Wednesday February 8th 2017

Last night the storm front that brought tornadoes to Louisiana and Mississippi earlier in the day arrived here on the north east Florida coast. It had calmed down a little by the time it got this far east, but still brought severe thunderstorms. Around ten last night the sky opened up, the wind blew and lightning flashed. It lasted for a couple of hours, then showered off and on during the night. There was at least one tornado reported to the west of here.

Sky between the storms

The power went out over night, but I didn’t know until I saw the microwave flashing this morning. The microwave is one of the things that doesn’t get its power from the inverter circuit. The lights and the outlets all get power from the batteries via the inverter. When I checked the battery status this morning, they were in fast charge mode, so the power was out long enough to draw them down significantly.

Today was a changeable day. It started cloudy, cleared a little, then the clouds moved back in. The temperature peaked in the mid 70s. A few showers have moved through the area and it is starting to fog in tonight. The humidity and lack of a good breeze has kept it uncomfortable all day.

I feel lucky that the weather didn’t impact me more than it did. One of the plans I was considering for my travels to the west would have had me staying in New Orleans this week. That general area got hit by several tornadoes yesterday. I’m now trying to understand the long range weather forecast for the south. I still need to get across the country to Arizona by March 1st. The Weather Channel and AccuWeather websites have been getting a few visits.

Tuesday February 7th 2017

The temperature challenged the record highs today topping out in the low 80s. I managed to take advantage of the nice weather before the day was out. A storm front is predicted to pass through overnight and bring the weather back toward normal.

Duck boats and trucks surrounded by Patriots fans.

Mr. Brady came to party

Getting out of the RV was delayed this morning by the a new TV addiction. I got caught up watching the Patriots victory parade through downtown Boston. The NFL Network had a combination of its own coverage and the WBZ TV Boston local coverage. Watching the Duck boats and flat bed trucks packed with players, team staff and family members winding through Boston during a winter storm was very entertaining. With very few exceptions, nobody knew who they were looking at. The players weren’t in uniform and very few were wearing identifying numbers. The number of times the announcers identified people incorrectly was amazing. If they didn’t contradict themselves or retract their identification, I’d have never known. People who wear helmets for a living can hide in a crowd. I really don’t know what my fascination with the parade was all about.

When I finally made it out of the campground, I went to the Atlantic Ocean south of St Augustine Beach. Guess what the Atlantic Ocean is still there. I didn’t have anything specific in mind when I stopped at the seaside conservation area near the Marineland Laboratories. The tide was most of the way in leaving very little area for exploring. There were a few people taking advantage of the warm sun between the rocks. I spent a few minutes watching the waves break and the shore birds scramble.

South view of the Atlantic Ocean

Palm trees under a cloudy sky.

There is still lots of work going on to repair hurricane damage. Fences and signs are still broken down in some areas. Serious bulldozer work is going on to rebuild some of the barrier sand dunes. It has been around four months since the storm went up the coast. Buildings have been repaired but landscape damage hasn’t always been repaired.

Monday February 6th 2017

Today was a recovery day from yesterday’s emotional roller coaster of a Super Bowl game. Watching the Patriots dig their own grave, then fill it in and build a monument for football posterity was gut wrenching. I got caught up in all of today’s Monday morning quarterbacking. I listened or watched more sports shows today than I would in a normal month. All of the shows were pretty much in agreement that the Falcons chocked, but only a team as good as the Patriots would have been able to take advantage of the chock.

Today’s Bird Picture

It was a bright sunny day in the mid 70s. I got a number of errands accomplished and a little grocery shopping. The old cliquish about grocery shopping while hungry held true. With my stomach growling in the grocery store, I bought some rib eye steaks and potatoes for baking. The steak grilled up nicely for an early supper and I have another one for a second meal in the next couple of days.

The afternoon moon.

Walking around the campground I’m staying in is one of my sources of exercise. I always see interesting or curious things. At this park two things stood out. The first is the mix of residents and the other is the decorations. There seem to be four types of residents in this park. There are people who live hear and work in the area. This campground may be their permanent homes. The second group is the long term weekend residents. They probably live in Jacksonville or some other city area and use this for weekends and vacations. The third group is the traditional Snowbirds and the fourth short term travelers like me. From my limited observation, I don’t thing there is a lot of interaction between groups.

Valentines Decoration in the RV Park

The other observation during my walk was the decorations for Valentines Day. I am used to seeing Christmas decorations in December and have begun to accept Halloween decorations in October, but the idea of extensive decorating for Valentines Day is new to me. There are many deep red lights hung from awnings and red rope lighting on the ground. The site across from me has a heart made of lights hanging out front. I’m not sure if I’m ready for this. If I ever see a blow up Cupid, I’ll know it’s gone too far.

Sunday February 5th 2017

It was almost 20 degrees warmer today. The sun was shining brightly and all thoughts of yesterdays winter were gone.

Today was moving day. I needed to travel from the Florida Georgia line to the outskirts of St. Augustine. It’s only about 60 miles but you need to navigate through or around Florida’s largest city of Jacksonville. For years I’ve taken the western beltway around the city on I295, but sometime over the last 10 years the eastern beltway has been completed. This time, I took Interstate 295 on the east side. It is shorter and seems to have less major intersections. Since it was mid day on a Sunday, I could have gone through the center of the city on Interstate 95, but the last time I was on that road it was very rough.

To avoid arriving too early at my new campsite, I stopped at the Florida Welcome Center. In addition to all kinds of brochures on all things Florida, they give out samples of Orange or Grapefruit juice. I’ve commented before on how small the samples were. This time they were giving out slightly bigger samples. That’s surprising since the cost of OJ in the grocery stores has gone up. I won’t complain, it was good.

Site 7 at Stagecoach RV Park in St. Augustine

I have a back in site at the Stagecoach RV Park. I’ve been here two other times since August. Both of my previous times were in the pull thru sites. This back in site is harder to get parked, but is a nicer site overall. I back up to a fence around an open field, so I have no rear neighbors.

I started this blog entry when the Super Bowl game wasn’t going the way I wanted. With the Patriots not playing well, the commercials and the half time show were not very interesting. Now as I finish this blog entry, the Patriots have completed the biggest comeback in Super Bowl history. I’m glad I kept the game on even though I wasn’t paying attention until it was within two miracle scores. Congratulations to the New England Patriots.

Saturday February 4th 2017

As predicted it was twenty degrees cooler today than yesterday. It never got higher than the mid 50s. The clouds and the breeze contributed to a very raw and uncomfortable day. People just don’t know how to deal with this type of weather. Travelers from the north were out walking around in short sleeve shirts. The locals were in hoodies, winter weight jackets and gloves. Many of them looked ready for twenty below.

I probably would have gone with something in the middle like the hoodie without the jacket. Since I never went outside today, I really don’t know. I stayed inside with the little electric space heater on to keep the RV at the right temperature. It was a little too cool for the electric fireplace alone to keep the rig comfortable, but it was not cold enough to warrant the full gas furnace. Generally, I reserve using the furnace for early in the morning to bring things up to temperature or on those rare occasions when I need heat in the middle of the night. As long as I stay around Interstate 10 or south, I don’t think I need to worry about the hard cold in the middle of the night.

A little heat goes a long way.

I have spent most of the day watching TV. The sports channels have all had Super Bowl hype shows. The number of different ways they can express the characteristics of the two teams is amazing. I have heard the Falcons labeled as the number one scoring offense and the Patriots the number one scoring defense more times than I can remember. Of course, each commentator has a different opinion on what that means for the outcome of the game. It’s a good thing the game is tomorrow. They are running out of ways to spin the facts.

Tomorrow I am moving back south to the St Augustine area. My weekend exile to Georgia is over. It is only about an hour drive south, but I need to be out of here by 11am and aren’t supposed to check in at the new campground until 2pm. I may spend some extra time at the Florida Welcome Center. I am not going to slow roll my travel preparations like I did on Thursday with disastrous consequences.

Friday February 3rd 2017

This campground is located beside Interstate 95 just north of the Florida Georgia line. It is a nice, but not great campground. The two things I think stand in the way of greatness are the closeness of the sites and the highway noise. The sites are angled in such a way that the impact of the lack of separation between sites is minimized. As for the highway noise, you get used to it. Last night I took to counting trucks on the highway by their noise to get to sleep.

Marina with live aboard boats in St Mary’s Georgia

American Flag flies at the marina.

This afternoon I went over to the town of St Marys Georgia. This was my second visit to the historic town. My first visit around labor day was documented in a blog entry “Saint Marys Georgia“. At the time, I thought the sleepiness of the community was do to the late summer season. Five months later in the middle of winter it is just as sleepy, maybe even a little more so. The Cumberland Island National Seashore Visitor Center was closed today.

Three of four Coast Guard boats waiting to be taken out of the water.

While I was there the Coast Guard provided the entertainment. Four coast guard boats came up the St Mary’s river to the boat launch. Each boat in turn dropped two men off at the launch area to get the trucks and boat trailers. The two men remaining on the boat then waited in the river for the trailer to be backed down the ramp. Once the trailer was in the water the driver beeped the horn to tell the boat to come in. The second man on shore connected the boat to the trailer as it was powered up onto the trailer. The boat pilot then beeped the boat horn to indicate it was OK to pull the trailer out of the water. The truck driver beeped in reply then pulled forward. All four men then went to work to tie down the boat and prepare it for transport. It was a well orchestrated process.

Today’s bird picture.

Today was the right day for touring it was the mid 70s with a light breeze. Tomorrow is forecast to be 20 plus degrees colder.

Thursday February 2nd 2017

I am safely settled in at the Jacksonville North KOA in Kingsland GA for the weekend. It was about a sixty mile drive that began with a good amount of drama.

Site C-13 at the Jacksonville North KOA.

I got up this morning and slowly started getting ready to travel. Since I only had a short travel day, I wasn’t in a hurry to get underway. I did a few tasks then stopped for breakfast. Did a few more tasks then continued with my morning coffee. This approach had me doing some things out of order. For example, I hooked up the car before preparing the motorhome for travel. I was very careful hooking up the car to make sure I didn’t forget any of the steps. I knew my approach to getting ready this morning was a little different so I was double checking everything. I was ready to depart at 11am and got into the drivers seat of the Motorhome, put it in gear and pulled forward. Before I was out of the site, a loud tearing sound came from the back of the RV. I stopped in my tracks, turned off the engine and proceeded with trepidation to investigate.

In my preparation for travel I hadn’t removed the power cord from the power box to the RV. When I pulled forward I stretched the cord to the limit and then things began to give. The campground power box was leaning toward the RV, but the power cord was still plugged in. It was the Motorhome end of the connection that gave way. The cord connects to a box containing relays that manage the flow of power from the generator or shore power. The entire box had been ripped from the RV storage compartment leaving nothing but dangling wires.

I picked up the power cord with the transfer box still attached and stored it away in the storage bin. I flagged down one of the campground staff to check the power box. It was not damaged. Standing it back up straight and tamping the ground around it fixed that end of the problem, but I had a motorhome that couldn’t be connected to power. The battery bank only lasts about 12hrs without a recharge.

The good thing was it looked like most of the connections had just pulled out of their clamps and the mounting screws had pulled out of the sheet metal. It looked very fixable, I just had to find a way to get it fixed. As I drove north I considered my options. I was fairly sure I had the tools and the knowledge to fix the connection. What I didn’t have was the experience. It would be a stressful exercise. That became the plan of last resort. Stopping at an RV repair facility was a possibility, but would be unlikely to result in a quick solution. Most RV repair facilities have long waiting lists for service. My best bet was to get a Mobile RV technician to come to the campground and fix the rig.

When I checked in at the KOA, I asked about references to Mobile Techs in the area. I got lucky. One of the workcampers at the campground also does RV repairs. That is actually pretty common. A number of full time travelers have RV Repair businesses to supplement their income. He came over as soon as I arrived at my assigned campsite. It took him a little over an hour to hook everything back up. As I had thought it was mostly reconnecting the wires to the terminals. Remounting the box and getting the cover to stay on were the most difficult part of the whole repair.

After sixteen months of ownership, this event has finally christened my RV home. I can no longer consider it new, it’s now just my home.

On another note, the local pelican and hedge hog saw their shadows this morning. Punxsutawney Phil saw his too. Some woodchuck on Long Island didn’t, but overall it sounds like 6 more weeks of winter. I’ve never been sure if 6 weeks is the good alternative or the bad alternative, since March 21st is actually 7 weeks away.

Wednesday February 1st 2017

The day started with fog and ended in the mid 70s with bright sunshine. According to the TV weather people the fog was related to the prescribed burns being conducted on some of the forest land in the area. I didn’t detect the odor of smoke, but it certainly was possible. I saw one of the areas of the burn on my way up here Monday.

I spent too much time today worrying about where I was going to stay tomorrow night. My original plan was to stop here long enough to get the things I needed to complete in Florida finished before heading west. In a perfect world I could have completed the tasks before moving on tomorrow, but this isn’t a perfect world. I thought I’d be able to move over to the St. Augustine area to finish up my tasks, but there aren’t any vacancies at any of the campgrounds in the area. The weekend is fully booked here and in the St. Augustine area.

The Little Blue Heron is still resident in the Campground’s drainage pond.

I worked the internet and the phone checking campgrounds in an ever increasing circle. I finally found a place to stay for the weekend just over the line in Georgia. It’s a nice campground that I’ve been to before, but I’ll have to move back to the St. Augustine area on Sunday.

There is a strange thing about the campgrounds in Florida during the winter. The owners fill the parks to a high percentage with long term residents. They keep a few sites that they can fill at a higher nightly rate by travelers. Those are the sites I need as I travel. On weekends, I’m not only competing with travelers but also Florida residents out for the weekend.

I am still having difficulty with the need to reserve sites ahead of time. Making reservations online is one thing, but having to place multiple phone calls is a royal pain. The flip side is that when I don’t have a reservation my anxiety level with respect to finding a place to stay goes up.

The day wasn’t a total bust. I did travel around the area and get a few errands accomplished.