I swear, it's just around the bend...

Yesterday we headed East on our bikes.  It was a beautiful sunny day, not to hot, right at 65. When we had driven to Panama Beach, we drove through a town that was quite different from any other towns we had seen.  It was obvious that it was a Resort (with a capital R) town for the wealthy. Not only did it ooze $$ but it appeared very sterile.  Everything was green or stark white.  Anyway, we decided we wanted to make this town our destination so we could get a picture of the palm trees lining the main street.  We were pretty sure it was about a mile farther then we had ridden the day before which would make our round trip ride about 12 miles, which sounded perfect.

This is what the bike path looks like, when you aren't in a town,,

 

And here is one of a bay leading out to the ocean

 

After we had ridden about 5 miles, we came to the town of Seaview, we stopped at a vacant lot overlooking the ocean and took this from the steps leading down to the beach.

It was magnificant!

About this time, I'm beginning to think that our "resort" town is just around the corner, we've gone over 5 miles.  I keep watching, each time we turn a corner, then we go through another town...and another up hill peddle, still no "resort" town.

We were passing mile markers and when we realized we had ridden 8 miles, I was starting to get discouraged,,,I wasn't sure how much farther we should ride.  It had been a couple years since I'd ridden this far. Few years back we used to ride 30 miles and be fine, but I'm out of shape now, I need some remedial riding first.  But, we were determined to find our Palm trees so on we went.

 

Voila!

 

At 9 miles we found it!

 

 

 

This is a picture of the "Jetson" house (so we named it)

 

 

and a gazebo, just sitting out there on a hill overlooking the gulf, at least a foot ball field away from any houses

 

 

 

Now, you are all wondering did I make it back, aren't you, or did I beg Rog to ride back and come pick me up in the truck?  (you were thinking that weren't you!)

 

 

We stopped in a nice small town, had a hot dog and a frozen yogurt and some water.  We peddled on and 4 hours later we rolled into our park.  Not bad 18 miles in 4 hours with an hour to rest.

 

Once we were home we relaxed outside in our lounge chairs, we met our neighbors Linda and Dave from Bay City, Michigan.  They have been coming down here to the Florida Panhandle to spend their winters for 7 years now!  They told us about a local restaurant called the Hurricane Oyster Bar.

 

So,, we thought why not!  I even ate the oysters!

 

It was the perfect ending to a wonderful day!

 

 

And just in case you are wondering, we slept well last night and we can both walk today :)



 

 

 

 

 

 



 





5 miles to a Rueben and Neccessisty is the Mother of Invention

We woke to sunshine yesterday so we decided to go for a bike ride.  We were anxious to be "out" and do something!  This state park is on a state road that follows the coast line and goes through 4 or 5 small beach towns. Biking and walking is a big thing here.  Which is cool with us. There is a paved bike trail that runs from one end of this state road to the other, where it connects with the major divided highway.  We headed West,,why?  Because I wanted the wind at my back on the way back!
You can't see the coastline all the way, but we had glimpses of it, lots of big, fancy, expensive condos.  The remnants of the previous days of rain was evident, lots of swollen creeks. It was a beautiful ride and it just felt good to be getting some excercise.  After 5 miles, I though I probably better be heading back, Rog agreed so we turned around..well,,,we were thirsty and right there was..
Johnny McTighe's Irish Pub,,,it was after 11 :)
SO, we pulled over and went inside.  We werent' overly hungry,,but since we were going to indulge in a beverage we ordered a rueben sandwich to share. Oh my goodness, that sandwich was fabulous!  We thanked our waitress, Ashley, profusely.
So, if you are ever on route 30A in Blue Mountain Beach, Florida, stop at Johnny McTighe's Irish Pub and have one!
We finished up our 10 mile total ride and promptly took a nap!

Later we decided to head over to the beach to see how the high winds and rain had affected the shore.
If you remember some of our previous posts, I think you will be surprised at the change in view.

 

The winds were crazy strong, probably between 25 and 30 mph.  The waves were well over 10 feet, and breaking on the beach at 5 feet.  This was high tide and there was virtually no beach to sit on.  The sea gulls could barely stand up right.  We had brought our lounge chairs to sit on, because we thought we would relax and enjoy the view.  Got them set up and we were both shivering because the winds were so strong.  Rog had an idea!

 

 

He went and got a vinyl tablecloth out of the truck and we used that as a wind break behind us!  We lasted for about an half hour and we decided to head back to our camper..  Those waves were amazing.  We've already talked this morning that we need to go back and see how much it has changed now.

 

 

The picture below I took the day before as the storm was just starting to roll in.  You can see those dark blue clouds rolling in.

 



 

 

Today, we plan to ride our bikes East for awhile.   I need to call some of the other state parks we want to visit to see if we can get to them, do to the flooding. 

Our neighbor, Jo,  emailed us to make sure we weren't in Tampa yet.  I guess Tampa had a tornado!

So, all in all I guess we have been pretty lucky staying out of mother nature's rath!

 

Finally, Andre says..  "enough already woman, get off that laptop"

 

 

Picture smorgasbord

Palm Trees in Panama City.

 

A walk on the beach

 

 

Florida Cavern State park hike

 

 

Air Force Museum Eglin, SR 71

 

C130, Spectre

 

 

Eglin AFB museum memorial

 

We did survive the weather last night,,,tornado watches, and HEAVY rain.  Lots of flooding in the area, but our park is just fine.  Don't know if we will go very far today, since there are alot of road closures  ,,,,  might be a stay on "our beach" day today!

 

Rainy Days..

Even though it has been raining for several days off and on, we have managed to stay busy.
Friday we did some shopping and had lunch at a Fudpuckers...I kid you not, that is what it is called.  Sort of like a Joe's Crab shack if you've ever been to one of those.  They had live baby alligators in a pond out front!  There are only 3 of these in the country and they are all on the Florida panhandle.  It was fun and the food was great.  We played some board games with Kennen and Terri Friday evening.
Saturday it was pouring and we felt bad for them because they were headed north, back to Indiana.  We donned our rain gear and went out to wish them a safe journey.  It was just wonderful having them down here with us! 
Saturday afternoon we headed West to Eglin AFB which is close to Fort Walton Beach. We visited the museum there.

There were over 20 planes on display outside, everything from WWI to present day.  The museum itself was amazing.  Very interesting.  Alot of history.  We were there several hours.  We headed home and enjoy an evening while listening to the rain.
Sunday morning there was a break in the rain, so we headed out.  I had researched and thought I'd found a lighthouse a few hours away.  Close to Port StJoseph.  We stopped for a beach walk, a gift shop and investigated Tyndall AFB's RV campground.  Drove all the way out to a peninsula....
We never found the lighthouse!  I was really bummed.  We even asked a park ranger...oh yes she said,,,2nd curve back on your right....yeah,,,right....no lighthouse! It started raining on the way back and by the time we got home it was pouring again.  It poured all night long, there are flood warnings too.  We are fine though, no worries here.  We did talk about how awful it would be to spring a leak...how many campers experience that, and what the heck would they do?

I have some pictures to add, buy I think the rain is causing some issues with the internet connection..

I think today will be a good book day.

Tomorrow, who knows...we would still like to visit Ponce De Leon park, there is still time we don't leave here till Sunday.

The almost caverns, and beach time

We drove over an hour to Florida Caverns state park on Wednesday to tour some caves...guess what, no tours on Wednesdays!  Oh well, we took a nice hike through the park. Interesting landscape, this area is the direct result of water's effect on limestone and lots of native trees. The area is rich in history too, native Florida indian tribes, (including Seminole), used the above ground limestone caves to hide from the invading white man.  I was hoping to spy an alligator,,but no such luck.  Some areas did look swampy to me, but I guess it wasn't.

 

Yesterday we spent the morning on the beach here at the park we are staying at.  Watching the waves crash, the sandpipers, the gulls and Rog searched for shells.  Then we headed West in search of fresh shrimp from a seafood market.  Biggest darn shrimp I've ever seen and they tasted great too!  I've also included a couple pictures of our "eagle" and campsite.

 

Hope you are all well!

Supposed to be raining the next 3 days so probably not much to post about.

What is that yellow ball in the sky?

Sunshine is an amazing thing, isn't it?

Yesterday we visited Panama City and walked the Pier Park boardwalk.  It was absolutely breathtaking?  I probably would still be standing there,,,but  there was  Jimmy Buffet Margaritaville across the street and I had to have a Cheeseburger in Paradise!

 

The pier was approximately 500 some yards long,,you could get great views from there.

 

 

 

We headed a little further up/over on the coast to St Andrews State Park, Rog and Terri hunted for seashells and I walked in the gulf water!

 

Who knows what adventures await us today!

 

 

 

Shock and Awe

No weapons of mass destruction,,,
We were up bright and early Monday, 5:30 to be exact.  We were both excited to be headed to the "water" of the gulf coast!
No issues with the drive, took us about 6 hours.  Found the state park without issue, when we pulled up to our site, I noticed that someone had left a bright table cloth on the picnic table and there was what looked like a happy birthday sign on the power hook up box.,,,  I thought, "this is odd",,anyway,,,we began our set up, which takes at least an hour.  There are stabilizers to be set, wheel chocks, power, water and sewer to be connected.  When I was putting in one of the wheel chocks, I noticed that on the colorful picnic table cover, which said "congratulations" not happy birthday, a card was taped.  I looked and it was addressed to us!  I opened it and our cousins The Shafer's had sent us a card and must have had the park people decorate our site for us! How thoughtful of them to do that for us!  I told Rog and we laughed, they are so special to us and they are the ones who got us started in camping.
Once we were all set up we came in side to sit down and rest,,,that set up procedure and driving 6 hours wears you out when you are "old"  :)

Then,,,,here comes the SHOCK....there is a tap at the door...we thought, who the heck is knocking,,
I got up went to the door, didn't see anyone, said "Hello"...opened the door and there hiding was our cousins!  Yes,,, they planned it,,,7 months ago!  We are so glad they are here to share the week with us!

Now,,,for the Awe!

It is absolutely gorgeous here!

 

 

Oak Mountain cont'

These were taken at the Raptor Rescue area of the park.  They have 2 horned owls, 2 barrd owls, 2 vultures, 2 red tail hawks.  Each type was in it's own structure,,,pretty amazing really.  There was an elevated walkway between each structure so you could walk right up and see them up close.  Each bird had been injured an unable to be returned to the wild, but this park made it so they could be as close to the wild as possible.

Yesterday, we took a nice hike and took this shot by a creek.

We have really enjoyed our stay here.  On to Florida tomorrow!

Oak Mtn Alabama

Greetings from Alabama!
Oak Mtn State Park is just south of Birmingham.  We are here for 4 days before heading south to Florida.
This is a beautiful park with over 9,000 acres!  We have hiked to a waterfall, and visited a raptor rescue center.  Today, we plan to ride our bikes a bit and enjoy some more sunshine.  We've had some nice big campfires and even found a local Mexican restaurant with some great food and margaritas!

 

We would definately put this park on our list of ones to revisit!  There is a lake, golf course , bmx trails and horse stables.

We didn't have any problems getting here from Nashville,,,well,,,we did pull our first "U" turn with a fifth wheel on a state road.... :)

Day 3 of our Big Adventure

Thought we should probably let you know what we've been up to!
On our first day, Mother Nature decided to give us a challenge.  Winds were gusting to 40 miles an hour as we pulled out of Middlebury.  They were East/Winds, which added to the mix.  Rog did a great job holding on to our 1 ton dually and 36 foot Eagle Fifth wheel.  Once we arrived in Scottsburg it was 45 and sunny!  We enjoyed our evening and Rog admitted his arms were a little sore from "hanging on".  Tuesday morning we woke to a beautiful sunrise, (which I've included a picture of).
We arrived here in Goodlettsville, Tn around 2:30pm, got all hooked up and enjoyed an nice evening watching an old movie.  This morning we headed out to a company Rog had dealt with over the last 20 years, called ReMedPar, which happened to be only a few miles from our campground.  We took a tour of their facilty, which was quite interesting to me since I'd never seen alot of the inner mechanical workings of some of the radiological equipment Rog has worked on for 20+ years.  Then we headed south,,
Rog and I are not "big city" people, so we gazed at Nashville from Interstate 65 and chose to seek out some history in Franklin, TN.  We went to Carnton Plantation, rich in history from the Civil War.  This plantation played a vital part in the Battle of Franklin during 1864.  Where both Union and Confederate soldiers fought a battle.  The home was used as a Confederate hospital and the family actually estasblished a cemetary for the those men that lost their lives there, over 1400 men.  It was very interesting and you could almost hear the cannons on the hillsides. I've included some pictures from Carnton.

We did receive some disturbing news from our neighbor Rex, Tuesday night.  The warehouse that our pontoon boat was stored in, in Mishawaka, burned to the ground Monday night.  We lost our brand new boat...  We have insurance, so we will replace it, but still, we really liked that boat.  Thank heavens, no one was injured.  There were over 100 boats lost in that fire.

Tomorrow we are headed to Oak Mountain State Park just south of Birmingham, Alabama!

Almost outta here! Even the cats are ready!

The Eagle is loaded, except for refrigerated food, which will be loaded tomorrow.  We've checked and rechecked our to do lists!  Our goal is to be on the road Monday morning by 9am, can't pick up the Eagle till 8 or we would be out of here earlier.  As you can see by the picture, even our cat Isaac is ready to hit the road!
Stay tuned for updates of Rog and Nita's Big Adventure!

We are hoping to escape the frozen Indiana Winter

This is what we have been dealing with for a month!  We are anxious to find some warm temps and sunshine!

T minus 9 days and counting!

 

We can hardly believe it, our departure is just around the corner!  First stop southern Indiana on the 11th, on to Nashville, followed by Birmingham with our first real "destination" Grayton Beach Florida!