Horseshoe Crabs

The Horseshoe Crab had started to show up at Cedar Key just the day before we visited. This is one of their breeding grounds.














The female is the larger of the two and the male attaches himself to her so he can fertilize her eggs as she lays them.

The horseshoe crab is one of the oldest species on earth and they have changed little in over 250 millions years. Contrary to popular belief, they really have been around longer than I.

Their blood has no hemoglobin and is blue because it is copper based. Our medical industry uses it and much of what we know about our eyes were learned by studying theirs.

The Keys

No, not the Florida Keys but Cedar Key, Florida. A small island of the western coast of Florida. Quaint little place with about 1000 full time residents, it's is a haven for artists and writers with very narrow street and golf carts are a popular mode of transportation.

Fishing and seafood abound plus just doing absolutely nothing but kill a few hours seem to be the standard.












From the parking lot for the marina,

from the pier looking back, porpoises were playing about 100 yards off the pier but there was no way to get a photo of them.

this is First Street, about 100 yards long. The is full of bars and restaurants and one lawyers office.

This small village seems not have the big tourist trade and likes it that way.

Manatees

We spent over three hours in Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park and enjoyed every minute. It is really just a zoo of sorts but I had here for the main attraction.

From the visitors center there is a tram or boat ride to the back of the park. We took the boat out and the tram back.














As we left the visitors center, this alligator was sunning on a log,














once inside the park the bald eagles had a flag in their cage,














Pink flamingos were fun to watch,














they have one hippopotamus,

beautiful cougar ( the wild animal type but I guess the applies to the middle aged female too),

The main attraction, sorry but my photos didn't turn out very well,

here is a picture of a manatee I found on the web. The manatees live in the ocean but come into the warmer river as the ocean cools off in the winter. The river is fed by Homosassa Springs and its 72 degree water. The manatee have to have warmer water to survive.

They move slowly and over 200 were lost this winter because they couldn't make it to warmer waters as this winter came on quicker tha usual.

Suwannee River

This is the view from our lawn chairs. Very laid back rv park.

Dakota Winery is a small father-son affair that grows several varieties of Muscadine grapes for their bottling operation. They have a very nice Blush that we purchased.

This nice little day use park is on the Suwannee River.

They saved one side of the Fanning Springs bridge trestle and have it on display.

A little closer look,

and even closer so you can read the sign.

The Suwannee River looking up stream,

the dock floats and as the river level changes, it rides up and down on the metal pilings.

Old Town, Fl.

We are settled in Old Town Campground in Old Town, Florida. We are west of Gainsville about forty miles, about fifteen miles from the Gulf of Mexico, and a couple miles from the Suwannee River.

It is a privately owned park that is more like a fishing camp. No pavement and the sites are haphazardly scattered about. Sounds terrible but really pretty nice except for the sandy roads but everyone knows about them and keep their speeds down.

Only 30amp and water, no sewer. They have some sewer hookups but none were available when we checked in.
We are here for a few days as there is a lot of things to see in the area.

Leaving Tomorrow

This is our view from the picnic table








From our lawn chairs.
















From the couch.

Some of our neighbors.

Chattahoochee, Fl.

OMG, does life get any better than this. We are on Lake Seminole just about 3 miles north of Chattahoochee, Fl.

Our C.O.E. campground is just over in Georgia. Beautiful spot just off the water. High temps in the 70's and night time it drops to the 50's.

As soon as we were set up, I started the charcoal grill, grabbed our lawn chairs, and while the grill was getting hot for burgers and dogs, I kicked back with a beer or two. Don't tell anyone but I might have even smiled a little. We had our burgers and dogs outside in the shade of the Cardinal facing the lake and enjoying the sunset.

Our front door faces away from the water with a picnic table and grill just outside. We are on a peninsula and also have water in front of our truck .

This is the view out our living room and dining room windows. Nice park to spend the weekend.

Great temps, satelite tv, internet, water and electricty. I think I could get used to this.

New Brake Controler

As previously mentioned, I was not happy with the performance of my brake controller. I ordered a top of the line Tekonsha P3 brake controller,

very compact as you can see side by side with a 12 oz soda can.

When I removed the old controller and makeshift wiring (the new controller came with "plug and play" wiring designed for my Dodge), I found the old controller was actually broken.

The new controller worked great on the 200 mile trip to our next destination, but that is for tomorrows post.

The beach

On Thursday we did our shopping for or upcoming move and fueled the truck. We also went to the beach at Gulf Shores to collect a few seashells and was surprised at so many young people on the beach in the middle of the week.















Bikinis were everywhere (not that I would look),














even a beach volleyball game.

USS Alabama

U.S.S. stands for United States Ship.













Mobile, Alabama is home for the USS Alabama and a small aviation museum plus a submarine.














Please click on the photo to read about the ship.













The self-guided tour could easily take a half day on the ship, add the aviation museum and submarine and it can take all day.

Walking the deck where so much history has accrued is quite humbling.

Super Bowl Party

A couple dozen of the campers at Azlea Acres rv park assembled in the clubhouse for a Super Bowl party. Not one Steeler fan was in attendance.

Lots of snack foods and a few adult beverages were consumed.

One couple left early and I wonder if they were undeclared Steeler fans.

We enjoyed ourselves but I found the political undertone a little too far to the right for me.

3 weeks = a month

As of yesterday we have been here for two weeks. The weather is better than most parts of the country but still a little chilly today. The temps are back to the low 50's after a thunderstorm came through last night.

I vowed not to pull our Cardinal in the rain if at all possible and also due to the fact that we have not been up to par, we have decided to stay a little longer.

I could have signed up for another week but the price of 3 separate weeks is almost as much as the monthly rate. They prorated what we had already paid toward their monthly rate.

There are still things to see around here so it is a win-win for us.

A Little Trip

We took a little trip over to Pensacola today. Hey, we had to fill the new freezer, didn't we?













Just a few miles east on I-10 and we stopped at a Florida rest area. Very modern and very friendly people and a nice place to take a break if you have been traveling for awhile.















Since the Navel Air Station at Pensacola is home to the Blue Angels, this plane is in the parking lot of the rest area.















We visited the National Naval Aviation Museum on the airbase for a few hours. Easily could have spent all day and not seen everything. They have over 150 planes and more than 4,000 artifacts.















This is just a small portion of the main floor. Airplanes sitting and hanging everywhere.















Being a gearhead I had to get a closeup of this WWI ambulance.














Just had to take a picture of this TOMAHAWK (similiar to a P-40). Yes this is the plane that make the Flying Tigers famous or was it the other way around.

The Flying Tigers were immortalized in films like The Flying Tigers and God is my Co-Pilot. They were members of the 1st American Volunteer Group under the command of Chennault and one of the most famous pilots was "Pappy" Boyington. Do you remember Black Sheep Squadron tv series?














I couldn't resist sitting in a cockpit. They also have a flight simulator where you can "fly with the Blue Angels", all for $5. I passed as I saw no need to upchuck.

This is the freezer that arrived today. Basically it is 20 inches square and 34 inches tall. Very compact (for a freezer) and it will sit by the wall leading to the bathroom. We will move it to the kitchen when we pull in the slide for traveling.

Inside it is slightly over 14 inches square. Did we need it, well NO!

Maintenance

We have been here a week today and I payed for another week. Since this is our lifestyle and not a vacation there is no hurry to move on. The weather is nice and Judy did the laundry while I cleaned the spark plug on the generator.

The generator ran out of gas before we left and after adding gas I have not been able to start it. Took the plug out today and it was black with smut. A quick rub with a wire brush and it was as good as new. Reinstalled it and the generator roared to life. I need to purchase a spare spark plug to have on hand.

Another reason that we are staying another week is that we ordered a compact chest freezer to supplement our rv freezer. Small at 2.1cf but it is lightweight and about all we need.

LuLu's Beach Party

We had lunch at LuLu's Beach Party, a very iconic restaurant in Gulf Shores, Alabama.

A totally cool place on an inlet to the gulf.







































It was a little cool today so the plastic curtains were down.













This is a better photo take with my camera by the waitress. Judy had a shrimp salad and I had the "Cheeseburger in Paradise". Does that sound familiar? Yes, it was named after the Jimmy Buffett song.

Will LuLu get in trouble? I doubt it as LuLu is Jimmy Buffett's sister!














An outside bar is used when the weather is nice .













More of the ambience.

























These are docked behind LuLu's.

Satellite TV

We have been Dish Network users for over 15 years and I have had a tripod to set up when moving.

I have a meter to help with the aiming of the dish and usually have it up and working in under 15 minutes or less.

Now that we are on the road I really did not want to deal with it as sometimes we might just be spending one night. Then there is the possibility the we would not be allowed to set it up at all.

The simple solution is the Winegard Carryout. It will find the satellites when you are in a stationary position. There are systems that will lock on to the satellite while you are travelling but since no one will be riding in the Cardinal there was no need to buy the more expensive model.

The Carryout is designed to be used anywhere within 50 feet of your rv. It comes with 50 feet of coax and 50 feet of 12volt power cord. The 12volt power cord is the limiting factor. One can go out further but the 12volt will loose the amps necessary to run the motor that finds the satellite.

You can run a 120volt extension cord and use a ac to 12volt adapter to overcome this problem. Add enough coax and you are in business as you can place the Carryout on the ground or use a tripod.

I chose the optional ladder mount and it will stay there unless trees block its view of the southern sky. It has one bolt that must be removed if I need to remove it and place it in a more favorable location on the ground.

Overnight locations (Wal-Mart, truck stops, rest areas, ect.) should have an open southern exposure. I don't foresee moving the Carryout and I brought along my regular dish and tripod to use instead.

I read the instructions (didn't know I could do that did you?) for the ladder mount and quickly had it all set up, or so I thought.

After mounting and wiring the Carryout, it would not find the satellites. Back to drawing board. Now I read the instructions for the Carryout and find it is factory set for Direct and not Dish.

I remove the one bolt and take the Carryout down, remove the dome cover and throw a couple switches on the inside and return it to the ladder rack. Even simple jobs seem to be overly complicated for my feeble brain.

It now works great with only a momentary pause if the channel selected is on another satellite. The Carryout supports all of my Dish satellites and I am pleased with every thing about it but the price. I justified the purchase because we are not on vacation but this is our life style.

The unit draws about 5 amps of 12volt power but once it locks onto the satellite it can be turned off and only needed to be turned on if using another satellite.