Holidays Begin 2020

November 25-December 8, 2020                       Most Recent Posts:
Gamble Rogers State Recreation Area           Rough Times in More Ways Than One
Flagler Beach, Florida                                        From Congaree to Gamble Rogers

Not much has happened lately.  Life seems a bit in the slow lane.  It’s OK with me.

I’m not sure how many years I have spent Thanksgiving at Gamble Rogers State Recreation Area on the ocean in Flagler Beach but this is the second year I’ve been alone. This year, thanks to covid, there are more people than just me “celebrating” alone. 

That doesn’t mean we can’t be thankful for those we love, those who stick by us through thick and thin and especially for our health.   I’m also thankful for my wandering life which allows Winnona and I to be here on the ocean front where the weather is still “mostly” hanging around in the 70’s although as I’ll mention later that is MOSTLY.
How thankful am I for it all.

I wouldn’t call my Thanksgiving day dinner a feast but it did have some traditional things though no turkey or ham.  I put on a sundress dress for the occasion and the temperature was a high of 79 and low of 66.  Perfect temperature in my opinion.

I did have whole cranberry sauce and candied yams, green beans with sliced almonds, scalloped oysters and pecan pie for dessert.   I’ll be eating this for days as it’s pretty difficult to cook for one.  But I love oysters and am Thankful for food on my table.

I spent most of this sunny day on the ocean in my beach chair reading or walking in the water.  Others were swimming, it was that warm.  How lucky am I!

On many mornings the color over the ocean  before sunrise is fantastic.  And of course I take too many pictures.

As sunrise gets closer, the pinks disappear to be replaced by oranges.

The colors are enhanced by the clouds but the sun sometimes has to burn through them at the horizon.  Pretty sweet fishing spot.

Winnona has a great sunrise view.

But all is not beautiful sunrises, good food and reading on the beach.  When I pull the awning out, I find that the bottom, which I had repaired a few days ago is not the only problem.  The arm has become disconnected from the top bracket which you can see has been twisted.  So it’s another visit from the RV Tech to fix it and another bill of course.  But the end result is that it is fixed.

In the mean time, it’s time for Ruby’s oil change, another thing David always did.  Also, last week, the rear driver’s door handle just stopped working.  Can’t open it.  Not good since I use Ruby as my garage for carrying extra salsa from Cherry Republic in the UP of Michigan, all my kayak and beach gear, a box of books of course among other things.  So Karl of Karl’s automotive in Ormond Beach gets me a new door handle, paints it Ruby’s color ($33 for a can of paint) and changes the oil.  It’s all done and it’s only money.  Hope I don’t run out.  This didn’t seem picture worthy but repairs are a part of life and expenses on the road.  How lucky am I to be able to be on the road, to be able to afford the repairs and find someone who can do them for me.

Every morning I go out for the sunrise and “most” mornings it does not disappoint.  But when I went to put this post together, what I found was that I had not much else in the way of pictures other than these sunrises.  So here are a few days in a row of what I see out my window at around 7:05 or so.  Nice that the sunrise at such a reasonable time.  Much easier than when it was just after 5am earlier in the year.

Some mornings the clouds are so thick that the sun can barely peek through.

As the sun was going down in the west on November 29th I saw this full moon rising in the East among the pastel colors.  What a sight. Another thing to be thankful for.

The moon appears full to our eyes a couple of days both before an after the actual date of the full moon.

I had some not so simpatico neighbors.  Can’t say I’m terribly thankful for them.  I fear their cult is trampling on our democracy.  It is now 3 weeks since the election was called for Biden/Harris.  And as I write this, every court challenge including the supreme court has failed.  And still  people continue to strut this stuff encouraged constantly by their tweeting leader. 

Under the 2020, the flag says “No more bulls**t.   Is he kidding?  His man is the source of all the bulls**t.  Ok, enough politics – You know mine.  I’m for the most environmentally concerned candidate whatever his/her party is. 

Back to the amazing full moon.  This is what I saw out my front window the night of the actual full moon.  I wish this picture could adequately show the amazing shimmer on the water as I looked out my front picture window.

But so much for warm days on the beach, December brought in the cold temperatures.

That’s the outside temperature at the top and the inside at the bottom.  The outside high was incorrectly recorded because the sensor was in the sun. It never actually got above the low 50’s.  And look at the overnight low – 31!!!   It isn’t any colder than that in Virginia or Maryland.  GOOD GRIEF. 

This cold business went on for several days. So I warm up the house and me  by making some vegetable stew.  Notice the steam in the picture.  It’s cold enough inside to create steam.  But I am thankful that it goes up into the 50’s during the day at least.

And then there is another night of that fantastic moon.  Does it look any different than last night?  Just breath taking.  I’m so grateful I was here on the ocean front to see this.

My second two weeks at Gamble Rogers are up and it’s time to move back to Anastasia for a few days before my 3rd and final two week stay at Gamble Rogers.  I guess you could say I like it there.

I had a great spot at Anastasia but neglected to get a picture of Winnona in it so I took this one off the web.  So cozy!!  No wind problems here.  Warmer tucked in here as well. 

No wind problems but that doesn’t mean no problems.  I started my holiday DVD watching tradition early this year for lack of things to do.  Usually I wait until after my birthday which I have never enjoyed having sandwiched between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Things were going fine at Gamble Rogers but the first night at Anastasia, the DVD player refuses to play and refuses to open.  I push every button.  No luck.  The player is as old as the rig but David has the manual for it as I knew he would.  However, there are no suggestions in it about what to do in either of these cases.   So, I manage to get the player out of its overhead bin, and down where I can take the top off and look inside.  I see nothing obviously wrong but I do notice that one of the wires which I guess goes to the tuner is put through a metal panel in the back of that bin which means replacing this thing is likely not something I can do myself.   Of course it’s not.  

I try over and over to make it play or just release the CD with no luck.  I’m bummed since the watching of our ton of DVD holiday movies is a tradition decades old.  You can tell the age by the fact that some of them are VCRs.  Others have 4 movies in one case and one has 12 “movies and shorts”.

So it’s no movies for me to relax with and have popcorn after my move.   I don’t have enough bandwidth or speed to stream anything with my jetpack and mobile hotspots so without the player, I’m out of luck.  Any suggestions for remedies to my streaming problem would certainly be appreciated.

This story does have an unexpectedly  happy ending though.  The next day I’m on the phone with my friend Pam telling her my latest “needs to be fixed” story and while explaining what I’ve done, I walk over and push the eject button and the door opens and there’s the DVD.  What?  Why?   I have absolutely no idea but from then on, to now (fingers crossed) it works perfectly even after I put it all back together, wires in the right places, lid back on and hoist it over my head into its bin.  Pam is  good luck charm.  I’m going to call her any time I have anything that needs to be fixed.

I’m only at Anastasia 4 nights but one of the days is my birthday.  In years past, when my mother became ill with ALS from which she died at age 64, she started sending checks for our birthdays rather than gifts.  She just could not get out to shop.

After she died, my father, no gift giver,  kept it up until he was no longer able to sign them.  It was actually fun to consider what I could have them buy me for my birthday and I always chose something I would never spend the money on to buy myself.

This year I did the same and consider these unnecessary RV sheets my birthday gift from David.  I know he would love the idea.  Who knows, maybe he put it into my head.

The only thing wrong with these sheets is that there is every single kind of RV from teeny, to trailer, to 5th wheel to class C but no Class A like Winnona.  What in the world were these makers thinking??    If you have a casita and tow it with a truck, these are the pillowcases for you.

Had there been no covid, I would have gone into Old Town St. Augustine for my birthday and perhaps to the light house. 

Instead on my birthday morning, I go for a walk, over to the kayak put in where I find a Great Blue Heron strutting down to the water.  He’s obviously used to people since he pays no attention to me at all.

No idea who he’s squawking at here  but he’s soon high stepping it along again

He crosses over the boat launch opening.  You can see the dunes at the ocean in the distance.

I spend a fun 20 minutes with him before heading back to the rig.

Later in the morning I drive over to Les Petits Pleasures, the local French Bakery.   Other than folks coming in to buy the luscious pastries to go, I have it to myself.  With no covid fears,  I eat in!!  Happy Birthday to me!
I have a delicious slice of quiche with a small salad and two pastries, one for now and one for later.

How to choose is the big problem.

Back at the campground, in the afternoon I go for another walk, this time over to the ocean front.  There is a LONG boardwalk over the dunes to the wide wide beach.  Very different than 40 miles down the road at Flagler Beach.

From the boardwalk, in the far distance I can make out the St. Augustine Light House.  If you are up for a long beach hike you can get much nearer but it’s been moved back away from the shore for safety reasons.  The red arrow in the picture below points up to the tiny lighthouse on the horizon.  Hope you can see it.  Gives an idea of how far away it is.

A little closer

I have the beach to myself too.  It stretches in both directions as far as the eye can see.

On the 8th, I move back down the east coast to Gamble Rogers where my birthday presents from Carrie await.   The rangers are so nice to keep them for me given that they do not have to even allow mail to be sent to the park, let alone sent before you arrive.

Carrie sent a great covid mask, best one I’ve seen and a puzzle at least as difficult as the one I’m making scant progress on.  It’s all black, white and brown but who can’t love those faces. 

From the time I was 21 years old I owned beagles in pairs.  They are the most wonderful, happy, loving dogs.  Carrie grew up with them every day of her life from birth until she left for college.  Now she only has cats – what a traitor.  Our last beagles died a few years before we went on the road and we decided to travel dogless since so many parks restrict where they can go.  Hope I’m up to this puzzle.

These two special days were about as nice as they could be given that I was alone in the midst of a pandemic.

Next up will be my last two weeks at Gamble Rogers and my move away from the Coast for for the end of December.

Hope your Thanksgiving was as wonderful as times will allow.