Six Months on the Road Already?

Sebastian, FL
Sebastian Inlet SP

As we finish up the year and our first 6 months on the road full time, I'm amazed how quickly it went and how easy we fit in to this lifestyle.  We left Placerville, CA on June 28 and have traveled about 10,000 miles through 28 states.  20 of those we camped in.  We've stayed mostly at State Parks, County Parks, a couple KOAs and some Federal Parks. We spent about $25 on average.  We boon/moochdocked about 30 days.  Longest stays were 3 weeks.  Most of the time that included just water & electric, a few times with sewer and some times with nothing.  Hottest temp was 104 in Salt Lake City in July, coldest was in Northern New Hampshire at 19 in October. We are finishing up our time in Florida and will be heading back to CA for the month of May to visit our kids and family driving along the gulf states.  Camping was very expensive in Florida and as we travel back west, we expect our camping fees to drop a lot.  There will be more boondocking which will take that down even more.  The truck and trailer have been awesome!  No problems or surprises with either.  Wouldn't change a thing!

Things we've been surprised about or learned so far:

- Internet has been surprisingly great.  Only once, in Yellowstone, was the internet tricky. (Thank you Technomadia for the Coverage App)

- Avoiding low bridges, low overpasses and toll roads hasn't been that difficult.

- Steve has become a real pro at backing into some very tight spots.

- How well we work together navigating/driving.

- How easy it is to stay social on the road.  We've met great people and been able to visit family and friends that live far away.

- Planning around different weather in different parts of the country hasn't been that hard (so far).

- How much we love free camping (boondocking).

- How much work keeping up a blog can be ;-)

And the most important:

- How this lifestyle suits us perfectly! (except missing our kids and family)

- Hurley (the dog) has adjusted very well and loves it too!


Sebastian Inlet, FL
Sebastian Inlet State Park

We weren't in Sebastian Inlet for very long, but we had a nice time kayaking.  Before we headed out we took Hurley for a long walk.  He seemed very interested in the Horseshoe crab shells that were near the beach.

 

Time to get out on the water. 

 

Oh no, it's not a shark is it?  Nope, it's a dolphin!  There was a small group of them swimming around in the harbor at the campground.  It was very hard to get a good picture of them.  We never did get one of their faces.



At one point they came pretty close.  About 30 ft away.

The dolphins didn't care about us.  They mostly hung with the pelicans.  We stayed back from them.  It was very cool to watch them and we were happy that they didn't mind we were there.

 

There was a momma with its young following right behind.



A view of the harbor from our back window.

We also drove around the area and I liked this "albino" palm.  I haven't seen one like this before.  There was a guy with several peacocks next door.  Not sure what the neighbors think about it. 

 

Enjoyed the nice Christmas lights and decorations nearby.

 

We had a nice Christmas dinner at the Sand Bar.  We have to admit that as nice as the place was and the food was great, we really missed spending it with our kids.  First time in 27 years we weren't together.  A raccoon did stop by outside our window to try to cheer us up. (didn't get a photo though).

Looking forward to more great times!!

St. Augustine, FL - Lighthouse, Beaches & Pizza

St. Augustine, FL
Anastasia State Park

Beautiful Florida beaches that go on forever!

 

The beach the runs along St. Augustine is beautiful.  You can walk for miles.

 

Our campsite at Anastasia State Park, # 137.  It's a nice park, but getting a 40' 5er in can be tricky.  Many of the loops don't allow larger rigs.  For good reason.  Sites are small, roads are narrow, turns sharp and many low hanging branches.  Very nice though.  $28 for W&E.  They did have one of the better dump stations.  Placed where it should be, 3 stations, nice and big.  Great kayaking and beach access.  Internet was pretty good.

You are right next to town where you can go to the weekly farmers market.  Very large with lots of fresh fruit, veggies, fish and unique homemade crafts.

 

 

 

The St. Augustine Lighthouse is an active lighthouse built in 1874.  It has a great museum across from it and a wonderful restoration project.  It was just beautiful all decorated for Christmas.

227 Steps up!

 

Great 360 degree views from the top of the harbor, beach & town.

The working lens at the top.

 

 

This gal was painting a ship replica with the tiniest brush.

 

The view from the upstairs balcony of the museum looking down at the huge, twisted oaks covered in ferns.  Just beautiful.  They are called Resurrection ferns.  They come back each year with the rains.

 

 

 

We walked to the pier and watched everyone fishing.  There was a gal who had a shark on, but if fell off before I could get a picture.  Here's a pic below of some other type of fish.

 

They have a wonderful Farmers Market just outside the campground each week.  We picked up lots of great fresh veggies, fruit and some wonderful swordfish steaks.  Above is a picture we made with a spinach/arugula salad with blueberries, baby red potatoes, fried noodles, red onion, sunflower seeds and the swordfish grilled after being marinated in fresh lemon and limes and the other half in Paula Dean Rub.  It was DELICIOUS!!  All from the farmers market!  The dressing was Meyer Lemon Olive Oil with a squeeze of the lemons and limes.

 

We took a kayak out on the harbor behind the campground.  We tried to find our way through the grasses, but could not so we had to back paddle our way back out.

 

Some of the wild life amongst the grasses.

The san dunes between the harbor and the ocean.

Everyone having a great time in the sun.  Paddle boarding and boating.

This bi-plane was flying back and forth.

 

We tried to get in to the Castle but there was so much traffic and so many people right after Christmas, that we decided to pass.  The line was crazy and parking was impossible to find.

Beach Time!

 

Minions & Turtles. 

 

Surfing and hole digging.  Everyone was out and enjoying the day.



The beach was full of tiny shells everywhere.

 

 

Steve had a little hitchhiker.  A black swallow tail butterfly of some sort?

The fog was starting to roll in.

Walking the other way towards the pier, you could see the streaks of reddish orange areas where the shells are.

 

 

 

 

 

These folks were having a good time fishing.

 

Remember drizzling the sand to make cool shapes?

 

 

 

Going, going...

 

GONE

 

Time for some of the best pizza!  A meat style, and my favorite, several different types of mushroom on a garlic aioli sauce with a drizzle of truffle oil.  Best Pizza!