Places Visited:

Florida: St Joseph SP, Cape San Blas, Payne's Prairie SP,
Gainesville, Sanford, Melbourne

Monday, August 5, 2002
St. Joseph Peninsula State Park, Cape San Blas, Florida: Site #61

We watch a wall of puffy white cumulous clouds building offshore as
we
head out on a long walk down the beach. By the time we turn
around
and head for home the front edge of the bank of clouds are turning
black and rolling. It looks ominous, much like the leading edge of a cold
front moving through in winter. Just as we get back in the motorhome we
hear the first clap of thunder.

The beach has changed so much since we were here this winter.
Currents and wind have deposited about 50 yards of sand on the
beach.
Last winter storms had eroded the beach so that the strip of true
beach was only 30 to 40 yards wide. Boardwalks over the dunes
accessing the beach are covered with sand up to the handrails. It is
amazing to see what nature gives and takes away. The beach is truly a
dynamic area that is subject to every whim of nature.

Tuesday, August 6, 2002
St. Joseph Peninsula State Park, Cape San Blas, Florida: Site #61

We got up early and drove back to Panama City (63-miles) to visit
with
Mike's parents and accompany his Dad on a doctor's visit. We had
a
good visit then drove back to Cape San Blas and had dinner with
Pat &
Louie and another couple that had driven over from Pensacola to
spend
the weekend with them. Pat treated all of us to her renowned
scallop
hors d'oeuvre then we ordered a large pizza. When we left their
place
it was LATE! As we passed Eagle Harbor in the State Park 5 adult
deer
were feeding on sea oats half way up one of the massive snow-
white
sand dunes. Deer and sand dunes present an antithesis in my
feeble
mind.

Wednesday, August 7, 2002
Payne's Prairie State Park; Gainesville, Florida. Site #10

As we passed by Louie and Pat's place this morning we beeped the
horn
on the motorhome on the chance they would be on the deck
enjoying an
early morning sip of Java. They were not. I suspect all were inside
preparing for the days scalloping adventure.

When traveling on highway 98 through Perry we always want to stop
at
the Chaparral Steak house and buffet for lunch. They have the best
country cooks around. One of the cooks fixes okra (a southern
thing)
like Joyce's Dad and it is out of this world. In addition to the okra
they had fresh butter peas, divine potato casserole, squash and onion
casserole and a host of other veggies and entries. After eating seafood
every day for the past week vegetables were a welcome respite.

Between Cape San Blas and Perry US highway - 98 hugs the coast
passing
through one small destitute fishing village after another. In
Carrabelle we get a good chuckle at their famous Police Station. It
is a telephone booth. I do not know if it is a "public" phone booth
or not. It looks to me like it "WAS" a public phone booth but is now
exclusively the "Police Station". Instead of having AT&T or some such
markings Carrabelle Police Station is painted in large red letters on
every glass wall of the booth. The local police car is sitting beside the
phone booth. If you look up the city of Carrabelle on the Internet you
will see where they lay claim to the "worlds smallest Police Station" or
some such. You can see that it does not take much to amuse the two of us.

Leaving Perry on US highway 27 heading to Gainesville all vestiges
of
the coast are left behind and the landscape quickly becomes a
mixture
of dairies and chicken houses. We pass by Ichetucknee Springs
State
Park where we want to stop on our way back home and take a tube
trip
down the river. If anyone has done this we would appreciate some
more
information. O'Leno State Park is located a short distance away
and
we would appreciate some info on this State Park also. We are
thinking about stopping overnight at O'Leno on our way back home.

By mid-afternoon we are set up in Payne's Prairie SP and have
called
Bruce Hoffman and old high school friend. Bruce is a prominent
local
attorney in Gainesville. His wife Anthe works for the University of
Florida.

The ride through Payne's Prairie State Park winds around century's
old
live oaks with bright green resurrection fern growing epiphytically on the
massive branches forming a canopy over the road. When we were here in the
winter the resurrection fern was brown due to lack of rain. Now that the
area is receiving almost daily rain the ferns have "resurrected" and
literally radiate.

After a short visit with Bruce and Anthe in their palatial estate we
headed off to dinner at one of "Gatortowns" finer establishments. A good
time was had by all.

We did not see any wildlife in the State Park, which is unusual.

Thursday, August 8, 2002
12 Oaks RV Resort 6300 SR 46 West Sanford, FL. 32771 (407)
323-0880 Site #10

Driving South out of Gainesville we pass through Ocala noted for
beautiful horse ranches and pastureland. Another 40-miles to the
South, around Tavares, we start seeing orange groves and lakes.
This
is northern metropolitan Orlando.

We stop at an RV-Park located in Sanford, 20-miles North of
Orlando.

We have friends living in Oviedo (19-miles southeast of the RV in
Sanford) that own the local Chick Filet franchise so we drove over to his
store to surprise him. Once there we learned that he was visiting his
brother in Pensacola this week. Talk about coincidence! Oh well!
We may catch up with him on our way back home in a week or so.
Instead of surprising James we got the surprise when his
employees
informed us that he was in Pensacola for the week.

Back at the motorhome we make contact with Dale and Cheryl,
friends
living in Orlando that are expecting us. Cheryl wants to come to
Sanford to join us for dinner instead of us driving into Orlando.
Consequently, they visited us in Sanford and we dined at Otter's
Riverside Restaurant on the banks of the St. Johns River in
Sanford.
We had a good time but the food was terrible and the restaurant
was
NOT overlooking the river. Sometimes we hit a home run and other
times we strike out. This was definitely a strike out. The best
thing they served was the sweet ice tea. We talked way too long
especially since Dale had to be at work around 5:30 in the morning.

Joyce and Cheryl are so much alike. They are wild about being
grandparents. They dote on their children. They just plain think
alike. Dale and I were both aircraft electronics technicians in the
Navy back in the late 1960's and have kept in touch all these years.

Friday, August 9, 2002
Land Yacht Harbor; Melbourne, FL.

Joyce started feeling domestic last night and announced that she
was
going to do laundry this morning before heading to Melbourne. I
thought that was a marvelous announcement since, without it, I was
going to have to schedule a shopping trip for skivvies. The domestic
bug must have been powerful because she set the alarm clock to
get her
up and into washing clothes. By 9:30 we were on our way to
Melbourne.
Using our GPS and Street Atlas mapping program Joyce navigated
us
along a series of back roads all the way from Sanford to Land Yacht
Harbor RV-Park in Melbourne. By driving on back roads we are
able to
view the countryside at a leisurely pace.

We spent the afternoon and evening visiting with Joyce's Dad.

Saturday, August 10, 2002
Land Yacht Harbor; Melbourne, FL.

It rained most of the day while we visited with Joyce's Dad.

Sunday, August 11, 2002
Trek mileage starting36, 525
Land Yacht Harbor; Melbourne, FL.

It rained all day again while we visited with Joyce's Dad.

Mike & Joyce Hendrix