Trying to Escape Winter

I broke my rule of 350 the other day. That’s the guideline we try to use in traveling; to be off the road by 350 miles or 3:50 in the afternoon, whichever comes first. But since we got a late start out of Tampa, I wanted to make it at least halfway to Navarre. So by dark we pulled into a Walmart just outside of Tallahassee for the evening. Deana and Tom had followed us enroute and took a spot adjacent to us. In fact, three other RVs there made it look like a mini dealership. The local TV stations were informing us that this would be a record low for Florida in the past 50 years. At 19 degrees it was. And the next morning we woke up to frosted vehicles. Tom’s battery had gone down so low in the evening that his heater stopped working. Deana had to go out after midnight and start the truck to get the generator going to boost the battery. Thank goodness for our onboard genset and inverter. Morning brought some frigid weather to the panhandle but the skies were sunny and clear. The remaining leg of the trip to Navarre was only interrupted for fuel and food. We introduced Tom and Deana to a Waffle House as they don’t exist in the Dakotas. We pulled into Emerald Beach RV Park around noon and started with the usual check-in procedures. Our site wasn’t quite large enough for the trailer and truck to sit without taking up the outside living space so I walked to the office to make a change. After several suggestions on paper the manager suggested we take a golf cart around the park, to locate available sites and she allowed us to pick our own. This is what we came up with. Not a bad spot although we had to make an adjustment as we previously booked a site for month, these beachfront sites were only available week by week. That set well with me as I’m only going to need a week here. I’ll be wanting to move and weave my way back into the central lowlands of Florida in search of the dense thickets of palms and ferns, wooded trails, armadillos and gators. However, you can’t beat this view from the rear of the motorhome. We’re close enough to stand on our site and spit onto the beach.As you can see, the evening was bringing darkening clouds which eventually opened and pelted us all with a cold winter rain. After a re-stocking excursion at the local Walmart, we all piled in the truck to search out a local Applebee’s. The Garmin led us right to it, although it has been replaced by a bank. I never thought a franchise restaurant like that would go under but the Florida economy is one of the hardest hit in the nation. But Robin spied a Logan’s Ribhouse not far away and we gave that a try. A pleasant waiter made the meal much better than it really was. I’ll not recommend going there again. Tired and weary, we capped off the night watching the BCS national championship game along with Robin and some Crown Royal. This morning brought again sunny skies and very cool temps. I know I shouldn’t sound complaining as you, my northern brethren shovel daily the layers of snow while braving sub zero temperatures. But this is Florida. We escaped to the “old Confederacy” to rid ourselves of cold noses and numb toes. So it looks like today I’ll go out in search of a local fitness club. Driving and eating, driving and eating is starting to wreak havoc again on the waistline.