Monday August 8th 2022

The sound of thunder and the specter of dark clouds were all around the area today. It looked like a tropical downpour was only moments away for much of the day, but this area stayed dry. The sun was mostly blocked by clouds, so the temperature remained in the mid eighties.

The daily rain storms during the Florida summer are mostly caused by the collision of wind coming from the east coast with the winds from the west coast of the peninsula. The water temperature in the Atlantic vs. the Gulf of Mexico along with the strength of the wind factor into the location of the developing disturbances. Over the last few days the wind off the Atlantic has been dominant causing the storms to develop inland from the east coast and move to the north and west once they form. Since I’m located about five miles from the coast, I’ve been in the clear. When the wind from the west is stronger the storms move into this area late in the day after they form inland. Obviously there are lots of other factors in prediction of the developing weather, but this simplification helps me understand the forecast.

I needed to shop for some things that aren’t available at Walmart and I wanted to be more tactile than Amazon allows. Before I began the Rambling Road Trip, Target was one of my “goto” stores. On the road they aren’t available in rural America as frequently as they are in cities. There is a Target in St. Augustine, so I took advantage of the opportunity. It has been over two years since I was in a Target.

In my opinion Target stores are more open and uncluttered than similar stores like Walmart. It is easier to find what your looking for and compare one product with another. This store was the exception to my experience. Things were jammed together and disorganized. There wasn’t a lot of open space between rows of merchandise. Overstock or not yet sorted merchandise was in the main aisles. It was somewhat of a disorganized mess. Never the less, I found a couple of items I was looking for. When I left the store I spotted storage containers in the parking lot and a sign on the side of the building saying they were open during remodeling. I didn’t see any real indicators of remodeling inside, just clutter, but I guess they have an excuse.