Worship, hockey and a couple things to never, ever do

We had a pretty quiet day today, well quiet in the sense we didn’t wander very far. It was not so quiet in the trailer as I watched the Detroit Red Wings scratch out a hard fought win over the Boston Bruins this afternoon.

This is only the second game I have been able to watch since we left Michigan on Jan. 12 and the Wings have won both of them.

This morning we went to worship service at the All Saints Anglican Church almost next door to our campsite. This small work had about 50 people and played the more contemporary music that we are used to at our home church in Flint.

The priest had us introduce ourselves and everyone was very welcoming and nice to us. If we lived here this would likely be where we would go. If we’re in this area again, we’ll be back. I forgot to take a picture this morning so we came back this afternoon and I snapped a photo from the parking lot.

I’m going to pass along some advice about some things you should never do on the night before a Monday Valentine’s Day.

Never, ever go to Olive Garden after 5 p.m. on a Valentine’s celebration night. Everyone, and their brother, was at the Tallahassee Olive Garden and the wait was long. But we finally got a table and had a great waiter so it turned out OK.

If that wasn’t enough we stopped on the way back to the campsite to shop at Walmart. Everyone, and their brother, must have left the Olive Garden and headed to Walmart to do last minute Valentine’s Day shopping. It was crazy.

I’ve mentioned this before but the traffic in Tallahassee is terrible. It doesn’t seem to matter what time of day or evening there are always lines of traffic driving on US 27.

We have seen an unusual coupling of businesses along US 27 and took time to stop and take a photo tonight on the way home. No further comment is necessary from me on the sign.

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone.

Post script: Temperatures finally reached back into the 70s today, the first time in week we have been out of the high 50s and low 60s. A very welcome improvement. I also finished reading Book 6 of the Master and Commander series today.

Sidewalk sales and wine tasting on a bright sunny day

With temperatures finally flirting with the 60s here and the sun completely out we expanded our plans from going to a sidewalk sale in a nearby city to a trip to a nearby winery.

In the middle we had what can only be described as an OnStar adventure, one of the few errors we have experienced with that service.

First stop was to Havana, Florida, which is about 12 miles north of us on US 27, the same road our campground is on. Joan spotted a television ad for the 2-day sidewalk sales in the town and suggested we go check it out.

It is a cute little town, one of those one stoplight cities, that you see in rural areas. Much of the downtown is made up of antique stores and specialty shops and we enjoyed looking through all the stores.

Joan was very impressed with the layout of the stores and how attractive the antique wares were presented. For me, it was just shopping and that's not my favorite thing to do.

After a three hour stay we bought one small gift for one of our granddaughters and Joan picked up a couple doo-dads for herself. I just got a case of the glazed over too-much-shopping look.

Following that we punched up OnStar and asked them to give us directions to the Monticello Vineyard and Winery in Monticello, Florida. I had looked briefly at a map before we left and the directions sounded close to what I remembered from the map.

The Winery is also a certified organic farm and so no chemicals or additives are used in the processing of the wine.

Once off I-10, the main east-west freeway through the Panhandle I immediately began to get nervous that we were headed in the wrong direction for the winery. But, OnStar has rarely let us down so I pressed on. That is until they told us we had reached our destination and we were in the middle of nowhere.

So I called them up again and after a few minutes the OnStar advisor apologized and said the previous advisor had sent us to Waukeenah Road, instead of Waukeenah Highway, which as it turned out was about 15-mile error.

Armed with new directions we made our way to the winery and arrived at 3:35 p.m. The vintner met us in the driveway and promptly discovered we were not the people she had been expecting. In fact, we didn't call ahead just took a chance someone would be there. So she started the tour with us and continued on as the others arrived.

I noticed a tall good-looking young man holding his 6-month old daughter at the tasting. He was wearing a U.S. Marines hat with the name "Okinawa" on it. So I asked him if he had been stationed there and he had.

My ship once made a brief stop on the island of Okinawa so we struck up a conversation and I learned he was a Marine Corps pilot, an officer, and was currently a flight instructor at the Naval Air Station in Pensacola, which is our destination next week.

We swapped war stories and I thanked him for his service. Later we gave the couple a fresh bottle of water which they needed to dilute the baby's formula. He offered to pay for the bottle and I told him there was no way he was going to pay for that water. (For my father: He formerly flew the C-130)

We learned a lot about the type of grape that grows in Florida and the kind of wine that can be made from it.

Monticello Vineyard and Winery is one of only 15 wineries in Florida and we have now visited three of them, with three or four more on the itinerary in Pensacola next week.

Joan, as she always does, found a couple wines she couldn't live without and as is our custom we purchased an extra bottle for the Family Literacy Center auction.

After our winery visit we headed downtown to Monticello so I could take a picture of the beautiful, historic courthouse that is also the logo on the label of the Monticello wine.

Tonight we enjoyed Part II of our KFC dinner from last night.

Some bonus photos from today

In addition to the post below about today's tour of the Florida Capitol here are a few additional photos:

A memorial to fallen Florida law enforcement officers.The new Florida Capitol and entrance.

A reproduction of the flag that flew over the Capitol at the end of the Civil War.

A Park Avenue church.

A view from the 22nd floor of the new Capitol building. b.Joan all gussied up.

Civil War memorial. (Not me, the stone marker)

Me looking like Teddy Roosevelt or Dave Graham. You pick.

A capital day in the Florida Capitol

Half the park residents - those driving around in the classic Airstream trailers - left today leaving the park half deserted.

I had a brief discussion with our neighbor as he was hooking up his Airstream and he said there were 35 of them traveling together all over Florida. When I said that must be an impressive sight on the freeway he told me that their club rules do not allow them to travel altogether.

"If you can read the numbers on another Airstream, you're too close," he said. They all left at staggered times and will meet up at the park near Gainesville later this day.

The big yellow ball appeared again in the sky today so we took advantage of the weather and decided to head back downtown to walk through the Capitol complex and Historic District.

Before we left though there was a minor flare-up when Joan lost her keys to the trailer. I had gone out to the car to wait for her as she was almost ready to go, but then started to wonder what happened to her.

After about five minutes I thought about heading back to the trailer door to see what had happened, but didn't want to bother her or rush her. A few minutes later she came huffing out to the car asking me if I had any idea what happened to her trailer keys.

Before I said something stupid like: "Why would I know where her trailer keys were?" I reached into my pocket and discovered that for some unknown reason I had picked up not just my trailer keys, but hers as well.

After convincing her I hadn't taken the keys on purpose we finally got started on our journey.

Parking is at a premium downtown and there is no such thing as free parking anywhere near the Capitol. Even the friendly churches have parking lot signs that threaten "24-hour towing of unauthorized vehicles."

We found a public parking garage on Duval Street and walked the several blocks through the Historic District on Park Avenue and then onto the Old State Capitol.

A very nice lady gave us a personal introduction to the Old Capitol building and a brief history on its development and then shrinking. The shrinking came in the 1970s when a new high rise complex was planned for the Capitol mall.

Florida residents balked when plans were announced to tear down the Old Capitol after the construction of the new one, but for safety reasons they had to demolish some of the additions to the building that had occurred over the years.

The Old Capitol which was first built in 1845 had been expanded several times over the next century to meet the growth of the State. It was decided to tear down additions to the building so that it would revert to it's configuration in 1902.

At that time the building housed the Supreme Court, the House of Representatives, the Senate and the Governor's Office in relatively small two story building. The current government is housed in a 22-floor building that dwarfs the old building on the same site.

Inside the Old Capitol are housed a number of historical exhibits and the recreated House, Senate, Supreme Court chambers as well as a recreation of the Governor's Office of 1902.

One of the rooms housed an interesting display of artifacts from the 2000 Florida election fiasco including a box of those famous "hanging chads." Another room contained election memorabilia from the past 100 years. Bumper stickers, banners, buttons and countless other advertising gizmos purchased by candidates.

There were Civil War exhibits and a 15-minute movie on the History of Florida.

We also learned that the Florida Legislature is part-time, they work only 60 days a year and are expected to hold a job outside of government. Are you listening Michigan Legislature?

I like the idea of a part-time Legislature. Give them 60 days to get all the work done and then have them go back and live like the rest of us. Not a bad idea at all. But enough of that.

After the tour of the Old Capitol we moved over to the new Capitol building which required a security check, which meant Joan and her fake knee had to go through a security wanding, similar to every trip we make to the airport.

We took a fast elevator to the 22nd floor where you can look out over Tallahassee and all the surrounding counties. We had a beautiful clear day to look out over many miles of northern Florida.

The Capitol grounds were also very beautiful and some of the Oak trees look very old here, probably because they are.

Traffic in the city here is horrible, especially at 5 p.m., which is precisely the moment we ended our tour and began our journey out-of town. It took us nearly 40 minutes to go 9 miles through traffic and with a 10-minute stop at the local KFC restaurant to pick up dinner.

I'm going to put some add more photos from today to another post.

Thursday in the Tallahassee hood

Other than our usual routine we took a ride to a local Farmer's Market and found that the farmers had taken the day off. So I went to a health food store across the walk from where the market was supposed to be and the lady said she didn't know why no one showed up today but gave us a lead to a nearby market that also had locally grown produce.

The appropriately named Tomato Land had a small, but good selection of fresh fruit and vegetables and we bought enough for the next couple days. We'll try the Farmer's Market again on Saturday.

While heading to Tomato Land we were stopped at a stop light with a car behind us on Thomasville Road. I heard a loud crash behind us and saw that a van had rear-ended the car behind us in a very violent way. Fortunately for me, the guy behind me had his foot firmly planted on the brake and we did not get hit.

I could see that everyone was uninjured so we moved on.

Tonight we pretended it was warm and grilled outdoors even though temperatures were in the 40s. We're not complaining because from what our friends and family back home keep telling us they would kill right now for a 40-degree day.

Other than our excursion to Tomato Land nothing much happened here.

Talk to you tomorrow.

A day of sea creatures, old friends and old times

Hard to believe it was four weeks ago today that we began our journey to Florida. In some ways it feels like we have been here forever and in another way it feels like it has gone very fast.

As I write this edition of Grandmas Recess on Wednesday night it is once again raining outside so I guess our sunny Florida weather is over again for another 24 hours.

This day started really early, at 3:42 a.m. to be exact. When we went to bed last night the overnight weather predictions were for temperatures to drop into the low 30s or high 20s last night. That is a little bit of a concern in the trailer as many of our water lines are exposed to the weather and frozen water lines are not something that is good.

One of the features of our trailer is an electric fireplace, which puts out quite a bit of heat and we decided to leave the fireplace on to supplement the propane system that we have. We also agreed that when we got up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom (one of the glories of aging) we would run the water both in the bathroom and kitchen for a few minutes to keep the pipes from freezing.

So when I woke up at 3:42 a.m. I heard the propane heater running, but the fan was operating at a lower speed than usual. I also immediately noticed that the fireplace was no longer on. In addition the refrigerator was operating on propane, which it does automatically when the electricity is off.

Our electric mattress warmer was also not working.

Uh oh.

My first thought was that not having electricity would not be a good thing for a cold night and I got dressed to head out and check to see if the breaker switch had been tripped outside. My brother-in-law Denny had spotted that problem last summer while we were staying in Indiana for which I will always be grateful.

As soon as I opened the trailer door it became clear that we were not alone in the electricity problem. The entire park was dark, which in an odd way relieved my concerns. At least it was not a problem with our trailer, I thought.

So back to bed I went, but I had trouble going to sleep worrying about when, or if, the power would go back on during the night.

Before I drifted off to sleep, I heard a click and realized that the power had come back on in the park. I put the fireplace back on the mattress warmer back on and went back to bed. Within seconds they all went off again, but this time it was just our trailer that was off.

Uh oh, again.

Now I grabbed a flashlight, got on my sweatshirt and headed outside. The breaker was still on, nothing appeared to be out of order, but there was no shore power in the trailer. As a last resort, I pulled the shore plug and pushed it back in again and everything suddenly came back to life.
It only cost me about 90 minutes of sleep and about five years worth of worry.

Unfortunately, I am unable to sleep in no matter how little sleep I get and I was up at my usual 7:30 a.m. Joan on the other hand slept in until 10 a.m.

Our usual morning exercise routine was finished late today.

Ever the science teacher, Joan was interested in visiting the Gulf Specimens Aquarium in Panacea, Florida. Not sure what this Gulf town is a panacea for, but that is its name. We had also arranged a dinner with my former editor Roger Van Noord, and his wife, Jessica in Carrabelle, FL.

Why Carrabelle? Because it was half way between Port St. Joe, where they are, and Tallahassee where we are. We had prearranged to meet at a restaurant called “Old Salt’s Café” which we found online.

First though Joan and I headed to Panacea to visit the Gulf Specimens Aquarium. It wasn’t the prettiest aquarium that we have seen, but it is a working research facility and as we learned from talking to some of the workers supplies gulf sea creatures to universities, high schools and research facilities around the world.

We even saw them packaging some of the crabs into shipping containers for overnight shipping.

There were several tanks where we were allowed to pick up and handle the hermit crabs and other creatures which Joan really enjoys. There were also observation tanks that had nurse sharks, turtles and stingrays where it wouldn’t have been too smart to stick your hand into.

The aquarium is also involved in the preservation of several species of salt water turtles and it reminded us of our time in Cozumel when we released some baby turtles back into the ocean.

Not sure the aquarium would have satisfied everyone, but we enjoyed the chance to see these creatures up close. It also reminded me of the many excursions my father, brother and I made to tide pools in and around Southern California when I was a child. From my fading recollection I remember that my father had this huge knife, it was more like a machete, that we used to lift and discover the tide pool animals.

We spent a couple hours at the aquarium and then headed for our meeting with Roger and his wife.

On the way we spotted a sign that said “Low Flying Plane” which we understood better when we drove on about 200 yards and found that the highway was right at the end of a general aviation runway. We could see where you might be startled to see a plane flying at windshield level if you hadn’t been warned.

So with help from OnStar we headed to the Old Salt’s Café in Carrabelle realizing we would get there about 45 minutes early.

As we pulled up to Old Salt’s we found the restaurant wrapped in plastic with a sign out front that said they would not be open until March 1. Instead of sitting in the empty parking lot waiting for our guests we set out to find another restaurant.

At a local visitor’s center we talked to a lady from the Chamber of Commerce who recommended eating at the two other local restaurants – The Pit Stop and Hog Wild. So off we went to find them. When we arrived at The Pit Stop it was apparent from the empty parking lot that we would not be eating there either. It is closed on Wednesdays.

So by default we ended up at Hog Wild, a barbeque restaurant that turned out to be pretty good and quiet enough for a very pleasant visit with my old editor.

Roger and Jessica have been at this RV thing a lot longer than Joan and I so we spent some time picking their brains for ideas and suggestions on how to overcome a few issues that we have encountered.

And no meeting between Roger and me – that would make a great movie title – would be complete if we didn’t recall that infamous assignment where he sent me and photographer Steve Kleeman to Bowling Green, Ohio for what was supposed to be one day and we ended up there for three days.

The long and short of that story was that Steve Kleeman had to talk to Roger on the phone because I was not a happy man being stuck in that town with no luggage or money for three days. I had just moved into a new Davison apartment and hadn’t even started unpacking when Roger sent me on the assignment.

A Flint twin had shot and killed his twin brother and then fled with a friend. They were found by police in Bowling Green and Roger wanted us to get a quick story on where they were hiding out and cover the juvenile court arraignment. That was supposed to happen that first day, but didn’t happen until the third day.

At one point the next day, Roger probably tired of hearing my whining told us we could return to Flint. Halfway home, about Ann Arbor, Roger learned that there was a new hearing scheduled for the next morning and he told us to turn around and head back.

To shut me up, he told me to charge some underwear at a local store for me and Kleeman. It has been a joke between Steve and I since that we had to ‘share’ underwear. On our last night in Ohio, I told Steve that while he was at the Toledo Blade developing film (remember those days) to find out where the most expensive restaurant in Toledo was so we could have a good dinner.

When we returned to Flint, I submitted a $105 dinner bill, which included calamari appetizers and other expensive courses. Roger started to question the bill and then thought better of it when I reminded him that our trip was only supposed to be for one day.

Obviously, this was back in the day when newspapers had money and were willing to send reporters on the road.

All through dinner Steve, a part-time employee at that time, kept expressing his worry that he would be blamed for the excessive expense account and I kept assuring him that I would take full responsibility, which I did.

After catching up for a couple hours with Roger and Jessica, we took a couple photos, said our farewell and headed back to our respective camps. It was a very good day all the way around.

A nice day for a walk in the park, literally

Thankfully, the weather broke today and while it was still cool, we finally got to see that elusive, hot ball in the sky. So after taking care of our usual morning routine we headed to Fred O. Drake Park at Lake Ella this afternoon for a leisurely stroll.

It seems we have been cooped up in the trailer for a few days thanks to the rainy weather, so being outside was a welcome change. It is still relatively cool here today with high temperatures only reaching 56, which by Michigan standards is warm, but not so much by Florida standards.

The .6-mile walk around Lake Ella was very nice with plenty of birds and interesting plants and trees to look at. I was particularly focused on the Cypress trees (not the California Cypress, I’m familiar with) and their unusual root structure that sticks up out of the ground.

We did the circle more than once and also visited some of the quaint little shops that are housed in former lake cottages. We are trying to find more and more things to do that don’t cost an arm and a leg so taking a free walk around a lake was really nice.

Although the signs around the park warn people not to feed the birds, several people were and it created some disturbance among the winged wildlife as they chased and attacked ducks that had grabbed pieces of bread and food from the tourists.

Also along the walk there was a nice memorial to Vietnam veterans. In addition to a stone marker, the names of Vietnam veterans who were killed in Vietnam or as a result of their service there were engraved on the window of a Huey helicopter as well as on a ground plaque.

There was a man who was playing a guitar at lakeside and singing only to a duck. Kid you not.
We spent about 90-minutes at the park and may go back.

After our afternoon walk we stopped at Walmart to pick up a few things and cash a traveler’s check and then we returned to our campsite about 4:30 p.m. Each day the camp has gotten more and more crowded and mostly with those shiny Airstream trailers arriving. We are thinking there is some kind of gathering that is going to happen.

With the sun to warm us we set up our folding chairs and sat outside and read awhile before we came inside for dinner.

I wanted to give a quick follow-up on our young neighbors who had the electrical problem with their RV. This morning I talked with the young man to see how they were coming and he told me that Camper World told him that they could not even look at his RV for three days and it would likely take 3-5 days for them to order and get in the parts they would need to fix the unit.

The young man is a former police detective sergeant from Maryland who was forced to retire because of a non-duty related back injury. They are, as I suspected, on a very fixed income and he is unable to work right now so they came south to get out of the cold.

Of course we spent some time talking cop shop and I was able to help him store some of his tools and equipment away to save his back a little pain.

Because of the RV troubles and now the delay they moved to another less expensive park in Tallahassee this afternoon. I pray that they get the issues with the RV resolved and move on with their trip. The young man said they usually stay in Cracker Barrel or Walmart parking lots to save money, but without electrical and battery service they have been forced to rent space in RV parks, at least for now.

Joan and I were pinching ourselves today on our walk thanking God for all the blessings we have. Neither of us ever imagined that we would be able to escape winter for this length of time. For sure we are not doing it as luxurious as some, but with our trailer we are able to save money by eating in and not having to rent hotel space or condos.

So while we are surrounded by rigs much more lavish than ours we are by no means deprived. Exactly the opposite in fact.

This trip has been a dream-come-true, even with the occasional weather setbacks and we appreciate the wonderful opportunity that we have been given.

Tomorrow we are meeting with an old boss of mine for dinner. One of my all time favorite editors spends his winters down here and we are only about 100 miles apart and will be meeting halfway. I’ll post more about that tomorrow