Wednesday February 15th 2017

Today’s forecast thunderstorms never arrived, but the wind sure did. The high temperature was around 80 degrees with high wind warnings all day. The sustained winds were reported around 20 plus MPH with gusts in the 40s. I’m glad I didn’t have the motorhome out on the highway today. My SUV struggled in the wind in the open areas and the big trailer trucks were having a hard time staying between the lines.

Chainsaw carving of an eagle at the campground.

The wind at the campground is not as obvious. The tall pine trees isolate the ground area from the wind, but not the debris. Pine cones, loose branches and other forms of fall out rained down on the roof of the motorhome all day. It’s not quite as constant as rain, but some of the pine cones are louder. I jumped out of my skin a couple of times this morning.

One of the nicknames for Jacksonville FL is the River City. It might me more appropriately called the Rivers City. In addition to the main St. Johns river I encountered the Trout River and Ribault River while driving around the city today. Crossing a river means using a bridge. Today’s wind made a couple of the bridges a bit of a challenge. The good thing is that the bridges were not narrow and the sides were high enough to provide the illusion of safety.

The wind was a main influence on the day’s events. At twenty five miles per hour it is not nearly as strong as some of the winds on the plains of the west. I need to keep that in mind as I head west at the end of the week.