WOOL SOCKS AT THE BEACH

The overnight "drenching" rain paused while we hitched up in Montgomery, but it drizzled THE WHOLE, LONG, DREARY, BORING WAY to the Gulf, through the area appropriately called The Dead Lakes.  The Ranger at St Joseph's Peninsula State Park wasn't sympathetic.

"It rained so hard and so long this morning that the Sand has Puddles!"

Again we were blessed. Our site did  NOT have a pond and we made good use of a slight pause to unhitch. Cozy inside, we watched the cabbage palms whipping outside and the wind driving sand against our bedroom window.

A blissful night.  Hot homemade soup and crusty bread, home baked cookies...electric blankets.

The morning was sunny, windy and 40 ish. When the queen awoke, she could survey her realm of Sable Palm and Pines through  sparkling windows.  The News from afar was all about the Weather.  Emissaries from Wisconsin, Michigan and far away Nova Scotia had tales.  Birders and fishermen reported sighting nothing.  Record breaking numbers from home were cited, but the little lady from Pennsylvania in her red ski wear, silenced us all.

"Two inches of Snow, followed by an inch of sleet and ice pellets for the rest of the day. THAT was right here, in the campground, by the Gulf of Mexico, in January."

 She was unanimously acclaimed the "winner" of this bullfight and awarded two ears  and the tail.

For our part, we bundled up, walked the  campground (counting four more Airstreams) and the beach long enough to confirm the reports. No fish, few birds, and a single rather bewildered Alligator. 

Notice, even this little guy is wearing socks on the beach today. 

Sunset is approaching and, in earlier visits, we might have expected folks clutching stemware and vino to appear at the end of the boardwalk. Tonight, perhaps a Thermos and a couple stout mugs.  

Welcome to Florida.

Sub Normal Temperatures and Sub Optimal Dental Equipment.

 For far too long we have been frozen in place at Montgomery dealing with sub normal temperatures and sub optimal dental equipment.

..folks we saw around town questioned why we were STILL here...(we thought they got over that "Yankee" thing forty years ago.)  Fellow campers reported forays South only to be turned back by frigid conditions and maxed out camping in the State Parks.  We hatched a new plan.  We would settle in and watch the Winter Olympics, down multiple bowls of Blue Bell Ice Cream and cuddle on the couch. We would clean out the storage building, make friends with the folks at Goodwill, rearrange the closets.  We might even get the taxes filed early.  (One can always count on Snowbirds streaming North starting Mid March to face off with the IRS.)  In our new plan we will tow South, avoiding spots frequented by Spring Breakers and have the state to ourselves. We will turn north only when the Neotropical migrants have passed.

“No, no! The adventures first, explanations take such a dreadful time.” 
― Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass


So as the hitch-up-and-go moment draws nearer ... lab tests, new glasses, haircuts, an intense line of thunderstorms... an interesting paradox confronts us.  We really want to disappear below the I-4 corridor in Florida where warm temps predominate, but that would mean passing by  favorite places in the Panhandle where we have found bliss, White Squirrels and Manatees, Tupelo Honey and beautiful St Joseph Peninsula State Park.

WE ARE HEADING FOR THIS...

 

WHAT WE WOULD LIKE TO AVOID