Brunswick Stew" recipe. We tasted over 50 different varieties/recipes over 2 hours and voted which we liked best. The contestants were from the local restaurants, bars and organizations looking for "bragging rights" for the next year. Most of the main ingredients were the same... pulled pork potatoes, Lima beans, corn in a tomato base sauce....but they each had different spices that really made the taste slightly different. John stays away from the spicy ones, so I had to taste first to warn him. It was fun, but I think I've had my fill of Brunswick Stew for awhile.

Jekyll Island is a historic area that has seen Indian, Spanish, British and French settlements. It is also home to many migratory coastal birds. The beaches are absolutely beautiful. I found a couple of sand dollars and I am in the process of cleaning and preparing them to make something. What, I don't know yet, but eventually it will speak to me. Here is a picture of the Jekyll Island shoreline.

Last year on our coastal trip we watched many local people crabbing and fishing. I decided that I would like to do some crabbing this year, so John found an old basket at a yard sale this summer and we packed it away. We spent several afternoons on the small dock next to the campground learning by trial and error. Here is a picture of my first catch.

He wasn't very big but they got bigger as the day went on and I figured things out. We didn't keep any of these guys... we were just doing it for the experience. We couldn't convince this guy that we we were only trying to catch him to throw him back in. I think he heard John say something about a steam pot and was trying to say... "NO WAY"

Last night was Pot Luck supper. There were about 2 dozen people and we had everything from Meat Loaf, Salad, 2 pasta dishes, chicken noodle soup, cornbread, mashed potatoes, green beans and 2 different cakes for desert. We enjoy participating in these affairs. Good conversation, good food and a short walk home.
Tomorrow we head out to Florida. We will be staying tomorrow night on the road and then pull into a Thousand Trails in Clermont, outside of Orlando on Thursday. We will be there for 3 weeks spending time with our friends Ray and Millie Surrette. We met them in Texas last year and spent time with them in Arizona. After Thanksgiving, it's off to Texas for Christmas.

King of the Swamp

On our way to Woodbine Ga, we decided to stop over in Waycross (so named because so many ways/routes cross here) at a WalMart. Since we arrived so early in the day....  around 1:30PM... and Waycross is so close to Okeefenokee Swamp, we thought we would do some sight seeing. The closest stop was the homestead of the an 1800's pioneer, Obediah Barber. He was a "legend" in these here parts and know as the king of the swamps. His homestead is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It appears Obediah was a hugh gentleman in them there times at 6 feet 6 inches and weighing over 300 pounds. He lived on the edge of the swamp, owned land, raised cattle and other farm animals and basically lived off the land. Being in the swamp and not having modern conveniences he had 20 children from 3 different wives...  one after t'other, not consecutively. Here is a picture of the outside of his abode.. the attachment at the back is the kitchen.

The kitchen interior....

The house interior.....

Needless to say there were lots of beds scattered throughout. The laundry was done on the back porch

He was considered a rich man by standards of his time. John and I both enjoyed meandering around the place. We were the only ones there, so it was like a personnal tour. You had to walk several hundred yards of boardwalk through the swamps to get there.

As we were returning to the Walmart I asked the GPS to take us back the quickest way. Don't think I'll do that again. Here is a picture of one of the better roads....

It was a sandy path through the woods that boardered the swamp. When Kit, our GPS (named after Kit the computer in Knight Rider), told us to turn right and there was only more forest, not even a path, we turned around and went back. Do you see a road on the right?

Thank goodness for our mantracking courses when we did Search and Rescue....several times John had to get out of the Jeep and check for our tire tracks to see which way we had come from so we could return. We both remembered the Gatoraide bottle in the bush and the Adelaide Road sign when the GPS said it was Swamp Perimeter Road.

Of course it was all my fault. When we initially turned off the blacktop onto a sandy road John said he wasn't going to go that way. I, of course said..."Isn't this type of road the reason we HAD to have a Jeep?",,,,,"Where's your sense of adventure?". But even I had to admit, as the sun was setting and we had no idea where we were, that turning around was the best decision. We both agreed it would have been pretty embarassing to have to call 911 and initiate a search for 2 lost yankee, former SAR people. Since you are reading this you know all ended well.

Unadilla, Georgia

We have never had a campsite like this before. We stopped at Southern Trails Rv Campground. They are both a Coast to Coast and an ROD campground. Our backyard here is bigger than our backyard at home. Here is a picture of John enjoying the view. Yes, that is a horse fence in the background.

We are right next to a horse farm and stables. Vera and Paula, I thought of you both. Every morning we walk the dogs along the fence and feed the horses carrots. Here is a picture of some of the yearlings. Holly loves them.... wags her tail and wants to sniff them. Sydney just looks at them from afar. And no, there is no smell. You would never know there are dozens of horses within yards of our RV.

Today we went to the Robbins Air Force Museum of Aviation in Warner Robbins, Ga. There were all sizes and types of planes. I thought the drones were interesting. Here is one of the larger planes....

And in case you didn't already know, this is what a nuclear bomb looked like several years ago.

Well, tomorrow morning we leave central Georgia and head to the coast. We are spending a week in the southeastern part of the state. We will be checking out the marshes and swamps as well as doing some fishing before we head off to Florida.