Thursday, May 22 - We started packing up about 7AM and were on the road a little after 9AM. We arrived at Falling Waters SP about 12:30 after driving 118 miles. The drive was very nice with little traffic and much less windy than our last trip. When we got here the ranger informed us that the folks on the site we reserved were not out yet and check-out time is not until 1PM CDT. We were still on EDT. We drove down to the sink-hole and falls area and parked. We had a quick snack then hiked the trails that go down to the sink-holes and the falls. They are quite impressive even though the falls had barely a trickle coming over it. The park is really beautiful and so different than St. Joseph Peninsula. The campsites have been recently redone and are excellent. They are more open and much cleaner. It is also very quiet here, with almost no road noise. We were finally able to set up, which we did in good time. We have had to install a large fan under the tarp to vent the air conditioner and keep it from overheating. It will be nice to have the tarp up again and keep things cleaner. We will put the other tarp over the picnic table tomorrow. We also need to do a Wally run and will check out the Chipley area at the same time.
Friday, May 23 - Today was an errand day which included a trip into Chipley to Walmart, an eye appointment for John to get new glasses to replace his scratched ones, a tour of Chipley, and lunch at a nice sandwich shop. Coffee walks here take about 10 minutes to complete the loop, unlike St. Joseph Peninsula where the loops would take between 30 and 40 minutes. The surroundings here are very different as well with pines and hardwood replacing the palms and scrub. We are getting information from locals on where to launch the kayaks as there is no place here in the park. Some of the better places are a bit far for a day trip, especially with nearly $4 gas. We got neighbors who are set up very close who came in late yesterday, but they have not been excessively noisey. John thinks they are an A.A. group, but Joan is not so sure.
Saturday, May 24 - It was quite hot today with very little breeze. It must be getting to be time to head further north. We took the opportunity today to avoid places where there would be crowds and stay around camp and do some cooking for future meals. We cranked up the charcoal grill and filled it up with chicken. Joan had the crock pot going with more chicken for salads and sandwiches. Late in the afternoon we went to the fire ring (no fire) for a ranger's talk on prescribed burning. The hosts were also there and we had a nice talk with them. They also made peach cobbler in a cast iron Dutch oven. It was outstanding. Now we have the bug to buy one, but will have to wait until we get back home. Our night was not very quiet due to neighbors who are next door who were not particularly considerate of fellow campers. We've come to expect this on holiday weekends and know that by Tuesday all will be quiet again.
Sunday, May 25 - We got up early and went a short distance to Courts of Praise International Fellowship for worship. The music was very good and the worship meaningful. Folks were very friendly as well. We are trying to decide when to celebrate our anniversary. We were married at the P&W service on the Sunday during Labor Day weekend on May 29th. So, do we celebrate today or wait until Thursday. Maybe we'll do both, since both the date and day are meaningful to us.
Monday, May 26 - Even though it is Memorial Day, today is very quiet in the campground. Most people were gone before noon, even our next door neighbors. The rangers gave them very strong warnings about holding down the noise and about complaints they had received. They heeded them and were quiet after 11 PM last night, which is quiet time here. We needed to go to Walmart again to pick up a few needed items. Fred & Judy arrived yesterday and will be joining us for dinner this afternoon. Joan is trying out a new chicken salad entrey and John is experimenting with a blackberry cobler done on the RVQ. Nothing like good friends to experiment on.
(Later) Dinner was a success, except we decided to wait on the cobbler, since it was getting late and we wanted to go down to the lake and fish. John fished with the fly rod while Fred used spinning gear. Fred took little time to hook a nice bass and nearly had it all the way to shore when it escaped. John had a couple of nice attacks on his floating popper, but alas nothing hooked up. It was a beautiful evening though, with a nice breeze and cooler temps.
Tuesday, May 27 - We all got up relatively early and went for a hike past the lake to the waterfall and sink holes. We have pictures this time. John & Joan walked right by the snake in the picture without even seeing it. It was not moving very fast and John had to coax it to get it off the trail. John looked it up later and found that it was a corn snake, which is a nice, friendly, non-venomous one. If you like, you can find out more at: http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/herpetology/FL-GUIDE/Elaphegguttata.htm. The waterfall is still dry, but impressive anyway. We returned to camp and headed out to do some errands. It is fairly hot again today, so we will lessen the amount of exertion.
Wednesday, May 28 - The four of us left fairly early this morning and drove over to Ponce de Leon State Park near the town of the same name. We waded in the quite cool water (68 deg.), which kept us nice and cool. The springs put out about 14 million gallons of water a day, making it a first magnitude spring. We had a picnic lunch there also. The park is beautiful and nicely kept. Next we drove to Vortex spring about 8 miles north of there, but it was not nearly as nice. It was quite expensive and although the spring itself was nice, the area and facilities were not very well maintained. We would not go back there. The two of us had dinner then went down to the lake to fish for awhile. Even though Joan put repellant on, the gnats would not leave her alone. Maybe they liked her repellant, because they did not bother John at all even though he was repellant free. We caught a few small bass, then decided to call it a day. On the way back we heard a fairly large animal that sounded like a ferral pig moving through the brush. Joan was so busy looking at where it moved into the woods that she didn't see a snake until it scurried away. John is pretty sure it was a pigmy rattlesnake. He was quite small and never appeared threatning, thankfully. See: http://www.floridaconservation.org/viewing/species/snakesv.html#pygmy for mor information.
Thursday, May 29 - We went over to the farmer's market in town and picked up a few veggies, then WalMart to get other stuff for dinner. Joan made up a dish from her Kraft magazine that consisted of spinach, sausage, pasta, canned tomatos, and 2 cheeses. John cooked the sausage. It was very tasty. We invited our camp hosts, James and Carmen, over for dinner, then had F&J over later for anniversary apple pie. We got a nice rain in the evening, which cooled it off nicely.
Friday, May 30 - It rained again in the night fairly hard, so we figured maybe there would be some water coming over the falls. We got up early and took our coffee down to the falls area, but were disappointed. Maybe the drops were coming a little faster, but alas, no falls. Still, it was a nice hike, and cool. It didn't take long however, for the day to heat up. We used that as an excuse to take it easy, catch up on reading, and do some light chores around camp. Our camp hosts invited us and F&J over for dinner. We had a wonderful meal and enjoyed checkers and dominos. John actually managed to win a round of Mexican Train. So Sally if you are reading this, take note. When we returned to the camper we watched the rest of Dances With Wolves that F&J loaned us.
Saturday, May 31 - We slept in this morning, then had pancakes for breakfast. We have been discussing where to go from here. We are thinking we might skip Walter F. George lake and go on to West Point Lake by La Grange, Ga. We need to get a little farther north and the 10-day forcasts for WPL are about 5 degrees cooler. We have not been able to get the kayaks out here because of the heat and having to travel several miles to launch.
Sunday, June 1 - We discovered that the Methodist church in town has a contemporart service at 9:32 EDT, so the four of us decided to go. The people there were very inviting and friendly and they had a nice service, even though they were struggling with some expected issues that come with starting anything new. The message was good and focused on how to stop worrying. The pastor's text was Jesus' sermon on worry found in Matthew Chapter 6, vs 25-34. In the evening, F&J, Carmen & James, Mary & Sara (ladies working at the campground), and J&J brought dishes to pass for dinner. We had a nice time and great food. John set up a fan that he plugged into an inverter connected to a deep-cycle battery to help keep us cool and discourage the gnats.
Monday, June 2 - We got up early and headed over to Mill Pond for a little kayaking and fishing. We fished mostly bass and saw some large ones, but not would hit. We found that most people fish for shellcrackers, or redear sunfish, using live crickets. John tried the fly rod, and they bumped the popper, but would not take it. We also saw some carp and a gar that were nearly as large as the kayaks. Needless to say, we did not try for them. The water was crystal clear because it is fed by Blue Spring, a first magnatude spring. This makes fishing more difficult, especially during the day. It got very hot, so we stopped and headed into town and had lunch at a nice restaurant. They were very friendly and made us feel like we were regulars. We also stopped at Walmart for some necessities and at Lowes for a bypass hose for the camper's hot water heater and some pvc to make a shower enclosure. We have outside shower faucets and this will allow us to take showers outside the camper. We will clamp curtains around it and attach it with clamps to the side of the camper.
Tuesday, June 3 - We got some rain during the night, but no violent weather. We got up fairly early and had breakfast before heading out. We drove down to Panama City so John could pick up his new eyeglass lenses and then headed to Valparaiso along I-98 so Joan could revisit where she lived in the 70's when her son Jean-Paul was little. We drove past her house and visited a nice park where she and JP had many hours of enjoyment. We had picked up subs and had a nice picnic while watching the bay. There was a nice breeze there and Joan said that she could remember that there was always one there even on the hottest days. We stopped at Rocky Bayou State Park and checked out the campground and facilities. Everything was very nice, convincing us that we need to stop there next year. When we got back to camp storms were again in the area, but they missed us. The temperatures thankfully dropped anyway.
Wednesday, June 4 - It is quite hot again today with no change in sight. We leave tomorrow, so we spent most of the day getting ready for our stay at Cotton Hill Corps of Engineers CG on Walter F. George Lake near Ft. Gaines. We also got last minute food items at Walmart because there are no good grocery stores near there. We spent some time with our friends James and Carmen who are hosts here came back from their two days off. The brought over cupcakes for our dessert tonight and some fig jelly for us to enjoy. They are great examples of the wonderful people we meet on our travels and we have really enjoyed getting to know them.
View Pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/johnjoanW/FallingWatersStateParkMay22June05
St. Joseph Peninsula State Park (May 11 - 22)
Sunday, May 11 - We left the Chassahowitzka River at 9:11 am and arrived at St. Joseph Peninsula at 3:19 after driving 264.9 miles. The trip included a 45 minute stop at WalMart for supplies, since we are about 20 miles from the nearest store. We have no cell phone service here and are amazed that our Verizon Wireless Internet Card actually works, although pretty slow. It was very windy all the way here with a strong cross wind that pushed us around pretty severely at times. The surf is definitely up here and will provide pictures when we get better internet service. We have a fairly nice site, although it is quite narrow and allows us to barely get our awning up. There are many nice boardwalks across the dunes to the beach, which goes on forever. We are anxious to explore, launch the kayaks, and fish.
Monday, May 12 - It was a very windy night and we could hear the wind blowing in the tree canopy and hear the surf crashing on the beach, but we were not affected very much at all. Being in the trees made a hugh difference. We got up and took our coffee walk on the boardwalk down to the beach and to the other campground. We got back to camp and had breakfast, then took a bike ride to explore the park. We found a couple of places to launch the kayaks, but today was still too windy for us to go out. Tomorrow promises to be calmer. We did some work around the campsite and put up the add-a-room with some extra screening to try to ward off the no-see-ums. They are around, but not terrible. In the afternoon, we walked down to the beach and sat for awhile and enjoyed the surf crashing. In the evening, after dinner, we walked back down to the beach and took some pictures of the sunset. It was very nice. John will put pictures on when we get a better connection. It is taking quite long just to get this updated. The speed is too slow to upload pictures.
Tuesday, May 13 - The wind died down considerably, but the weather is still very comfortable with low humidity. We slept very well last night and got up not too early and took a coffee walk. We walked the beach and Joan picked up many shells. We had breakfast then decided to go back to the beach and fish the surf. We really enjoyed that, but no fish. We saw some stingrays cruizing the shallow water, but did not see anything else. The internet connection is working better this afternoon, so John was able to get some more pictures downloaded. We are planning on taking the kayaks out after dinner. We will drive them down to the boat launch, because the walk to wheel them down is pretty far and all in the sun.
We launched the kayaks about 5:30 and fished until just before sunset. John started the action by bringing a quite large ladyfish to the kayak. Joan then followed with a bluefish and a little later a flounder. We didn't know the regulations for bluefish and the flounder got away before Joan got a chance to measure it. The evening was beautiful, with a fairly strong breeze coming from the northeast, but not enough to bother us.
Wednesday, May 14 - We reversed directions on our coffee walk this morning by taking the boardwalk to other campground and then following the beach back to our area. We called our friends Fred and Judy from a public phone to let them know about some wild fires they may encounter on the way. Hopefully they will be under control before they get there. They are going to be camping near us for a little over a week. They will then join us at Falling Waters State Park after that. We met them at Cotton Hill COE campground last year and have kept in touch.
We took our bikes down to the entrance gate and stopped at the boat launch, point, and picnic areas on the way back.
Fred and Judy arrived about 4:30 and got set up on their site. We had them over for dinner, went for a walk to the beach and boardwalk, and then went over to their place to visit.
Thursday, May 15 – We took our coffee over to F&J’s and had cereal with them. We decided to go to the beach for John & Fred to fish. In about 5 minutes Fred caught a nice sized ladyfish. Everyone was very excited. In the evening we had a great sausage, potato, and sauerkraut dinner with them and then went for a relaxing evening walk.
Friday, May 16 - We took our coffee walk around our camping loop then down to the beach and walked the opposite direction we usually do. It started to rain, so we went inside and checked the weather on the tv. There was a broad line of storms that looked to be headed our way. Thankfully, most of the serious weather went north of us. We drove down to the boat launch thinking we would fish from there, but another storm came through, so we went back to camp. After things cleared up in the afternoon we went back to the boat launch and fished for a little while, but since there was no action we decided to launch the kayaks. It was still pretty windy, so fishing was difficult. Joan managed to land one trout that was a little too short to keep. We went around the point to get out of the wind, but we not able to catch anything there.
Saturday, May 17 - In the afternoon we rode our bikes to the Visitor's Center that we were promised would be open, but alas it was still closed. We rode back to the front gate so Fred & Judy could try to reserve one more day, but the campground will be full. We went over to F&Js for cheese & crackers and then they joined us for spaghetti dinner. After dinner we went to the beach and John fly-fished and Fred spin fished the surf while we all watched the sunset. It was still quite windy, but a beautiful evening.
Sunday, May 18 - We got up early this morning, showered, and headed into Apalachicola with F&J to church. We found a Baptist church that had an 11AM service. The folks there were extremely friendly and inviting and the service was good. The pastor had a strong message that was an introduction to Revelation. He made us want to come back to hear the teaching. We left and with a recommendation headed to the Owl Cafe in town. The meal was very good, but a little pricey. We then walked around town, looked through a couple of antique stores, then an art show for young artists. It was excellent. We had ice cream cones for dessert at a neat little shop with an old time soda counter. In the evening, Joan searched the beach for shells while John Fly-fished. Neither had much success. When we got back to camp we discovered our mousey friend had been there, but had eaten some bait that we had set around, so don't figure we'll be seeing much of him again. (We hope)
Monday, May 19 - More signs of mousey during the night, so we set a couple of traps and checked bait. The piece behind a large drawer had definitely been sampled, so a few more should not be back. We think we know how they are getting in, so plan to do some sealing when we get to a spot where John can climb under the camper. After breakfast we went down to the beach with F&J and mostly sat, but also took turns fishing. Fred had what looked to be another ladyfish on, but it got away. That was the only action for the morning. In the evening the four of us went over to the kayak launch and Fred and John put in kayaks and fished. Fred landed another ladyfish, and John landed a small flounder and a nice sized (19") bluefish. Joan probably would not like bluefish, because it is a pretty strong tasting fish with a dark meat. We had a nice dinner at F&J's place and a nice visit in the evening.
Tuesday, May 20 - It was quite warm this morning and windy, but we decided to launch the kayaks and fish for awhile. Joan landed a small trout and shortly after we paddled around to the other side of the point where we launched, John landed an 18 incher that we brought home for dinner. We found that the trout were hanging around the sandy areas (pot holes) in the shallow grass flats. We enjoyed the trout for dinner and in the evening we took a nice walk along the beach. The breeze was very strong and the waves were crashing on the beach.
Wednesday, May 21 - We had a nice veggie omelet breakfast with F&J, then went back to our camp and got some things done in preparation for leaving in the morning, such as taking down the screening and add-a-room. We found where our mousey friends were getting in and covered the hole with tape. We discovered we had added to the problem by leaning the bikes against the back of the camper which provided them a way to climb onto the back bumper and getting into a hole above where the lift motor sits. Having the bait placed in various places we think prevented them from setting up permanent housekeeping. It has been more humid and quite warm today, but we are getting a nice breeze off the gulf. We are not sure what to expect when we go more inland on our next stop.
ViewPictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/johnjoanW/StJosephPeninsulaStateParkMay1122
Monday, May 12 - It was a very windy night and we could hear the wind blowing in the tree canopy and hear the surf crashing on the beach, but we were not affected very much at all. Being in the trees made a hugh difference. We got up and took our coffee walk on the boardwalk down to the beach and to the other campground. We got back to camp and had breakfast, then took a bike ride to explore the park. We found a couple of places to launch the kayaks, but today was still too windy for us to go out. Tomorrow promises to be calmer. We did some work around the campsite and put up the add-a-room with some extra screening to try to ward off the no-see-ums. They are around, but not terrible. In the afternoon, we walked down to the beach and sat for awhile and enjoyed the surf crashing. In the evening, after dinner, we walked back down to the beach and took some pictures of the sunset. It was very nice. John will put pictures on when we get a better connection. It is taking quite long just to get this updated. The speed is too slow to upload pictures.
Tuesday, May 13 - The wind died down considerably, but the weather is still very comfortable with low humidity. We slept very well last night and got up not too early and took a coffee walk. We walked the beach and Joan picked up many shells. We had breakfast then decided to go back to the beach and fish the surf. We really enjoyed that, but no fish. We saw some stingrays cruizing the shallow water, but did not see anything else. The internet connection is working better this afternoon, so John was able to get some more pictures downloaded. We are planning on taking the kayaks out after dinner. We will drive them down to the boat launch, because the walk to wheel them down is pretty far and all in the sun.
We launched the kayaks about 5:30 and fished until just before sunset. John started the action by bringing a quite large ladyfish to the kayak. Joan then followed with a bluefish and a little later a flounder. We didn't know the regulations for bluefish and the flounder got away before Joan got a chance to measure it. The evening was beautiful, with a fairly strong breeze coming from the northeast, but not enough to bother us.
Wednesday, May 14 - We reversed directions on our coffee walk this morning by taking the boardwalk to other campground and then following the beach back to our area. We called our friends Fred and Judy from a public phone to let them know about some wild fires they may encounter on the way. Hopefully they will be under control before they get there. They are going to be camping near us for a little over a week. They will then join us at Falling Waters State Park after that. We met them at Cotton Hill COE campground last year and have kept in touch.
We took our bikes down to the entrance gate and stopped at the boat launch, point, and picnic areas on the way back.
Fred and Judy arrived about 4:30 and got set up on their site. We had them over for dinner, went for a walk to the beach and boardwalk, and then went over to their place to visit.
Thursday, May 15 – We took our coffee over to F&J’s and had cereal with them. We decided to go to the beach for John & Fred to fish. In about 5 minutes Fred caught a nice sized ladyfish. Everyone was very excited. In the evening we had a great sausage, potato, and sauerkraut dinner with them and then went for a relaxing evening walk.
Friday, May 16 - We took our coffee walk around our camping loop then down to the beach and walked the opposite direction we usually do. It started to rain, so we went inside and checked the weather on the tv. There was a broad line of storms that looked to be headed our way. Thankfully, most of the serious weather went north of us. We drove down to the boat launch thinking we would fish from there, but another storm came through, so we went back to camp. After things cleared up in the afternoon we went back to the boat launch and fished for a little while, but since there was no action we decided to launch the kayaks. It was still pretty windy, so fishing was difficult. Joan managed to land one trout that was a little too short to keep. We went around the point to get out of the wind, but we not able to catch anything there.
Saturday, May 17 - In the afternoon we rode our bikes to the Visitor's Center that we were promised would be open, but alas it was still closed. We rode back to the front gate so Fred & Judy could try to reserve one more day, but the campground will be full. We went over to F&Js for cheese & crackers and then they joined us for spaghetti dinner. After dinner we went to the beach and John fly-fished and Fred spin fished the surf while we all watched the sunset. It was still quite windy, but a beautiful evening.
Sunday, May 18 - We got up early this morning, showered, and headed into Apalachicola with F&J to church. We found a Baptist church that had an 11AM service. The folks there were extremely friendly and inviting and the service was good. The pastor had a strong message that was an introduction to Revelation. He made us want to come back to hear the teaching. We left and with a recommendation headed to the Owl Cafe in town. The meal was very good, but a little pricey. We then walked around town, looked through a couple of antique stores, then an art show for young artists. It was excellent. We had ice cream cones for dessert at a neat little shop with an old time soda counter. In the evening, Joan searched the beach for shells while John Fly-fished. Neither had much success. When we got back to camp we discovered our mousey friend had been there, but had eaten some bait that we had set around, so don't figure we'll be seeing much of him again. (We hope)
Monday, May 19 - More signs of mousey during the night, so we set a couple of traps and checked bait. The piece behind a large drawer had definitely been sampled, so a few more should not be back. We think we know how they are getting in, so plan to do some sealing when we get to a spot where John can climb under the camper. After breakfast we went down to the beach with F&J and mostly sat, but also took turns fishing. Fred had what looked to be another ladyfish on, but it got away. That was the only action for the morning. In the evening the four of us went over to the kayak launch and Fred and John put in kayaks and fished. Fred landed another ladyfish, and John landed a small flounder and a nice sized (19") bluefish. Joan probably would not like bluefish, because it is a pretty strong tasting fish with a dark meat. We had a nice dinner at F&J's place and a nice visit in the evening.
Tuesday, May 20 - It was quite warm this morning and windy, but we decided to launch the kayaks and fish for awhile. Joan landed a small trout and shortly after we paddled around to the other side of the point where we launched, John landed an 18 incher that we brought home for dinner. We found that the trout were hanging around the sandy areas (pot holes) in the shallow grass flats. We enjoyed the trout for dinner and in the evening we took a nice walk along the beach. The breeze was very strong and the waves were crashing on the beach.
Wednesday, May 21 - We had a nice veggie omelet breakfast with F&J, then went back to our camp and got some things done in preparation for leaving in the morning, such as taking down the screening and add-a-room. We found where our mousey friends were getting in and covered the hole with tape. We discovered we had added to the problem by leaning the bikes against the back of the camper which provided them a way to climb onto the back bumper and getting into a hole above where the lift motor sits. Having the bait placed in various places we think prevented them from setting up permanent housekeeping. It has been more humid and quite warm today, but we are getting a nice breeze off the gulf. We are not sure what to expect when we go more inland on our next stop.
ViewPictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/johnjoanW/StJosephPeninsulaStateParkMay1122
Chassahowitzka River (May 8 - 11)
Thursday, May 8 - We arrived at 12:30 and set up camp on site 46. We took a walk down to the river and enjoyed the view and watched a bunch of kids who were having fun on a kayak outing. We were invited for dinner and a swim at Paul and Janets and had a great evening with them. They have a beautiful home just a few minutes from the campground. This is the couple who are building a new camp in Maine that we visited last summer. They love to kayak and have volunteered for manatee watch on the Crystal River.
Friday, May 9 - In the morning we met Paul and Janet and followed them to Rainbow Springs for a day of kayaking. The plan was to drop off the kayaks at KP Hole and one of the vehicles a few miles down river to take us back. The trip was awesome, but a little breezy. What was supposed to be a float trip down river turned out to be a little more work. The river is wonderful and because it is fed by a first magnatude spring, it is crystal clear. When we got back to camp, we both got showers, turned on the a.c. and took a nap. We returned to their home in the evening because Janet graciously offered us her washer and dryer to use.
Saturday, May 10 - We had a few things to do around the campsite in preparation for heading to St. Joseph's Peninsula on Sunday. We then took a walk down to the boat launch. What a zoo. We spent quite a bit of time there watching people. If this had been a weekday with much fewer people, we would have launched the kayaks. There is no way we would subject our lives to the crazyness there on weekends. They really need police patrols there, but we only saw one sheriff pull through the parking lot in his squad car. There were three young men pushing a paddle boat with about 5 kids on it. No one had life jackets on and there was only one that we could see on the paddle boat. Joan is reacting badly from deer fly bites. Both of her hands are swollen from being bitten. We have not encountered them here before, but we've not been here at this time of year either. We met a couple named John and Joanna this week who are involved in starting a group called "Florida Paddling Trails Association" that has volunteers who "[H]elp monitor & improve the trail while improving Florida's environment". Florida has 1550 miles of canoe/kayak trails. Their website is: http://www.floridapaddlingtrails.com
View pictures of Rainbow Springs: http://picasaweb.google.com/johnjoanW/RainbowSprings
Friday, May 9 - In the morning we met Paul and Janet and followed them to Rainbow Springs for a day of kayaking. The plan was to drop off the kayaks at KP Hole and one of the vehicles a few miles down river to take us back. The trip was awesome, but a little breezy. What was supposed to be a float trip down river turned out to be a little more work. The river is wonderful and because it is fed by a first magnatude spring, it is crystal clear. When we got back to camp, we both got showers, turned on the a.c. and took a nap. We returned to their home in the evening because Janet graciously offered us her washer and dryer to use.
Saturday, May 10 - We had a few things to do around the campsite in preparation for heading to St. Joseph's Peninsula on Sunday. We then took a walk down to the boat launch. What a zoo. We spent quite a bit of time there watching people. If this had been a weekday with much fewer people, we would have launched the kayaks. There is no way we would subject our lives to the crazyness there on weekends. They really need police patrols there, but we only saw one sheriff pull through the parking lot in his squad car. There were three young men pushing a paddle boat with about 5 kids on it. No one had life jackets on and there was only one that we could see on the paddle boat. Joan is reacting badly from deer fly bites. Both of her hands are swollen from being bitten. We have not encountered them here before, but we've not been here at this time of year either. We met a couple named John and Joanna this week who are involved in starting a group called "Florida Paddling Trails Association" that has volunteers who "[H]elp monitor & improve the trail while improving Florida's environment". Florida has 1550 miles of canoe/kayak trails. Their website is: http://www.floridapaddlingtrails.com
View pictures of Rainbow Springs: http://picasaweb.google.com/johnjoanW/RainbowSprings
Hillsboro River S.P., FL (May 6-7)
We arrived at the park about 12:30 after driving 87 miles. We got set up and then drove to our house to pick up mail and check on a couple other places in our park. This stop on our journey is mainly to take care of some things that we needed to like getting John's permanent crown installed, getting car licenses updated, haircuts, and picking up some items we felt we could not live without. We also were able to spend some time with our neighbors Dick and Dot and Charles and Carolyn and have lunch with Shirley and Dean and Sally and Dana. We were thrilled to see how well Dean is doing with his new hip. This campground has a lot to offer, but the campsites are not as private as those at Oscar Scherer. Also, it has been quite hot here and the absence of a sea breeze has been obvious. We are getting very good use out of air conditioning and slept with it on most of the night last night. We will be getting up early in the morning and heading over to the Chassahowitzka River. It is only about 60 miles northwest of here.
View Pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/johnjoanW/HillsboroRiverSPFLMay67
View Pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/johnjoanW/HillsboroRiverSPFLMay67
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