April 22, 2014

Beautiful morning. Temp is 55 degrees.

 Up at 7:45 am

Started to load more stuff in the van. EH forgot to fill up the water tank yesterday, so he is doing it now.  

Power failure in the house!!! We did not want to leave the house until it came back on. It took half an hour.

Erwin is getting excited and ready to begin the long journey.

We finally left the house at 9:50 am.

Beginning miles marked at 4,739

On atlantic blvd to I-10. Took us 45 mins to finally get on the road! Bye Jacksonville till later!

Pleasant drive on US 90 so far

Stopped for lunch at Bob Evans in Lake City i had apple cranberry spinach salad and EH got breakfast

Back on US 90 W toward Lake City

US 90 to US 129 in Live Oak FL (1:20 pm)

Stopped on US 129 to take a picture of Swannee City Courthouse

On 536 EH saw a black squirrel, went past it then backed up, but the squirrel was already gone, shucks!

Right on US 27 from 536, 25 miles to Perry.

Contacted Marlene Hartman, my childhood friend, to meet somewhere for a chat.  Met her at car wash at 2:30. Followed her to Burger King where we can find a place to sit down and chat. Of course, I had to haveI strawberry milkshake and EH got cinnabon and caramel sundae. We chatted for about an hour before we got back on the road.

Got on 98w toward St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge

Entered St. Marks Wildlife Refuge and Lighthouse. Toll booth was closed so was the visitor's center.

Saw moorhen, black silks, redwing blackbirds, snowy egrets, blue heron, bald eagle. Now on way to see the lighthouse. Very quiet, not busy. Took pics and video. Saw only one alligator.

Very windy. Saw 4 pelicans gliding in formation. Beautiful!  On way out saw new lifers - shorebirds and songbirds.  Tried to find an eagle but no luck.

Back to Route 98 going toward 319 for Ochlockonee State Park, hoping they have campsites available. It is 6:55 pm and we have not had supper

Arrived Ochlockonee state park at 7:15 pm   Saw 3 deer near the ranger station (two does and one yearling). The ranger station was closed, so we proceeded to campgoround site, got site #3. Warmed up Syrian leftovers.  I walked around the campground, only 30 sites.  Very nice.  The restroom was clean.  Then EH joined in for a short walk. Lots of bugs...

Decided to run a.c. inside the van.  Really exhausted! A productive and enjoyable day!