Hull, MA - Mar. 26

Home! Sleep, unpack, mail, laundry, sleep . . .

3,861 Miles

J. Strom Thurmond Lake, Appling, GA - Mar 24

Petersburg CG is the largest Army Corp. of Engineers CG on J. Strom Thurmond Lake. Like all ACE CG's, it is well set up, beautiful and immaculate. The sites are huge, private and almost all are on the water. We were OK getting a site for the 1 night but they are booked out for the next week. I asked if it was because of Easter weekend and found out no, it's because of the Masters. 'Course I had to ask what the Masters were; golf of course! This is the place that people either book to be here or locals come so they can rent their homes out for $10,000 for the week! For me, it's all about the fireflies that I haven't seen for many, many years and of course the wonderful fish dinner.

St. George SP - Mar. 21 - 23

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Sugar Hill Campground is well named for the sugar sand dunes that surround it. Like St. Joe's, there are miles and miles of white sand beaches with clear water. Unlike St. Joe's, the campground is beautiful with generous well spaced campsites. We happened upon a 43' site that has plenty of room for Speedy and a travel trailer or two along with us. #40 - a great site.

Going back to St. Joe's, we had to move to 3 different sites because I didn't make reservations 11 months back. With the exception of our last site, #5, the Gulf Breeze CG was densely populated with extra tents, vehicles, people and kids overflowing their space. Still it was beautiful and seemed to have more birds than St. George.

We love St. George and is a perfect last stay in FL before we work our way back tomorrow. We have biked from one end of the peninsula to the other, still have one last shot to put fresh fish on the table (Harry!) and Nina has found paradise with sand flats to run on the bay side. Harry has discovered a new popular artificial bait used around the gulf - Fishbites. Lets hope they do soon!

Success! Fishbites work . . . . for me! Pompano for dinner. Looks like a little fish but would have fed 4.

There is a volunteer astronomer here for the month of March with a 5" telescope. Harry opted to look at the sunspots mid day while I braved the bugs looking at Jupiter and the 4 moons before 1 eclipsed behind. Couldn't hold on to wait for the spot to come around!

On our way into St. George, we had another opportunity for fried oysters in Appalachicola. This time we tried Boss Oysters. Both this restaurant and Hole in the Wall were excellent. The Hole has more character and is cheaper. Boss, although a bit more expensive, came with a generous 10+ oysters. Might have to go one more round to declare a winner.

Tomorrow we head out and start the sprint home so posting may be slim.

St. Joe's SP - Mar 17 - 20

Arrived in the rain and managed to swap out sites so that Steve & Ellen were next door for the one night they would be with us. This worked out well to gather for dinner in our little van. It's been a long five months since I have been able to bird with Ellen and catch up with their lives and ours. Short but sweet, it was a good visit graced by wonderful birds like the great horned owl.

We got the better part of the day as we now sit in the rain but Speedy left an assortment of books from their "lending library" so all is good.

Mitchell Lake CP, Appalachicola NF - Mar 16

This campground was beautiful with large, level sites. When we arrived the camp host said that they were having a problem with no see ums.  Very true but this was only an overnight for us before going to St. Joe's to meet up with Steve & Ellen. There is a 4.5 mile hike that looked really interesting going through all different types of habit along the river but it was a bit hot, Nina was having trouble with pollen and we wanted to poke through the town of Appalachicola in search of fried oysters. We found them at a restaurant called Hole in the Wall.

Newport County Park, St. Mark's - Mar 13 - 15

This park is right at the head of the road down to the St. Mark's Wildlife Refuge. Many, many birds and great biking. We got into a routine where I set out in the morning by bike and Harry came along with the sag wagon bringing lunch around noon. My favorite bird - the little guy to the left, a Vermillion Flycatcher, and yes he was this bright!

The stop was enriched by meeting Didier, a bicyclist from Quebec, Canada who was cycling FL from Orlando to Key West, up to St. Marks in the panhandle continuing west to NOLA and back to Orlando. It was a small world when he told us he has camped at Wompatuck in Hingham several times and visited Nantasket Beach. Hopefully our paths will cross again.

Jim & Sue, fellow birders and camper van folks, also pulled into the campground after we had first met them in Cedar Key. They were the ones who tipped us off to the nesting great horned owls a block out of town. 

Shell Mound CP at Cedar Key - Mar 9 - 12

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Bugs, bugs, bugs but Shell Mound County Park is a beautiful place to stay and just 12 miles into town. 

Cedar Keys is part of the Lower Suwannee National Wildlife Refuge with great birding, kayak/canoeing, fishing (although not successfully) and small town with shops, restaurants and the best place for ice cream! One of our favorite areas in FL.

We stayed an extra day or two to get us through the weekend and fellow campers told us about a great horned owl nesting with 2 owlets. A must see! We hoped to stay a night at Manatee Spring SP but they were full so on we went to Newport Park at St. Marks.

EG Simmonds CP - Mar 7 - 8

Just a short stop to regroup before we head back north towards the panhandle. This is an odd park originally built for veterans. Seems there are many that winter over here for months on end.

Harry's comfortable spot was short lived when we were told to take the hammock down. This isn't an unusual rule except that there were several other hammocks, clotheslines and Christmas lights hanging all over trees in other campsites. Different rules for different folks!

Sarasota - Mar 3 - 6

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Chris is the longest, first friend in my life so always a pleasure to get together with he & Diane and visit their new home in Sarasota.

We had a great time touring Sarasota with the farmers market, a Cuban lunch at Columbia Restaurant in St. Armand's Circle, Nanday parakeets at Island Park, tailgating at a polo match, bicycling and much more.

Nina made instant friends with their pups, Onee & Sage and enjoyed the pool. Wonderful visit!

Ocala NF & Lake Louisa - Mar 1-2

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We were still moving south to Sarasota and our friends Chris & Diane so each of these stops were overnights. We have been to Juniper Springs SP in Ocala before and a good bet for finding the FL scrub jay.

Lake Louisa is a very nice place with many equestrian trials around lakes and across fields. Highlight was a swallow-tailed kite flying over as we arrived. This is worth a return trip some day.