Manatees

We camped, last night in Tate's Hell State Park, really that is what it
is called. There was a gentle layer of smoke throughout because they
burn sections to clear the brush. It made me anxious to leave in the
morning. Were these the sections to be burned next? Clearly, they
had not yet be burned, or at least not recently. But, all went well
and we found our way back out of the forest in the morning.

We headed for Homossasa State Park. We understood we could
see manatees there. We talked to Robyn while she was there
and she confirmed sightings, but said that it was really crowded.
We soldiered on and after stopping for a late lunch arrived at
the park about 3 PM. By that time the crowds had diminished.
We opted to ride the tram; the last boat had left and Robert
has great difficulty walking very far. Even so it was probably
more of a walk than he should have taken, but we did see
4 or 5 manatees feasting a cabbages. We had hoped to see
them from an underwater area, but there were no manatees
in there when we were there. We watched for quite a while,
but manatees aren't about adventure. They just slowly moved
around and ate cabbage. The park is quite extensive and has
many different animals, including a great number of alligators,
one hypo, lots of birds and some deer. Probably others, but that
required more walking than we were willing to do.

We are now about 125 miles from our destination in Cocoa Beach.
Our van is empty of waste and filled with water. We are anxious
to get off the road and let Robert sit with his feet, or at least, foot
up for a week.

It was almost 80 when we were in the park; it is 70F right now
at 8:30 Eastern Time.

Ill try and post pictures soon.

FLORIDA PANHANDLE

Wow..it's almost 70 F out there.  We had a fantasy of parking by the Gulf
and spending the night.  We could do that at $75 + tax...we opted to spend
the night in a Florida Sate Forest.  The first thing we saw after arriving here
was a small cemenetary...five graves and clearly of very loved animals.


We are near the Gulf, but can't see it, but this site is free..we just came
in here and there are no signs to say NO, NO, NO as are everywhere
else.

Talked to Robyn and her car broke down.  She is in Chatanooga, Tn
I've probably mispelled it...hopefully she'll be on her way tomorrow.
It's such a pain when things like that happen!
Robert's gout is giving him fits, but the medicine makes him feel
awful so he has quit taking it.


Talked with the caterer today, that is on course for Thursday.

Hattiesburg, MS

It's Tuesday evening and we are settled in at an RV park south
of Hattiesburg, MS.  Finally, is is warm enough to stash the
electric blanket, although we still have the heater, just in case.

The trip has gone well, so far.  Robert isn't feeling great, but
pushes on..He still does the driving while I do the navigating,
locating RV parks and do all the housekeeping.  I wish he
felt better.  It's a drag to be enroute to a fun vacation and
feel lousy.

Robyn is making better time than we, but then she is
supposed to be in Orlando by Friday; we won't get there
until Saturday.


Our first night after leaving Salina, CO was spent in
Eads, CO.  It was cold, but we kept warm because
Robert got up in the middle of the night and brought
in the electric blanket from the storage box in the
back of the Van.

Night 2 we were in Bowie, still in Texas and night
three we were close to the LA and MS border.


Now...heading for Alabama tomorrow.