Northward

A cold front caught up to us at Fort DeSoto, accompanied with a mighty wind. Good time nonetheless. I got to do some fishing,and we looked up some old friends living down here. Went east to Daytona through the previously mentioned Ocala National Forest.Stopped in at a campground just to check it out for the future,and got a lot of Federal gas...(sorry,no 10 minute drive thru passes on Fridays, signs warning that coolers are subject to search)
     Spent Friday night in Jacksonville, then drove here to Florence yesterday with a side trip to Beaufort...nice town with great antebellum houses, lots of artsy things.
     Off to Alexandria Va. today,then on to NJ to watch the Pats on Mon. night in the heart of Jets territory. Will try to go north into PA from Baltimore to avoid the onerous tolls and ambiance of 95.

Oscar Gamble State Park

At Oscar Scherer State Park, just south of Sarasota. Oscar Scherer was the father of one Elsa Burrows,who donated the land for the park. I was forced to look up this fact to alleviate my confusion of this site with the nearby Gamble Plantation Historic Site. Somehow I managed to mind meld the 2 and ended up referring to this place as Oscar Gamble State Park. (Oscar Gamble,according to my brother who was looking a bit askance at me, was a major league outfielder who sported a particularly large afro.) Oh well, the brain fails in mysterious ways--talk about a SWAMP.
     As a campground this place is very beautiful, but its recreational draws leave me a tad leery: a "creek"(think:someone's flushing the hydrants,but damn the crappie fishing might be good) leading to a "lake",which actually has a sign that reads ALLIGATORS:SWIM WITH CAUTION. And yet people were letting their babies frolic in this thing!
     Spent the morning,as yesterday afternoon, at the dog beach in Venice,just south of here. I never thought I'd say it, but there were TOO MANY DOGS. Then explored Siesta Key,and found a great fish taco place tucked away at a little marina on the intracoastal.
     Got to this side of Florida by taking Rt.70,a 2 lane road that leads almost directly from Stuart on the East coast to here.It featured 3 curves (including a dastardly 10 degree job) and 1 hill (elevation 50 feet). Otherwise it was 200 miles of cattle ranches,thoroughbred places and sod farms. Due to a 3 way battle between Mapquest, the GPS,and common sense,we also got to see the interior towns of Indiantown (um...ugh?) and Okeechobie (double ugh). Tomorrow it's up to our favorite campground from last year in St. Pete,Fort DeSoto, via Longboat Key. Then around the 3rd or 4th we'll try to figure out how to angle Northeast back up to 95,avoiding all things Orlando.

Bar People

Spent a weekend doing hotel respite at the Pirate Cove Resort and Marina in Stuart. Nice balcony room overlooking the pool,with a little fridge that  chilled my Boddington's Pub Ale to a level of coldness that would have set the Brit's tongues clucking.And a shower that I could walk to naked! This is a small hotel/bar/restaurant that also rents dock space to people living on their boats. Naturally these guys (and their invariably younger wives) spend a good deal of their time in the bar,where Gordon quickly became a regular.
 Very conversational these folks. One woman demonstrated doggy massage; one guy was a failed tennis pro.(" I was ranked 200th in the world after high school") Another guy looked like he just came in from the Hi Hat in Providence, and waxed nostalgic about figure 8 racing at Riverside Park.
     The best one was the guy who gave us his card advertising his business of scattering remains (pets too!) at sea from his private plane,complete with a video and a flyover of the watering hole of your choice.
     We actually broke the rule and talked a little politics with these people. Surprise! They all want Obama care.

Jonathan Dickinson State Park: Sounds and Smells

Spent 4 nights here after fleeing Sebastian Inlet. The early exit up there was due solely to the utter dog unfriendliness of both Volusia and Indian Counties. (Oddly,some beach regs are by county,and some by individual towns.) Ironically though,were we not traveling with an exercise hound,the beaches of Melbourne Beach are the best of Florida. Fantastic surf,great sand,very wild---all set in a 10 mile stretch of preserve. Not sure about the accommodations for the non-camping set though: somewhere in the 3 hr. 95 stretch we did from St. Augustine south,the deal changed from nice towns with funky beach areas (typically an A1A strip, with hundreds of one block long streets leading East to the beach,with cottages and the occasional "Beachcomber" establishment) to "all waterfront not officially in a preserve is private and taken up with mansions---and did we mention it's private?"
 
 At any rate, there were some odd goings on at Johnathan Dickinson: a 1/2 hearted drum circle, a flutist who kept at the same 4 bars of the 1812 Overture-(the Quaker Puffed shot-from-guns part); a clearly ADHD kid whose parents let him bring that damn plastic recorder he got in music class camping.
      And then some people pulled in whose camper smelled like an incipient electrical fire,and who then proceeded to grill up something that smelled like a couple of cans of 9 Lives.

Now I know why that thing Mark and Chester installed is called "The Fantastic Fan"---goodbye rubber cat food casserole, and it's a white noise machine too!

Catsup

Here in Fort DeSoto, which does not disappoint.Managed to get a super primo site on the water, which seems to be experiencing a constant fish Jubilee.(Look that up) Overheard from the site next door: (repeated 3 times)  "Did Ah leave mah clevah heah?"

 What follows is one of those multiple posting things,beginning when last we talked.

Fish Pier

Well a writer needs to consider her audience, and I can't think of a single one of you Sues,Susans,Suzannes, or Suzies who might be into this,but maybe Harold will relate. Gnatsville,AKA Sebastian Inslet SP was described as a fisherman's paradise. So I left Mark and Gordon to deal with the no see ums (sadly,lacking the necessary materials  we found useful for the strategies we developed camping in Venezuela: a) slather your body in Hawaiian Tropic,so as to drown then; down a bottle of  over the counter available Codeine cough syrup as a nightcap and go to sleep in your now greasy tent. Or b) sleep with your body submerged in the Caribbean,with only your towel wrapped head on the sand) and went off to the big pier that extends into the Atlantic. I had expected to be joining older retirees,enjoying a cigar and the salt breezes,or a father-son duo on a Sunday outing. Whoa! What I entered was a United Nations maelstrom of SERIOUS professionals. Asians,Haitians,Cubans, even what seemed to be a gang-type operation of bait selling,position jockeying,and fish mongering. These guys were reeling in giants: redfish,black drum,sharks,doormat sized flounder.Hooks were flying,with 1/2 lb weights attached . They all had these carts with about 4 rods with various set ups,ice,bait coolers and other accoutrements.Kind of like wheeling your own Sabrette's hot dog cart out there.To the right,in the actual inlet where the surf crashing in from the ocean met the outflow from the river the boat guys were swirling around in circles, working various "holes". It looked like someone had flushed,and all were inevitably going down. So I retreated to the kiddie area more appropriate for my light tackle and level of inexpertise. Except for the kids cast netting for finger mullet to bring out to their bosses out on the big pier,this was a lot calmer. The guy next to me caught 2 fish which he proceeded to beat the hell out of on the concrete. From what I could fathom from his accent,they were something called Southern Star Gazers...so named for the eyes on top of their heads,and possessing the capability to deliver some sort of serious electric jolt if you touched them. Think I'll stick with the no see ums.

Jupiter Home of Burt Reynolds

Presently camping in Hobe Sound which is 9 minutes from Jupiter Beach.  The temp is 80 degrees and sunny.  The water is beautiful and very warm.  The dog policy is all pets must be under voice command so no leash problems there.  On our way back from the beach we found Jupiter Island which must be Newport South..  miles and miles of gigantic estates. (lots of golf carts no travel trailers)  We bet Burt must live there or maybe Lonnie got it in the divorce.  Last night Lucy had her birthday dinner of sword fish (the other white meat) at a restaurant in Stuart with her brother David and his wife Ann. Lucy appreciates all the FB b-day shout-outs.   Do the kids hyphenate shout out  these days or are the people who use that term already in their 30's?

Mark

Hey Steve I know you were once the prez of the Burt and Lonnie fan club.  Houz 'bout an update on his hair piece and her reduction surgery.  Jeez her back must really hurt by now.