Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Good Morning from Fiesta Key,

Allow me to recap yesterday.
We did have a semi-good nights sleep at the Welcome Center.  Lots of traffic, big rigs, big campers, in and out all night.  But, heck, it's free! And, we are loving some free.
Jim was up, of course, when I got up yesterday morning.  I made the bed real quick, poured myself some coffee, and Jim says "Let's go on and get through the Jacksonville Traffic before everyone is up and going to work.  The welcome center is about 20 miles north of Jacksonville.  So, at 5:45 a.m., we headed out prepared to stop at a rest stop past Jacksonville to have a little breakfast, of our staple, oatmeal, raisins and bananas.
Travel through Jacksonville was actually very pleasant.  We have swerved around orange cones in the road since Hillary and Walt first moved to Key West.  Well, the Jacksonville Cones are gone.  Appeared to us that the road was complete and the bus sailed right through.
We did stop for our little breakfast and to shake out the early morning leave from the welcome center. And, back on the road we go. 
At Ft. Pierce, Jim decided to get off Hwy 95.  We traveled down, kind of, the center (to the right of center actually) parallel to the St. Lucie Canal.  This canal goes into Lake Okeechobee.  The canals were dug, on the east and west of Lake Okeechobee to make getting from East to West, West to East Florida easier for boaters, allowing boaters to go through Florida rather than around Florida.  Jim says he understands funds have not been available for keeping the canals dredged and therefore some of the traffic cannot get through.  We did see a sailboat traveling through the St. Lucie Canal, making its way west.
This route, although a two lane road, was not as toe crunching and grimacing for me.  Very little traffic and we passed by horse farms, fields of what we decided may be tomatoes, in any event, huge vegetable fields.  And, most prevalent, were the tropical nurseries.  These nurseries have every type of tropical plant imaginable.  And, there were also begonia and impatien flower farms.  As you can tell, and as just mentioned, this was a most pleasant route of travel.
We were afforded the opportunity to go through some charming towns as well. Belle Glade was the largest of these little towns and we enjoyed seeing the activity.  You could imagine all the Norwood Folk strolling the streets of our little town back in North Carolina.
I should mention, in order to keep this blog totally honest - with the two lane road, if you miss a turn, or take a wrong turn, it is pretty hard to find a turnaround.  This happened to us twice.  The first time, we simply had to drive down the road until we say a large driveway into an abandoned building.  Jim has a way of saying "wow, I hope I can make this turn" which throws me into a tailspin, watching for a run in with the building, a ditch, or anything that may ruin an otherwise perfect day. The second time we took a wrong turn, with my looking at the map, we decided we could just travel down the wrong road, take a right on the road, about 10 miles ahead, and we would be back on track.  Jim got frustrated with himself for taking a wrong turn/missing a turn, but I assured him there was no problem. And, once we righted our error, he reflected and said "well, that wasn't so bad."
We were headed to Homestead before we even realized it. 
We stopped in Homestead to gas up, the final gasup before we head back to Norwood.  While at this stop, Jim said we could get to Fiesta Key by around 4:00 if I wanted to make that decision.  I reminded Jim, once again, that he was the captain of this ship, and it was totally his decision. 
Jim called Fiesta Key, told them we could be there around 4:00 and booked us a camp spot. 
We were heading to Fiesta Key today anyway. So, we arrived only a day early.  We went ahead and booked for two nights.  We are right next door to our friends from Cherry Grove and North Wilkesboro, Bill Reins, daughter, Vickie Murphy and her husband Jim.
We pulled into our spot here around 4:15 and Bill walked out of his camper, greeted us and it was great.  Vickie and her Jim had gone fishing. So, by the time we got setup, I got a shower, and we settled in a little, Vickie and Jim returned from their fishing trip and we all, five, enjoyed having our little cocktail hour at Bill's Campsite.
After cocktails, we walked (Bill rode  his fancy wheelchair) down to the Grill, Santiago's Cantina, and enjoyed burgers and seafood.
We enjoyed a stroll back to the campsite, said our good-nights and Jim and I nestled down for the night.  He enjoys his kind of t.v. while on the sofa, and I enjoy watching the t.v. from the bed.  This morning, we both said we each fell asleep in our respective t.v. watching spots.  Jim was super tired I just know.
This morning, we both slept late, for us, getting up around 7:00.  It should be noted we sleep with the windows open last night and we still have the curtains pulled to close around the front of the camper.  The sun is shining down warm and bright and that's a good thing. I have shed my long sleeve shirt and am wearing a tanktop and shorts and Jim is in his shorts and t-shirt. Very warm and pleasant here.
We took a few pictures of the crew last night, and Jim and I did a walkabout around the campsite this morning.  This campground is actually very beautiful. Bill and George Lou stayed here for several winters.  When they were going to rebook a few years back, they were told the campground had been sold and condominiums were going to be built.  Well, we all know what happened to that plan with the economy.  It is back as a campground and a huge campground it is.  We can see the Gulf from the front of our camper. 
Bill said when he and George were here all of the campsites were full.  Now, it is relatively empty.  There is a lot to offer here so maybe they can build their reputation back up.  We are very impressed with what they have to offer here, even at this skeleton stage. 
Well, I just got off the telephone with Tiffany and I have learned my lesson. As we got here yesterday afternoon, we got busy with the Reins, went to bed early, my cell phone battery had died, we had not 'hooked up' the computer, Jim and I have been MIA for more than 24 hours. And, Tiffany was frantic.  I have learned my lesson and will not go that long without contact with one of the girls again.
Here, again, I'm going to try and post some of the pictures we have taken while here at Fiesta Key.

The campsite here at Fiesta Key. That is us on the left and Bill's site on the right.

Fiesta Key - Karen, Bill, Vickie, Jim Murphy

Jim, Karen, Bill, Vickie and Jim Murphy - Fiesta Key

Beautiful waterfront area at the grill, Santiago's Cantina, Fiesta Key

Outside bar area at Santiago's Cantina, Fiesta Key - we ate inside last night. This is a great scenic spot.

Entrance to Pool Area - Fiesta Key - note the stairs to get up to the pool, which once climbed, offers a beautiful view of the ocean.

Pool Area with ocean in the background - Fiesta Key

Pool Area with Ocean in the background - Fiesta Key

Walkabout along the concrete walk with ocean in the background - Fiesta Key

Pelicans in mangrove - picture taken from concrete walk - Fiesta Key

Fabulous tree in the campground - Fiesta Key

Alrighty, that's pretty much it so far.  Let's see what today will bring! Thank you pokaprecious and sakosugar for traveling alone. We love you more than you can know.