In Geronimo's Footsteps

I often thought how enticing it would be to live in the motorhome during the winter in northern climes. How grand it would be to arise to a blanket of snow encompassing the surrounding area as I peer out the front windshield. Such a serene and surreal image this conjures in my mind. Be careful what you wish for. We’re not in a northern area, the panhandle of Florida to be exact. And there is no blanket of snow, pristinely covering things both irritating and pleasing to the eye. What is however, are record low temperatures, freezing water, and winds that make a short jaunt through the park or a saunter on the beach somewhat of an ordeal instead of a pleasant diversion. The past several evenings the mercury had dipped below 20 degrees. I don’t want to sound as if I’m complaining. I’m not. I’m relishing the fact that it will warm up, that spring is on its way, and that I’m getting an awful lot of computer work done as well as preparing many of my photos to go on-line for sale. But as I gaze at the outside thermometer it reads 26 degrees here at 8 a.m. It’s hard to believe this is Florida. But record lows are even reaching areas as far south as Miami. It gives good rise to the inclination of going out and finding a fitness club to start the climb back out of the hole. This idleness has found me filling my cuisine cup to the point of overflow. We did take a drive across the bridge the other day to Navarre Beach located on the Santa Rosa Island. It’s a typical beachfront town located on the gulf, dotting with an array of pastel colored rentals that are adorned in the economy with “For Sale” signs. However, at the western end of the route you encounter the Gulf Islands National Seashore. Curious we headed for the end of the road. No, this is not slow being plowed from the road but sand, displaced by the northerly winds. We drove the 30-some miles to the end of the island, ending up at Fort Pickens. After the War of 1812, the government decided to fortify all of is major ports. Fort Pickens was completed in 1835 and not used much at all, acting mostly as a deterrent to an incoming would-be mauraders. It’s probably most famous for housing Chief Geronimo , the Apache warrior and several of is compadres during the late 1880’s. We decided to just drive around the area as the winds were not in agreement for an afternoon walk. However, I did spy a tall observation tower. Being afraid of heights I had to climb this monster to the top. I often do that. Confront my fears by jumping in to test my mettle. I did get a few good shots of the surrounding area. Tom was the only other soul brave enough to exit the car. So I’ll just show you a brief slideshow of what we saw and you can just imagine being here with us. The days end brought about sharing dinner with the Mulloys and meeting some new RVers which I’ll introduce you to next blog.