Category Archives: Photography

Posts that have something to do with our interest in photography, including technology, techniques, locations, and images.

2014/04/30 (W) MEF3 At The Park

Here are 12 photos of our youngest grand-daughter at the park with her dad and grandma Linda.  Click thumbnail to view entire image.  Maximum dimension is 448 pixels.  Enjoy!

2014/04/26(S) Columbus (IN) Photos

Here are 28 photos from our visit to Columbus, Indiana.  Most are 640 x 428.  Maximum dimension is 800 pixels.  Click thumbnail to see full image.  Enjoy!

2014/04/26 (S) Columbus (IN)

We planned to leave Cave Country RV Campground at 8:30 AM this morning and ended up pulling out around 9 AM.  We only had 156 miles to travel but would cross into the Eastern Time Zone “adding” an hour to our arrival time.  Construction on northbound I-65 between Elizabethtown and Louisville had the highway down to one lane and traffic was stop and go, but mostly stop.  It took us 45 minutes to travel four miles and complete the merge.  A restroom break at a Pilot Truck Stop added another 15 minutes turning a three hour trip into a four hour one.  We pulled into Columbus Woods-N-Waters Kampgound around 2 PM EDT.  We set up quickly, and a PB&J sandwich and some water, and headed for Columbus, Indiana.

Major traffic jam on NB I-65 between Elizbethtown and Louisville, KY.

First Christian Church, Columbus,IN.  Eliel Saarinen (1942).

First Christian Church, Columbus,IN. Eliel Saarinen (1942).

RVers and pickup truck owners may be aware of the existence of Columbus, Indiana as the home of Cummins, Inc.  The corporate headquarters are here along with the Plant One production facility.  The Midrange Plant is five miles south of town in Walesboro, not far from Columbus Woods-N-Waters Kampground.  We planned a one night stop here because it got us 156 miles farther north on I-65 and because Columbus is a town I have wanted to visit for a long time.  Not because of Cummins, although we would have enjoyed a factory tour, but because the town of only 44,000 is famous for its modern architect-designed buildings.  It started with a church designed by Eliel Saarinen in 1942 and now includes churches, businesses, schools, government buildings, and public art.

Sculpture by Heny Moore in front of the Columbus, IN library.

Sculpture by Heny Moore in front of the Columbus, IN library.

St. Peters Lutheran Church,  Columbus, IN.

St. Peters Lutheran Church, Columbus, IN.

We put the address of the visitor center in our GPS and made that our first stop.  We purchased a map for $3 that marked the location of 78 things to see.  The map included a picture of each object along with the name, architect/artist, year, and address.  About half of these were in the walkable downtown area and the other half were spread out through the rest of the city.  We walked the downtown area first and then drove past a few other sights before heading back to camp.

 

 

St. Peters Lutheran Church, Columbus, IN.

St. Peters Lutheran Church, Columbus, IN.

Among the architects who have designed buildings in Columbus the best known are Eliel and Eero Saarinen and I. M. Pei.  Among the public art the best known artists are sculptors Dale Chihuly and Henry Moore.  The Cummins, Inc. corporate headquarters building occupies a whole city block and we took our time walking around it and photographing it.  As it turns out, Cummins was a major factor in how Columbus came to be a center of modern architecture.  Starting in the 1950’s, the Cummins Engine Foundation made funds available to cover the architect’s fees for any school building project in which the architect was selected from a list drawn up by the Foundation.  The community responded and the Foundation expanded the program to include other public buildings.  Other companies and congregations decided to pursue world-class architects and “modern” Columbus emerged.  This place looks and feels different, embracing “the concept that the built environment is crucial to a quality community.”

Linda at the Cummins, Inc. World Headquarters complex.

Linda at the Cummins, Inc. World Headquarters complex.

We have tried these last four months to not race from one thing to another.  If we decided to visit a place, we tried to allocate enough time to experience it.  Not completely, of course, as I am not sure that’s ever possible, but at least sufficiently that we felt it was worth the trip.  We have not always been successful, but on balance have done well with this approach.  Columbus, however, is a place where we could have used more time and more energy.  We also found most of downtown closed on a Saturday afternoon.  The next time we pass this way we will try to plan 3 – 5 nights, not all on a weekend, but not this time.  We have our sights set on home.

 

 

Entrance to Children's Hands-On Museum, Columbus, IN.

Entrance to Children’s Hands-On Museum, Columbus, IN.

Columbus Woods-N-Waters Kampground is a Good Sam park, but not the sort of place we normally stay.  It is carved out of a stand of tall 6″ to 15″ diameter trees with gravel roads that meander through the forest and gravel sites that split off this way and that.  The arrangement appears almost random, but I suspect it was dictated by trying to save as many trees as possible.  Most of the rigs here are pull-behinds with an equal mix of trailers and 5th wheels, a truck camper with a tent, and six motorhomes, including ours.  Every rig is in a site, but it looks like people parked wherever they wanted.

There are large groupings of people here involving multiple RVs.  The group across from us must have 40 people, including lots of kids.  They had a NASCAR race on.  Around 9:15 PM someone shot off fireworks.  Yup, fireworks.  Not really our kind of place, but we are only here for one night and it was convenient to the highway with reasonably good site access and 50A power.  And we picked 27 OTA TV stations from the general direction of Indianapolis.  Only 10 of them were useable, but they included PBS and Create, so we were happy.

 

2014/04/25 (F) NCM Photos

Here are some photos from our visit to the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky.  Click thumbnail to see entire image.  Maximum size is 715 pixels.

2014/04/24 (R) WBCCI Photos

Here are a few photos of the various Airstream RVs currently at Cave Country RV Campground in Cave City, Kentucky.  They are all part of a 21-day caravan of Kentucky organized by the Wally Byam Caravan Club International (WBCCI).  Click a thumbnail to view the entire image.  Maximum dimension is 640 pixels.

2014/04/23 (W) ALBNHP Photos

Here are some photos from our visit to the region of Kentucky where Abraham Lincoln was born and spent his early youth.  Click thumbnail to see full image.  Largest dimension is 800 pixels.

2014/04/22 (T) MCNP Photos

Here are some photos from our visit to Mammoth Cave National Park (MCNP) in Kentucky.  Click on each thumbnail image to view the full image.  Maximum size in either dimension is 800 pixels.  Enjoy!

2014/04/20 (N) Nature Trail Photos

Here are a few photos from our visit to the Madison County Nature Trail on Green Mountain, southeast of Huntsville, Alabama.  Click thumbnail to see entire image.  Maximum dimension is 600 pixels.

2014/04/17 (R) Pensacola NAS Photos

Here are some photos from our visit to Naval Air Station Pensacola where we saw the Blue Angels practice and then toured the Naval Aviation Museum.  Click on a thumbnail to see a larger version of the image in a separate tab.  Maximum size is typically 600 pixels.

2014/04/17 (R) The Blue Angels

No, we have not been visiting religious resale shops.  Today we drove US-98 west all the way to Pensacola, Florida to visit the Pensacola Naval Air Station (NAS).  Along the way we stopped at the Panera in Sandestin again.  The outlet mall shops were not open yet so there was very little traffic and not much of a crowd.  We took 20 minutes to enjoy some coffee and a bagel before continuing on to Pensacola.  The 100 mile trip was probably a little slower than taking I-10, but it was a leisurely, pleasant drive that allowed us to take in the coastal sights.  Photographs from today are in a separate gallery post.

As we got to the end of the bay bridge we did not see a sign for the Pensacola NAS so we picked our way through downtown and finally pulled into a Walmart parking lot where we put the address in our GPS.  As soon as we resumed driving we saw a sign for the NAS and Museum and the GPS wanted us to take a different route.  In this instance the signs won, although the GPS way would also have worked as the NAS has a front and rear entrance and our destination was closer to the rear entrance.

Four of the six U. S. Navy Blue Angels in diamond formation.

Four of the six U. S. Navy Blue Angels in diamond formation.

The Pensacola NAS is the U. S. Navy’s primary flight training facility and is home to the Naval Aviation Museum and The Blue Angels Navy Combat Fighter Flight Demonstration Squadron.  The Blue Angels’ practice sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday are normally open to the public.  They did not fly on Wednesday this week due to weather conditions so they flew today instead.  The session was open to the public and the public showed up in large numbers.  They started at 11:30 AM sharp (this is military stuff, after all) and flew for about one hour.  The practice session consisted of the same maneuvers, in the same order, that make up the “show” The Blue Angels do almost every weekend somewhere in the country from mid-March through early November.  They might repeat a maneuver or leave one out based on how the routine is going, how the equipment is performing, or the weather conditions.

The security personnel also acted as “play by play announcers,” letting the audience in their section of the grandstands know what maneuver was coming next.  While we were waiting for the practice session to start they also provided information about The Blue Angels, the NAS, and answered whatever questions people had.  The gentleman in our section had spent 30 years as a Naval aviator and was very knowledgeable.  He also had the right personality for working the crowd.

When the flight demonstration was over we toured the Naval Aviation Museum.  The museum is adjacent to the runways where the Blue Angels practice and is served by the same parking lot.  While not as extensive as the Smithsonian Air and Space Museums or the Air Force Museum, it is an excellent facility with a superb collection of aircraft and artifacts focused exclusively on Naval flight operations.  We took about three hours to wander through the exhibits, but you could easily spend two or three days here if you wanted to read every placard and study the displays more carefully.  Admission to The Blue Angels practice session and the Naval Aviation Museum are both free.  The museum has an IMAX theater, flight simulators, and other attractions that charge a fee.

We left the NAS around 3:30 PM via the rear gate and headed west towards Perdido Key.  Along the way we found the entrance to Big Lagoon SP and went in to check it out.  We had heard about BLSP from Jimmy and Sadie Clay, who spent March there as volunteer campground hosts.  (I did an article on their converted bus, the Iron Horse, which appeared as the cover/centerfold story in the April 2014 issue of Bus Conversion Magazine.)

From BLSP we continued west to Perdido Key.  Just past the entrance to Perdido Key SP was the Perdido Key Visitor and Community Center, which housed the Perdido Key Chamber of Commerce offices.  Four miles down the road was the Alabama State line.  Our reason for stopping here was that Jimmy and Sadie had mentioned that their daughter was the director of the Perdido Key Chamber of Commerce and we thought it would be fun to meet her.  She was there (Tina Morrison) and we introduced ourselves and chatted for a few minutes.  They pulled up the website for Bus Conversion Magazine on a computer and there was the Iron Horse on the cover!  We got a nice map of the greater Pensacola area to help guide us back to I-10 using parkways on the west side if town, thus avoiding downtown during the late afternoon.  The drive back on I-10 was through heavily wooded rolling terrain with light traffic.  I was still tired from my night of no sleep earlier in the week and nodded off while Linda drove.

After a simple dinner Linda read while I processed photos from yesterday and today.  I updated a plug-in on all four of the WordPress sites I run and got my personal blog post for yesterday uploaded, but not the photographs.  The rain started around 9 PM and quickly intensified.  It did not take long for the bedroom vent-fan leak to re-appear.  A powerful low pressure center south of Pensacola was pulling copious amounts of moisture north into Florida, Alabama, and Georgia.  This was forecast to be a long-duration rain event, but without severe storms.  River flood watches and warnings continued for the area along with urban flash flood warnings and high surf and rip current warnings for the coastal beaches.  We decided to put a pot on the end of the bed to catch the drips from the leak and slept on the couches.  I guess that’s a good reason to keep a sleeper sofa big enough for two when we redo the living room and dinette.

 

2014/04/16 (W) Emerald Coast Photos

Here are some photographers from our visit to Camp Helen SP and St. Andrews SP along Florida’s Emerald Coast.  Click thumbnails to view larger version of image in a separate tab.  Largest dimensions is typically 600 pixels.

2014/04/16 (W) The Emerald Coast

Powell Lake at Grayton Beach SP, FL.

Powell Lake at Grayton Beach SP, FL.

As forecast, it dropped into the upper 30’s overnight.  By the time we got up at 8 AM the temperature had rebounded a bit into the low-mid 40’s.  I switched on the coach chassis batteries to power up the Pressure Pro TPMS and checked the pressures in all of the tires.  They were all 1- 2 PSI lower than the cold pressure readings I took before we left Suncoast Designers in Hudson, even after having Tires Plus in Spring Hill add air to all of the tires.  But the temperature in Hudson was in the 60’s at the time, and in the eight mile drive to Spring Hill the pressures had risen 5 – 8 PSI.  How much air to add to each tire under those conditions was an educated guess at best and I had not guessed as well as I had hoped.

The DS steer tire, in particular, was reading 107 PSI this morning.  My target was 110 PSI.  The forecasted low for early Saturday morning is 53, and it will likely be closer to 60 degrees F by the time we pull out, so the cold tire pressures will be fine for the next leg of our journey.  The issue, and the problem I was trying to solve, was to make sure we had adequate cold pressures for the colder overnight lows we may (will?) encounter as we travel north without having the tires overinflated for where we are currently traveling.  The overnight lows for next week at our home are currently forecasted to be in the low-to-mid 40’s through mid-week then in the mid-to-upper 50’s.  I really need to rig up a way to travel with an air compressor that is adequate for adjusting the pressure in our bus tires.  We are still at the point where bus projects seem to get added to the list faster than they get checked off.

After breakfast Linda was reading, and I was reviewing, the blog posts I had put up last night for the 12th through the 15th.  Between us we found a dozen errors.  The Note app on my iPad2 has an annoying tendency to change words in an attempt to correct my mis-typing and less-than-perfect spelling.  I usually catch the change, but not always.  I also have a tendency to miss little words such as “we” or use “a” instead of “an” or “were” instead of “where” (or vice-a-versa).  I think most of these are typing errors; I actually know when to use which word.  (I even know the difference between “farther” and “further”, a distinction that seems to elude even professional journalists.)  I upload my drafts to my computer and finish them in MS Word where the spelling and grammar checkers find most of these kinds of things, but introduce their own unique set of rules about what words should be used.

I logged into our WordPress site and made the corrections.  I also rearranged the layout of some photos.  The posts looked fine on my computer but resulted in very narrow columns of text next to left- and right-justified photos, so I centered them without text wrapping.  I am still trying to figure out the optimum width for inline photos that can be left- or right-justified with text wrapped around them on an iPad.  I think it is around 400 pixels, but at that size details can be difficult to see.  If I center them without text wrapping, they can be up to 600 pixels wide with the theme I am using.  This is not an issue with gallery posts, if course, where the limitation on the size of photographs is the how large of a data file I want to upload and store.

We left the coach around 10:30 AM.  Photos from today’s outing are in a separate gallery post.  Our itinerary was to head towards Panama City via US-98/Co-30/Co-30A (the Emerald Coast Parkway) and then work our way back as close to the Gulf of Mexico as possible, stopping at several state parks along the way.  Before we got to Panama City we saw the sign for Camp Helen State Park and pulled in.  Formerly a private retreat, and then a private vacation resort for a company in Alabama, it became a Florida State Park in 1997.  Camp Helen was yet another example of the FSP system acquiring formerly private homesteads and roadside attractions and preserving them for the historical, educational, and recreational use of the public now and into the future.

Besides the buildings that survive from the resort days, the park property extends from the Gulf of Mexico through white sand dunes and scrub forest along the west edge of Phillips Inlet to the other side of US-98 were it runs along the southwest edge of Powell Lake.  Powell Lake is a costal dune lake, one of the largest in Florida.  Costal dune lakes are rare, found only along the northwest Gulf coast of Florida and in Australia, New Zealand, and Madagascar.  A large number of different bird species have been recorded here by members of the local Audubon Society and American Bald Eagles and Osprey are often seen.

We hiked the nature trail through part of the dunes and the scrub forest which had a different mix of plant life than we have seen anywhere else.  The forest included Sand Pines, whose range is limited to Florida.  Unlike many other pines, the pine cones of the Sand Pine do not require fire to open and release their seeds.  We did not encounter any other hikers on the trail and this was one of the nicest little hikes we have taken in a Florida State Park.  Camp Helen is a little gem of a park amidst the over development of Florida’s Emerald Coast.

We put the address for St. Andrews SP into the GPS and then continued on towards Panama City Beach.  East of Powell Lake US-98 gets renamed the Panama City Beach Parkway.  We followed the signs to the park which took us past the Naval Support Activity facility and the Navy Diving and Salvage Training Center.  St. Andrew SP is at the tip of a peninsula that forms the south side of the Grand Lagoon.  Just past the tip is the entrance to St. Andrew Bay, which opens into East and West Bays, and forms the southwest edge of Panama City.

There was a costal defense battery installed at the tip during WW II to protect the bays from German submarines and one of the two gun platforms is preserved under an open-sided pavilion.  We hiked along the southwest edge of St. Andrews SP Pond, a short but excellent trail.  The pond, and the island in the middle of it, are home to many different birds as well as alligators, and is an egret rookery.  We did not see any alligators on our hike, but we saw and heard lots of birds.

We left St. Andrews SP and followed Thomas Drive to Front Beach Road (Co-30) and followed this along the Gulf until we were forced back onto US-98 just before Western Lake and Grayton Beach SP.  It was after 4 PM and we were getting a little tired but we pulled in to Grayton Beach SP to check it out because Chris and Cherie of Technomadia had rated it one of their top 10 + places to camp.  The campground was fully booked, but we were able to drive through and agreed that it looked like a charming place to put down the leveling jacks (if only we had some and if only we could have gotten a reservation).  Continuing west on US-98 we spotted the entrance to Deer Lake SP and pulled in.  The entrance road was in bad shape, one of the few times we have encountered this at a Florida State Park.  It led to a small parking lot that was right up against some large fancy housing on the east property boundary.  All of the park lay to the west and was only accessible by hiking.  It was probably lovely, but we were hiked out for the day.  We switched drivers and headed back to our RV park.

We got back to the coach around 5 PM.  I dumped the waste tanks and filled the fresh water tank while Linda got dinner ready.  We had skipped lunch today, so we were hungry.  She made a simple green salad with a balsamic vinaigrette dressing and seasoned couscous to go with the left over Tofurkey roast and steamed green beans.  A glass of moscato and some fresh pineapple chunks for dessert completed the meal.

 

2014/04/15 (T) A Taxing Day

At 1:30 AM (Tuesday, April 15) my cell phone issued a severe weather alert tone.  The message from the Weather Channel app was an emergency notification that a flash flood warning had been issued for Freeport and advised us to seek higher ground but to not drive through water.  If we had not already been awake, we were now!  But then, that is the point of having your cell phone set up to alert you to dangerous and threatening conditions with a sound that announces an imminent nuclear attack.  As if that wasn’t enough, the leak at the passenger-side rear corner of our bedroom vent-fan reappeared.  I had applied a liberal coat of Dicor self-leveling lap sealant to the outside of that vent-fan back at Williston Crossings and it had not leaked during two subsequent heavy rain events, so I thought I had taken care of that problem.  Either I missed a spot or the water got in somewhere else.

Although Live Oak Landing is on the Choctawhatchee River it is on ground that is noticeably higher than the water level and the RV sites are not right at the bank.  I figured we were safe as we could see the east end of Choctawhatchee Bay from the front of our bus.  Ocean water levels rise and fall with the tides, but oceans don’t flood.  The interior roads and sites are paved, so they were not going to get washed out by the rain and we were not going to be mired in soft ground.

We had a lull in the rain between 3:00 and 5:30 AM and I used the time to work on blog posts covering the 12th through the 14th and keep an eye on the weather.  I prefer doing one post per day, and uploading it before I go to bed, but that is not always possible.  When I first started blogging I would often write the rough draft in bed on my iPad, e-mail it to myself, get up early the next morning, finish it, and upload it.  I still do that sometimes, but just as often I end up several days behind.  BTW:  The WiFi at Live Oak Landing is very good.  We have been able get connected and do what we needed to do, even when it was raining.  We also have an acceptable Verizon 4G/LTE signal here.

The rain resumed briefly at 5:30 AM but without the previous intensity and fanfare.  It started again at 6:50 AM.  I checked the radar on my iPad Wundermap app and it showed the cold front just a few miles to our west and another fetch of rain beginning to come on shore and positioned to train over us.  It was not severe, however, and the band ultimately drifted east of us before coming onshore.  The rain event in most of the panhandle was done by 8:30 AM.   The end of the rain event, however, was not the end of the weather warnings.  Flash floods occur during and shortly after heavy rain events, but rivers can rise above flood stage long after the rains have moved through as large volumes of water upstream try to make their way to the sea.

There was no sunrise today, just a gradual change from night to muted, grey light that continued through the morning.  By mid-morning the cold front had passed by us, the winds had shifted from southwesterly to due north, and the temperature had dropped. A low pressure center had moved directly over Atlanta, Georgia with the cold front trailing SSE into the Gulf and the rainy weather shifted to northeast Florida, downeast Georgia, and up the Atlantic coast.  A wider view of the continent showed the heaviest weather farther north.  The cold front stretched along the Appalachian Mountains, up through Quebec and then wrapped around through Labrador and into the Labrador Sea.  There were four additional low pressure centers located in northeast Pennsylvania, southwest of Montreal, over the middle of Labrador, and just off the coast in the Labrador Sea.  Behind the front was cold and snow; in front of it, rain.

Linda checked the weather back home. The 3+ inches of snow recorded overnight in Detroit, Michigan pushed the total for the season to a new record of over 94 inches.  The old record was established in 1880/81.  This has been a historic winter with records broken across much of North America.

By early afternoon the storms were gone and the day was struggling to become partly cloudy instead of all cloudy.  The temperature barely broke 60 and it was windy so it still felt like winter’s last hurrah.  Linda discovered last night that the dish soap we bought at Publix never made it into one of our grocery bags.  It happens.  We needed more toilet paper, so we headed back to Publix in the early afternoon and stopped at the customer service desk with receipt in hand.  Mary said it was “no problem, just pick up the soap and tell the cashier that Mary said it was OK.”  It was only a $0.69 item, but we appreciated that Publix took our word for it.

With our shopping taken care of we decided to drive west on US-98 about eight miles to Destin, Florida.  The closer we got to Destin the more developed the area became.  We saw a sign for a Panera at a premium outlet mall and decided to go there for lunch.  Destin is a very upscale, resorty kind of place.  We crawled through traffic, and some of the worst engineered traffic signals we have ever encountered, to get to the mall and the restaurant.

The parking lot was packed and so was the Panera.  Apparently the stormy weather had prevented the residents from getting their maximum daily dose of high-end shopping, and they were all out on Tuesday afternoon making up for lost time.  In spite of the crowd it did not take long to place our order and receive our food and it was the same good quality we have come to expect at Panera wherever we find one.  Unlike Watercolor, which seemed vibrant but relaxed when we drove through yesterday, Destin seemed crowed and almost frantic; not our kind of place.  The traffic lights were so stupidly set up I concluded that the traffic engineers must hate rich people and were using them to inconvenience them to the maximum extent possible.  Being neither wealthy nor tolerant of stupidity, we finished our lunch and got out of town.

Before returning to Live Oak Landing we drove past Topsail State Park, a former commercial RV park, and through the very upscale community of Santa Rosa Beach right on the Gulf of Mexico.   We then drove to Freeport just to check it out since Live Oak Landing has a Freeport mailing address.  It was a one intersection town without anything special to recommend it.  Been there, done that, no reason to go back.

Back at our coach we were both very tired, having had very little sleep last night, and took a nap.  Naps are a great thing.  I used to consider them a luxury, but I’m seriously considering making them a part of my daily routine.  When we finally woke up Linda made a green salad and re-heated the spicy quinoa and black bean dish from the other night.  A beautiful sunset suddenly developed and I grabbed my camera to try to get a view shots.  This kind of lighting situation really requires a tripod and the use of the high dynamic range (HDR) technique, but I did not have time for either of those, so I got what I could hand held.

Sunset at Live Oak Landing.  (This photo has more image manipulation than normal.)

Sunset at Live Oak Landing. Our coach is lower right. (This photo has more image manipulation than normal because of the extremely high contrast lighting.)

Live Oak Landing has cable TV but we were able to pick up a surprising number of channels over the air (OTA).  We watched a couple of shows while I worked on blog posts.  The forecast low for early tomorrow morning was 39 degrees F, so we closed the ceiling vents and windows before we turned in for the night.

 

2014/04/14 (M) Photos And Articles

We were still tired from our 350 mile repositioning to the Florida panhandle yesterday, and the weather forecast for today and tomorrow called for thunderstorms with a high probability of heavy rain, so we did not plan on doing any site-seeing.  I worked at my computer, editing photos for two gallery posts, and then turned my attention to editing photos from our Suncoast Designers visit and putting the finishing touches on my article for Bus Conversion Magazine about our a RV window repair experience.

Our site at Live Oak Landing near Freeport, FL; an RVC Outdoor Destination.

Our site at Live Oak Landing near Freeport, FL; an RVC Outdoor Destination.

We needed groceries and Linda located a Publix on US-98 in South Walton about 10 miles from the RV park.  We decided to take a short drive east on US-98 and then down to the coast.  We drove past Grayton Beach State Park as far as the resort community of Watercolor. We could not figure out if Watercolor is a condo development, a timeshare resort, or just a regular old resort.  It’s an “architectural” place, very attractive and interesting, but planned and intentionally designed.  A bike trail runs along the south side of US-98 and there were lots of cyclists, runners, joggers, and walkers using it.

Live Oak Landing Outdoor Destination borders one of the branches of the Choctawhatchee River on the north side just before it empties into the east end of Choctawhatchee Bay.  This is a very large bay that connects to the Gulf of Mexico on the west end.  The Choctawhatchee River was already above flood stage at Ebro, east of our location, when we arrived on Sunday at 4:00 PM CDT.  We were watching the weather while we were in Hudson, Florida and heavy rains had pushed through this area and up into SE Alabama and southern Georgia early last week.  All of that water eventually flows to the Gulf of Mexico through the Florida panhandle.  From the time we got here my cell phone Weather Channel app issued a steady stream of watches/warnings for strong/severe storms, river flooding, and flash flooding for most of the panhandle, including Freeport.

Another view of Live Oak Landing.  Our coach is at towards the end on the left.

Another view of Live Oak Landing. Our coach is towards the end on the left.

What better time for a thanksgiving dinner?  We bought a Tofurkey brand roast, two yams, and fresh green beans on our trip to Publix and Linda cooked all of that for dinner.  We finished off our box of red wine and had a few dark chocolate covered almonds for dessert.

A strong cold front approaching from the WNW provided the lifting mechanism for a massive fetch of Gulf moisture, resulting in powerful, sustained thunderstorms training northeast over much of the western Florida panhandle, southeast Alabama and southwest Georgia.  Over the course of the day and into the evening the cold front pushed steadily eastward across the region and the rain finally reached us around 9:00 PM accompanied by a spectacular lightning display and booming thunder.

The Choctawhatchee River from Live Oak Landing RV park.

The Choctawhatchee River from Live Oak Landing RV park.

I had finished my article for Bus Conversion Magazine an hour earlier, had Linda proof-read it, and had made final corrections.  I was uploading the article and photos to my Dropbox, and e-mailing the publisher and editor to let them know, when the storms arrived.  I finished those tasks, shut down my computer and unplugged the power supply.  I also turned off the NAS and unplugged both the power and data cables.  I left the WiFi Ranger and the Amped|Wireless router on.  It would be inconvenient to lose them it a lightning strike, but the loss of programs and data would be catastrophic.

We went to bed and tried to sleep but it was pointless.  The coach was a bit stuffy with all the vents and windows closed and the lightning, thunder, and rain were non-stop.  The most intense rain fell at the rate of 3 – 4 inches per hour accompanied by the kind of lightning and thunder that signals the end of the world.  Warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico is the fuel that makes serious weather in this part of the country.  Life in an RV puts you in intimate contact with nature.

 

2014/04/11 (F) Suncoast Designers Photos

Here are the photos from the repair of four of the eight awning-style thermopane windows in our motorcoach.  The work was performed at Suncoast Designers, Inc. in Hudson, Florida.  Great people to work with and they have a correct process for doing this work.

2014/04/10 (R) Dunedin (FL) Photos

Here are the photos from our visit to Dunedin, Florida and Honeymoon  Island State Park.  Click to view entire photo.

20140402-w-weeki-wachee-photos

Here are some of our photos from Weeki Wachee Springs State Park.  If you are ever near the Suncoast of Florida, north of Tampa / St. Petersburg, be sure to put this place on your list of things to see and do.

2014/04/02 (W) Weeki Wachee

Today was probably our last visit to a Florida State Park in this part of Florida.  In this case “this part of” refers to north central and southwest to the Suncoast.  Our destination was Weeki Wachee Springs SP.  WWSSP is another one of those FSP gems where the state park system took over a former “old Florida” roadside attraction.  We were glad they did because otherwise this iconic old Florida attraction would no longer exist.  The New York Times ran an excellent article on Weeki Wachee about a year ago.  Most of the photos from today are in a separate gallery post.

Peakcock with tail fanned.

Peakcock with tail fanned.

We left WCRVR around 9 AM and headed towards Dunnellon to pick up John and Marian Hagan.  We arrived around 9:40 having been delayed a few minutes by road construction that had traffic down to one lane on US-41.  We got everyone on board and were on our way quickly.  The park is located on US-19 just west of where FL-50 (Cortez Blvd) ends and it took an hour to get there.  We arrived at WWSSP a little before 11 AM, but not in time to see the 11 AM Mermaid show.  Mermaids?  Oh yes; mermaids are the reason to go to Weeki Wachee Springs SP.

Linda, Marian, & John at the entrance to WWSSP.

Linda, Marian, & John at the entrance to WWSSP.

Weeki Wachee Spring is a Class 1 spring issuing over 100,000,000 gallons of fresh water every 24 hours to create the Weeki Wachee River that meanders a mere 12 miles to the Gulf of Mexico.  The water is 99.8% pure, and technically it safe to scoop it up out of the river (near the source, anyway) and drink it without any treatment.

Weeki Wachee is a large, deep spring; amazingly clear with beautiful shades of green and blue in the bright sunshine.  The name cones from earlier Native American words meaning “large spring.”  Go figure.  In the 1940’s a former Navy frogman bought the property and created the underwater viewing theater on the west side of the spring.  He also invented the air hose underwater breathing technique that has allowed young women (and some men) to perform the underwater mermaid shows ever since.  On our visit they were doing two different shows: Fish Tales (a historical retrospective), and The Little Mermaid (adaptation of the Hans Christian Anderson tale).  Campy?  Of course.  Delightful?  Absolutely.

Weeki Wachee SP is small at only 528 acres, but we managed to make a nice, relaxing day of it.  Admission is $13 for adults and our FSP Annual Pass was only good for admitting two people.  The other major attraction is the Buccaneer Bay water park.  It was open but the water slides were not operating.  This time of year the slides are only open on weekends.  They are open every day during the summer season.  We were surprised by how many people were here on a Wednesday in early April, swimming, sunning, walking the grounds, and enjoying the shows.

We went to the animal show at noon.  The young man who did the show was very entertaining but also provided important information about the snakes, turtles, and small alligator he showed us.  He kept the 18″ long alligator out after the show for people to touch and photograph.  The park also has a resident population of pea fowl that roam the grounds freely.  We encountered them numerous times and I took quite a few photographs.  Several of the peacocks were fanning the tails and they were very impressive.

The park service operates a pair of pontoon boats that take visitors on a 25 minute round trip on the upper part of the river.  There is almost no development on this stretch of the River and we saw turtles, an Anhinga drying its wings, and a Bald Eagle nest with an immature eagle in it.

The park operates several concession stands and we patronized one for a light lunch.  They also have a gift shop.  The park is open from 9:00 AM to 5:30 PM.  We left at 5 PM feeling that we had gotten value for our entrance fee.

From the park we headed east on FL-50 / Cortez Blvd to Buffet City.  We had been to this Chinese buffet once before with Al Hesselbart and thought the variety and quality of food was sufficient to make the $11 per person cost reasonable for us.  All four of us got our monies worth.

We headed back to Dunnellon by way of the northbound Suncoast Parkway (FL-589 Tollroad).  The Parkway ends at US-19 south of Homosassa.  From there we reversed our route from the morning, taking US-19 back to Crystal River and then taking the road that runs northeast back to US-41 in Dunnellon.  We stopped at the Hagan’s house for some coffee and conversation.  Marian had taken a few photos of us at the park and John transferred them to a DVD.

We arrived back at our coach around 9:30 PM and were greeted by our two cats who demanded our undivided attention for a while.  A small serving of coconut milk “ice cream” put the finishing touch on a long but very satisfying day.

 

2014/03/20 (R) The Spring Equinox

Winter officially yielded to spring today but we did not really notice.  Today was another beautiful day here in north central Florida, just like yesterday and just as tomorrow was forecast to be.  We hung around the RV resort and did quiet things.

We went to Satchel’s in Gainesville, Florida for dinner with John and Ali.  Linda had leftover pizza from there after she returned from Michigan, but this was her first visit to the place.  She agreed that it was uniquely charming.  The service was excellent once again.  We split part of a salad and ate half of a pizza, saving the leftovers for another meal.  The pesto base pizza with Daiya vegan cheese, mushrooms, onions, and sun-dried tomatoes was excellent.  The crust is the best I’ve had since we quit eating St. Louis style pizza from Imo’s, which is unfortunately not vegan.  Their brownies are vegan and we split one for dessert; no leftovers for this item.

We drove separately from John and Ali as we both had shopping to do, but not the same kind.  We stopped at Publix on our way back to Williston and stocked up on fresh fruits and greens.  We put everything in the refrigerator when we got back and I noticed during the evening that the refrigerator compartment was a bit warmer than normal.  Adjusting the thermostat was not having the desired effect.

Here are a few more photos from Satchel’s, all  taken on my Samsung Galaxy S III smartphone and post-processed using Faststone Image Viewer software:

Rear parking lot art at Satchel's in Gainesville, FL.

Rear parking lot art at Satchel’s in Gainesville, FL.

Ever wondered what to do with old CDs?  Now you know.

Ever wondered what to do with old CDs? Now you know.

Remember 3.5 inch floppy disks?  Now they are wall art.

Remember 3.5 inch floppy disks? Now they are wall art.

Part of the tile work at Satche''s in Gainesville, FL.  Linda studying the bulletin board.

Part of the tile work at Satche”s in Gainesville, FL. Linda studying the bulletin board.

Yes, you can be seated here for your meal at Satchel's in  Gainesville, FL.  It's actually a difficult table to get.

Yes, you can be seated here for your meal at Satchel’s in Gainesville, FL. It’s actually a difficult table to get.

Part of the front outdoor seating area at Satchel's in Gainesville, FL.

Part of the front outdoor seating area at Satchel’s in Gainesville, FL.

 

 

 

 

 

 

2014/03/02 (N) Dashboard Wiring Photos

A few photos from the dashboard wiring repair work today we did today.  Click each thumbnail to enlarge.  Maximum dimension is 400 pixels.

2014/03/01 (S) Compressor Install Photos

A gallery of photos of the auxiliary air compressor replacement project.  Click thumbnail image to open.  Maximum dimension is 400 pixels.  Photos by Marian Hagan marked (MH).

2014/02/22 (S) Tin Can Tourists Rally

The Tin Can Tourists (TCT) winter rally was being held at the Sertoma Youth Ranch about 15 miles southeast of Brooksville, Florida.  It started on Thursday, February 20 and was scheduled to conclude on Sunday, February 23.  TCT rallies almost always include a public open house.  For this rally the open house was Saturday, February 22 from 11 AM to 3 PM.

I left WCRV Resort around 10:15 and took the fast route down US-27 to I-75 and then south to exit 293.  From there it was a couple of miles on back roads to get to the Sertoma Youth Ranch.  There was a $5 charge to park, which I knew about in advance and gladly paid.  This is the second TCT open house that I have attended.  Although smaller than their main gathering in May at Camp Dearborn in Milford, Michigan (10 miles from our house) they had good participation with more than 50 rigs.  (I could have been as high as 70, but I didn’t count).

There were a few folks there that I knew.  Cherie Ve Ard and Chris Dunphy (Technomadia) were there with their 1961 GMC 4106.  Forrest and Jeri Bone were there, of course, as Forrest runs the TCT organization and planned the rally.  Hunt Jones, who I met at the Arcadia Bus Rally, was there, and so was Al Hesselbart, the historian for the RV/MH Museum in Elkhart, Indiana.  I had a brief visit with Al and a longer visit with Chris and Cherie.  I learned that the super secret project they are working on (RV social network) is scheduled to “go live” on March 1st.  Assuming that happens, I will have more to say about in my post for that date.

Almost all of the rigs were available for viewing.  Some allowed visitors to go inside; others had the door open but blocked so you could see in but not enter.  Many of the units were beautifully restored and others were somewhere in the restoration process.  Most were “staged” for display with table settings and items arranged on counters.  The owners were all very welcoming and enthusiastic about their vintage RVs.  I photographed most of them and have include some of those photos in the gallery at the end of this post.44

Al invited me to join him and some friends from Breezy Oaks RV Park for Chinese buffet in Brooksville, but I decided to pass, a combination of still being a bit tired from my long day on Thursday and not wanting to over-eat, which I tend to do at buffets.  I left at 3 PM, the end of the public open house, and returned to Williston via US-41, a longer but more scenic and relaxing drive than I-75.  I made a sandwich for dinner, caught up on some e-mail, and headed over to the fire pit around 7:15 PM.  We had our usual group of 20+ people.  John played his guitar and sang, and another man brought his guitar and joined him.  There was plenty of singing along, but folks were more conversational than at many of our previous campfires.

Photo Gallery: Click on thumbnail images to open for viewing.  Maximum dimension is 640 pixels.

 

2014/02/20 (R) Cape Canaveral (FL)

We were up early this morning and on the road by 6:15 AM in order to get Linda to the Orlando International Airport between 8:00 – 8:30 AM for her 10:30 AM flight back to Michigan.  We took the Florida Turnpike and met that objective easily.  The SunPass we bought for the Florida toll road system has proven to be very handy, speeding us through toll plazas without having to stop, and often without having to slow down.

I had several alternatives for what to do with my day given that I was already in Orlando.  One was to head to Wekiwa SP to finish photographing a bus, but the owners were away for the day.  Another was to pay a return visit to fellow GLCCers Bill and Karen (and Mike and Kathy) at the Orange City RV Park, but they were also away from the campground for the day.

The plan that worked out was to continue on to the east on FL-528 (toll) to the Cape Canaveral area, specifically Merritt Island and Jetty Park, which is on the Atlantic Ocean north of Cocoa Beach.  Pat and Vickie, our friends from GLCC, had recently relocated to the Jetty Park Campground from Fort Wilderness (Walt Disney World) and thought I would enjoy the place.  The Park and Campground are owned and operated by the Cape Canaveral Port Authority and I drove past the cruise ship and freight terminals on the way into the park.

I enjoyed the park and ended up having lunch and dinner with Pat and Vickie (thank you) and stayed well into the evening to watch a rocket launch from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station just north of the park and south of the John F. Kennedy Space Center.  The launch was to place a military satellite into orbit, and used a 3-rocket booster.  Liftoff was at 9:00 PM and lit up to night sky.  The sound was also impressive

I waited until 9:45 PM for traffic to thin out a bit, and then headed for Williston.  I did surprising well on the drive considering how long a day it turned out to be.  Vickie sent a bag of pretzels with me so I would have something to munch on the drive.  I stopped on the Florida Turnpike (FL-91) for fuel and got some coffee at the Dunkin’ Donuts.  I arrived back at WCRV Resort around 12:30 AM.

Photo Gallery: Click on thumbnail images to open for viewing.  Maximum dimension is 640 pixels.

 

2014/02/18 (T) Micanopy (FL)

Our neighbors at the RV resort recommended the Blue Highway in Micanopy as a place we might find a vegan pizza to our liking.  They also suggested that they town was worth seeing.  So after several quiet days at home we headed for Micanopy (Mick-ah-no-pee) to check it out and then get some pizza.

Micanopy is an antique town.  That is to say, it is old, and most of the shops are antique businesses, with some local artist and artisan shops, and food.  There is a museum, and an historic inn that is now a B&B.  It was a beautiful afternoon and the place was mostly empty, allowing us to wander from shop to shop without having to fight crowds or weather.  Apparently the place is very crowded at times.  I have included photos from our visit in a gallery at the end of this post.

The Blue Highway turned out to be more than a pizzeria.  A ma, who we think was the owner, suggested which of their pizzas could most easily, and successfully, be made vegan and we took one of his suggestions.  We ordered a salad and a pizza and split both.

Our plan for tomorrow is to go to the Publix supermarket in Gainesville to stock up on groceries for me and get Linda packed for her flight back to Michigan on Thursday morning.

Photo Gallery: Click on thumbnail images to open for viewing.  Maximum dimension is 640 pixels.

2014/02/12 (W) Dudley Farm Photo Gallery

Images from our visit to the Dudley Farm Historic State Park in Newberry, Florida.  Click once on each image to open a larger view.  Maximum dimension is 640 pixels.

2014/02/12(W) Back In Time

We woke to an overcast sky with rain in the forecast for the afternoon.  One of the closer state parks to us is the Dudley Farm Historic State Park.  I don’t know how many types of state parks Florida has, but so far we have been to: “Regular” (un-designated/default); Preserve; Buffer (Preserve); Wilderness (Preserve); Archeological; Geological; and Wildlife/preserve.  This was our first Historic(al) park and I know they have Battlefield parks.   I will not be surprised to find out there are other types as well, such as Marine or Bird Sanctuary.

Located in Newberry, Florida the Dudley Farm Historic SP is NW of Williston and due west of Gainesville.  We also needed to do some shopping today, so a trip to the state park in the morning (before the rain started) followed by a swing through Gainesville was our plan for the day.  We were on our way by 10 AM, taking US-27/41 NNW out of  Williston through Archer to Newberry where we headed west on Newberry Road (FL-26) about a mile to the park entrance.

Although there was plenty of room to park, we were surprised by the number of cars in the parking lot.  The park is not open on Monday’s and Tuesday’s, but the reason for the crowd became evident when we entered the visitor center.  In addition to the normal park staff and volunteers there where at least six women in period clothing working on an old large quilt and another woman weaving at a small loom.  Wednesday mornings is when this happens and it added a touch of “living history” to our visit.  I have posted a separate photo gallery of our visit to the Farm.

There were a few buildings by the visitor center for display and demonstration, but the main farm was a quarter mile walk through the woods on a level path.  The Dudley Farm was a thriving, successful family enterprise that began before the Civil War and continued until after WW II.  The farmstead, consisting of 18 buildings, equipment, and furnishings, was donated to the State in the early 1980’s along with 23 acres of the 600+ acre farm.  The State later acquired an additional 232 acres and more recently another 80 acres for the visitor center, entrance road and parking lot area.  This is not a “recreated” farm; all the buildings are in their original locations except for the General Store, which was moved to the farmstead from its location near the main road.

We roamed the farmstead for over an hour looking at, and going in, buildings and taking photographs.  We had the place to ourselves except for some birds, chickens, turkeys, and three mules.  Although the farm was “rough” by modern standards, it was interesting to try to imagine this place as a “state of the art” operation full of generations of Dudley’s and farm hands engaged in the slow but steady work of farm and domestic life.  The tendency is to romanticize and envision this place as somehow idyllic.  It wasn’t.  The farmhouse was certainly comfortable compared to being outside, and life was good (at least for the Dudley’s), but it was no doubt a hard life.

By the time we were done touring the farmstead the overcast had lowered almost to a ground cloud and it had started misting.  Although we lacked bright sunlight, blue skies, and intense colors, the soft, even, subdued light was ideal for making lower contrast images and seemed somehow appropriate in mood to the empty, gray, weathered buildings of this now quiet farmstead, preserved so that we might glimpse a moment back in time.

If the Dudley Farm HSP was the past, Gainesville is definitely the here and now.  As we got to I-75 on FL-26 we encountered heavy traffic.  We had not been to this part of Gainesville yet, but now we know where the major shopping area is located!  You name it, it’s here.  Conveniently for us the Office Max, Michaels, Trader Joe’s, and PetSmart were all in the same mega shopping center (one of many).  Trader Joe’s had a quite a selection of house brand wines for $2.99/bottle (750 mL) so we bought several.  I hope they are to our liking, because I sure like the price.  They did not, however, have a house brand moscato 🙁  A final stop at the Kangaroo filling station for fuel and we were on our way back to WCRVResort.

Linda made one of our favorite dishes for dinner; whole wheat capellini (angel hair) pasta with garlic, onions, mushrooms (two kinds), sun-dried tomatoes, and basil lightly sautéed in olive oil; simple, but absolutely delicious.

 

2014/02/11 (T) Manatee & Fanning Springs SPs (FL)

Manatee Springs Tributary to the Suwannee River, Florida.  (MS-ICE composite of 7 photos.)

Manatee Springs Tributary to the Suwannee River, Florida. (MS-ICE composite of 7 photos.)

Loblolly Pine at Manatee Springs SP (FL).  (MS-ICE composite of 4 photos.)

Loblolly Pine at Manatee Springs SP (FL). (MS-ICE composite of 4 photos.)

Another beautiful day here in the elbow of Florida.  Seriously; look at the map.  The panhandle is like an arm outstretched from the shoulder and the peninsula is like the rest of the arm from the elbow down.  That places the area around Cedar Key and inland to the northeast towards Williston as the crook of the elbow.  We left the WCRV Resort late morning and took US-27 Alt WNW through Bronson to Chiefland where it joins up with US19/US-98 N.  By the time we got to Chiefland we had blue skies, little to no breeze, and temperatures were moving into the mid-70s.  Just on the other side of Chiefland we turned on to FL-320 and drove the final 6 miles to the entrance to Manatee Springs State Park.

Manatee Springs is one of many springs that flow into and form the Suwannee River.  Yup, that Suwannee River.  From Manatee Springs the Suwannee River flows approximately 25 miles to the Gulf of Mexico.  Like all of the springs fed by the Florida aquifer, Manatee Springs puts out millions of gallons of water every day at a constant 72 degrees Fahrenheit.  Several visitors reported seeing two Manatees, a mother and a  youngster, swimming upstream towards the headsprings, but we were not able to catch a glimpse of them.  We did, however, see SCUBA divers.  It turns out that this spring is popular for swimming and SCUBA diving.  Consistent with our experience in other Florida State Parks, the developed areas were very nicely done.  There was an excellent boardwalk that ran along the tributary and over  swamp area that was obviously full of water at other times (high tide) and out to an observation platform at the Suwannee River.

When we were done at the headsprings we drove to the trailhead parking area for the Scenic Trail.  As we have seen in other parks, there was an extensive trail system, but a specific combination of trails looped us back to our car after hiking approximately two miles.  This trail, like others, took us through a woodland that underwent subtle, and not so subtle, changes with only minor changes in elevation.  A trail guide keyed to numbered markers explained these changes as we went along.  In the time we were on the trail we did not encounter any other hikers.  These forests are beautiful, peaceful places, but the beauty is subtle rather than dramatic, and you have to slow your pace and elevate  your senses in order to experience and fully appreciate them.

The headsprings at Manatee Springs SP (FL).

The headsprings at Manatee Springs SP (FL).

Small alligator in Catfish Hole Spring at Manatee Springs SP (FL).

Small alligator in Catfish Hole Spring at Manatee Springs SP (FL).

Linda on the Suwannee River Boardwalk at Manatee Springs SP (FL).

Linda on the Suwannee River Boardwalk at Manatee Springs SP (FL).

A view of the forest on the Scenic Trail at Manatee Springs SP (FL).

A view of the forest on the Scenic Trail at Manatee Springs SP (FL).

From Manatee Springs SP we returned to Chiefland and continued north on US-19/98/27A to the little town of Fanning Springs.  The Suwannee River runs through the center of town and just before you get to the river is the entrance to Fanning Springs SP.  This small park is set up as a place for people to swim, and during the warmer months it is undoubtedly overrun with people.    But today there were only a few other people there, including a couple who were swimming in the headspring.  I took a phone call from Pat, who was working on resetting the DDEC I engine computer on his bus, and then we walked out to the end of another wonderful elevated boardwalk, crossing over/though a cypress swamp before reaching the banks of Suwannee River.  It was a very pretty place but challenging to capture in photographs.  I took some, but I didn’t care for how they turned out, so I did not include any with this post.

There is another trail in this area named The Nature Coast Trail, but we did not hike it today.  It was built on an old railroad bed and runs for over 31 miles, crossing the Suwannee River north of Fanning Springs on an old wooden trestle.  The trail is available for use by hikers, bicyclists, and equestrians, and we will likely hike part of this trail, but not today.  The drive back to Williston took approximately 45 minutes, not including a brief stop at the Winn-Dixie supermarket on the west edge of town for grapes and bananas.  Dinner was green salad, Tofurkey brand vegan pizza, and a small glass of Blueberry-Rhubarb Wine from Forestedge Winery.

2014/02/09 (N) Crystal River State Parks (FL)

Our destination today was the two state parks near Crystal River, Florida; Crystal River Archeological SP and Crystal River Preserve SP.  We left around 10:45 AM and headed down US-41 to Dunnellon, Florida where picked up John & Marian Hagan from their house.  John navigated us over to the town of Crystal River.  From the heart of downtown a short drive north on US-19 brought us the iconic brown state park sign telling us to take the next left turn to get to the parks.

Crystal River Archeological SP preserves an important pre-Columbian site with burial and midden mounds as well as mounds that once supported temples.  Evidence of occupation goes back before the Common Era and there is a small, but nice, museum explaining the modern history of the site and the archeological activities that led to our present day understanding of the people who built and used the site send its mounds.  The trail system is paved and less than one mile in total length.  It was a quiet place for peaceful if thought-provoking stroll on a beautiful late winter afternoon.

Crystal River Preserve SP is listed on some maps as Crystal River Buffer Preserve SP, and that is an apt name for it.  About equal in size to the archeological state park, it surrounds it and buffers it from encroachment and most recreational uses.  The archeological park has a picnic area, but no place to launch boats, canoes, or kayaks, or to flush.  The buffer preserve, by comparison, has a much longer trail system with lots of access to water.  We hiked approximately 2 miles in pleasant temperatures on a trail through the woods along the water’s edge and saw a number of people fishing.  The light was good and the wind was light which made for nice reflections.  The following photograph is a panoramic composite of three images made using the Microsoft Image Composite Editor (ICE) and post-processed using Faststone Image Viewer.  MS-ICE is an amazing little free program.  The three camera images were hand held with auto-focus and auto-exposure.  The rules for compositing photos to make panoramas are: 1) tripod, 2) special pan head, 3) fixed/manual focus, and 4) fixed exposure.  This image violated all of these rules and still came out well.

Crystal River Buffer Preserve SP (FL).

Crystal River Buffer Preserve SP (FL).  [Click to enlarge to 1280 pixels wide.]

By 3:00 PM we were all getting hungry so we looked for vegetarian friendly options in Crystal River.  The only place that came up was the Brooklyn Dockside Deli but the website indicated they were only open for breakfast and lunch.  We stopped there anyway and they were open until 4:00 PM, so we had a late lunch /early dinner.  John had a Cuban sandwich, Marian had a Reuben sandwich, Linda had a spinach wrap veggie sandwich, and I had a veggie sub.  Everyone enjoyed their food and the un-assuming setting by the water.

We drove John and Marian back to their house and returned to Williston.  We arrived back at our coach before it got dark; something we have rarely accomplished on our recent outings.  Our neighbor, John, invited us to join them later for a small campfire at another neighbor’s rig a few doors down.  Since we were not having dinner as such I off-loaded today’s photographs from the camera, created the panorama, and worked on this blog post.  We checked a couple of times but never saw a campfire where the campfire was supposed to be, so we figured the plans had changed due to the cool temperatures.  Sunday evenings is Masterpiece Theater on PBS, so we settled in for the evening.

 

2014/02/05 (W) Jacksonville (FL)

Prevost Service Center, Jacksonville, FL.

Prevost Service Center, Jacksonville, FL.

Prevost Car Inc has a major service and parts facility in Jacksonville, Florida and had the (one way) check valve I needed in stock.  Jacksonville is a major metropolitan area in the northeast corner of Florida, about two hours northeast of Williston.  We took FL-121 to Gainesville where we picked up FL-24 over to US-301 northbound at Waldo.  US-301 runs up to the west edge of Jacksonville, but the Prevost service center is in the southeast part of town, so the GPS routed us onto FL-16 at Starke and then onto FL-21 and up to I-295 eastbound.  We found the facility easily and ended up having a nice chat with Dann Wiltgen, the VP of Pre-owned Seated Coach Sales and New Key Accounts, who we bumped into at the coffee station.

At the parts counter Service Advisor Jennifer Beardslee got the check valve and also pulled the new auxiliary air filter assembly for me to see.  I decided to buy it, but had to order the mounting bracket from Canada as it was not in stock anywhere in the U. S.  This was the first time we had been to any Prevost facility so I took a few pictures of the exterior before we left.

Looking north from North Beach at Little Talbot Island SP (FL).

Looking north from North Beach at Little Talbot Island SP (FL).

Our business concluded at Prevost we got back on I-295 headed north.  Just after crossing back over the river/bay we headed east on FL-105 (Heckscher Dr.).  We crossed Little Marsh Island, Pine Island, and Fanning Island before Ft. George Island and Ft. George Island State Park.  Fl-105 joins up with FL-A1A which runs along the coast and includes a ferry to the south side of the inlet.  But we were headed north to Little Talbot Island State Park, which occupies the entire Little Talbot Island.

Us on the boardwalk at North Beach, Little Talbot Island SP (FL).

Us on the boardwalk at North Beach, Little Talbot Island SP (FL).

We stopped at the Little Talbot Island ranger station, trailhead, and beach area, parked, and walked out to the shore on a boardwalk across low dunes.  The weather was pleasant enough and we had a nice stroll down the beach and took a few photos.  We continued on to Big Talbot Island, most of which is Big Talbot Island SP.  We parked at the trailhead for the Big Pine Trail and hiked out to the marsh through a beautiful forest.  This area had been most for a while and was very green. I took a few photos, but it’s difficult to capture the nature of such a place which is both grand and intimate at the same time.  Lenses do not “see” the world the same way our eyes do.

The Big Pine Trail at Big Talbot Island SP (FL).

The Big Pine Trail at Big Talbot Island SP (FL).

 

 

From Big Talbot Island we crossed to Amelia Island, the southern tip of which was Amelia Island SP and the location of the George Crady Bridge Fishing Pier SP.  The GCBFPSP is the former bridge connecting the toe Islands.  When a new bridge was built the state left the old one, closed it to vehicle traffic, and made it a state park.  Thus was another example of why the Florida State Parks system is the only two-time winner of the award for best state park system in the U. S.

 

 

The marsh at the end of the Big Pine Trail, BTISP (FL).

The marsh at the end of the Big Pine Trail, BTISP (FL).

As we left Amelia Island SP for the Nassau area we suddenly found ourselves in the midst of a very high-end resort community.  FL-A1A eventually joined up with FL-200 headed west towards Yulee and across I-95 to Callahan where it becomes US-301/FL-200 headed SSE through the west edge of Jacksonville and then on to Gainesville and Ocala.  Along the way it passes through the little town of Lawtey.  About 5 miles north of Lawtey there is a billboard warning drivers of the “Lawtey Speedtrap.”  We thought it might be a gimmick ad for a restaurant, but it turned out be an actual warning.  As we entered Lawtey there were dings saying “Speed Strictly Enforced” and a Lawtey police car checking vehicle speeds.  We don’t speed when. We drive, so we were not at risk of being trapped, but I don’t understand why states permit little towns to do this sort of thing.  Law enforcement should not be a major source of revenue for any municipality; it distorts the whole purpose and process of law enforcement.

Fungal growth on a dead tree along the Big Pine Trail at BTISP (FL).

Fungal growth on a dead tree along the Big Pine Trail at BTISP (FL).

I had received the Feb 2014 issue of Bus Conversions Magazine a couple of days ago with my article on the Arcadia Bus Rally as the cover/centerfold story.  Many of my photos were used for the expanded digital edition and I had several e-mails going back and forth with Gary Hall, the owner/publisher, and Mike Sullivan, the editor, as is often the case.  Starting with the January 2014 issue they are producing three separate versions of the magazine.  The print version is currently 32 full-color glossy pages.  Gary would like to up the page count, but needs to build the subscriber/advertiser base to do that.  The digital edition now cones in two versions, SD and HD, both of which have expanded content over the print version, especially photographs.  The SD (Standard Definition) version is e-mailed to subscribers and can also be downloaded by online subscribers.  The HD (High Definition) version has the same content as the SD version, but the photographs are much higher resolution, and can only be downloaded.  The SD version for Feb 2014 was ~10 MB while the HD version was ~ 25 MB.  They can be viewed online or downloaded as PDF files.

The beach at Amelia Island SP by the George Crady Fishing Bridge SP (FL).  (4x4 vehicles permitted.)

The beach at Amelia Island SP by the George Crady Fishing Bridge SP (FL). (4×4 vehicles permitted.)

I also had some e-mail correspondence with Don and Kim Greene of Harvest Hosts. We received the February newsletter a couple of days ago and read that they were extending subscriptions for subscribers who mentioned the program on their websites or in their blogs.  We stayed at four “hosts” in 2013 and blogged about each one of them.  We also have Harvest Hosts listed on our website as one of our travel resources.  The posts were a bit dated but I sent an e-mail with the direct links and they were kind enough to extend our subscription by four months.  They also requested one of the photos from Acres of Land Winery and Restaurant to include on their Facebook and Flickr sites.

It seems that when our days are full they are full right up to the brim, and that’s OK. We’re tired at the end of such days, but it’s a good kind of tired.

 

2014/02/02 (N) HSWSP Photo Gallery

This is a more extensive photo gallery (56 images) of the animals at the Ellie Schiller Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park in Homosassa, Florida.  Click once on each image to view in a separate page/tab.  Maximum dimension is 640 pixels.