A month on the Forgotten Coast

January 1, 2021 was a rainy day as we broke camp in Navarre and drove east for about 3 1/2 years towards our January campground outside Carrabelle, Florida. This area of the Florida Gulf Coast is called the Forgotten Coast because quite honestly, not many people think of this area when wanting to visit Florida and it’s beaches. The largest “cities” in the area are Port St. Joe and Apalachicola and the largest “resort/vacation” area is St. George Island. Your grocery store options are the IGA or the Piggly Wiggly. In other words, it’s a very quiet area of Florida even though it’s only about an hour south of Tallahassee, the state capital.

Our campground is right across the street from the very large and empty Carrabelle Beach. It’s a wonderful place to walk.

A few days after our arrival, we drove over to Apalachicola to explore a few shops, check out some history, and of course, find some place to eat! Little known history fact – early refrigeration and air conditioning development was born in this area. Dr John Gorie was seeking a way to eliminate the effects of yellow fever and received one of the first patents around refrigeration back in the mid 1800’s. Due to COVID, the museum was not open but we visited the historic marker as well as the Trinity Church which he helped found.

Meanwhile, back in Atlanta our grand babies had started walking! They had been trying a few steps while we visited over Christmas but in just a few weeks they had found their balance and were definitely on the move!

Weather this time of year along the panhandle can be cold, cloudy, foggy, and/or grey. When weather allowed, we have gotten out and explored and Jill has spent some time on her new electric trike. She peddles on her own most of the time but can use battery power as an assist if/when needed. And Dan has taken it out for a spin a time or two, getting it up to 12.1 mph on battery power alone. Not to be outdone, Jill was able to top out at over 13 mph!

Go Speed Racer!

When not speeding around on bikes, we also set out for a hike into an area of scrub pines and low growth just down the road from our campground. The area is officially called Tate’s Hell State Park. The story behind the name goes as follows:

A tale that has been told for many years recounts how Tate’s Hell Swamp got its name. Local legend has it that a farmer by the name of Cebe Tate, armed with only a shotgun and accompanied by his hunting dogs, journeyed into the swamp in search of a panther that was killing his livestock. Although there are several versions of this story, the most common describes Tate as being lost in the swamp for seven days and nights, bitten by a snake, and drinking from the murky waters to curb his thirst. Finally he came to a clearing near Carrabelle, living only long enough to murmur the words, “My name is Cebe Tate, and I just came from Hell.” Cebe Tate’s adventure took place in 1875 and ever since, the area has been known as Tate’s Hell, the legendary and forbidden swamp.

About half way thru our stay in Carrabelle, we had to head back to Destin to complete a repair job that was started before we left Navarre. We had an issue with our awning which provides shade over a large part of the right side of the RV. This awning is very temperamental and has had issues in the past. However, this time the issue was human error. While in Navarre, we had Lola detailed, something we do once a year to ensure she stays clean and shiny (as well as protected from the elements). Our detailer was awesome, spending all day on Lola to return her to her showroom glow. Unfortunately, he left a cleaning rag on the roof and later that rag was blown onto the extended awning without our knowledge. The next time the awning was retracted, in went that rag. Next time we tried to open, it completely jammed the awning and cracked the motor. Given COVID (which is blamed for all delays), the manufacturer was working shortened hours which meant getting replacement parts would take awhile. All of this caused us to travel back to Destin for a couple of days so the Mobile RV Tech who started the repair could complete it after he received all the parts. No worries, that gave us time for one more meal at one of our favorite restaurants as well as for Jill to get one more doctor visit out of the way.

Back in Carrabelle, we took advantage of one of the rainy days to drive about 30 minutes over to the town of Panacea to visit a small Marine Specimen and Aquarium. This held living examples of undersea plant and animal life that was common in the area. They act as a living laboratory for marine biology college interns from Florida State and other universities while also supplying larger aquariums across the country including the one in Atlanta. It contained lots of small tanks, some of which were “touch tanks” allowing us to touch and even pick up specimens such as hermit crabs and large conch.

We’ve shared in the past how we get mail and packages and usually all goes quite well. In fact, we’ve never had any major problems with getting our mail from our mail service (either having them scan the contents or actually forward the mail to us). But give the USPS a chance to mess things up and they just can’t help themselves. We had amassed a few documents at our mailbox and decided to have them shipped to us. We were only about 120 miles away and requested regular mail, but added tracking. This meant that it would take 4-5 days to reach us. Now, that may seem extreme to just go 120 miles. Little did we realize that actually it would take many more days to actually complete the journey. Based on the tracking data, here is where our package travelled:

  • Departed Crestview on a Monday evening, arriving in Pensacola, Florida. Yes, instead of traveling 120 miles SSE, the package instead went 52 miles further west.
  • The next day, maybe realizing it’s error, the USPS turned our package around and sent it east to Tallahassee, Florida (only about 50 miles north of us!). Seeing this, we were hopeful that it was now on the way.
  • After hanging around Tallahassee for over a day (wouldn’t want it to actually arrive AHEAD of schedule), it decided to continue east to Jacksonville, Florida. Yep, our package had now traveled the entire length of the panhandle of Florida or about 360 miles!
  • After resting in Jacksonville for another day, the package arrived in Apalachicola which was a mere 19 miles from our campground. Surely it would now make the last leg to us.
  • Nope, having arrived early in the morning in Apalachicola, it decided to head back over to Tallahassee to visit for the weekend!
  • Finally on early Monday morning (a week since it’s journey began), it returned to Apalachicola, arriving just 12 minutes before hopping on the local mail carrier’s vehicle for delivery!

In summary, our package took which should have been a few days, 120 mile trip and turned it into an 827 mile trip which would have taken 14 hours to drive and sat around for another 6+ days when not in transit. Below is a better visualization of the trip:

January marks our full-timing anniversary. On the 9th we marked the start of our 3rd year living in the RV and the following week, January 16th, marked the start of life on the road when we left Atlanta in 2019. Amazing what we have seen and done since.

This January was also historic given the presidential election and activities following. We won’t get into politics on this blog but at least one positive/amusing thing that came out of the election was Bernie and his gloves! There were so many memes going around, you couldn’t keep up. One of our favorites is below:

January also brought an opportunity to catch up with another long ago whitewater paddling friend, Tonya Holmes. Tonya was staying on St. George Island for the month so we were able to catch up with her and her friend Marilyn several times and relive long ago paddling and camping tales!

Just before departure we had another beautiful day and this allowed us to ride our bikes down to a local lighthouse to visit the light keeper’s home and climb the lighthouse (well, at least Dan did!).

January 31st was to be a rainy day so we did all our packing up on the 30th in prep for our departure on February 1st. Next stop, Williston, Florida near the cities of Gainesville and Ocala where we’ll spend the month.

2020 Wrap Up

Well, we made it thru what has to be one of the craziest years on record (and 2021 ain’t looking much better right now!). What started as an enjoyable stay in Florida during the first few months of 2020 (pre-COVID) turned into a long time hunkered down in NE Georgia and NC mountains followed by 3 months in the panhandle of Florida. Not exactly covering a lot of miles or seeing a lot of new areas of the country. We managed to avoid catching COVID while limiting visits to immediate family and a few friends (socially distanced!) and now looking forward to an interesting 2021.

Let’s start with an update on the last part of 2020 since our last blog. We took a trip to Milton, FL to visit the site of a once thriving mill operation called Arcadia Mill. The main sites here include a reproduction of the original mid 1800’s home and original furnishings as well as an elevated boardwalk around the original mill works area, although most of this had been reclaimed by nature, just a few footings and low walls remaining.

Sometimes, we get questions about how we handle mail and shipments (what would we do without Amazon!?). Luckily, almost all the campgrounds where we stay allow shipments to be accepted and then it’s just a matter of going to the campground office and picking up our shipments. Prior to arriving in Navarre, we had been at several parks where shipments were not accepted so we had a lot of shopping/shipments to catch up on once we arrived in Florida. In most cases, we have no problems whether it be via Amazon, Chewy, meds, etc. But once in awhile, we get something that just makes us scratch our heads. Two cases in point.

Jill requires a medication that requires us to go thru a specialty pharmacy each month. This medication requires refrigeration and thus we always want to make sure we’ll be available when it arrives. Each month, Jill must call to initiate shipment and since the medication is an injectable, they usually also ask if she requires alcohol swabs. As usual, we request some additional supplies. During our last shipment, we requested “2 units” which in the past has always resulted in two boxes of swabs. This time, we received a slightly different amount.

Another shipment was related to some picture frames we ordered to help personalize our space inside Lola. With grand babies, you can never have enough pictures! It’s always nice to order thru Amazon because you know the products are guaranteed and returns are easy if something isn’t right. But this product packaging caused a few concerns…

Good to know this “Prodcut” team stands behind what they make!

Closer to home, holiday decorations and gifts were definitely on everyone’s minds. We were excited to be looking forward to holiday times with family in Atlanta in late December. And of course, the local Walmart was full of wonderful gift ideas for every age. But there was one item in the toy department, we just couldn’t figure out…

What is this???? Panda Unicorn, Unicorn Panda, Pandacorn, Unicanda????

As the holidays neared, excitement built. December is now a crazy month! Chris’ birthday is December 5th, the grand babies’ is December 18th, and then Christmas one week later! We started shipping a few presents ahead of the holiday and our arrival in Atlanta. This included a very special form of transport for Savannah and Skylar.

All aboard the Radio Flyer!

On December 17th, we packed up the car with the dogs and left Lola behind as we headed north to Atlanta for a holiday trip. We were staying in a rental house in Cartersville with plans to visit the kids and babies as well as Dan’s mom. We had a one year birthday party to attend as well as plans for Christmas if COVID would permit. First up was another early present for the girls – their own ball pit and maze to help them burn off energy while crawling around!

Next up was the official one-year birthday party. This included something Dan had never heard of – the purchase of two “smash cakes”. As the name would imply, these are not necessarily ordered with the intention of eating them but more for letting the little ones have at them, smashing or otherwise. And of course, balloons are also part of the fun!!!

One more surprise was in store for the family. Unfortunately, they had lost their van in the wonderful Atlanta traffic a few weeks earlier (rain, night time, bad traffic = totaled van). Since the kids and their babies need a safe and reliable vehicle, we were able to help out with getting a replacement RAV4 which everyone seemed happy about.

Who’s ready for a ride?

Unfortunately, our good luck with COVID finally ran out a few days before Christmas when a family member tested positive. This put a stop to plans for Christmas eve and Christmas day which was disappointing. We had to be happy with the time and memories we had before we all had to go back to isolation. But it really was a nice holiday overall, even with all the concerns about COVID. And happily, no others tested positive so we appear to have made it thru all of 2020 safe and healthy!

And, since we had down time on Christmas day, what better thing to do than play some games, including an old favorite, “The Game of Life” board game!

Jill turns out to be much better in the game of Life!

The dogs enjoyed a fenced in back yard to roam and sniff, something they haven’t had since we sold our house. Although Adele seemed to settle in well, Brandy was a little bit more unsure where she should hang out…

Looks comfortable….?

We returned to Florida to very cold/freezing temps. Luckily, some friends at the park had turned our heat up so that no pipes would break but this, in turn, burned most of our diesel supply so that we barely had enough to get to the fuel station to refill before the next move. And that happened on January 1, when we turned Lola east, traveling about 160 miles east along the Florida panhandle. We’ll stay there for the month of January, doing more exploring along the “Forgotten Coast”.

As a wrap up for the year, here are the places we visited as well as some other pertinent facts:

  • Started and ended the year in Navarre, Florida
  • Spent the months of January, February, part of March, part of September, November and December in Florida
  • Spent 4 months in one campground – River Vista in Dillard, Georgia
  • Lola traveled a total of 1,933 miles, burning $1,331 of diesel fuel (some of this was for heating, not all due to traveling)
  • Spent an additional $619 in gas for the car due mainly to long drives into Atlanta from NE Georgia for doctor visits and family
  • Sixteen nights spent sleeping somewhere elsewhere than the RV (two in a hotel in Atlanta for some doctor visits, 5 nights outside Atlanta with Jill’s BFF, 9 days in VRBO rental in Cartersville for Christmas)

We are hoping that 2021 will bring back some level of normalcy (if there is such a thing). We are also hoping to make a trip west in 2021, aiming to visit New Mexico and Colorado over a 3 month period. But, that’s down the road. Still things to see and explore in Florida over the next couple of months.

Stay safe, healthy, and warm!

Jill & Dan