Tuesday August 9th 2016

It was cloudy all day with a continuous threat of rain. Save for a couple of brief cloud bursts like yesterday, the rain held off until evening. Starting at about 6pm real rain began falling.

I spent the day at home catching up on chores. Chief among the tasks was the laundry. This RV park has a laundry with 8 washers and 8 dryers. Both cost $2 a load. The gotcha is that front load washers are smaller in capacity than I’ve become used to. I needed to do an additional load to complete my washing. The dryer was a large capacity machine. Using a different type of machine each time I do the washing has had a negative impact on how clean I get my clothes. I don’t have enough trials to experiment with the various cycles or the amount of detergent and other additives. The next time I’m in one place for a few weeks, I’ll need to really work on getting things cleaner. In the mean time, I may have to go clothes shopping.

Close up of my audience for the take dumping task.

When I went out to dump the holding tanks I had a spectator. A gecko (or some kind of little lizard like thing) was sitting on the hose watching my every move. I was able to take several pictures without disturbing the little thing. Eventually the fluid rushing through the tube freaked it out enough that it retreated to a nearby tree trunk to continue to observe the operation. There are many of these little creatures scurrying around on the ground here.

The other advantage of a stay at home day was having the time to cook food with a longer preparation time. Tonight I prepared and cooked a pizza. This one was a pepperoni pizza. I usually make a sausage pizza, but I only had a stick of pepperoni in the refrigerator. It was an extra spicy pepperoni, so I probably should have just had a plain cheese pizza.

Tomorrow I may check out the World Golf Hall of Fame which is one exit north on I95 from here.

Monday August 8th 2016

The weather continues to be a mad oscillation between sun and rain. One minute it is full sunshine and the next is a cloud burst for 5 minutes or so. Unlike yesterday, I didn’t let it get in my way today.

I put my focus for the day on the area west of St. Augustine. Specifically, I went looking for land based recreation opportunities on the shore of the St. Johns river. I wanted to find a hiking trail or a bicycle trail. I’ll need to do a little bit of internet searching, because the driving around approach was unsuccessful.

Looking south on the St. Johns river. The black cloud above opened up on me about 2 minutes after this picture was taken.

What I did discover was a lot of interesting roads, some with low hanging Spanish moss laden branches. You had the sense of driving in a tunnel of vegetation. I also stopped at a couple of boat launching areas and small parks to look for activity and wildlife.

Birds hiding in the shallows under the overhang of the trees.

My travels today took me across the St. Johns river into Green Cove Springs, then down the west side to Palatka. I didn’t return directly north on the east side. Instead, I angled north east toward I95. Later in the day I went back to checkout some of the east side of the St. Johns river. There is still more to check out another day.

Back at the campground this afternoon I extended my stay for another week. This seems to be one of the better campgrounds in the area. For an area as famous as St. Augustine there are fewer campgrounds than I thought. At the campgrounds that are available, many of the sites are occupied by long term residents.

Sunday August 7th 2016

The weather really got in the way today. Not because it was bad, but because it was unpredictable. It seems like every time I wanted to do something the weather had other ideas.

I decided I’d do some of the tourist stuff in the downtown historic district this morning. The morning weather forecast called for clouds with rain possible near mid day. That’s exactly what it looked like when I stopped for breakfast at McDonalds on my way downtown. When I came out of McDonalds less than 20
minutes later, it looked like night was returning. I assumed the mid-day rain had arrived early.

The rain caused me to change plans. I went to the grocery store and to Walmart for a few things, then back to the RV to put the perishables away and regroup. So far, it only rained a couple of times for less than 5 minutes. None of the weather behavior was aligned with the forecasts on the TV.

Around noon it was looking brighter. The sun came out for a few minutes now and then. I decided to make another attempt at the tourist attractions. My first stop was at a couple of the beaches north of St. Augustine on route A1A. They were occupied, but not so heavily that I couldn’t find a place to park. There was nothing remarkable about this section of Atlantic Ocean beach. It had plenty of sand and the ocean was the ocean. I had the option of driving up the coast to Jacksonville or turning around back to St. Augustine. Returning to plan, I headed for the downtown tourist attractions.

Downtown St. Augustine has many narrow one way roads. I navigated those looking for a place to park without success. My only option was to get in line for the parking garage with about 25 other cars. As I approach the garage the sky opened up again. It went from sunny to down pour in the snap of your fingers. My interest in walking around in the rain was not great, then I saw the cost of parking. It was going to cost $12 to park. Even if it wasn’t raining I wouldn’t spend a lot of time playing tourist. I let my cheap side win and I got out of line and continued looking for a parking alternative. Navigating the narrow one way streets in the rain was even more difficult.

Fifteen minutes later with the sun out once more, I was in St. Augustine beach south of the city. This area seems to be more popular than the beaches north of town. I saw plenty of parking areas, but none of them had any space. While I was considering my options, mother nature turned the switch again. It went from sunny to down pour again. I decided to give up for the day and try again during the week when fewer people will be competing for the available space. My impression is that most of the people I’m competing with are local. There are not many out of state plates on the cars. This is unlike the winter when every 3rd car has an out of state plate.

The campground is prepared for heavy rain. Each road has small drainage ditches that run to a big ditch between the campground and the storage area.

The story with the weather, according to another TV forecaster, is that a tropical low pressure system is stalled over the Lake City Florida area. This is about 100 miles to the west. The counter clockwise flow around the center is bringing water in off the Gulf of Mexico. We are on the fringe of the current area of impact so sometimes we get rained on and sometimes we don’t. As the storm moves east we will get more consistent impact.

What all that means is if I want to do something, do it. Just be prepared to get wet. I just dug an umbrella out of the closet. This now concludes my complaining about the weather’s impact on my life. I’ll grow up tomorrow.

Saturday August 6th 2016

The day started with heavy cloud cover that slowed the temperature rise from the overnight low in the 70s. There was a brief period of sun in the late morning, followed by a return to cloud cover as the stationary low pressure system to the west of here rotated. The weather is predicted to be very cloudy and wet over the next few days.

I took advantage of the morning weather to go for a walk. The location I picked was in the community of Palm Coast about 35 miles south of St. Augustine. Palm coast is a planned community that has been in development for about 40 years. It still has a great deal of open land available for development. The good thing about planned communities is all of the recreation opportunities they incorporate.

Looking north at Waterfront Park. The birds in flight are metal sculptures of Blue Herons.

View across the river from the walking trail. A boat is pulling a tube with 3 kids in the river.

Another view of the river.

I parked at the Waterfront Park on the Matanzas River. The river is part of the Intercostal Waterway in this area. It separates the mainland from the barrier island. The walking and bicycling trail goes north from the park to the Hammock Dunes Bridge over the river. Piecing together the various distance signs, I’d guess I walked north about 1.5 miles. With the return walk added in I walked about 3 miles over the course of an hour. There were several stops for pictures and just watching the activity.

There were many people out walking and riding bikes. Everyone was very friendly. Good mornings were exchanged with everyone and a few additional brief conversations were also conducted. It really was surprising how chatty people were this morning.

I plastered on the sun screen even though I was starting the walk in cloudy weather. It is a good thing I did, because the sun came out during my walk. By the time I got back in was sunny in the 90s. I finished off my bottle of water on the home stretch of the walk. The walk is primarily along the river. Following the paved path you go inland to cross the feeder creeks on wood bridges. The brief inland sections are shaded, but the rest of the path is open.

Boat slips on the left (west side of the river). The Hammock Dunes Bridge in the background.

The northern part of the walk passes in front of condominiums and beside the boat docks for the condo residents. Most of the slips were full and all of the boats were out of the water on lifts. There were signs that the water level is very changeable. I’m not sure if the water is tidal or if the level is controlled by run off.

Kayaks and large cruisers sharing the river.

Kids riding on tube pulled by boat.

I enjoyed the walk. There were Saturday morning boaters and fishermen to watch. A couple of bigger wading birds made an appearance to keep me amused. Both an Egret and an Ibis were along the bank searching for lunch.

Egret swallowing a morsel of food.

Ibis on the shore

After the walk I returned to my RV home. I watched the Olympic coverage on the TV. I haven’t reached my Olympic saturation point yet. My frustration level with the commercials and the sometimes lame attempts at human interest back stories is growing. Usually, by the second week of coverage I have moved on to other programming.

Friday August 5th 2016

After a couple of days of travel, today was a much slower day. It was nice sunny day until late afternoon when the predicted thunderstorms moved into the area. My primary focus for the day was getting the lay of the land.

After a leisurely breakfast with the morning TV, I headed west across the St Johns river to Green Cove Springs. This is the county seat of Clay county. My mail service is located in this town. One of my primary reasons for stopping in this location is to setup my Florida domicile. Now I know how to find the county court house with the appropriate offices I’ll need to visit. On the way back I found a grocery store to stock-up on food for the weekend.

Sailboat on a lift in the St. Johns river in Green Cove Springs Fl.

After storing the groceries away in the RV, I headed east toward St. Augustine. I stayed away from the historic district today. My goal was to locate other major stores. The area Walmart, Target and big box home improvement stores were all on US route 1, south of the historic district. I didn’t stop at any of these places today, but will likely need them during the next couple of weeks.

Late this afternoon after having a late lunch at the RV, I went shoe shopping at the outlet mall at the same Interstate 95 exit as this campground is located at. Today was a busy day for shopping. It is a no sales tax weekend for back to school shopping. Florida has a few quirks on the tax moratorium. Only items of clothing less than $60 are exempt from taxes and stores in resorts can not participate. They really want to make sure the majority of the savings go to people returning to Florida schools.

The $60 number is significant. I saw more pairs of shoes that were curiously on sale for $59.99. There were about 8 different stores that sold the kinds of casual shoes I was looking for. I went into most of the stores and walked up one isle and down the next then out the door. I finally returned to the Skechers outlet store that I started in to buy a pair of shoes. With any luck this pair of shoes will replace 3 pairs of shoes. I’ve worn through 2 old pairs in the last couple of weeks and I have one pair that I just don’t like. Unfortunately, for my motorhome’s weight carrying capacity I still have other shoes.

Tonight I’m watching the Olympics opening ceremony. Tomorrow I may try and find some natural settings to visit or possibly some of the tourist stuff in old St. Augustine.

Thursday August 4th 2016

It was extremely humid this morning, but the actual temperature was much lower than the last couple of days. It was still cloudy in the high 70s at 9:30 or so when I got underway. It only seemed to get to the mid 80s during the day.

Today’s route was straight down I95 out of South Carolina, through Georgia and into Florida. The thirty or so miles in South Carolina was the worst road of the day. The combination of concrete and pavement made for a very bouncy ride. Particularly annoying is the dips at the leading and trailing edge of bridges. The road in Georgia and Florida are 3 and 4 lanes wide, nicely paved and smooth.

Just before I stopped at the Florida Welcome center to stretch my legs and get my teaspoon of orange juice it started to shower. There were brief periods of down pour strength rain followed by just sprinkles. This continued all the way through the city of Jacksonville.

Sign at the Florida Welcome Center. Why does a tourist care who the governor is?

About an hour after I drove through the area between the Florida Georgia line and the city of Jacksonville severe weather passed through the area. I safely missed a small tornado that touched down in the town of Yulee.

I followed I95 right through Jacksonville. Usually, I take the I295 beltway around the city to the west. It was the middle of the day and traffic seemed light so I gave the shorter route a try. Traffic wise it was a success. Road surface wise, it was a mistake. There was a lot of construction on the route through the city.

Site 20 at the Stagecoach RV Park in St. Augustine Fl.

I’ve stopped at the Stagecoach RV park outside St, Augustine for a few days. I may stay at this park longer or move to another park in the area. I didn’t want to commit to a long stay until I get a sense of the park and the area. I will be in this area for as long as it takes to get my Florida domicile established in nearby Clay County. I also need to be somewhere safe to leave the camper when I fly back north to finish cleaning out the house.

Tomorrow I’ll do some reconnoitering of the area and some shopping. I’ve been to St Augustine before so sight seeing is not the first priority, although there is likely to be some of that before my stay in the area is over.

Wednesday August 3rd 2016

I got on the road at about 10am this morning. It was later than I had planned, but I put the time to good use. I reviewed the paperwork associated with selling my house in NH. It is now officially under contract. If all goes well the sail will close by the middle of September.

My destination for the day was the Point South KOA in Yemassee South Carolina. This is an OK stop for a night or two near Interstate 95. I’ve stayed here a few times. It seems to be well located for my travel style. I stopped here last December and last April. In April I stayed here for four nights while I toured Charleston SC.

To get here from Washington NC I had two choices. I could take route 17 south from Washington all the way to the KOA or I could take Interstate 95. Route 17 would take me through Wilmington NC, Myrtle Beach SC and Charleston SC. It might me shorter mileage wise but it would be a more difficult drive. I chose to back track a little going west and north to I95 then straight south through the remainder of North Carolina and most of South Carolina. It was about 350 miles total.

Welcome to South Carolina sign out the dirty window.

The only real event on my journey was at the gas station. When I tried to pull into the pumps my path was blocked by a car getting a jump start in the middle of the entry road. I went by and turned around in an empty parking lot, then waited for the access to clear. It turns out that the car needing a jump start was being pulled by a motorhome already at the pumps. For some reason he had disconnect his towed car to backup the motorhome only to find it had a dead battery. I didn’t get all the details. The gentleman driving the motorhome was quite flustered. He was still there after I’d gotten my gas and moved on.

Site 26 at the South Point KOA.

The weather this morning was sunny and not to hot. The humidity was way down from the weekend. The further south I got the worse the conditions looked. I ran through a few short rain showers as I drove, but nothing severe until I was ready to stop. As I arrived the KOA the clouds opened up. I got soaked going into the office to register. After I was escorted to my site I just sat in the RV until the rain letup enough to get outside and hook-up to the utilities. I was fully setup for the night about 5pm.

Watching to the TV news from Savannah GA this evening I heard an interesting statistic.  Today was the 43 straight day with the temperature in the 90s.  The record is 46 days.   I think it is far to say they are having a heat wave.

Tuesday August 2nd 2016

Today’s weather was very similar to yesterday. The high temperatures were in the upper 80s and thunderstorms rolled through the area late in the day.

I was in recovery mode today. I stayed at the RV all day. After the last few days of lots of people and lots of activity, I needed a slow day. I did some planning for the next few days. Chief among the plans was a reservation for tomorrow night. I’ll be getting the travels underway again in the morning.

Besides watching TV and surfing the WEB for information to help with my planning, I’ve also been working with my real estate agent on selling the house in NH. I’ve been negotiating over price with a potential buyer since Saturday. We may have reached an agreement this evening. I’m holding my enthusiasm until everything is in writing.

This afternoon, I started packing for tomorrows travel day. I put the bicycle rack and bike back on the car and I put the gas grill away. Inside I put a few things away to get a head start on the morning packing.

Storm approaching from the northwest.

Not long after I got the outside packing chores competed the weather went downhill. About 5PM a line of thunderstorms came through the area from the north. The previous few days the thunderstorms have come from the south and west. It rain hard with lots of thunder and lightning for about 2 hours. It is now in the 70s and very calm outside, but the possibility of more storms remains.

Monday August 1st 2016

Today was cooler than the previous few days. It started cloudy then cleared in the late morning, only to cloud back up with thunderstorms late in the day.

I returned to the river for one last day this morning. Today was dedicated to assisting in cleaning up and putting the toys away. We packed away the traditional toys like the badminton/volleyball set. The big boy toys like the sunfish and golf cart were returned to storage and the jet ski got taken out of the water and washed down. Overall, it was a productive day.

I was back at the campground by 4 o’clock in time for the next round of thunderstorms. Even though there were severe thunderstorm warnings in the area, the ones that passed thorough the local area were not long duration. The biggest impact was that a wind gust knocked my bicycle over. Once I removed the cover from the bicycle there was not enough surface area for the wind to knock it over a second time.

Storm approaches the campground

More interesting cloud patterns as the storm approaches.

This concludes today’s weather report. Thank you for reading. I’ll try to come up with something different to write about tomorrow.

Sunday July 31st 2016

Today started out sunny and humid and ended dark and stormy. Thunderstorms were the primary weather feature of the day. It caused plans to change and outdoor activities to move inside.

I got down to the river a little after 9AM. I got a chance to get a dip in the river before the weather turn sourer. Shortly after lunch the wind came up and the rain came down. Everything that wasn’t anchored down became airborne. It was scramble to get all of the loose stuff under control. After a couple of hours of storms it calmed down for an hour or so only to resume its fury.

Whitecaps develop on the river as the storm moves in.

High winds cause the sailboat to bob around.

Heavy wind driven waves break on the docks and seawall.

Setting sun below the clouds to the west during a break in the storm.