Tuesday November 29th 2016

I departed the W. P. Franklin Rec area just before 10AM this morning. The kayak club scattered at various sites around the park slowed me down. They were forming up for a caravan to some remote kayak adventure. Their cars and trucks blocked my access to the dump station. I needed to dump the 2 weeks worth of accumulated gray and black water. It represents nearly 800 pounds of weight that I don’t need to carry with me.

Once I got on the road I had 200 miles and about 4 hours of travel to get to Port Canaveral and Jetty Park. It is right on the side of the channel into the port. I’ve been here a few times before, but the last time was about 10 years ago. There have been many improvements since then. The park is still recovering from Hurricane Matthew. The campground was closed for nearly a month after the storm went through and the fishing pier is still closed. There are clear indications that much of the area was under water during the storm.

Night time view of my RV home on Site 209 at Jetty Park Campground.

The travel today was challenging. I crossed most of the state on two lane roads. Staying in my lane with little or no shoulder with oncoming truck traffic is not fun. It was complicated by a heavy cross wind. An occasional gust would catch me just right to move the rig a few feet out of lane. Two hands on the steering wheel were a requirement most of the way across the state.

The road across was mostly through ranch land. I saw cattle ranches and horse ranches. The cattle came in all shapes and colors. I say black cattle, brown cattle, gray cattle and multicolored cattle. Some had short horns and some had long horns. Some had small heads and some had big heads. It was a real diversity of species. Even the horse ranches had variety. I saw one horse ranch with miniature horses.

Tomorrow I’ll explore the campground, beach area and the port in more detail. I had the time today, but chose to wait until I could complete the check in process. When I arrived, the office was closed for a meeting. I was directed to my site, but I wasn’t provided with the access code to the gates between the campground and the beach. Getting stuck on the wrong side probably wouldn’t have been an issue, but why take the chance. I finally got checked in about five thirty.