Friday August 5th 2022

Today’s weather was a lot like Thursday. The strong breeze off the ocean kept the temperature in check despite the humidity. Once again the temperature was in the high eighties. The rain threat was during the morning, but the storm line formed further inland and moved away from here.

The weekend has clearly arrived. While I was out today, there were plenty of recreational vehicles and trailered boats on the move. Traffic also seemed to be a little more impatient. I experienced several cars that felt the need to weave in and out of traffic to keep up a speed greater than the flow. Combined with some intangible feelings, it was apparent the weekend was here.

This is my third weekend at this RV resort. The campground was almost full the first weekend. The fact that a camping group from Georgia was here, may have been a contributing factor. Last weekend it wasn’t as full. There were many scattered empty sites throughout the campground. This weekend seems to have many more empty sites. School has started in all of southern Georgia and many of the districts in Florida also started this week or next. That may be the reason there are fewer visitors this weekend.

Thursday August 4th 2022

There was a strong breeze off the Atlantic Ocean to keep the temperature under control today. The humidity was high, but there were no thunderstorms in this area. The breeze kept the temperature in the high eighties.

Today was a very routine day. I got a few chores done around my RV home and spent the rest of the time doing non productive but very enjoyable tasks. The day went by quickly, but I don’t have anything to write about in this blog entry.

Wednesday August 3rd 2022

It rained loud and hard overnight. Thunder and lightening accompanied heavy rain for nearly an hour in the middle of the night. The day began very humid but sunny. More rain was in the forecast for the afternoon, but as of night fall it still hasn’t arrived.

I drove through downtown St. Augustine on my way to the boat launch on the Inter coastal waterway that was overflowing with cars and boat trailers on Saturday. Parking in the downtown area is scarce. In the area of the Castillo de San Marcos National Monument the spaces had waiting lines. There are parking garages further inland, but I wasn’t prepared for a lot of walking in the Florida Summer sun. The way to find available “free” parking is to park away from the downtown area at one of the parking lots run by the trolley services, but then you have to buy a ticket on the trolley. It has been many years since I explored the fort and I think it will be a few more.

When I arrived at the boat launch area just before the bridge out to the barrier island and Vilano Beach it was busy, but nowhere near as busy as Saturday. A steady stream of boats were launching and landing at the three boat wide ramp today. On Saturday empty trailers were parked along the road and boats on trailers were waiting to get into the parking lot. During the half hour or so I was there fifteen or more boats came and went. They ranged from little boats with small outboards to boats that look to big to be trailered.

The boats were interesting, but the hand full of Egrets hanging out with the seagulls were more interesting. Several of the pier posts had a Great Egret camped out on top. They were in competition with the seagulls for discarded fishing bait off of landing boats. Most of these Egrets were pretty tame. One could walk within a few feet of them as long as you were walking directly at them.

Tuesday August 2nd 2022

The dry weather pattern changed last night with the arrival of rain. It was noticeably more humid today. The day began bright and sunny, but in the early afternoon the clouds started to move in and darken the sky. During the late afternoon there were several brief rain showers. Since darkness arrived there have been many flashes of lightening and roars of thunder. So far heavy rain has not fallen.

This was a lazy day without much activity worth writing about in a blog entry. I got a few chores accomplished, but most of the day was spent reading and watching video on the internet. The pictures in this blog entry come from my main walk of the day before the clouds completely won the day.

Monday August 1st 2022

I can’t complain about the weather today. It was another repeat of low nineties, slight breeze and moderate humidity. Once again the rain was twenty miles or so away.

It was lawn mowing day at the RV park. They started before 9AM and were complete in less than two hours. For some reason the mowing doesn’t bother me as much at this park. The noise level doesn’t seem to be as high or intrusive as it is at other parks. Either way everything looks nice and neat after the mowing.

My major task for the day was replenishing my grocery levels. Walmart was just as busy today as it was last week. The good news is there were five assisted checkouts open today as compared to the one or two last week. All of the assisted checkouts had three to five people in line. I chose a short line and got burned. A lady a couple of people in front of me was truly challenged by the activity. Getting her groceries out of the cart and on the belt was her first challenge. Everything needed to be moved around a minimum of three times before she selected the next item in the cart. Once everything was rung up her next challenge was selecting the appropriate card to pay with. I think she tried a zero balance gift card, followed by a debit card that she couldn’t get the pin right and finally settled on a credit card. I think she was capable, but lacked focus. It really was just a sad situation. This could be in any of our futures.

I drove back by the ostrich “ranch?” to try and get a picture of the big birds. Traffic was heavy again so I couldn’t stop. There were at least two birds well back from the road. The snapshot I tried to get one handed as I drove slowly by the field only captured a blurry tree. Maybe another time.

Sunday July 31st 2022

Today’s weather was another repeat of the previous day. The temperature peaked in the low to mid nineties with a nice breeze and mid level humidity. There wasn’t any rain in the area. According to the TV weather talkers this is all thanks to dust from the Sahara Desert keeping the air dry. Thank you Africa.

Because of the morning sun, I don’t open my drivers side curtains until late in the morning. This morning when I raised the curtains all of the sites in that direction were empty. The weekend was over and everybody departed by the 11AM checkout time. I knew people were leaving, but the extent of the departures in that area was a bit of a shock.

The departures started early this morning. A big diesel motorhome a few sites in the other direction cranked its motor before 8am. It ran at high idle for a few minutes which is very loud. Overall the motor was running for close to an hour before they departed. Everybody has their own sequence for getting ready to travel, but having the motor running for that long seems to be excessive. I think they also had the diesel generator on to power their two roof air conditioners while they loaded their golf cart on its trailer. Maybe the noise from the diesel motorhome kept me from hearing the silent departures on the other side of my RV home.

I was out driving around the area this afternoon. After filling up with gas for only $3.90 a gallon, I took a few local roads to get back toward the beach. Traffic was heavy and I had to stop in slow traffic waiting for a distant traffic light. Looking to my left I was looking right into the eyes of an odd creature. Its head was just above the top of a high fence. When it moved away a few moments later, I finally realized it was an ostrich. You don’t see those everyday.

Saturday July 30th 2022

The dry weather pattern continued today. The temperature peaked in the low nineties with a gentle breeze and only medium humidity. Once again the daily rain showers missed this area.

I made the mistake of forgetting it was a weekend day. My travels today took me close to the ocean. Since it was Saturday everybody had a similar idea. Cars, many with boat trailers attached lined the sides of the road as I crossed the inter coastal waterway. There was nowhere to stop to enjoy the view. As I got closer to the beach the traffic started to back up and lots of pedestrians in beach clothes were everywhere. Once again there was nowhere to stop. I didn’t really want to “go to the beach”, but would have liked to stop for a few minutes. Instead I made a big loop and headed back toward my RV home.

The good news along the way was the price of gas. It is now twenty cents lower than it was the last time I bought gas two weeks ago. It went down another two or three cents in the last couple of days. The price of Regular Gas is now $3.95 or less per gallon. I need to fill my tank the next time I go out.

On the weekend this campground becomes a weekend destination for people that want to enjoy the location and attractions of historic St. Augustine. People show up in weekend warrior mode. They leave their site early in the morning to tour or play in the area and return in the afternoon to enjoy the campground. As is common, there are many people that are camping with people on other sites. As the evening approaches the gatherings start. For some families this is the last weekend of summer, because the kids start returning to school next week in some of the districts. I think this immediate area is the week after next.

Friday July 29th 2022

Today was a few degrees warmer than yesterday, but overall it was a very nice day. It was sunny almost all day with medium humidity and a light breeze. The temperature peaked in the low to mid nineties. The rain storms were elsewhere today.

I got a late start to the day. It was the middle of the afternoon before I finished all of my online reading and began the active part of my day. By that time new campers were arriving for the weekend. The park staff were leading RVs to their sites in a steady stream. It was difficult to navigate the narrow park roads against the flow of incoming traffic. I suspect the park will not be as full this weekend as last.

Thursday July 28th 2022

Today’s temperature was a little warmer than Wednesday. It peaked in the low nineties with lower humidity. A couple of very brief showers wet down the area. For the most part today’s thunderstorms remained to the north over the Jacksonville area and inland in the middle of the peninsular. The trend for the next few days is increasing temperatures and humidity.

I found an access area to the inland bank of the Matanzas River this afternoon. The little park with a boat launch was accessed at the back of a residential area. It was necessary to navigate through the twenty to thirty year old homes at twenty five miles an hour. Speed seemed to be a real concern. There were two electronic speed measurement signs along my path.

It was low tide along the river. Mud flats were exposed providing additional access out into the river area for fishermen on foot. The boat launch seemed to be questionable at low tide. I was disappointed not to see any birds near the area of the park. A couple of egrets were flying along the water in the distance, but they were too far away to get a decent picture. I spent about a half hour sitting in the shade enjoying the breeze and the view.

The campground has started to fill up for the weekend. Returning into the park this afternoon I had to dodge around two arriving RVs at the entrance. The two rows of sites in front of me that were empty for the last two nights now have half a dozen RVs setup on the sites. It looks like it will be another busy weekend.

Wednesday July 27th 2022

This area was right on the edge of the rain belt today. Throughout much of the day storms formed just to the west of here and moved north away from the area. An occasional brief shower wet things down, but many occurred with the sun still shining. The showers kept the temperature in the mid eighties, but the humidity was through the roof.

It was a slow day overall. I got a few maintenance tasks accomplished around my RV home. On one of my walks around the campground between showers I took a lot of closeup pictures of the Hibiscus plants complete with the moisture from the rain.