I-75, Northbound

They say that when you're retired, you'll find things to do to fill your time. They also say that work expands to fill the time allotted to it.  They are so very right - on BOTH counts.  Our time at Lake Manatee State Park was drawing to a close, so we asked for a couple of days off to get some last minute chores done.  Ranger Ed was most accommodating and last Thursday was our last official day of work, so we had the afternoon off to wander around, visit, make a few phone calls and relax a little. 

Come bright & early Friday, though, and we hit the road a-runnin'!  Our foray into Venice turned productive, and we had been hired for next winter (though the hiring manager is no longer employed there) and they'd not yet mailed our agreement or package, so we made that our first stop, figuring we could get there and back quicker than they could get snail mail to us.  While there, we even had the opportunity to select our site.  We had about 6 to choose from - keep in mind, this IS winter here, and it IS warm, so the optimum sites were already reserved.  That's ok, we had a couple of good ones, making our decision difficult.  Since this was to be a 6 month commitment, we wanted to make sure we'd be happy with our choice.  Ya know, not by the water treatment facility, not by the recycle center, not in the middle of the transients, not by the alligator flat, etc., etc...Picky, picky, picky!!!  But, we did get our choice, no problem.  Hope we like our new neighbors, though, 'cuz they sure aren't going anywhere!!!  (Except maybe Heaven)

After all the paperwork was done, we hit I-75 and headed North, up to Honeymoon Island.  We'd been talking to a Ranger there, since last August, and we ran into her again at a volunteer reception hosted by the Park System. When she found out we were looking for late summer work this year, she had an opening, and wanted us to come check out her park & do an interview.  We took her up, found the park easily (all you gotta do is get to Tampa and go West till you get there!!), toured the ark, and it is simply BEAUTIFUL.  It really is an island, with the proverbial sugar-sand beaches, THEY HAVE A DOG BEACH RIGHT THERE, there are 2 ranger residences & 3 volunteer sites on the island, a public beach, cafe, 3 washrooms, gift shop, nature trails and a toll booth.  And ya know what else???  When the park closes, it's CLOSED.  Nobody is gonna stay around to light fires or party all night, bothering other campers, no one is gonna have orgies in the bathroom and leave the evidence, no one is gonna knock on our door at 2 a.m. asking for help to get in or our of the gate (I hope!!), nor will they come up at 7 a.m. complaining their car won't start.  Yup, we've had all that and more!!  It was nothing we couldn't handle, and at times, we were simply incredulous, other times amused, but always entertained.    So, anyway, long story short, we are now employed for late summer, at we need to find out if we're going in July or August.  Needless to say, it was a really busy, but productive day.  

So, with our A/C fixed, thank you VERY much, dear hubby, we are now off to our new adventure, in St. Marks.  As I'm sure you've heard by now, it's another State Park, San Marcos de Apalache.  I'm not quite sure exactly how it fits into history, but I do know it's relative to the Spanish explorers and Andrew Jackson stayed there at some point.  The site is an archealogical dig, and there's a museum containing some of the finds and showing a video (riveting, according to the writeup).  Best of all, tho, it's right at the confluence of two rivers as they meet the Gulf, so there should be lots of great wildlife and bird watching for us.  And since the town is so very small, we should see lots of stars in the night sky, much as we have been the last four months.

We are looking forward to riding our bikes up into town for groceries and such; we just hope there IS a grocery!!  And we have the neatest container for a geocache, so we might just place one, and archive it when we leave the area.

Sunny, for those of you that are keeping track, is doing well, thank you very much.  All her blood levels are in the normal ranges, and as long as we keep her on Frontline, we seem to have the fleas mostly controlled.  We find one or two periodically, but no real infestation, as was in Branson, and immediately upon arrival in Bradenton.  She sleeps a lot, I mean a LOT, but every now and then, she'll take off running for a hundred feet or so, especially if her Daddy is out in front!!  Gotta catch up!!  Yesterday, we were just walking our loop in the campground and we saw a couple of teenage boys off their site in the woods, looking at something, and we heard two cardinals raising heck, so we knew something was up.  I went up to the boys to check on them (yeah, I thought they were up to something), and found they were watching a black snake up a tree, eating the cardinals' eggs, right out of their nest.  No wonder they were so vocal!!  I knew the rangers would like a picture, so we all (Sunny, Dick & I) took off jogging back to our site for the camera.  I was so surprised that she kept right up with us!!  Thank Goodness, though, we didn't have too far to run!!!  Once we got there, of course, she waited for Elevator Up (steps) then went to bed, but she was happy with her little jog.  By the time we got back to the snake, sad to say, he'd finished off the second egg, and you could see it just behind his jaws.  The first egg was already down a few inches, and you could see the bulge in his body.  It was really very disturbing.  When we brought the pictures back to Ranger Ed, he told us that sometimes they (snakes) regurgitate what they've just eaten if/when they feel threatened, but ours didn't.  Little piggy!!  This was the same site that had the flickers' nest too, but we couldn't get any pictures of them or their babies.  But, we (I) did get to SEE a baby's head for a second......I was trying to get mom or dad to poke their head out with my imitation "jib-jib" calls, but apparently they weren't home, as it was just a tiny little bald head that poked out for just a glimpse.  I bet if mom or dad HAD been home, that babe would have been duly chastised!!!

Well, guys, we must be close to a tower, as we have a four bar signal!!  One of our tasks last week was to see about our stupid air card (AGAIN) and what we could do.  Turns out, they have upgraded to new hardware and new technology, so they swapped ours out and gave us a new one.  It seems to be working much better, so, hopefully, I'll be updating more often.  But, Jose's asking for some water, and I can't get it with this big ole laptop in the way, so I'll be signing off for now.

Till next time, happy days to ya!!
k