We had turned off the generator the previous evening as it was cooling off nicely, and that meant we were on battery power using our ceiling fan. We had promised Mike and Jan that we normally get up around 5am since that’s about when the dogs start getting restless and need to be taken on their morning constitutional.
The problem was that I had forgotten that we had crossed into the Eastern time zone shortly before we had arrived here from Montgomery. That meant my 5am was their 6am. When I went out to walk the dogs, I saw Jan on her balcony straining to see if we were still alive. I walked up to the house and confessed that I messed up on the time zone.
We had wanted to see Mike before he left for work, and while he was taking a shower Jan and I had some coffee and talked a bit, and the dogs rejoined their new friends. In a few minutes Mike came out, looking spiffy all dressed up like a doctor. On his way to work, Mike drove down to the trailer so he could say good-bye to Marianne, who was now also finally getting up. She, too, totally forgot about the time zone change.
We rendezvoused at the house drinking more coffee, and when the light was right, I decided to take a few more photos of where we were. Marianne got dressed, and then went with Jan to her art shack where she was gracious enough to let us each pick out a batik to take home. Marianne chose a butterfly motif, and I a fish. Both are beautiful and colorful and will look great once they’re stretched and mounted in our California home.
Jan had a previous card game engagement in town and had to leave shortly after 11am, and we got ourselves going about noon to head to Wakulla Springs and the Gulf Coast on the Florida panhandle just south of Tallahassee. Mike and Jan gave us a bunch of “must sees” on our way toward the Keys.
Almost as soon as we crossed the Florida border, trees were beginning to be draped in Spanish moss, evoking a Southern charm look. Our GPS’s took us on a highway that took us right smack through the middle of Tallahassee, the capital of Florida. And as can occasionally happen, the GPS made us turn on a street that we had no business being on with our trailer. Fortunately I was able to make an illegal left turn from a one way right turn lane that would have made us drive into a state government parking lot complete with a guard shack.
When we got out of that mess we made it to Panacea, Florida and the Holiday Campground right at the foot of the bridge that crosses Ochlockonee Bay at the Gulf of Mexico. We were fortunate to find an open campsite since this was Memorial Day weekend, but the news was filled with stories of people cancelling their reservations to the Gulf because of the tragic BP oil spill that was still gushing after six weeks.
For dinner we went to Angelo & Sons Restaurant, a seafood restaurant that Mike and Jan had suggested was one of the best ever. And we just had to walk under the bridge to get there. The seafood lovers we are, we split a shrimp cocktail, and for dinner Marianne had a house salad and I had a steak sandwich! We followed up by sharing a piece of key lime pie.
After dinner, I enjoyed a cigar in my recliner watching life go by in the glow of the sunset.
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