Florida White

We moved from our Gulf Shores State Park site in Alabama to a more remote state park in Florida on the northern panhandle. What a difference in campgrounds we experienced.  The coastal park was very popular and civilized and held a few hundred uniform campsites. We were provided with a cement pad to park on and full service: electric, water, and sewer connections. And don’t forget the storm shelter.

The Ochlockonee River State Park in Florida holds only 30 sites, none with sewer connections, and no two are the same shape, length or size. Instead of having landscaping around a developed area, this campground has created sites around the natural landscape.  Mature trees are given priority over big rigs, making manoeuvring into certain sites difficult. We only had sand to park on and not necessarily flat sand at that.

But the sand was white. Beautiful, fine white sand that gets into everything.

Over the next two weeks, white became a theme.

The isolated location of our campground gave us many opportunities to see wildlife. Some were even proactive in our relationship and came out to meet us. The unique white squirrel of the park greeted us early in our visit, curiously investigating our rig and campsite, and posing sweetly for pictures. The more numerous grey squirrels were shy and watched from the trees, often jumping onto the top of our trailer and scampering noisily around.

Deer was plentiful and we saw many on our walks around the hiking trails. These are white-tailed deer, and often the only thing you saw of them were the white tails waving back at us as the deer scampered for the bush.

Then there was the big white boulder in the woods. At least, that’s what we thought it was until her head popped up from where she had been grazing. Among all the normal coloured deer was a doe with a brilliant white body.  A unique discovery that made our day.

At this point we wondered if there was something in the water.

Indeed there is. White manatees float around the warm Wakulla Springs just north of our campground. We spent a day there, taking a boat tour and walking the trails.

The boat tour was fabulous, taking us around an isolated river to show us the white ibis and white egrets. Finally, however, we escaped the singular colour scheme. Black vultures crowded the shores of this warm river, sitting on the banks and tree branches and overshadowing the herons and grebes paddling the shallows. Grey alligators soaked up the sun, often directly under the watching vultures.

Though we were not right on the Gulf itself, we were close enough to reap its benefits. In the little town of Panacea we enjoyed browsing through an aquarium before a seafood lunch. And we picked up shrimp from a blue shack on the road where the catch was so fresh that they were pouring it out of the back of the fisherman’s truck as we stood there watching.

For two weeks we spent most of our time around the campground, spending only a couple of days in the city of Tallahassee. This despite the fact that we had no cell service, Wifi or TV at the state park. The peaceful setting of the park gave us long walks, easy bike rides, and meandering canoe routes through marshlands.

We paddled down the Ochlockonee River to fish and soak up some of that abundant white sun for ourselves.

Hopefully, we will leave our winter white skin behind. 

Or at least one of us will.

W

Low Country

The southeastern coastal states are often referred to as low country. That probably is because the land is barely higher than sea level. There are benefits and drawbacks to these areas.

As someone who is uncomfortable in high places, this is the perfect place for me to hike.  Far too many times in the past I have doggedly pursued my dear hubby as he was climbing ever higher along some mountain ridge. Finally, I can keep up with his strides without holding my breath and looking anywhere but down. Granted, the aerobic effort is practically nil, but at least I am breathing.

So for more strenuous exercise, we can turn to bicycling. Here, too, are the benefits of a flat land. What’s not to like?

Well, for one thing, the weather.

Most of the time, the weather around here consists of warm ocean breezes and sunny skies. It’s one reason why we come down this way.  But all those picturesque houses on stilts along the coast are built that way because of the threat of floods and hurricanes. We’ve luckily managed to avoid those issues. I’m not sure what we would do if presented with such an emergency. Hopefully we would realize what the wheels on our home are for, and skedaddle.

But we did experience an unexpected weather event.

We had settled in for the night at our campground along the coast of Alabama. At 1:30am, my I-phone, plugged in beside me, started emitting long tones. This wasn’t a text, nor a phone call, and sure as shooting wasn’t a Facebook  message – the only other sounds I had heard from this electronic device before. One eye open, I peeked at the screen to see the words,  “ Tornado warning in the area. Take cover immediately.” Really?  My I-phone did that, too? Who knew?

There was indeed lots of lightning going on outside our little tin can, but the winds weren’t strong so we weren’t terribly concerned. I did get up, though, and noticed not only several trucks and other vehicles parked at the bathhouse in front of us, but more coming as well. It looked like there was a convention being held across the street. Being a nosy person, I threw on a robe and crossed over to where a dozen people were milling about.  I sidled up to one lady with a question, and was told that this was also a storm shelter.  

Now, this building is short and stout, and made with big blocks and beams, but I wasn’t sure that it would stand up to a direct hit from a tornado.

Rules being rules, however, I did go back to the trailer and suggested to hubby that we should join the crowd. He looked at me and asked if I was going “like that”. Oh, I’m supposed to get dressed for a middle of the night emergency? I must have missed that particular etiquette lesson.  I compromised by taking clothes over to the shelter with me and changing in a stall.

Once the rains started, most of the crowd outside moved inside. There are always some die-hards that want to see it coming.

I found the people inside were much more interesting, however. There was a young couple with a toddler, half asleep in his mom’s arms, with the father trying unsuccessfully to put a bicycle helmet on him. There were two teenage girls with their cell phones in front of their faces, and another young lady with a smart phone giving us updates on how many tornadoes had touched down. The two couples with dogs were on opposite sides of the shelter, and in the middle was a lady with a parrot on her shoulder. There were at least 24 people inside, and no one seemed panicked or upset, and neither were we.

After 45 minutes, the lady with the smart phone declared an “all clear”, and we dispersed. Of course, hubby and I were far from sleepy and spent the next hour sitting up with coffee and hot chocolate, hubby playing with the weather radio that should have given us a pre-warning but didn’t. He got it working and we went to bed. To have the weather radio go off twice more before morning,  merely to warn of high winds.  The I-phone remained mercifully silent.

Such was our high adventure in the low country.

W

                                                                                                                                   

Lost in Space

In November and December, we took a brief hiatus from travelling by occupying the spare rooms of assorted family members.

That is still a form of traveling, I guess, drifting from one home to another over a month and a half. It was certainly entertaining.

But after spending time with our children and grandchildren, my siblings and their spouses, and then having a final bash thrown at me unexpectedly for an early birthday celebration, finally the last month of the year is almost over and it’s time to skedaddle south again.

We crossed the border on a sunny, cold day, munching on leftover chocolates from my party, and promptly met snow in the New York/Pennsylvania mountains. This was not a surprise. We hit the same winter storm system in the same place last year. It’s a good reason to leave earlier in the fall.

Whenever we cross the border, we get into the routine of changing over the cards and cash from our wallets, changing the SIM cards in our phones, and changing the habits of a Canadian tongue. We now have to remember to use the southern lingo: miles not kilometers, Fahrenheit not Celsius, napkins instead of serviettes, and restroom in place of bathroom or washroom. Now I know why travel is so good for the mind.

Although, I can’t say it has helped me all that much.

My mind must have been so busy trying to keep up with the nuances of being south of the border that it forgot basics. After many years of travel experience, we have developed a “final check” routine. This happens whether we are leaving a campground, a hotel room, or a family home. Last one out the door does a visual sweep of the area to make sure nothing gets left behind. In the last 4 years of constant travel, our record has been almost immaculate. On this one trip down to Georgia, it was totally destroyed. When we left North Carolina and the second hotel we stayed in, our SPOT GPS got forgotten on the window sill. We didn’t realize it until the next night in Georgia.  Housekeeping promised to mail it on to us.  There was a third night in a hotel while we were in Georgia, near where the trailer was stored.  In leaving the next morning, I managed to not only miss collecting a charging cord, but also left behind my all important cell phone. Literally, the head that is not attached to my shoulders.

Luckily, we now had the trailer out of storage and into a campsite merely around the block from that hotel. So going back, twice, for forgotten items was merely embarrassing, and not expensive. Thank goodness we are now in our own home, where anything that is lost can be no more than 34 feet away.

Except maybe my mind.  Seems that I can leave that just anywhere.

W