R&R Over

Thursday, 22 August
Somewhere on I-95 south in florida

Our two weeks at Pelican Roost RV Park at NS Mayport is over.  And with it, so is our last two weeks of R&R.  At the moment, we are on I-95S.  After we arrive at today’s destination, we will have a busy day and a half preparing the coach for storage.

When we made plans for this stay, we knew that the hot Florida weather would likely not allow us to do much more than walks on the beach.  And that’s exactly how it turned out.  Most mornings we were on the beach well before sunrise.  By the time we were back at the coach around 7:30a, the rising sun was increasing not only the temperature, but the humidity as well.

The bonus we were hoping for was that the near-constant breeze would allow us to spend at least a portion of each day on the patio.   We were not disappointed.  Between the breeze and the afternoon shade on the patio side, we managed to spend considerable time outside.  Even the daily thunderstorms cooperated so that we could enjoy happy hour as the sun set across from us  — most days.

When the thunderstorms cooperated, this was our view from the patio …

… When the thunderstorms didn’t cooperate, this was our view from the patio.

This was the worst of the thunderstorms we had, and it caused the gulls and terns to
fly off in a flurry of white feathers.  Yes, those white specs against the black sky are birds.

This afternoon thunderstorm was the exception rather than the norm;
most days, the rain and thunder came through in the overnight hours.

When it was too hot to sit outside, we took care of chores, packed our bags for our upcoming trip, and watched pre-recorded movies on TV.  Ships — navy, passenger, and freight — and small boats plied the boat channel daily, adding to our entertainment.  As did the pods of dolphins that swam around the channel day in and day out.

USS Taylor (FFG 50) leaving the ship basin at sunrise.

Here’s one for our USCG friends Paul and Chuck …
USCGC Confidence [I believe] returning to the ship basin after a day at sea.

While it may seem like we didn’t do much during our stay at NS Mayport, we were actually quite busy and the time passed in the blink of an eye.  On the one hand, we were unhappy with how quickly the days went by.  On the other hand, we were glad as it meant we were that much closer to this year’s off-road adventure.  A mixed blessing either way.

On that note, I’ll wrap up this making-the-blog-whole post with the last two photos I took yesterday morning at NS Mayport. 

Looking west, the moon is still high in the sky over USS Vicksburg
and the other ships in the boat basin …

… looking east towards the Atlantic, the rising sun bathes the sky a beautiful golden hue.

See you all for one more post before the Phaeton goes on hiatus.

What? Water in Fuel! Tell Me It Ain’t So …

Friday, 8 August
Pelican Roost RV Park — NS Mayport, Florida
Temps: Lo78F / Hi 87F [feels like 94F] (25.5C / 30.5C [34F])

When I clicked the “post” button on yesterday’s blog entry, we were about to pull into a Flying J in Georgia to fill up the Phaeton.  Little did I know then that our heretofore uneventful drive from South Carolina to Florida was about to take a slight turn towards becoming worrisome!

Our travel day had been dry up to that point, but just as we were approaching exit 29 on I-95, the skies opened up in a downpour.  Good timing, we thought — we can wait out the rain at the truckstop.  Turns out the canopy over the diesel pumps was leaking like a sieve!  No biggie; we’ve fueled in the rain before.  Except that when Mui finished topping off the tank this time and came inside to set the wheels rolling again, we got a much-dreaded alert: ! WATER IN FUEL.  Oh sh*t!!!!!

Mui drained some fuel from the filter and tried the engine again.  Same result — the amber light blinked on and off, but the text alert remained.  So, we vacated the truck lane we were in and found a parking spot amongst the semis.  Out came the phone and Mui dialed the number Mike Cody had drilled into our brains at Camp Freightliner — 1-800-FTL-HELP.  After discussing the problem, we were advised to get back on the road since the amber engine alert had gone off and all that remained was the text alert in the dash display.  It was strongly suggested that we head to the nearest Freightliner Service Center to get things checked out.  Turns out, that was in Jacksonville, Florida — our destination.

After filling out an incidence report with Flying J in case a claim needed to be filed, we got back on I-95 South.  We’d been told that water in the fuel would severely impact our speed, so Mui kept a close eye on the speedometer.  That we were able to maintain a speed of 60-65 mph (96-104 kph), and the Phaeton wasn’t handling any differently, gave us some comfort that perhaps the problem was minor after all.

Shortly after 4:00p, we pulled into the Tom Nehl Truck Center.  Mui had already spoken to the manager of this 24/7 Freightliner service center and had been assured that they would somehow fit us into their already packed service calendar … if only to verify the extent of the problem.  So, we completed the paperwork, unhooked the toad, found a spot out of the way of the trucks buzzing around, turned on the generator to get the A/C units humming, and settled down to wait.  Long story short, it was 9:30p before we got our turn at a bay.

The tech drained some fuel and then hooked the Phaeton up to a computer to run diagnostics.  The result: replacing the fuel filter and sensor should clear the problem.  And it did.  We both heaved a huge sigh of relief when 30 minutes later Mui turned on the engine and the text alert was gone.

It was nearing 11:00p by the time we were ready to pull out.  We had already driven more than we had planned for the day and debated staying overnight in the parking lot of the service center.  In the end, we decided to push on to the campground instead.  Of course, had we known that the exit we needed to take for the most direct route to NS Mayport was closed for construction, we might have reconsidered that decision.

What should have been an easy 338-mile (540 km) day,
turned out to be a not-so-easy 381-mile (610 km) day.

So, with Murphy striking a second time, we found ourselves taking a convoluted route to get to the base.  The good news — the roads were sort of familiar from our stay at the on-base campground last December, so we weren’t freaking out about getting lost.  Once we turned onto Mayport Road and saw the NS Mayport gate ahead of us, we heaved our second huge sigh of relief in as many hours.

Not so fast.  Murphy had another hurdle for us to jump — namely, the barriers that you find at the entrance to every military facility these days.  During the day, the barriers are easy to negotiate, but they place them in a tighter formation at night.  They’re OK if you’re just driving a regular vehicle; it’s more of a challenge when you’re 40 feet (12 m) long … and you’re towing to boot.  Anyway, another long story short, they had us go around the barriers, but the turn into the gate lane was just too short.  So, we had to hurry up and unhook the toad before we could make it through.

Finally, we were in the clear.  Despite the dark roads on base, we had no problems finding our way to Pelican Roost RV Park where we had reservations.  Of course, at 00:30a, there was no one around to check us in.  As luck would have it, however, one of our preferred waterfront sites was sitting empty.  We pulled in without wasting time, hooked up the electricity, opened the bedroom slides, and called it a day.  Dropping the jacks and completing the rest of the set-up chores could wait until morning.

Put on the breaks!  Murphy had one more trick up his sleeve.  I’d been reading in bed while we were waiting to be called into the service bay at Tom Nehl’s.  When the tech knocked on the door, I didn’t give the cup of water sitting on the ledge next to the bed another thought.  Yes, you guessed it.  It had fallen on the bed when we put the Phaeton in motion and there was a great big wet spot right where I was about to lay myself down!  So, to top off everything else, I got to sleep on the sofa last night.  Too tired to mess with making the sofa into a bed, I just put a spare sheet on the cushions and fell into bed.  Good thing I’m short enough to fit on the sofa ;-)

Despite the late bedtime, we were both up before sunrise this morning.  The perfect time to be out enjoying the cool morning and the light breeze.  We were too tired to head to the beach, but we did go out for a walk around the campground to take a look at the available waterfront sites in the light of day.  It didn’t take us long to realize that Site 11 was the best of the lot — FHU with more patio space than most of the other sites, and a clear view of the boat basin, which is surprisingly empty of vessels this time.  (Daily rate of $21.)

Once quiet hours were over, we unplugged from the electric pedestal, pulled in the bedroom slides, and properly positioned the coach on the concrete pad.  Before long, we were settled into our site, ready to make the most of it for the next two weeks.  While we got the afternoon sun at our site at Lake Greenwood, here we get the morning sun.  So a shift in routine is going to be essential.

View from the front of our site.

When the sun is out, it is hot, hot, hot.  But we knew that would be the case when we made the decision to return to Florida for a couple of weeks before our off-road adventures, which will commence on 25 August.  The good news is that we’re in full shade in the afternoon, and a lovely breeze makes it possible to sit outside in comfort.  In fact, I’m writing this post on the patio and loving every minute of being outdoors on a beautiful blue-sky day.

Not bad … not bad at all!

The beach is just down the road from the campground.  We skipped it today, but I see daily beach walks as part of our routine here.  There were a ton of birds on the beaches when we came here in December; hopefully they are still around.  I guess I’ll find out.  In the meantime, we’ll just let the dolphins in the boat channel entertain us.

Christmas with Judy

Wednesday, 26 December
Pelican Roost RV Park — NS Mayport, Florida
Temps: Lo 40F / Hi 70F (4C / 21C)

It’s a-blowin’ outside again!  There was a strong wind advisory through 6:00p, which has now been lifted, but the winds must not have gotten the message — looks like we’re going to get rocked to sleep tonight!

We also had some strong downpours mid-morning from a storm moving in from the west.  But that didn’t last long, and in its aftermath we had sunshine and warm temps.  We even managed a nice 1½-mile walk during a lull in the wind.  And that was the extent of our fun today.  We spent the rest of the day at home, checking things off our back-burnered projects list.

I might not have anything fun to report for today, but that’s OK — I have lots to write about anyway.

You see, Judy (of Travels with Emma) was kind enough to invite us to join her for Christmas dinner at the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge (ONWR) Volunteer Village!  We must have been communicating telepathically as her invitation came just after I had checked the map for distances to see if we could run up and visit with her while we’re here in Jacksonville.

Two silver-haired ladies a-rockin on the porch of the Chesser Island Homestead.

Our Christmas Day unfolded with us following the directions Judy had emailed me.  Good thing we had them, as Ms GPS simply could not locate the street address for the refuge.  Since the ONWR was closed for Christmas, Judy met us at the gate for maintenance employees and took us over to the volunteer village first where we met Barry and Bill, a couple of her fellow-volunteers.

We follow Judy’s directions (blue arrows) to Okefenokee, but let Ms GPS dictate
the return (red arrows) — 142 miles (227 km) .  The short red squiggly line is the
route of the personal tour Judy gave us at ONWR.

All together now — “Erin can’t resist photographing a mural when she sees one.”
Mui happened to spy this one as we were driving through Folkston, Georgia
and stopped without having to be asked to do so.

Those of you who have already had the pleasure of meeting Judy know that she is as delightful in person as she is on her blog.  And she’s a dynamo to be sure; her recently-developed hip problems may have slowed her down a bit, but she’s still full of energy and enthusiasm for what she does.

Judy’s invitation to us included a drive along Swamp Island Drive and a visit to the Chesser Homestead.  Nothing like a private tour on a refuge where we were the only ones wandering around — as Judy would say, “cool beans!”  Our wildlife sightings were limited, though we did see several birds flitting about; a sapsucker that stood still for a photo op; an alligator that Judy referred to as “momma” peeking her nose out of the water; and a zillion palmettos and towering pine trees, as well as new-to-us pitcher plants making a comeback after being chopped up by an overzealous mower last spring.

Left: Hooded Pitcher Plant
Center: Sapsucker — look at how well he blends in with the bark!
Right: Parrot Pitcher Plant

Our next stop was at the Chesser Island Homestead, which was built by Tom Chesser, one of the nine kids of Sam and Sarah Chesser.  They are all descendants of W.T. Chesser who, in the 1800s, settled the island that now bears his name.  Tom and his wife, Iva, raised their seven children at this homestead, which, in addition to the house, includes several outbuildings — smokehouse, syrup shed, chicken coop, corncrib, and hog pen.  Having read about the homestead on Judy’s blog, we were thrilled to have a chance to visit it in person — and have the place to ourselves to explore the nooks and crannies one might not be able to take the time to check out otherwise.

I’ll let the photo essay and captions tell the story.  (All photos post-processed in Sepia, which I think fits the mood of the place and the period of time better than color photos.)

Tom Chesser, and a carpenter who owned a tractor-operated sawmill, built the house in 1927.
Note the big yard, which is free of trees and vegetation; this was on purpose to reduce
the danger of fire and minimize the number of insects near the house.
The original shingle roof has been replaced with a metal one (as a fire deterrent).

Built of yellow pine and cypress, the construction of the house — which consisted of
3 bedrooms, a parlor, and a front porch — was completed in 21 days.
Note the heartwood blocks on which the house sits.  Heartwood is resistant to decay;
the blocks here are at least 100 years old.

The furnishings in the parlor are accurate for the period when Tom Chesser and his
family lived here; but none of it is original to the house.  The holiday decorations are
from the “Christmas at the Chesser Homestead” Program (more about it here in Judy’s blog).

The only furnishing original to the house is the stove ; it was too heavy to be taken out.

Mui — the cook in our family — is fascinated with the kitchen, which was an add-on to the house.

The house was initially built with just three bedrooms; two side bedrooms were Later
added to accommodate additional children.  Pictured on the left is the master
bedroom; the story goes that the children had to climb through the window to the
right of the bed (top right) to get to their bedrooms (bottom right) — no sneaking out at night!
No, we did not have to go through the bedroom window; a door was later added
for easier access to the side bedrooms.

Detail shots from the bedrooms.

The back porch, with its bathing facilities, was a later add-on to the house.

The syrup shed is the scene of the annual “sugar cane boil” event; Judy tells the story in this post.
Clockwise from top left: the shed; the sugar cane mill; some of the household items used
on laundry day; and the big vat in which the sugar cane juice is boiled down to make syrup.

It sure was fascinating to get a glimpse into the life of the Chessers.  While life back then was simpler — no electricity, and definitely no techno-gadget complications — people had to be quite hardy to survive and eek out a living from the land.  Not sure how we would have done under those circumstances.

At Judy’s encouragement, we left her to enjoy a bit of quiet time on the porch while we went for a 1-mile walk on the nearby trail.  Short our walk might have been, but there was plenty that caught our attention along the way.

A variety of shelf fungi.

Christmas dinner commenced around 2:00p and was a veritable feast, with a most-delicious ham provided by Judy, and side dishes and desserts provided by everyone else.  We tried our best to put a dent in the amount of food on the table, but there was so much — both variety and quantity — that I don’t think we did too well on that score.

We hated to eat and run, but we wanted to get home before dark, so we bid Judy adieu around 4:00p — but not before accepting a jar of sugar cane syrup that Judy generously shared from her stash.  I see pancakes for breakfast in the near future.

We allowed Ms GPS to pick the return route home.  She opted to take us back on rural roads instead of the freeway — always a better choice when it comes to seeing quirky things of interest … like a rusty old truck that was decked out for the holidays!  It was a photo op that was simply impossible to resist — and I didn’t ;-)

Ms Garmin’s preferred route took us across the St Johns River by ferry — our second time riding it in the short time we’ve been in the area.  The bonus this time was a gorgeous sunset, which we would have otherwise missed — most definitely worth the $6 fare.  (I think I said the ride is less than 10 minutes the first time I wrote about the ferry; make that 5 minutes or less.)

In addition to these three, I posted one of my favorite sunset shots in our Viewfinder blog if you wish to check it out.

And that’s a wrap for Christmas Day … and Boxing Day (as today is known to our friends in Canada).

A Big Kitty Thrill While Exploring the Hood

Monday, 24 December
Pelican Roost RV Park — NS Mayport, Florida
Temps: Lo 48F / Hi 69F (9C / 21C)

Our plan tonight was to go see the holiday cheer at the Jacksonville Zoo, but with rain in the forecast for the early evening, we decided to save the admission fee and go another night.  Those plans may have been rained out, but our “let the day unfold” plans for the daylight hours made for a stellar day that started out with a pod of dolphins, continued with some unexpected and exciting wildlife sightings, and concluded with more dolphins.

The dolphins looked like they were playing, but they were probably feeding.

Since we have some exciting Christmas Day plans that will require a bit of driving, we decided to stay close to home today and explore the hood, so to speak.  But first, Mui wanted to wash the toad, so the fun portion of our day didn’t start until 10:30a.

With Christmas Eve declared a holiday by President Obama, NS Mayport was fairly dead today.  We took advantage of the fact that there would be little traffic on the roads to trike around and see what we could see, starting with a ride to the far side of the turning basin.

We first triked around the perimeter of the turning basin (blue line), then went for
a meandering ride around roads near the salt marsh (red line), and concluded
with a walk on the beach (green line).

The ride from the campground over to the far side of the turning basin was a little over 2.5 miles (4 km).  With the roads empty of vehicular traffic it was a fun ride that gave us a close look at some of the ships that homeport here.

The Phaeton is right across from where we’re standing on the far side of the turning basin;
in case you don’t believe me, I zoomed in for a close up.

The bow of the USS Hué City is decorated with a “welcome home” lei; this is the ship
that returned from deployment on Wednesday (post here); the two ships in the
top right photo are the Roosevelt [left] and the Gettysburg.

From here we retraced our path partway, and when we got to the intersection with Massey Avenue, we zigged onto Maine Street and headed towards the Main Gate.  Our goal was to find the entrance to the salt marsh, but when it looked like the path I had spied was going to take us off base and into traffic, we zigged again to check out the SH60-B that stands not far from the entrance.

According to the marker nearby, “The SH60-B aircraft was one of five prototypes used
to develop the Light Airborne Multi-Purpose Systems LAMPS Mark III between 1980 and
1984.  The aircraft was delivered to the Navy in 1985 and used extensively until 1997,
accumulating over 13430.20 flight hours.  … It was presented as a monument to the
significant role Mayport played in the development of the LAMPS system.  The aircraft
was placed in this location on July 16, 2o11 to honor the men and women who
served in Operation Desert Shield, Desert Storm, and Enduring Freedom.”

Detail from the etching on the granite base of the marker.

We were about the head home when I suggested we check out a road that branches off Maine Street.  It turns out that the road runs parallel to a ditch that attracts some of the wildlife from the salt marsh.  Even the golf course on the other side of the road had its share of white birds — looked to be cattle egrets — foraging in the grass.  An interesting feature of the road was all the “welcome home” signs alongside it — I’m guessing for the sailors who returned from deployment aboard USS Hué City.

Welcome home indeed!

Riding this road was a fortuitous decision.  Why?  Because we had some very exciting sightings along the way.  The trikes allowed us to approach the wildlife slowly and quietly, which ensured some close encounters.

Wood Stork — our first time seeing them in the wild.

Great Egret … as opposed to a …

… Snowy Egret

Juvenile Red-Shouldered Hawk
[correct me if I am wrong]

The most thrilling sighting of the day was purely happenstance.  Had we not stopped to check out some egrets and a tri-colored heron fishing in a pond, we never would have seen the — drumroll please — BOBCAT sneaking out from the ditch and into the bushes.  Unfortunately, he was moving fast, and was behind a locked gate in a no-trespassing zone, so we didn’t get to see the bobcat for long.

Blurry or not, this photo of the bobcat is a keeper.  Yeah, I know; it looks like a
house cat, but you’ll just have to take my word that it isn’t. Oh, and the "bobbed" tail is proof, too.

After glimpsing the bobcat, we headed back the way we came to go home.  But first, I had to stop at a spot on Maine Street where there were seven wood storks aimlessly wandering.  Don’t be fooled by the chain-link fence in the background, these guys were roaming free in an area between two fenced-in yards.  They were tolerant of me photographing them for quite a while, but eventually they one by one flew off to parts unknown — my signal to re-join Mui for the ride back home.

North America’s only native stork, the Wood Stork is sometimes called ironhead
or flinthead in reference to its featherless, dark-skinned head.

We saw our share of ospreys throughout our ride.  Our best sighting, though, was the one that was perched on a wire high above the intersection leading to the campground.  I’m especially glad the temptation to click the shutter was strong and the camera was ready … and that we were on the opposite side of the road …

… when this osprey decided to answer the call of nature …

… Before taking off with a flurry of flapping wings.

You would think that four hours of riding around would have been enough for us.  But after putting the trikes away, and enjoying a cup of tea (and some of Mui’s poğaças), we were inspired by the sun that finally showed its face to go for a walk on the beach.

It might not look it, but the tide is coming in … in a short two hours, the visible
strip of sand will all be under water.

We made the most of the two hours we had before high tide.  I was good and kept the shutter clicking to a minimum so as not to take away from the exercise value of our brisk walk.  Until, that is, a woman photographing the shorebirds asked me if I knew what they were.  Of course, after having a nice chat with her, and her husband, I had to take a few photos of the birds, too.

Black Skimmers and Ring-Billed Gulls

Royal Terns … double the pleasure.

On that note, we retraced our steps back to beach access #1 and returned home — this time for good.

Those who know me, know that I can’t pass a mural without clicking the shutter.

I’ll leave you with a message from the beach.  I have no idea who the Jones family is, but we decided to add our names to the sentiment when we saw their note etched in the sand.

An ephemeral message that will be washed away by the incoming tide is
the only acceptable form of graffiti.

And on that note … enough words and photos for one post.