Goodbye Torreya State Park Feb 28, 2011

We are on the road this morning heading to Jacksonville to visit Carol and Lori. Beautiful day with temperatures in the high 70's. Jack and I are both thinking of Jason who is having surgery tomorrow to reattach a retina. Thanking God for our oldest son, Gabe, who is stepping up to the bat and taking care of getting his brother to the hospital. And since Jason can't drive for 4-6 weeks Gabe has offered to drive him to the follow up appointments the next few weeks. Thanks Gabe for having your little bro's back. We love you both very much. But you know that!

To say I was thrilled to be leaving Torreya State Park would be an understatement. I was up at the butt crack of dawn getting the inside jobs completed so that we take off asap. Though I relished the R & R, even for me, enough was enough.  I felt so disconnected from everyone and everything while staying at Torryea State Park. Even going to "town" was depressing.  Just not a lot to see or do and though many people may love that atmosphere, I do not.  We did meet a couple of other campers last night  making our last night at the park rather enjoyable. She was 48 years old, her husband 66. They both were from Brooklyn now living in central Florida traveling with their two huge German Shepherds, Bear (138 lbs) and Shadow, who was just a little smaller. Both have their own beds....Bear and Shadow, that is.

This is Bear.  A real sweetheart.

Shadow is giving me a little kiss.  My face says it all.  YUK!

 
We had a great evening last night just sitting around chatting. But they were leaving today too so one more night at Torreya would have been about as boring as watching paint dry. The park was so dark at night you couldn't go for a walk safely. We forgot to take a bag of trash to the dumpster one night and some critter decided to have a looksey in the bag. The only thing disturbed in the bag were two Diet Pepsi cans. And those were both punctured with two HUGE teeth marks leaving me with little doubt that there were creatures in "themtherehills".

They called the area we were visiting "the real Florida!" Not sure who THEY are but a billboard along the road proudly said so. I'm here to tell you that if that was the real Florida I want no part of it. It was if the whole world was moving forward BUT that area didn't get the memo. You can drive for several miles and not see one house or car. Creepy. To me, it was creepy. It was weird too to see so many gated houses.  And I'm not talking about million $ homes. Small homes, some of which would be hard pressed to appraise for $20,000.  Everywhere I looked though people had their "stuff" gated.  Some of the gated places were no larger than an outdoor garage.  Gated...for the love of God what the heck were they afraid others might steal?  I didn't see a whole lot of anything  I'd even take the time get out of the car to steal,  let alone take the time to bust their gates.  It's very interesting to see how other people in the country live; I'm pretty sure if they came to Warsaw they'd think we lived pretty weird too...homes so close together, too many people at the grocery store, no Piggly Wiggly's. 

We made it to Jacksonville without incident.  Claire, our GPS, evidently was having a good day cause she took us directly to our "via point."  That, and the fact Jack didn't call her names couldn't hurt either.  The campground is very beautiful and we are a short walk from the ocean.  This evening we had both Sydney and Tanner wading in the ocean.  Of course, Ms. Pris didn't want any part of it.  No sand burrs for her little paws and how dare anyone think she should get her paws wet or dirty.  Tanner seemed to enjoy it.

Below are a few of the pictures Jack took yesterday and today:

The lake in our campground.  We were told that a gator was seen here Sunday.

Two fishermen at our campground.

Tonight as we pulled in to the campgrounds 3 raccoons sat outside of the security station.  This isn't funny but the security person is so old I wonder if he even knew the raccoons were sitting so near him.  Although they ran when we approached, they stopped and just sat on the edge of the drive as if waiting for us to drive by.

Thurs & Fri Feb 24-25 Torreya State Park

We needed to get a few things at the store today which is not as easy as jumping on the bikes and riding 7-8 miles to Wally Mart like at Gulf Shores.  The closest town to Torreya State Park is Bristol which is about 12 miles away but it doesn't have any large stores so we went to Quincy, Florida which was about 25 miles away.  Found Walmart and then went to a unique liquor store where we got a good deal on Cuervo Gold. We passed on the deal to buy a quart of Georgia moonshine which I now regret. Then had some fried chicken at a local restaurant and headed back to the park. On Friday we did a hike on one of the trails in the park that had some civil war confederate gun placements over looking the river.  Below are some pictures of Torreya State Park, a couple from our trip to Quincy and more pictures of the park from today's hike. Jack

I'm adding a few things here....Not sure how to be politically correct saying this but if you are Gabe or Jason you will totally GET it and know exactly what I'm talking about.  Jack mentioned the liquor store.  What he didn't tell you was this; we were visiting this little southern town where it was obvious we were the minority.  While traveling down the main street of the town a delicious smell wafts through the truck windows.  We decided  to investigate.  Jack went to the next light to go around the block.  We came upon this "unique" liquor store.  That's saying it nicely.  It's a small, one room brick building with bars on the windows.  We pull in to the parking lot and my eyes immediately go to the house next door.  Along the back of the yard sat 10 or so men of color some of whom had their brown paper bag.  By now I know better than to argue with Jack about these "uncomfortable" situations he gets us in.  I just go with the flow and hope for the best.  I proceed, along with Jack, to the liquor store where stands a man bearing a huge grin and obviously already three sheets to the wind.  I later saw this same man at the restaurant so I'm guessing he didn't work at the liquor store.  Anyhow we walk in to the front door and I immediately am accosted by the smell of Old Spice or some such smell that is equally as annoying.  I swallow but am quickly greeted with enthusiasm by the employees/owners of the liquor store.   I have forgotten where we are until we leave and see the 10 drinking buddies again.  They are most likely still laughing about us.

In another matter, the campground ranger came by yesterday and asked Jack what he could do for us to help smooth out the situation with our "angry" neighbor?  Of course Jack told him we were fine.  It was nice that the ranger was so thoughtful. Yesterday Jack did share one of his latest musical downloads by playing her Cee Lo Green's original F*** Y** song a few times and he played her the real version not the Grammy version.


We will be leaving this place and heading towards Jacksonville on Monday.  It's like Jack said, "It's not the end of the world but you can see it from here."  After that we're not sure where we are headed. 





This is the real front side of the Gregory mansion that is facing the river.



 The next few pictures were taken in the town of Quincy.

A few more pictures taken inside the state park.



This is the main road going in and out of the campground.

A view of the sunset from our camp site. 

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This a yurt at the campground that can be rented by the night.

 

Wed. Feb 23,2011 Leaving Gulf State Park

It has been awhile...I feel as if I need to say here....since my last confession. But what happened in Gulf Shores stays in Gulf Shores. Just kidding, sons.

We are on the road now heading towards Tallahassee, Florida. Actually, staying to our "under four hour" traveling rule we are going to Torreya State Park in Bristol, Florida about 40 miles west of Tallahassee.

Our stay at the Gulf State Park was unlike any other park we've ever visited. Our campsite spoiled us to what we hear lies ahead of us in Florida. At the Gulf we had easy access to all of the beautiful trails, dog walk, hiking paths, shopping and restaurants. The site was level, pull thru and not a bad size. The park also had a family type atmosphere. We never felt as if we had to lock our bikes or for that matter shut or lock the RV door. This morning as we were getting ready to leave most everyone passing by bid us farewell and a safe trip. I could have stayed there all winter but Jack is right: we have so much more to see and do. I'm a nester by nature so if it weren't for Jack pushing us, we could still be in Kentucky.

And what? Miss this 75+ degree weather? Since Jack & I are both in shorts and Crocs and Gabe says that Warsaw was hit with snow again. I think we'll keep moving.

Our last day at Gulf Shores was spent washing bed clothes and sofa quilts, dining out, Jack buying and putting on a new bicycle seat for me. Last but not least riding the trails one last time...in the dark. We made our final run in to Wal Mart and goofed off too long but not to worry. Those Tijuana bike bags aren't just to give Jack something to laugh at, believe me. I could be on Let's Make a Deal and win with the things I carry in those bags. By the time I was finished putting all of the lights on my bike and body a 747 could have landed on my back.  Jack had one little blinker on but with me close at hand he didn't need any.

The last week or so I do believe, for the most part, the dogs finally got the hang of avoiding the sand burrs. They'd be walking and all of the sudden they'd start high stepping like some show horse. Little Sydney was the smart one of the two; she'd walk on pavement until it was time to do her thing. Tanner still is searching for that one dog scent that was left 36 years ago by some little black and white rottweiler, regardless of the hell he has to go through finding it. We are about 50 miles from our first Florida stay. This park is small and from what we can gather is about 23 miles from Wal Mart. I will wait and see before I judge.


Here is a shout out to two women in our lives who mean so much to us: Terry, who finished her first round of chemo yesterday and was able to "ring the bell". Huge hurdle for her and my brother, Bill. God bless both of you.  And to Jack's little sis, Lori, who underwent eye surgery yesterday. She is a real trooper and we hope that she is doing better today. We are sending our love and hugs.

It's 8:00 p.m. and we are settled in to our camp site at Torreya State Park at Bristol, Florida.  Within the 1st. hour of being set up we were bi-otched out by our neighbor camper.  1st. time in the 40 years we've been camping  that anyone has ever yelled at us for our music being "too loud".  I was too shocked to come back at her when she said to us, "Can you turn that down!!!! It's too loud." she screamed at us as she came around to the side of her RV.  This was at 5:00 in the afternoon and Jack was playing his Adele music and it WAS NOT TOO loud, except for "old people" as Jack pointed out.  Well, listen, Jack has had ENOUGH of taking sh&* from shi-ot heads,  so the longer he thought about her chewing us out the more angry he became.  So what does he do???? He walks over to her RV and politely tells her that he has no intention of "being quiet" until quiet hours as dictated by the state of Florida.  Although we did turn the music down we did not let her get off easy.  Had she not been such a bi-otch we would have turned in much earlier.  BUT since she acted as if the universe revolved around her we kept her on her toes for much longer by playing Amy Winehouse's F*&@ Me Pumps much louder than we normally would have.  So, Florida, our first impression...besides being out in the middle of God's forgotten land...not so good.  Everyone else we've met here (and trust me they were all out watching Jack as he had to weave between several tall trees backing in-as I noticed them watching I felt as if we had stepped in to a Twlight  movie of the week-)   has been extremely nice.  It does, however, take one bad apple, or bi-otch, to ruin the whole bunch.  For her sake I hope she doesn't stick around much longer; Jack will be on her like stink on you know what...Tomorrow is another day and by God's grace we will have the opportunity to make nice.

This is the narrow path Jack had to navigate to park today at Torrerya State Park.

Another view of our camp site BEFORE pulling in.

A view from our campground.

Sydney looking a little book "wormish."


P.S. 10:00 p.m. Just took our last pottie call with the dogs and remember what I said earlier about the Twilight Zone?  OMG..We are smack dab in the middle of it.  There wasn't one, not one, light on anywhere.  It was so dark we could not see our hands in front of our faces.  Everyone is in bed or plotting their revenge.  I WANT TO GO BACK to the Gulf.   I wonder if I could get a locksmith at this hour to install a deadbolt on this RV? 

Feb 21, 2011 Red Dirt Road



 The red dirt road, the green grass and the beautiful blue sky made for a much more stunning sight in person than is seen in the picture.



February 19 ,2011 We saw neat cars and our first alligator.

Today the local community had a seafood festival and car show to raise money for the local school sports programs.  We rode our bikes to the festival then made a loop down highway 59 and back across the coast to the campground.  Along the way we stopped at a small wildlife area where they had a wooden walkway built out over a marshland area with a small river.  This is where we finally saw our first alligator.   I think the temperatures getting up to about 80 today must have brought them out.  We didn't take many pictures today but after you get through the cars you might be able to spot our first gator.



This picture is looking at the alligator from the front.  Pretty hard to see. 




It's hard to see but the horizontal stick like figure is the alligator