If you look at the map, faithful readers may notice that I am back in an area I’ve been before.
There’s Chincoteague and Assateague down there in the South. My last stop of the day was just east of Salisbury, so I figured that I might as well head over to the shore for the night.
I used one of those booking apps and found a hotel that was probably an elegant location back in the day. It was going to be fine for the night. After getting settled in room #2 – the first room they put me in didn’t have functioning air conditioning – I set out in search of dinner.
Just down the road, I found the 45th Street Taphouse Bar & Grill. The big attraction for me was that they had a patio facing the bayside, and I would be able to watch the sunset.
What a lovely evening!
I perused the menu and settled on the Caprese Salad. This is what I had in mind, photo courtesy of The Food Network:
Doesn’t that look refreshing and delicious?
Unfortunately, this is what I was served:
Oh, well… it was edible and it would keep body and soul together. I considered sending it back, but who knows if anything on their menu was better. Besides, I was there for the sunset.
After nibbling on my salad and nursing my water for a long time, the sun finally started going down.
And down…
and down…
sill going…
Just the tiniest sliver left above the horizon.
Finally, it was gone.
And so was I. Back to my room to get rested up for another day on the road.
(Kind of a play of words on the first line of the Air Force Hymn, “Off we go, into the wild blue yonder…)
Anyway, my next campsite on Lake Ontario in Selkirk Shores State Park, just east of Oswego, New York. As I was pulling into Oswego, I decided that I should visit the restroom, as well as pick up some milk.
The workers helped me to locate the restroom. They were friendly, but the sign in the restroom caught my eye.
However, you can’t say they don’t make changing an empty roll easy. They are well-stocked!
I made it to the campground and got registered. The friendly ranger helped me select a good site. As usual, my first criteria was that the site be easy to get into. It wasn’t a pull-through, but there was lots of room to maneuver.
There were a couple loops at the park, but I think this one is the most popular as it is closest to the lake. The sites were quite close to each other. The smoke from the campfires was also pretty intense. I wish I had taken a shot of the stacks of firewood people brought in for their short stays. I’d walk around in the evening, and site after site had their own fires going.
From the edge of the bluff, I noticed the sun setting. I jumped into my truck and headed for the beach. I love watching sunsets from water’s edge.
It did give me pause to look to the left and see the nuclear power plant lit up in the after glow.
When I returned to my campsite, rising in the east was a full moon rising in the east.
One of these days, I am going to get myself a decent camera! I really was lovely.
The next day, I decided to go for a hike. (“Hike” sounds so much more outdoorsy than “stroll”.) The first thing I cam across was a most puzzling sign.
Huh. It didn’t see all that confined to me.
I decided to stroll uh, hike down to the beach. Last night, I noticed that there were rocks on the beach. Time for a little more “catch-and-release rock collecting”!
The trail lead through what they called “old growth forest”.
I came across this sign. I’m not sure, but it might be for the Seaway Trail. However, I checked the website and I didn’t see the symbol. In any event, there is a lot of good information about the trail on the website, which runs from Lake Erie, along to Lake Ontario and then along the Saint Lawrence Seaway to the New York State line at Hogansburg.
There were cabins and other structures dotting the area near the beach that reminded me of the Lincoln Logs we used to play with when we were kids.
I kept walking and got all the way out to the end of the pier. I turned around and looked at the beautiful green back on shore.
The water also reflected the green.
Ah, yes! Time to collect a few rocks.
Or maybe I should collect sticks?
No, I’ll collect rocks. I had to pick judiciously, though. I forgot to bring a bag or some other container to put them in. I had to depend on what I could stuff in my pockets. I filled my pockets and headed back to the trailer for the photo shoot.
Here’s the first group dry
And wet.
The second group of rocks look like they have fossils in them.
You can kind of make out the fossils a little differently when the rocks are wet.
One more group of dry rocks
And here they are wet.
I even managed to find a couple of rocks with holes through them. I added them to my collection. The rest of them were released back into the wild.
After dinner and getting things put away for a travel day in the morning, I headed down to catch one more sunset.
What a calm evening!
And with that, it’s time to leave the Great Lakes.
My next stop will be along the Saint Lawrence Seaway.
After I left Hueco Tanks State Park in El Paso, I climbed up and up and over the Organ Mountains and into New Mexico. Destination: City of Rocks State Park.
I first discovered City of Rocks State Park last year. I was on my way west to help administer the National Assessment of Educational Progress in Tucson.
After spending the night in a Cracker Barrel parking lot in El Paso, I thought that I might spend the night in Deming. I drove through the town, but nothing grabbed my attention. I headed back to I-10 and figured that something would show up.
Just a mile or so down the road, I saw the sign for City of Rocks, and I thought it sounded interesting. I really loved my stay last year. This year, I decided to plan on stopping there. I turned off I-10 and headed north on US 180.
My excitement built as I turned toward the park and saw the rocks ahead of me. Last year, I stayed at a one of the full-hookup sites. I just happened to pull in when someone was pulling out. I thought it would be cool to have one of the sites that were tucked around in the rocks. Well, this year, I got one of those sites!
My site is tucked up in this group of rock.
Of course, with such a cool site, I had to forego hookups. But, I had a tank full of water, plenty of propane and my batteries were charged. Who needs hookups?
This was my view of the sunset out my door. Such splendor!
I had a great time hiking among the rocks.
I met a guy walking toward me and we got to chatting. This is one of his favorite parks. He told me that he was hiking toward the big rock, and he pointed to his destination.
“A big rock?” I asked him.
“On the cliff,” he told me.
I guess that is a big rock. I wished him a good hike and told him to wave to me when he got there.
But, back to my hike through the rocks.
It’s interesting to see the erosion taking place. The rocks lose layers, due to the heating and freezing cycles.
Here is a large flake. It is very tough. I couldn’t rub any bits off of it. When I dropped it on the rocks, it sounded almost like a ceramic tile hitting a floor. It kind of rang.
Of course, the lichens also help break down the rocks.
I found this hueco on the top of the formation. I suppose it would be full of water if there had been any rain.
In spite of a minimal amount of soil and rain, trees grow among the rocks.
Cactuses grow there, too.
Man, I love these rocks!
Sunset is so delightful. The light warms up the rocks.
Heading back to my campsite, I was impressed by the plume of dust kicked up by the truck. It sure is dry in the desert!
The next day, I walked around and just enjoyed looking.
The crows posed nicely for their photo.
I like those yellow fruits on the cactus.
And, look at the impressions on the leaves.
I think this is a yucca. I am fascinated by the spiky leaves.
While strolling about, I met a guy named Rick from New Hampshire. He spends the winter in the southwest in a little camper van. He loves this park, too, and offered to show the petroglyphs to me and another woman who passed by while walking her dog.
Rick and the woman with her dog
If you look at the right side of the rock, you will see a small cross. He said that was called a “Spanish Cross” and was put there by the Spanish explorers who were looking for gold and silver.
This one is Kokopelli, and it is tucked into a small hole. He had to pull a rock out that they keep there to protect it.
The last one was in kind of a cave – a sheltered area where the rocks leaned together.
Now, I don’t know if these are authentic petroglyphs. When I have seen petroglyphs in other places, there have been masses of them. Here, there were only three, and they all seemed to be created by different cultures. But, you never know. And Rick enjoyed showing them to us.
The one downside of my time at City of Rocks is that the water pump in my trailer failed. But, I had several gallons of water with me, so I made do. It’s not a problem when I’m hooked up to city water. My next campground would have water and electricity at the site, so it wouldn’t be a problem. I’d figure out a way to get it fixed.
So, the weather forecast was a bit worrying for the day I needed to move from Gamble Rogers State Park to Ochlockonee State Park. The weather forecasters were predicting lines of severe thunderstorms. I figured that the earlier I left the better it would be. I was looking at a five hour drive.
I got hitched up and ready to go by 9:00. It hadn’t started to rain yet. However, by the time I got to St. Augustine, about 20 miles away, it was raining so hard that I couldn’t see. It was almost as bad as a whiteout. I turned on my flashers and slowed down – way, way down. I think I was going about 30 miles an hour for a miles or so. That was exciting.
It rained off and on for an hour or so. Then it stopped raining and finally they clouds cleared and the sky was a bright blue.
Around 1:00, I stopped to use the bathroom at a rest stop. Then I went back to the trailer to make a sandwich. I sat down to eat it and wondered why the road noise was so loud. Then I noticed that one of the windows was missing!
I wish I could blame it on someone else, but the fact of the matter is that it is all my fault. It had been so cold and inclement that I couldn’t remember the last time I had opened the windows. I did give a cursory glance and when I saw that the window on the right was latched, I assumed that they were all latched.
You know what happens when you assume. This time I made an ass out of me. Would that be assime?
Well, I spent some time googling Airstream repair shops. It looked like my best bet was about an hour and a half back down the road. I called and left messages on a couple of numbers. I headed back but I didn’t talk to anyone until I was about half an hour away. At that point, I said that I’d prefer to come and have them look at what I needed and then make a plan. After all, I can always change and cancel campground reservations, if it take a while to get parts.
I pulled in to JD Sanders RV Center and they helped me immediately. A wonderful man measured the window and identified the part that was needed. Unfortunately, they didn’t have the part, but he found some RV Centers that would be able to help me. I called, and they had the window. They put my name on the “glass and sash” and they will put it on next week.
Then, the wonderful man at JD Sanders had some workers cover the window with plastic.
I asked them what I owed them for the job, and they just waved it off. The gave me a calendar from the company and wished me safe travels.
There are such good people in the world! Anytime I’ve had a problem, there have always been there to help me.
The next thing I had to do was get gas.
Boy, did I need gas! The gas tank light was on, but the gauge was still a hair above empty. I thought I had a 30 gallon tank. I must have been running on fumes!
By that time, it was too late to make it to Ochlockonee River State Park, so I called to let them know I wouldn’t be arriving until the next day. I told them that if anyone needed a spot for the night, let them have it.
But where to sleep tonight?
Yep! Cracker Barrel. A good place to sleep and a hot breakfast in the morning.
And then on to Ochlockonee River State Park.
Now, how would you pronounce Ochlockonee? I struggled with it, and I asked several people before I finally mastered it. It sounds like “oh CLOCK uh nee” to my ear.
The campsite was beautiful. This is the view from my trailer toward the river. The first night there, I saw a lovely sunset over the river.
The next day, I went on a little walk-about.
The first interesting thing I saw was this collection of shells off to the side of a path. I wondered what this might be. I figured an animal – or group of animals – must have left them there. I couldn’t imagine any reason for humans to have left them there. I couldn’t imagine where they could have come from, either.
I got down to the edge of the river and I saw some shells in the water. Riddle solved.
I pulled one of the shells out and took a photo. If you don’t have a photo, then it didn’t happen, right?
Once again, the brown water. This must be a Florida thing. Also, if you look carefully, you can see the tide line in the sand. It rained fiercely overnight. The rough looking sand is stippled by the rain. Tide must have been high when it was raining, so that the water protected the sand near the river from getting marked.
I decided to enjoy the day and take a stroll about the park. They map they gave me when I checked in showed several paths and roads.
I thought this was a novel way to have a shower to get the cleaned up after boating or maybe falling in the river. There isn’t any swimming right now, but at these temperatures, I can’t imagine anyone wanting to go swimming.
This road topped with pine straw was just calling my name, so I decided to see where it went.
I
I walked through trees and plants that shifted subtly. More saw palmetto.
Less saw palmetto.
It was so quiet. I stopped several times to listen. I heard birds. It took me a while to see them; they were so small and fast. I think they might have been some sort of nuthatch. They would light on the trunks of the trees and zip around quickly from tree to tree. I imagine they were looking under the bark for insects. As I stood there, flakes of bark floated down from where they were.
Here is a close up of a pine that I took back at my camp site. You can see how the bark is layered and able to flake off.
The next marvel I came across was a field of grass with the most amazing seed heads.
They looked different depending on how the light was hitting them.
And what is behind them.
And how close you got to them.
The seeds were amazing!
Doesn’t take much to entertain me, does it?
A little further down the road, I came across a body of water labeled as Reflection Pond. I thought it was an apt name. There was a lovely little bench on a dock and I sat and enjoyed the quite and calm.
The road continued and I kept my eyes peeled for deer. When I checked in at the campground, they told me that they had rare piebald deer in the park. The picture they gave me on the xerox copy brochure made me think they would look like this.
I did find a deer, but I think it was the ordinary brown kind.
Nevertheless, it was fun to find one and to actually be able to take a shot, even if it is a little grainy.
Fire is a part of the life of a forest. You can see charred snags sticking up here and there around the forest.
As one species dies, others take their places. The oak is small and will burn off the next time a fire passes through.
This tree was interesting. Right next to it was a display about the turpentine industry and how turpentine was harvested. Even though it was taking place years ago, I assume that this is one of the trees that was used. They would cut vee shaped grooves in the tree and gather the sap.
Here is a photo from 1937. The marks made on the trunk were called “cats faces.” They would collect the resin and distill it to create pitch. The pitch was used to caulk holes in wooden boats and to coat rigging to help it last longer. From what I have read, turpentine is a by-product of producing pitch.
I finally got back to my campsite two hours after I left. That was quite a stroll!
There were all sorts of rigs and campers in the park. Tents, A-line pop ups, vans, fifth-wheels with slides, but this was the first time I saw a hammock camper.
Florida’s parks have sites that are equipped with poles for hanging hammocks. This park has only one site – and it was right across from my site.
That night, I decided to head over to the Gulf of Mexico to catch the sunset. I found a place to pull off the road just in time!
The next day, it was time to move on. Panama City, here I come!
I got down to the beach for another stroll. This time, the beach warning flag was finally yellow, which is medium hazard. It was on red, or high hazard, on my other visits. It was still too cold to think about getting in the water. In fact, I have to say that I was definitely thinking about staying OUT of the water.
According to the gentleman in the picture, the fish weren’t biting. I’ll bet they were too cold to be interested.
The birds were looking about for their dinners, and I think they were not finding much to eat, either.
This one was looking mostly on shore.
This one was in the surf, but he didn’t seem to be finding much, either.
This guy was just standing there.
Low tide
The tide seemed to approaching its lowest ebb. The water was swirling around the sand ridges just off shore. I also saw all the spots on the beach where the fisherman had been moving down the beach closer to the water as the tide went out.
High Tide Line
The high tide lines were clearly visible up near the dunes.
One thing that I found curious was the fact that there are different colors of sand on the same beach. I wish I understood it. I guess I’ll just have to put it on the list of things to find out about at a later date.
Back at the camp site, I got to watch some nice sunsets.
