Cape San Blas:2005-2008
- Sun 29th March 2009, 1:22 pm
THE ROAD GOES FOREVER ON…..
OUR JOURNEYS TOGETHER CONTINUE.
VACATION 2005 FLORIDA….THE YEAR OF HURRICANE DENNIS
July 9, Saturday, 7:30 a.m., Home
This is the year that Hurricane Dennis is headed for the Gulf Coast at the same time we are headed down. We were due at Cape San Blas (since Hurricane Ivan destroyed Perdido Key last year, we had to find another vacation spot) but won’t be allowed there until the hurricane situation is settled-so we are going to Jacksonville-to a Marriott Resort Hotel at Sawgrass and wait it out. As soon as we get the all clear we will go over to Cape San Blas. Right now, Hurricane Dennis has just cleared Cuba with expected U.S. landfall tomorrow afternoon-evening. I don’t expect to get to Cape San Blas until Monday at the earliest. Ben and Amanda are driving their car and Celia, Carrie, Sam and I will be in Bobbie’s van. This is the year I am recovering from the broken foot and surgery. I still limp and use a cane occasionally. I still prop it up at night to help keep the swelling down. I have been off the crutches for two weeks or so.
Carrie’s fiancé, Tim McElroy, spent the night with us and left about 5:30 a.m. to go back to Athens to play softball. He and Carrie are due to be married on October 1. We don’t even think about future vacations at this point. We just enjoy the moment. Ben and Amanda will be leaving early Friday morning to come back home as Amanda has to be at Georgia State University for orientation as she begins her Master’s Degree program.
This hurricane is the largest-earliest hurricane on record. It was a Category 4 before it hit Cuba. There has never been one hit this early in July. We hope to be on the road at 9:00 am. Ben and Amanda spent the night here so we could all leave together.
I am also the interim minister at New Life Christian Church in Douglasville, a large church of 200-300. The former minister, Mac Creggar, is preaching for me tomorrow.
8:06 a.m.
As Ben packs and loads the vehicles, I am leaving to drive the dogs to Mom’s and Dad’s.
9:00 a.m.
Leaving Mom’s and Dad’s-dogs left off. Already the gang is talking about stopping for to eat. I can tell already that we are going to turn this trip into an all day affair. Carrie has complained about the air, the food, Sam’s clothes-we should dump her into Ben’s car! (sorry Carrie…just how I felt at the moment..I was on pain medication you know.) But it’s a beautiful morning for a drive.
9:06 a.m.
An all-time record-6 minutes and we’re stopping at Chic-Fil-A at Camp Creek Parkway. Red light after red light.
9:25 a.m.
Now everybody is filled up and emptied out. Our next stop will be gas somewhere down the road.
9:45 a.m.
We are on I-75 South headed for Macon. There’s the Jonesboro-Stockbridge exit.
10:44 a.m.
I-16 headed toward Savannah & I-95 which will take us to Jacksonville. The further east we go the better the weather should be. Also I wonder how crowded I-10 will be with people evacuating the coastal areas. I haven’t been this way in years. Still a beautiful day. I-16 left lane split-I-75 to the right. Ocmulgee River-swollen and orange. Kind of like my foot after surgery. Savannah 163 miles-that’s almost 3 hours. We should be in Savannah by 2:00 p.m.
11:16 a.m.
Stopped for gas. $20.00 gas and an extended wait on the bathroom. Gas was $2.34 a gallon. It has clouded up. Actually we haven’t been on the road that long. Again, we have the walkie talkies in the cars with us. There’s some rain drops! “Hurricane Dennis is upon us,” Ben quips over the walkie talkie.
12:50 p.m.
Cloudy again as we are about 25 miles out from I-95 where we will turn south and hopefully find some place to eat. Amanda has not eaten today. Now a little rain. We are making good time after all. We are listening to James Taylor music as we roll. Ben and Amanda continue to follow. Sam is sitting behind Celia-engrossed in a hand held video game. Sam is 20 years old now. Carrie has the “back-back”. She is 22 and Ben who was so young when we first started these journeys is 24. Sunshine again. “Yellow Alert!” Carrie needs a bathroom break. I got on the walkie talkie and called “Red Alert,” but Sam got on and said “Change that to Yellow Alert and be glad its not a brown alert.” But on I-16 stops are few and far between.
12:56 p.m.
Stopping somewhere at another BP so Carrie can go unload some Mellow Yellow.
1:05 p.m.
On the road again. Celia sees the first palm tree but Ben says they don’t count until Florida. Lots of road work sings but little road work. Looks like rain ahead. Ogeechee River. “Tut-tut…looks like rain,” Ben calls.
1:12 p.m.
Looks like a downpour ahead. The one spot in the sky it looks so bad and it’s the one spot this road is taking us into. I expect us to be in and out of rain the rest of the day. After the hurricane passes weather should be pristine. Raining now. Big Drops. Wind has picked up. Wall of water. Lightning blast. Barely see. Thunder overhead. Can’t see. Death imminent. We’ve pulled off and it’s calmed down. It was tough for a while back there. Back on the highway at 1:24 p.m. I hope there’s no wrecks ahead due to the rain. If that was Hurricane Dennis, his reach has grown long. I-95 exit 1 mile.
1:27 p.m.
I-95 South. The road is no better-just more lanes and hopefully places to eat. That was a really hard rain back there that had people pulling over – lots of people.
2:05 p.m.
$21.48 Lunch at Hardee’s with the nastiest bathroom I have seen – it’s where diseases begin. 74 degrees. Hardee’s was packed when we went in – people dodging the rain. About 2 hours out of Jacksonville and suddenly the trip has slowed to a crawl. There’s the Golden Rule Motel. Jacksonville 122 miles. That’s always a distressing sign that says it’s 122 miles yet to go.
2:22 p.m.
This is all new territory to me as we cruise down I-95 south. Vacationers headed south wanting to get vacation started and Floridians headed north to escape the hurricane. Roadwork signs and another rain shower and the left lane ends. A sure recipe for trouble. And now the right shoulder disappears. And of course, a lane shift ½ mile.
2:41 p.m.
Traffic headed north is racked, packed and stacked as an “auto flamboux ” was in progress- now nothing but smoke and burned out car.
3:04 p.m.
Brunswick/Golden Isles Parkway 1 mile. The traffic maybe heavy on the other side, too, because it is the end of July 4th week and all these folks are headed home from vacation.
It is bumper to bumper over on the north bound side. Daytona traffic I guess. It seems so much later that it is.
3:38 p.m.
FLORIDA! Much celebration over the walkie-talkies.
8:03 p.m.
Sawgrass in Jacksonville. We had to wait to get our rooms so Celia and Carrie fussed until they gave us parking free. So we have been in our rooms and the others went swimming while I stayed in the room and watched Gettysburg.
It is a beautiful place. A resort. No rain but overcast and windy. Cape San Blas has been by rainstorms today. Now we are trying to find some place to eat. We still haven’t seen the ocean-you have to catch a shuttle from the hotel to it. We need gas n the van and food. Boston Market! We love it.
8:43 p.m.
Boston Market. $52 for supper for the 6 of us, but it was good and beat a hamburger joint.
9:08 p.m.
After a stop at Books-a-Million, we are now at a gas station paying $2.34 a gallon. Terrible. The oil speculators are making a killing. ($25.02, 10.5 gallons). Being over here is expensive and it will be Tuesday before we see Cape San Blas I’m thinking.
July 10, Sunday, 12:55 p.m. 84 degrees
Jacksonville Beach-wow are the waves rough as we look for a place to eat. We finally feel the hurricane winds that we can’t feel at the hotel. There’s Golden Arches-McDonalds-yeah. We sat in the hot tub and did the pool thing this morning.
1:28 p.m.
You can always count on McD’s. $25 for lunch. We want to get to the hotel beach this afternoon but it is raining at the moment. We are staying at Ponte Vedra Beach and rode up to Jacksonville Beach for lunch. The hurricane is hitting near Pensacola early this afternoon. We are talking about going to San Blas and Celia said “Were Bi-coastal”.
Early this morning Celia and I were up and I got a Starbucks coffee from the hotel Starbucks, got a complimentary paper and sat and enjoyed the morning as Celia and I talked and laughed. Last night, Celia and I and Carrie were in one room and Sam stayed with Ben and Amanda as they watched “Spiderman II” until late. So we are having a good time and I’m stressing that this is vacation, too, and we are not waiting until we get to Cape San Blas.
6:47 p.m.
Hurricane Dennis came ashore between Pensacola and Navarre at 4:00 p.m. Now it is moving northward-so maybe we can get to San Blas early Tuesday. This afternoon we went over to the Cabana Club-the Marriott’s beach front place. We took the shuttle over. The wind and waves were wild! A tremendous rain storm came in as we were there-raining so hard the life guard made everybody get out of the pool because he couldn’t see the bottom. It poured and the wind blew. It was like the hurricane came ashore right there! We rode back on the shuttle with a family from Gainsville, Ga. Now we are going to Chili’s for supper.
Sawgrass is a nice resort hotel with weddings and receptions and business meetings. So today we’ve done the hot-tub pool, the Cabana Club pool, and walked on the beach and had time to relax and read this afternoon. Now we are headed to Chili’s for supper. All this family does is eat! So it has been a good day despite the challenging weather.
7:53 p.m.
Chili’s for supper. $76.41 w/tip. We are going to have a party in Ben and Amanda’s room watching some Saturday Night Live videos. Conversation flowed like water at supper and everyone was in a great humor and the food and service were good. I like it when we have good, fun conversation.
July 11, Monday, 12:51 p.m.
Headed for McD’s, one we found near here. I didn’t want to pay the $11 for hamburgers by the pool. 5” of rain in Atlanta and flooding. Today is sunny and hot! We had a great morning by the pool in the sun. Now it is Florida hot and muggy. 94 degrees. That’s what I’m talking about. Celia just talked to her mother and everything is okay-some sun there even. Maybe the hurricane threat is over.
$25.23 Lunch at McD’s. That would have been $70 by the pool. We always try to keep out of the mid day sun.
6:35 p.m.
After a wonderfully hot and beautiful day, we had a storm roll in around 5:00 p.m. It has moved on so out to supper we go. Tomorrow morning we leave for Cape San Blas.
7:47 p.m.
$64.71 at Appleby’s. There was an elderly gentleman sitting behind us-a World War II veteran. He had cancer. We heard him telling the waiter. Ben and Amanda picked up the tab. Raining but clearing. He is 86 years old. The waiter, who looked like Dr. Moffatt from ACC, took time to listen to him.
July 12, Tuesday, 9:00 a.m.
Leaving exactly on time. It cost about $1000 for 2 rooms for 3 nights (including tax and the Starbucks tab of course).
Stopping to fill up with gas. $2.32 gallon/gas. The pictures in the paper this morning from Pensacola showed people lined up for gas. Our directions from the internet show a 5 hour drive ahead of us? $20.83 for gas for us and $19.00 for Ben.
10:00 am
I-10 and have been on it for a while. It’s just a 4 lane here. 2 on each side. I am trying to map a course to Cape San Blas.
I have never been in this part of the state on the road. I enjoy being in areas we’ve never seen before. Lake City 32 miles. Speed limit 70mph.
10:40 am
Tallahassee 56 miles. Less than an hour away. That’s where we get off I-10.
11:28 am
Tallahasse 39 miles
11:58am
Exit to US 90 West. I-10 was a great ride. Now the ride will slow down. Looking for US-319. I don’t remember having been in Tallahassee. So it’s 3 hours from Jacksonville to Tallahassee.
12:24 p.m.
There was a Burger King there but we couldn’t get to it with road construction-so we travel on. A bit frustrating back there. We all want to stop and eat but can’t find a place. Nothing out here. I feel like we are losing a day traveling and Ben and Amanda have to leave early Friday-so they will only have 2 full days at the condo. At least we stayed 3 nights in a nice resort. This is a “different vacation”. I don’t know we’ve ever driven this long or for without somebody needing a bathroom break.
12:54 p.m.
Crawfordville McDonalds $24.00. Now to head for the coast. We won’t get there much earlier than the 3:00 p.m. check-in.
1:44 p.m.
Lanark Village- Lots of hurricane damage here. Lots of trash on the roadside-all this must have been under water. Flotsam and Jetsam.
Detour onto a dirt road. So dusty and sandy we can barely see. Have no idea where we are going. Road was closed. No idea what to do. All we can do is follow the road. At least we are moving.
1:56 p.m.
Back to civilization at Carabelle. Heading in right direction anyway.
2:04 p.m.
Being led through the wilderness by a bunch of 12 year olds on 4 wheelers-another detour. We had to ask for directions. This is crazy. “God sent us angels on 4 wheelers,” Carrie said. You wouldn’t believe where we are. The kids promised us 2 minivans had already made it through. At least some homes. That was a pig trail through the field. Literally. We never would have found it without those kids.
Praise the Lord! He brought us here safely. We are now headed to the beach to salvage the remains of this day.
Late afternoon:
We checked in, moved in, changed into our trunks, and hit the beach. A beautiful, glorious, sun burning day. At the beach, which is over 100 yards across the dune, we saw dolphins up really close. A helicopter flew over. I found, well the kids found, a dead fish and I picked it up and other stepped into a little hole and hurt my bad foot but am okay.
Then we came back and set by the pool. The drive across East Point and Carabelle was scary. I would not want to do that again. Now the van keys are lost, but Ben has the spare. I lost my room key yesterday and found it in my shoe.
Later:
My foot throbs-something I haven’t really had a lot of problem with since the surgery-Everyone has cleaned up and we are headed out to find food-groceries etc. We have no idea where to go as it is so desolate around here. The unit is beautiful and large and will serve us well.
Even Later:
We had supper ($40.04) at a little hole in the wall place called “The Beach Comber” just up the road. Ben and Sam left walking back and have yet to arrive. Celia and Carrie are now headed to town to find the Piggly-Wiggly in Port St. Joe to buy groceries. The cell phones don’t work (no tower) so if they had a problem there would no way to contact us. My poor foot had had enough adventure for one day.
July 13, Wednesday, just after sunrise
Celia and I walked the lonely, deserted beach this morning-finding a small sea turtle-not a hatchling, but small-and saw him swim away after crawling into the surf. Ben joined us a little later.
Yesterday when coming back over the walkway we encountered a little brown snake on the walk. No cable TV or satellite working so we are cut off from the outside world except for the phone (which Carrie is using to keep in contact with Tim)
Early Afternoon:
A beautiful day- I think I want to ride around and see the place.
Late Afternoon:
On our ride around we found an ice cream place- “Cone Heads” and enjoyed that and may go back for supper.
July 13 Wednesday Late Afternoon:
We got back and met Ben and Amanda on the beach and spent literally hours sitting in the edge of the calm surf talking and laughing and enjoying being with each other. Another blessing of God. We did talk to a guy at the pool who told us that the American League won the All-Star Game 8-6. The TV cable is still out-cell phones don’t work-no newspaper (not a single luxury), but we are enjoying it.
Sundown:
I am sitting here on the big veranda overlooking the now quiet pool and further out, the gulf. We had a great meal-we went into Port St. Joe and ate at the Dockside Café, a little hole in the wall by the marina. The food was great. I had a “grouper-fingers” basket. Sure it was over $60.00 but we enjoyed it. To top it off, the lady that runs it had just taken a chocolate cake out of the oven and the waitress said they always give 1 piece away free-and we got that piece, still warm from the oven- a 3 chocolate cake. It was another memorable meal. We intended to eat at Burger King, but Celia mentioned she and Carrie had seen this place the night before-so we sent Amanda and Carrie in to check the menu-and it looked okay-so in we went.
While there, the news came on about the road being out that we had been on yesterday-and it showed where we had been and said they will have it repaired in 14 days-that will take an engineering miracle.
So today has been a long, slow, sunny, enjoyable, great day at the beach-but the day Ben and Amanda must leave us rushes on. They have to leave pre-dawn Friday-but I may try to talk them into leaving early evening tomorrow.
This will seem a short vacation, but Tuesday was the day we will remember forever.
July 14 Just after Sunup beach walk Thursday:
Ben beat Celia and I to the beach and was there for sun-up. Another beautiful day on the Cape has dawned. We had a night-time swim last night but still no crab hunt or run-down. Things I marvel at because Sam has been the Keeper of Things traditional-of course “Away from the things of Sam” has been a motto.
Lunch time and more sunshine. We all spent the morning by the pool. Sam brought his “torpedo” and we played with it in the pool. I got some lonely kid to play, too, whose mother was too busy laying in the sun to give him any attention. The cable is back on.
Late afternoon:
Sun still out. We ate lunch here after a morning at the pool. After lunch we did the beach and took a family photo. Then we hit the pool again. Now we are packing stuff to send back to Atlanta with Ben and Amanda. She has to be at Georgia State tomorrow at noon so rather than have them leave at 4:00 a.m. we are sending them off this evening so they will have time tomorrow. Celia is sad and will cry but we have had a great time together as a family..another bonus year that most families don’t have.
The condo people called to verify when we got here and when we are leaving and to check on the pool. They said we have the only functional pool on the Cape. God really blesses us so big! The weather has been perfect here and water beautiful. We haven’t crab hunted or played run-down-the first time in years. We haven’t done that but it has been a different vacation in many ways. On the beach we haven’t had to fight beach rental umbrellas or those silly tents people set up. We’ve had the beach to ourselves and in fact, there was no one to shoot our family photo so we did it with our timer from the tripod. Now we send Ben and Amanda home with us to follow early Saturday.
Early Evening: The Breaking of the Fellowship
We got Ben and Amanda on the road after supper at Burger King for $21.00. We sent them with a Florida map, an Alabama map and my Travelogue from years past so they can tell how far it is between towns. We are sad to see them go as we really enjoy their company. They should be home around midnight. We still have another full day here. Tonight we are chillin here in the unit. The Braves play tonight so we are back to the things of Sam.
July 15, Friday After Sunrise
Ben and Amanda left around 5:30 and got home at 11:00 p.m. with no trouble. That was a 5 ½ hour ride, so we can expect 6 ½ going home tomorrow. I am on the veranda-no beach walking this morning-giving my foot a rest. Sam and I watched the Braves on TV last night as they lost to the Mets. Carrie and Celia went to the pool and swam and read. After a bite to eat, I will head to the pool to read on this cool morning or maybe jus sit there.
After supper:
We have found so many big shells! We went to the beach this afternoon and found 5 or 6. We ate supper again at the Dockside Café…$38.51. It is at the Marina. I enjoy it. We also had ice cream again at Cone Heads.
But the world has gone on without us back home. Jimmy Roden has been in the hospital all week and had surgery today. They took 6” of infection out of somewhere.
Tragically, the former associate minister at New Life Christian Church lost his 9 year old daughter under “Strange” circumstances. She was found strangled (accidentally or otherwise is not known) in the family van. It happened Wednesday night. It has torn the church up from what I heard today when I called to check in-so we will be going home to attend the funeral of a child. It almost makes me feel guilty that we are here in Paradise and folks are suffering back home. It has been a nice vacation-different than others-but nice-but now it is time to go home. We will start early tomorrow.
Late night:
We’ve taken a load to the van so hopefully we can get a really early start in the morning. I’ve reached the point where I’m ready to be on the road.
July 16 Saturday, 5:30 a.m.
Celia and I are up and finishing packing. I’m ready to roll. Time to get Carrie and Sam up.
6:08 a.m.
Leaving the condo and now dropping off keys. Mosquitoes are terrible.
6:20 a.m.
Stopping in Port St. Joe to fill up w/gas. There’s a few people stirring. We will turn right onto Hwy 71 right up here by the BK. Gas $19.00. That should get us a good way up the road.
6:36 a.m.
White City-just a wide spot in the road but it has a Baptist Church. This road is straight, flat and empty.
6:47 a.m.
A beautiful sunrise on a clear, foggy in the flatlands morning.
6:48 a.m.
Honeyville-it has a United Methodist Church.
6:52 a.m.
Wewaihitchca…(or something like that).
Church of God-The Glad Tidings Church of God in Wewaithitchca (or something like that). 1st Baptist and Presbyterian also. Gas is .03 cents a gallon cheaper here. It took 4 minutes to drive through town-speed limit 35 mph of course.
7:21 a.m.
Blountstown-still no phone service. So its about an hour from Pt. St. Joe to Blountstown. This is a larger town. Lots of Dollar Generals down here, but no fast food places here. Smaller than Wewaihitchca (or something like that). Still on Hwy 71 north headed for I-10. Still no mobile cell phone.
7:30 a.m.
Things my mind’s eye sees and wants to remember:
Ben: wearing his Alaska ball cap, yellow shirt, new yellow bathing suit, walking along with camera slung over his shoulder.
Amanda: sitting by the pool with her floppy hat on, almost invisible behind her book and towel bag blending into the scenery.
Carrie:Sunglasses on , wearing her two piece blue bathing suit, more freckles on her face every day.
Sam: Atlanta Braves hat on, reflective sun glasses on, sitting in the Dock Side Café looking like one of the fishermen from the marina.
Celia: Brown as a nut in her one piece bathing suit, walking with me in the surf, protecting me.
7:35 a.m.
Altha-Cow Palace Café, Another Dollar General.
Finally, cell phones back on here in Altha. OH, that was short lived. Cells gone again. Rolling through farm country now. We should hit I-10 soon.
“Custom Hay Baling”. What’s that all about?
“Gator Alley” a road name?
“Sink Creek Church of God”.
Pine trees planted-rows like crops. Sam noticed it and point it out.
7:45 a.m.
Looks like I-10 ahead.
7:47 a.m.
Getting on I-10 West, headed for Hwy 231..and our cell phone service looks good again. Carrie wants a breakfast stop. We are “back to the things of Sam”. Once we hit Hwy 231 we will be back in familiar territory as we have traveled that road often. It will take us to Dothan, Alabama.
7:57 a.m.
Getting off on Hwy 231 North. Dothan 32 miles. Sam is happy. He has his cell phone internet news link. He’s already reading about “The Braves”. Ben called him a “Baseball Savant” one day at the pool.
8:00 a.m.
Cottondale-the produce town. This town hasn’t opened up yet. No place to eat so I guess its Dothan. This road will be busy in a couple of hours with people either coming or going to Panama City Beach.
8:12 a.m.
Campbelton. Celia just said that Dothan is right at 2 hours from Pt. St. Joe. We’ll take this trip in thirds. The first third to Dothan, the next third to Columbus, and the last third home.
8:16 a.m.
Alabama Welcome Center coming up. Will it have the helicopter. Now in Alabama and the 1st thing you see is a red light. Yes, the helicopter is till there at the rest area. Rather cloudy here inland.
8:24 a.m.
Sadie’s Flea Market
8:27 a.m.
Dothan City limit. Time for breakfast.
8:48 a.m.
$14.25 for breakfast. I had sausage and egg biscuit w/coffee, Sam had bacon biscuit and hash browns, Carrie had the same as Sam, Celia had the big breakfast (egg, sausage, biscuit, hash brown) and they drank cokes. We are on the Hwy 231 By-Pass around Dothan. That McD’s catches a lot of folks coming/going from/to Panama City Beach. Now for all the red lights in this town. Celia and I remember stopping at that McD’s many times in the past.
8:58 a.m.
431 North towards Headland. Today would have been Celia’s dad’s 78th birthday.
9:03 a.m.
Headland City Limit-431 North, the so familiar road from so many trips through the years.
9:19 a.m.
Abbeville, 77 miles to Phenix City.
9:39 a.m.
Eufaula-beginning to see more south bound vacation traffic.
9:58 a.m.
End of the four lane. No excuse not to have this four laned all the way to Phenix City.
This is a deadly stretch of road-one with lots of road side crosses marking accident deaths. Other miscellaneous thoughts: The elevator at the place on Cape San Blas (Dunes Club) had a voice like from the train at the airport telling you what floor you were on. A boy got stuck on it one morning and had to call for help from it. We stayed in 2D, almost new, so new it still smelled like a new house.
The view is being obstructed at the Dunes Club by a new condo going up just to the left and front of it. If we do Cape San Blas again, it won’t be at the Dunes Club.
The mosquitoes were terrible at night and with all the water left around from Hurricane Dennis, it will be even worse in weeks ahead.
10:12 a.m.
Lots of south bound vacation now. Celia’s counting the crosses along this stretch.
10:16 a.m.
Seale, Alabama, back to a divided Hwy. 32 crosses on that stretch of road.
10:28 a.m.
Phenix City, Alabama. We will look for a pit stop here and signs to direct us to I-185. Ben has the map but it weren’t much help here.
10:32 a.m.
West 280 sign to I-185 and Atlanta. Stopping for bathroom break.
10:44 a.m.
Georgia State Line, Columbus City Limit.
10:47 a.m.
I-185 North, Making good time. Newnan 71 miles-a little more than an hour away.
11:20 a.m.
I-85 North. Carrie wants to stop for a drink.
11:30 a.m.
Stopping at Hogansville McD’s for a drink for Carrie. There’s an Econo Lodge. What are people doing staying in an Econo Lodge in Hogansville? Workers maybe.
11:50 a.m.
Newnan
11:58 a.m.
Collinsworth Road-Palmetto Exit-Traffic stopped on I-85. Lots of folks jumping off at this exit. Worst traffic of the whole trip. Guess we should have got off in Newnan. Oh well. We are close to home. At least there’s a red light Funny, you travel 1000 miles and hit a traffic jam near to home. We didn’t stop this bad on Hwy 98 in Florida. I-85 traffic stopped as far as the eye can see. So now we are moving. Thank the Lord we aren’t stopped in that traffic. Now we are on Hwy 29 headed for Palmetto.
12:30 p.m.
Cliftondale
1:00 p.m.
HOME
So concluded the most “Unique” vacation in family history.
FLORIDA 2006
CAPE SAN BLAS REDUX
Without the Hurricane
Tim McElroy’s first journey with us.
July 14, Friday, 6:11 p.m. Home, Sultry evening
The clan is gathering here tonight for an early 6:30 a.m. start tomorrow. Ben & Amanda are here. Carrie & Tim are coming when she gets off work. No hurricanes this year-and no canes for me either. I’m walking fine. All month long we have kept up a lively email banter amongst our vacationers to keep us focused and looking forward to this trip. Everyone has had comments alluding to “The Weasel”. Yes, Mortimer Weasel is going. I plant my sunflowers early in the spring having no idea they would bloom while we are gone. The Vandecars are taking care of our dogs. Oh, several years ago Celia and I “loaned” a friend $1200. She has inherited well and today of all days she gave me $1300 in $100 bills. We will use that for sure. The Lord’s timing is always perfect. We will use Bobbie’s van again and Carrie & Tim will take their car. It’s the Red Saturn Ion we got Carrie before she graduated.
8:49 p.m.
Carrie & Tim are here. Celia is cutting all the guys’ hair. Then, hopefully, we can pack the vehicles before it gets too dark. I hope there is room.
July 15, Saturday, 5:48 a.m.
We begin to stir. Dogs have been outside and fed. Final packing to begin soon. Anxious to be on the road around 6:30 a.m.
6:45 a.m.
Leaving. Celia driving, Sam behind her, Amanda behind Sam, Ben beside her, Mortimer Weasel beside Sam. Carrie & Tim in their car, Tim driving. (Last minute change. Ben is beside Sam & Morty asleep beside Amanda.)
7:09 a.m.
Stopping for gas in Palmetto for Carrie & Tim to top off. Headed for Columbus and breakfast. $2.98 a gallon, $20 worth for Carrie & Tim.
7:24 a.m. I-85 South
9:24 a.m.
Leaving Cracker Barrel. $47 for breakfast. This was the plan. I love it when “The Plan” works.
10:25 a.m.
Stopping in Eufaula for gas. $2.84 a gallon. $25 for gas.
11:30 a.m.
Dothan City Limit
12:00 p.m.
Florida Welcome Center, 94 degrees
12:16 p.m.
Cottondale
12:20 p.m.
I-10 East
1:20 p.m.
BK in Blountstown. $22.01, 96 degrees, the atmosphere is just going to explode sometime soon-rain and cool off.
2:30 p.m.
It’s ready! We’ve checked in and are going to the condo now! They just finished the cleaning!
No more times listed. It doesn’t matter anymore.
Brighton by the Sea-the name of this group of condos.
Late afternoon: The Weigh Home is beautiful-3 stories (floors). Carrie & Tim get the third floor, Sam the second (Pull out sofa). Ben & Amanda get the twin beds on the first floor. We have been to the ocean and pool on a gloriously hot day.
July 16, Sunday
“For the sunrise weasel there is treasure at the beach.” Celia and I have already walked on the beach and seen a nice sunrise. Few shells, but lots of crabs. Another day in paradise. The kids played poker last night. They came prepared with poker chips. Celia, Carrie, Tim and Ben made a raid on Piggly Wiggly late in the afternoon but ended up getting mostly junk food-some sandwich meat, hot dogs, etc. Celia and I love our room-with a sliding glass door onto the patio. Neat. The place begins to stir..not ours..the houses around us. A fellow next door just came out to walk two very well groomed Cocker Spaniel looking dogs while two other folks came out with Poodles. I hate Poodles. I don’t hate them, but I regard them as highly as I do the French.
Monday-After sunup
Celia and I walked the beach again. We have two couples from down the beach that are out crabbing-catching crabs to eat. One couple is from Macon. He’s a forester. She works for a trade association. Yesterday we had our personal church service on the beach. Ben played guitar and led us in some songs. We even had announcements! Most importantly, we had communion on the beach. Tim brought his Bible and read from Genesis 1 about creation. We enjoyed it. Then we played in the surf-well floated-did the pool-came up for lunch-drove down to the State Park (the is water is green there-brown here), stopped at a gift shop, came back here-Ben-Sam-Tim got the kayak that is here out and enjoyed kayaking-though they said it was a lot of work-especially the dragging it across the sand. We did the beach and pool again, then did supper at the Marina in Port. St. Joe. We had a great meal-over $100 with 18% gratuity figured in. We sat outside. That’s our spot-the marina. We’ll eat there again before we leave. Yesterday morning Celia posted invitations to everyone in our group to a sunset party on the roof. Carrie & Tim hosted. We sat up there for over an hour, drinking cokes, eating cookies, enjoying each other’s company. Then we walked on the beach in the dark-and oh, the stars. I haven’t seen stars like that in forever. Sam spooked Carrie (touching her on the leg with his net) and she knocked Tim down trying to get away-and got up mad. They finally began walking with my flashlight and left the beach without us. We could not find our walkway back over the dunes it was so dark. We finally stumbled up on it, but remember, always take a flashlight or two to the beach. Just another day in paradise.
Evening:
We drove up to Mexico Beach to find some place to eat. Make a note. Don’t go back to Mexico Beach. We drove all the way there and ended up eating at the place here on the Cape…Loggerheads. It was similar to last night. A little cheaper. I’m going to the roof for awhile now.
Sunset:
I’m sitting here on the roof by myself. Tim, Sam and Amanda are on the second floor watching the Braves. Carrie, Ben and Celia are swimming in the pool. Today I finished reading “The Rainmaker” by Grisham. I’ve started “October Sky” by Homer Hickam, both Father’s Day presents from Carrie. I sit here and look out on the gulf..amazing-a gentle breeze blowing to keep the mosquitoes away. I’ve started a new book. “Destiny-Too…Serendipity, the Sequel”. Right now everyone is doing what they want to do. That what vacation is all about.
Late night:
Up with the sun and down with the stars. Celia and I just laid a blanket on the beach and laid there looking up at all the stars. They are so bright!
Tuesday…just another day in paradise
Celia and I walked on the beach a long way. We went up to this little park, then walked back and met Ben on the beach. Since everyone else sleeps late, Celia, Ben and I headed out to Coneheads for breakfast, but the place looked closed, so we drove into Pt. St. Joe and ate at Burger King, then hit Piggly Wiggly for a few supplies (we call it “The Pig”). Now, I’m out by the pool listening to music. “Just another day in Paradise” I tell folks.
Evening:
Appalachicola for supper. $70. The Red Top Café. Another beautiful day on the beach. Everyone is in a good attitude and enjoyed the meal.
Tuesday-Later evening
Tim has been initiated into his first game of Thames Family Beach Rundown. He scored!
Wednesday Morning
Yet another day in paradise. The shrimpers were out in force this morning bringing lots of gulls to the beach. Ben was up early with us and we walked a long way picking up lots of big shells. In years past one or two of these shells would be considered a find. Now we have about 20. Everyone else (except beach walkers) stay up late and sleep late. I bring an ice chest with drinks in it down at night so we can have it in the morning and not disturb Sam. He has the pullout sofa-but he does have his own bathroom. I am out on the porch-no breeze, can’t hear the surf. All is quiet. The Braves have finally started winning so Sam is happy.
Wednesday Afternoon
Already-heck we just got here and already Saturday is rushing up at us. This morning when everyone got up we went up to St. Joseph’s State Park and swam there about 2 hours. Sam & Ben were playing. Sam knocked Ben’s sunglasses into the water and they sank. I don’t know how he did it, but about an hour later Sam found them. Amazing. The Park Ranger told us they haven’t had rain here since March. Some of us spent the afternoon roasting by the pool. “Gee Benny, this pop ain’t working. I’m baking like a toasted cheeser.” This evening we go on a sunset cruise.
Evening:
We had supper at Burger King in Pt. St. Joe-but the sunset cruise was cancelled due to a storm in the area. The captain had said we were going, but when he saw a bolt of lightning, he changed his mind. So we hit the Piggly Wiggly one more time and came back here. I am here by the pool with Celia and Carrie.
Thursday Morning:
Family walk on the beach-just Celia, Ben and I again. Now we are riding over to Pt. St. Joe Burger King for breakfast. I think Sam and Carrie are going, maybe Tim. Amanda will sleep in. Lots of birds on the beach, but strangely, no shells.
Friday Morning:
Usual routine-up early to greet the sun with Ben. Celia and I did get to see a storm at sea this morning before sunrise-lightning in a cloud. It was neat. Just another day in paradise.
I’m sitting by the pool now. The sun is already hot. We have had the hottest, prettiest days I can remember. Yesterday in the heat of the early afternoon it was quiet, as if everyone has retreated indoors to the cool or into the shade of the porches. This is a deserted beach-not many people on it. “The forgotten coast” is what it is called. There are For Sale signs everywhere, but according to the owner of Bikini Bottom who has his unit for sale, the market here is dead, due in large part to the hurricane last year. Our 3 story house has a short walkway to the pool and then a short one over the dune to the beach. We see lots of pelicans diving into the water and then floating on it. The owner of Bikini Bottom’s wife spends a lot of her time at the edge of the surf throwing a net in, pulling it out, throwing it in, pulling it out, trying to catch minnows for bait. Then when she does, she baits her hook and fishes. One of her daughters, a teenager, caught a catfish one day but could not get it off the hook and no one was around to help, so I helped her.
Today I want us to drive down past Appalachicola to Carabelle, maybe to St. George’s Island to just explore. I think we have all had as much sun as we want. We should get back in time to spend the afternoon on the beach. God has really blessed us this week, though we didn’t deserve it. Nothing but days in Paradise.
Friday Noon:
A great morning explore. We drove down Hwy 98 to St. George’s Island and explored it, then drove to a lighthouse near Carabelle, then to Carabelle, then back again through East Point, stopping in Appalachicola for Tim to get a poster of RiverKeepers, then lunch at Burger King at Appalachicola, which had a great view over looking the bay. Now we are headed back to Cape San Blas. Part of our trip this morning was to retrace our steps from last year. Now back to the Cape for our last afternoon in the sun.
Late Afternoon:
We spent time at the beach while Tim studied chemistry. He met us at the pool and brought out a Frisbee I had brought with us. We spent a delightful next hour playing Frisbee keep away in the pool we had to ourselves. Ben, Tim, Carrie, Sam and I played while Amanda and Celia read books on the side.
Everybody says they enjoyed the trip this morning, so with this afternoon’s fun, I’d say today was vacation’s best day with more yet to come. I think we are all about ready to go home and that is the mark of a really good vacation…or a really bad one. This has been a really good one.
Late-Late Evening:
What a great evening. We had dinner at the Dock Side Café at the marina and had the best seats in the house to watch a couple of fishing boats come in and saw their catch. Then we took the sunset cruise which was terrific. The sunset from out on the bay was outstanding. Now we are basically packed-cars loaded-Tim’s keys, thankfully, found in the van, Ben & Carrie both dosed with Benadryl to help with sunburn and we are ready for bed. We’ve all had all the sun we want or need. Everyone is broken out somewhere it seems, but me and I have blisters on my bad foot from my pool shoes. So the vacation ends. We are ready to be home.
Saturday-Early morning
It is time to leave the Weigh Home and see if we can find our way home. I hope to be on the road about the time the sun comes up. Where did the week go? And yet I am now anxious to be home.
6:40 a.m.
Leaving the Weigh Home to drop off the keys.
6:44 a.m.
Keys dropped off-headed for the Cape. Ben, Celia & I have seen the sunrise every morning and she’s rising in the east now. Just another day in Paradise.
7:19 a.m.
Wewahitchka (or something like that)
8:00 a.m.
Blountstown
8:13 a.m.
Leaving BK. $21.00 breakfast.
8:26 a.m.
Altha
8:39 a.m.
I-10, Carrie driving behind us. We now have cell phone service again. As Ben said last year, “Back to the things of Sam.”
8:48 a.m.
Exit to Hwy 231. Dothan 32 miles.
8:52 a.m.
Cottondale, the produce town. How many times have we been through here over the years? There’s a hot air balloon.
9:04 a.m.
Campbelton. Captain Gary was our captain last night. He let his daughter, Ariel, drive the boat for awhile. He took us up the inter-coastal waterway and showed us some fish factories and their boats.
9:08 a.m.
Alabama line. Sam sees a fireworks store. Stopped at a raceway here. Gas was $2.79 per gallon-the cheapest we will see the rest of the way.
9:28 a.m.
Dothan By-Pass
9:36 a.m.
431 North towards Headland and not a cloud in the sky.
9:41 a.m.
Headland City limit
10:18 a.m.
Eufaula City limit.
A few clouds starting to appear. Gas is $2.89 here. Glad we got it back there. Back to the two lane. Lots of southbound traffic. We are ahead of the traffic leaving vacation.
10:54 a.m.
Back to four lane.
10:55 a.m.
Seale
11:06 a.m.
Phenix City limits sign.
11:18 a.m.
Shootin the hooch. Back in Georgia.
11:22 a.m.
I-185 North.
RECAP
I think everyone had a great vacation. Tim has said that we really know how to do vacation and last night he said he had never had a boat ride like that before. He has been a lot of fun to have along. Amanda just wanted to sleep and read and I hope she was able to do both. I joked around a lot saying, “Who’s going to sponsor this meal?” or “Who’s going to sponsor this trip?” Carrie &Tim sponsored our roof top party. Sam said he lent his moral support to supper at Coneheads. I told Tim I was sponsoring his cup of coffee at breakfast today. Celia, Ben and I walked miles on the beach this week-getting shells and watching the sun come up. The kids only played poker one night and that surprised me. Maybe the poker craze if fading. How blessed Celia and I are to still be going on vacation with our kids.
We will have traveled just over 1000 miles on this trip.
1:30 p.m.
Home and unpacked. Carrie and Tim are on their way back home to Athens. The fellowship has broken, but what a great vacation.
_________________________________________________________________
FLORIDA
CAPE SAN BLAS CHAPTER 3
2007
No hurricanes so far this year-not even a hint or breath of one. As last year “JUST ANOTHER DAY IN PARADISE”.
July 13, Friday, 7:00 p.m. , Home
We had dinner with Sam, Ben and Amanda at Lafiesta (Felipe’s as we call it). Carrie and Tim are on the way and will eat on the way. Amanda is designated packer this year, but we have to wait on Carrie and Tim. I have been told to stay out of the way. My job will be maps and navigator and paying for the expedition. We will be taking Gran’s van and Sam’s new HHR. Carrie has a new 2008 Ford Escape, but will leave it here in the garage. Trisha Vandecar will be caring for our dogs. We are all excited.
July 14, Saturday, 6:00 a.m., Home, Get away day.
Ben and Amanda went home last night so we will pick them up on our way out. We will have our travel prayer in their living room. Sam says we leave here no later than 6:44 a.m. so we can beat last year. I am ready to relax.
Official leaving time: 6:50 a.m. Sorry Sam. Now headed over to Ben and Amanda’s. Gray. Overcast day. Quiet.
7:05 a.m.
Prayed up and leaving Ben’s. Ben driving HHR w/Sam as co-pilot. Celia is driving the van w/me as co-pilot as usual. Carrie behind Celia, Tim behind me. Amanda in command of the back-back. 2365 miles on the HHR. 28,014 miles on the van which is 4 years old.
7:37 a.m.
North of Newnan on Hwy 29 listening to “Two Tickets to Paradise” and its raining! We haven’t had much rain this summer. The theme song this year is Leon Russel’s “Gotta Go Back To The Island”.
7:53 a.m.
Newnan McD’s for breakfast and Tim’s coffee.
8:17 a.m.
$22.83 for breakfast at a neat McD’s on I-85 south.
9:10 a.m.
Exit 10 toward Phenix City.
9:26 a.m.
Phenix City pee stop. 43 miles from Eufaula. We’re off the map quest instructions and onto the map.
10:07 a.m.
Eufaula City limit, mileage 28160 miles, stopping for gas at 10:16 a.m., $2.869 a gallon, $25 gas, Sam was still full in the HHR. Great gas mileage. Still a cool overcast day. Ben is now riding with us and Tim is driving the HHR.
10:46 a.m.
Abbeville
11:00 a.m.
Headland
11:10 a.m.
Dothan, 87 degrees, Looking for Hwy 231 south.
11:36 a.m.
Florida State Line
11:51 a.m.
Cottondale-looking for I-10.
11:55 a.m.
I-10 east. We’ve been on the road almost 5 hours.
12:07 p.m.
71 South. Blountstown about 24 miles.
12:13 p.m.
Sink Creek. Church for sale sign…sad sign.
12:17 p.m.
Altha post office here. It is now a beautiful, hot, partly sunny day. We’ll be in Blounstown in couple of minutes. Pt. St. Joe is still about an hour out.
12:28 p.m.
Blountstown, a River town.
12:55 p.m.
$30 for lunch at BK.
1:24 p.m.
Wewahitchka..or something like that.
1:41 p.m.
White City
1:48 p.m.
Pt. St. Joe
2:17 p.m.
We are Pigged! Groceries bought-headed for rental place.
3:40 p.m.
We are in and unpacked!
Bed time
Vacation has started-already we’ve seen dolphins, waded in the edge of the surf, cooled in the pool, picked up a couple of big shells and seen lightning at sea-not bad for the first evening.
July 15, Sunday morning
It rained last night, around 11:00 Ben said, but Celia and I were asleep. We did see some lightning around-and the stars were so bright-some of the lightning on the horizon at sea would be red on the water. This morning Celia and I walked on the beach at sunrise picking up lots of big shells-the beach was littered with them. In the past Sam has snorkled all week just to get two or three of them. I’m picking up as many as I can to try to see back home. Today we have our beach church service and communion which we are looking forward to. I did find a dead shark on the beach-longer than my foot.
Late afternoon:
There has never been a more beautiful day the beach. We had our family beach church service with communion. I really felt like I had been in church. The rest of the day was spent by the gulf and pool and watching the Braves. While we were in the surf, a huge wave crashed Sam, Ben and I, slamming Ben’s shoulder to the ground. It knocked Sam’s glasses off. I don’t know how but Ben found them. Now, off to the Dockside! A high light of the week.
Evening:
Boo. The Dockside didn’t have chicken so ate at a cheesy Mexican joint. I ate about 3 bites. Not my style. The place was called “Peppers”. Then we came back here and played an invigorating game of plastic bat and softball. Ben, Amanda and Carrie creamed us. Tim came up with 2 outs and the bases loaded and popped out to Carrie. Sam claims they cheated. Then we hit the pool. A little kid, his name was Skyon, from Tennessee came up and played the inning with us.
July 16, Monday, Early morning
Just another day in Paradise. Celia, Ben and I walked the beach picking up shells. We met a man from St. Louis whose 2 Cocker Spaniels, he said, just had to come meet us. They were on leashes and brought him down to us. We breakfasted on our porch, now are out at the pool to enjoy the early morning sun. Last night, the kids played the poker game again. “Sam was dominated by Ben,” Ben says. The Discovery channel has a special on mummies. (Editors note: Nothing said about the daddies.)
Lunch time:
Another beautiful morning by the pool and beach, the guys using the inner tubes to ride the waves. They kept losing their sunglasses and having to stop to find them. Carrie is the first to break out in a rash this year. Tim and Sam are headed into town for shopping that we couldn’t do tonight, but it’s their business, not mine.
Late afternoon:
After another trip to the beach and pool, we came in to nap and read. A couple of rain showers came through but I missed them as Celia and I laid down here in our room and rested. We have talked about how long yesterday seemed. Today begins to feel that way, too, but come Friday it will seem to have passed all too fast.
July 17, Tuesday, Early morning
The Black Conch Find
The find of the week…maybe one of the greatest Thames shell finds ever. Celia and I dug a conch type shell-almost complete-out of the surf on our sunrise walk. It is big and black and you can put it to your ear and hear the sea.
We went to the Dockside last night and enjoyed dinner even though their chicken finger fryer was out. I still got my grouper basket. We saw a deep sea fishing boat come in and throw its catch of red snapper and sea bass up onto the dock. We mailed some postcards then came back here. There was a good rain that came through. The Tennesseans that hare here ignored it and stayed out in the surf. Tow of their moms came in but the kids stayed. When they do leave the beach, they all get into the pool. A comic, but tragic figure, was their dad/grand-dad/uncle daddy, whoever he was-a big, beer bellied fellow who started the grill just as the rain came. I saw him a few minutes later holding a beach umbrella over his head and the food, in the pouring rain.
Carrie and I sat out on the 2nd floor porch during it, reading and enjoying the rain. Tim and Sam had brought ice cream back with them, so we got into that, too.
We are plagued this year by an “opportunist” or sneak thief. Carrie had some tanning oil she left at the pool and somebody decided they could have it. Amanda left some flip flops at the end of the walk when we went to the beach and somebody decided they could take those, too. We suspect the Tennesseans.
I noticed them cleaning their fish catch. One of them took it down to the beach in an ice chest, (the guts, stuff from cleaning the fish) and dumped it into the water. I could not believe it. I asked him about it and he said they had caught 4 sharks in his net and cleaned them up and cut some steaks off them to grill out. I told him dumping those guts in the surf would attract more sharks. Another fellow on the beach this morning talked about seeing sharks yesterday. So we may go up to the state park to swim today to get away from the sharks. I will not be surprised to hear about a shark attack here.
Anther beautiful day here.
Late afternoon:
Beautiful..sunny…hot.
This morning we went down to the state park and swam and laid out for a couple of hours. We came back here for lunch…chili dogs for most of us. We spent most of the afternoon in a deserted pool-throwing a nerf football first, then when it broke, we played Frisbee keep away for an hour or so. We all had a great time. I am so blessed that my family (son’s, daughter, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, wife) all enjoy each other’s company. I can’t say about my brothers. Everyone seems to be having a good time. We are all inside now cleaning up for naps and supper.
Early evening:
Carrie and Tim sponsored our supper at Coneheads, then we rode up into the park again for some photo ops again at the beach where we were this morning. A beautiful site with the setting sun in front of us. Now we are back here at the Weigh Home.
July 18, Wednesday, Early morning
Again, just another day in Paradise. Celia, Ben and I walked the beach already, no big shell find today, but another beautiful day dawning.
Noon:
Shark, Jellyfish and Stingrays, oh my! The surf is calm, but those were out and we thing we saw a sea turtle. One shark about 3 feet long approached me in the ankle deep water. I kept my net between us, but he still approached. There were no waves and Celia and I wanted to float in it, but not with those guys out there.
Late Evening:
Sam, Ben and Amanda stayed here to watch the Braves game (lost to Cincinnati 5-4 in 15 innings) while Celia, Carrie, Tim and I rode over to see Indian Pass, the Apalachicola. We did the antique store, then Carrie and Tim sponsored a stop at the ice cream shop (after we had already eaten lunch at the Red Roof Café.) Then back here to sit by the pool. After the game, Sam and Tim went into Pt. St. Joe for a few groceries and to pick up supper from BK. Sam suggested a picnic on the beach, so we did and it was great-sitting on the beach under an umbrella, eating our burgers. Then we had a homerun derby. Sam beat Ben in a swing off, so Sam is the inaugural Thames Family Homerun Derby Champ. Tim’s mom called. She saw weather reports and thought we were getting rain. Today, though, was just another day in Paradise. Tomorrow-the expedition to find Negro Fort.
July 19, Thursday, Early Morning
Red sky this morning. Celia, Ben and I walked the beach and now are headed into town for breakfast. Usually Celia brings an ice chest down the night before with breakfast stuff, but we forgot last night. On the beach we met a fellow fishing and had his little weenie dog with him. He (the man, not the dog) caught a huge catfish and the dog loved it. Every time he caught a fish, the little dog barked. Way down the beach we could hear it barking when the man caught a fish. The kids have played poker almost every night. While we were gone yesterday, Ben, Amanda and Sam had a little poker game going with the Braves on (they lost). We met another man on the beach from Kentucky. He and his wife are down here with the grandkids and family. They love the solitude of Cape San Blas-Indian Pass.
Still early morning:
Breakfast at McD’s complete, we are headed back to the Weigh Home.
9:40 a.m.
Headed on an expedition to find Negro Fort. Sunny and hot.
10:01 a.m.
BP at Apalachicola for gas. When you don’t know where you are going you need to get petrol before you go.
10:45 a.m.
We’ve found it. Now we are on a dry, dirt road going straight into the forest. We’ve passed Tate’s Hell National Forest this morning.
12:00 a.m.
We found Negro Fort-Fort Gadsden out in the middle of nowhere off I-65 along the river. Celia kept saying how beautiful it was. It was a beautiful, quiet spot, but on July 27, 1816 it became a place of death. Over 200 people, mostly women and children, were killed when the Fort’s powder magazine blew up in an attack. The carnage was awful, according to Colonel Duncan Clinch who led the attack. All those former slaves and Indians wanted was to be left alone, to live quietly in freedom. It was not to be. The river slips by the bluff quietly, but it is hot and biting flies are terrible. How uncomfortable it must have been even if you were used to it. A Union Jack flag flew over where the Negro Fort powder magazine was. A couple of environmental protection guys on a boat pulled up with a group of blacks. I bet they don’t even get told the story of what happened here. I talked to the two guys and they didn’t seem to know the story.
1:27 a.m.
Leaving the Red Top Café. Everyone is happy after a big meal. It has been a very good day trip. We are all ready to hit the pool.
Late afternoon:
Another lazy, hot afternoon by the beach-dolphins came in close a few minutes ago. Tim and Sam have been inside all afternoon.
Late evening:
If this is vacation, then why am I so tired? Dolphins have been really close in this evening putting on a show. We had another homerun derby after supper-Sam won again. Then we played rundown. It’s been a long, hot day, but we’ve seen and done a lot. Celia said she really liked our trip today. So did I. Some of the gang are concluding the day with a night time swim. Not me…I’m ready for bed.
July 20, Friday, Early morning, by the pool
We have fallen into a schedule this week. By 6:15 a.m., Celia and I have been on the beach every morning, shelling, watching the sun come up. Ben joins us there. Then we come back up to our front porch where we have breakfast that Celia has brought down the night before (except yesterday when we went to McD’s which was fine.) After that, we come out to the pool for a couple of hours while everyone else sleeps in.
Late afternoon:
91 degrees or so, the weather channel says, but it feels hotter. Mike Fowler, our neighbor 2 doors down from Kentucky bought one of my books. Wow. He is 56 years old. Celia and I went down to the Cape San Blas lighthouse, but you couldn’t get close to it. The Celia and I walked way, way down the beach and still couldn’t get to the point. It was so hot. Everyone here is beginning to look towards home. Mike Fowled said they will leave sometime after dark. My biggest problem is how to pack all the shells we’ve picked up. There must be over a hundred. It has been a wonderful week.
Evening:
We did the Red Roof Café for dinner. It has passed the Dockside as our favorite place even though it is a little further away. Mike Fowler and the Kentucky bunch are leaving in a little while. Carrie and Celia took one long, last walk on the beach. Amanda will pack the car at 9:00 p.m. I think we need to go attach the kitchen.
8:55 a.m.
Time is, as I have mentioned before, a strange thing. Sunday seemed like it lasted forever and seems months ago, but it feels like we just got here yesterday-but I woke up this morning ready to be home. Time is fast and slow. Amanda and Ben are packing the HHR and van now for a quick get away tomorrow. Thank you, Amanda and Ben, for relieving me of that responsibility.
One bad thing this year has been the biting, blood sucking flies and the mosquitoes. Celia and I tried to look at the stars on the beach one night, but the flies drove us in.
July 21, Saturday, 6:00 a.m.
Well, this is where we came in. Time to finish packing and get out of here. I’m ready to be home. I got up at 3:00 this morning and watched a tremendous light show at sea. Celia got up and found me on the second floor porch where we watched it together-one last present from God.
6:45 a.m.
Leaving-going to drop off the keys.
6:48 a.m.
Leaving from dropping off the keys-beautiful sunrise.
7:00 a.m.
Pt. St. Joe. Turning onto Hwy 71 North. Vacation behind, real life ahead as we speed into the interior of Florida.
7:19 a.m.
Tut-tut, looks like rain.
7:42 a.m.
Rain on the Chipola River. Raining hard-in and out of it.
7:55 a.m.
Blountstown. Stopping for breakfast sson.
8:16 a.m.
Leaving BK breakfast. Ben still driving HHR w/Sam. Such a tired, sad looking woman in the BK, tattoo on her hand. I felt sorry for her. Altha 11 miles. There were no customers in this BK except for us.
8:53 a.m.
Hwy 231 North
8:56 a.m.
Cottondale-where have all the produce stands gone? There’s one with watermelons.
9:12 a.m.
Alabama State Line
9:26 a.m.
Hwy 431 North –stopping at McD’s for pee stop. Tim will be driving the HHR now. Heavily overcast-muggy-storms here later.
9:33 a.m.
Leaving McD’s. There seems to be much more leaving the beach traffic this year than last year. More folks getting a headstart.
9:52 a.m.
Headland. I just finished the 5th book of the week-lots of early morning by the pool reading time.
10:09 a.m.
Sunny and hot. 30 minutes or so out of Eufaula. Phenix City 74 miles. Lots of south bound traffic-north bound has thinned out.
10:30 a.m.
Eufaula, Alabama. We should be home around 1:30 p.m.
10:49 a.m.
Back to the 2 lane.
11:07 a.m.
On the 4 lane again. Partly cloudy day.
11:22 a.m.
Phenix City, Alabama. Leaving Hwy 431 behind headed towards I-185. Stopping soon for gas.
11:34 a.m.
McD’s bathroom break..then across the street for gas.
11:45 a.m.
Emptied out and filled up with gas-home now.
11:48 a.m.
Back in Georgia
11:51 a.m.
I-185 North
12:25 p.m.
I-85 North
1:37 p.m.
Home…good to get away-great to get home.
29989 miles on van…975 miles on trip.
3121 miles on HHR-756 miles on trip.
Wrap-up: The Fellowship met for one last meal together at LaFiesta-even as most of us had met to begin it. We had a great time-doing nothing mostly, just being together in a beautiful spot..and this morning God put the exclamation point! On with the lightning display. Our God, is indeed, an awesome God.
FLORIDA
CAPE SAN BLAS CHAPTER 4
2008
July 5, 2008 Saturday
THE ADVENTURERS: Ben and Amanda Thames, Samuel Thames, Carrie and Tim McElroy, Celia and Allan Thames
In the van: Celia, Allan, Carrie, Tim
In the HHR: Ben, Amanda, Sam
6:00 a.m
Wake up-get up-clean up. I’m ready to roll. We pick Ben and Amanda up at 7:00 a.m. Tricia Vandecar has been employed to care for our dogs-Sadie Mae, Midget, Pippin, Ping and Carrie’s dog, Dixie. Sadie is 16. Check-in time is 4:00 p.m. We are staying in “Three Diamonds”, the same group of beach houses-just a different house. The car is packed. Amanda did another great job of packing.
7:15 a.m.
Finally, finally leaving 3083. Everyone is in slow mo. Going now to get B and A and have our travel prayer. Most disorganized leaving yet.
7:28 a.m
Prayed up on a cool, cloudy, overcast, humid, hopefully to rain later type of day. With “Two Tickets to Paradise” playing we are off. Leaving Ben’s, Ben driving the lead car.
8:27 a.m.
I-185 towards Phenix City. 1 hour on the road. We are now in the lead car.
9:02 a.m.
Cracker Barrel…looks packed.
10:02 a.m.
Leaving CB (Cracker Barrel). $65.06 including $8.00 tip.
11:06 a.m.
Eufaula-Gas stop, $3.97 a gallon, yeah, $3.97. Its over $4.00 in Atlanta. The world has gone crazy…Texaco-gas and pee stop. $19.00 for 5 gallons. Robbery. Waiting on Celia..there was a line to the women’s bathroom. This place must have a tremendous water bill. Thankfully, we are in no hurry.
11:14 a.m.
Leaving gas stop.
11:54 a.m.
Abbeville. Dothan is sure to be slammed up with traffic.
12.32 p.m.
Finally thru Dothan and on Hwy 231 South toward I-10. Lots of traffic. Lots of motorcycles.
12.49 a.m.
Florida State Line. Yeah. Back in Florida.
1:21 p.m.
Hwy 71 South.
1:53 p.m.
Blountstown-Annual Burger King (BK) stop. Just a stretch and drink break. We’ll eat at the BK in Pt. St. Joe, get our groceries from The Pig and hopefully it will be late enough to go check in.
2:20 p.m.
Rain. Hard rain.
2:45 p.m.
BK in St. Joe. Killing time till 4:00 p.m.
3:15 p.m.
On to The Pig (Piggly Wiggly)-lunch at BK was good. Amanda ate a fry.
3 Something:
Packing groceries into the van. We have our expert packer, Amanda, on the job.
4:21 p.m.
Checked in at Pristine Properties. Took seconds. Now we’re headed for Three Diamonds.
Night (I’m off the clock):
This place is two doors down from the Weigh Home where we have stayed in the past. We spent some time in the surf, then had supper here. I’m tired.
July 6, Early Sunday morning:
We will have our family beach service in a little while. Tim, Carrie nor Amanda have made appearances yet. Everyone has remarked how deserted this place is considering it’s a 4th of July weekend. And very quiet. There were some fireworks last night. I could see them way down the beach. And the stars! You don’t realize how dim the stars are at home until you see them so bright here without city lights to dim them.
Sunday evening:
Sam got us on MLB.com so we could watch the Braves down here. They won tonight in 17 innings. We were all sitting in the living room watching and really cheered when they won. It has been a long day. We did our really neat church service on the beach with communion. I feel like I have been in church. Then we did the beach-pool thing, ate lunch here, watched it rain a little-but is pristine this evening and all afternoon. Ben’s wedding ring may have been lost on the beach. We did the Red Top Café in Apalachicola for supper. $80.00 but worth it. Very good. So today has been a really good day. But no shells on the beach. Can’t figure that one out.
July 7 Monday Late Afternoon:
We’ve been here all day-rain threatened. Lightning ran us off the beach before lunch, but we made it back for a great afternoon. We are now tent people (oh, the shame and ignominy of it). We put up a tent-well, a tarp over some polls and it worked great keeping the sun off. Amanda really enjoys it. We are eating here tonight-Italian I am told-and the now annual homerun hitting contest this evening. Some guy caught a shark out on the beach a few minutes ago and we saw stingrays really close to the shore. We swim with the fishes!
Late evening:
Carrie and Tim sponsored our meal at the Dockside Restaurant-one of our favorite eating places here. It was nice. Then we hit The Pig (Piggly Wiggly) and who should we see but Wye Huxford from camp and his son-in-law. What a coincidence! Back here we began our homerun derby. Going to the second round are Tim, Ben, Amanda and Allan. Sam and Carrie are fit pitching about it.
July 8, Tuesday, Early morning:
Celia, Ben and I have just concluded our morning walk on the beach. I don’t understand why, but there are no shells on the beach. Celia, Ben and I walked after dark and didn’t see any blue crabs either.
Sam had a bad day. He didn’t advance in our homerun derby and then he wasn’t able to get the Braves game on MLB.com that he signed up and if paying for. We didn’t have everything we needed for Italian supper so went into town and got lots more junk food from The Pig.
We’ve been keeping touch with home through email this week. Celia finished reading “Destiny, Too-Serendipity” yesterday. It’s my latest work. She read on it all day and really seemed to enjoy it.
Heat of the afternoon:
I’m sitting by the pool chatting with a young couple from Orlando. She’s very talkative. He’s not. She talks enough for both of them. We had the tent up on the beach this morning but took the cover off when the wind got so rough. That was a battle.
We just finished lunch in the room. Some are still eating.
Late afternoon:
We hit the pool all by ourselves for awhile. Until 10 year old Christian came out. Tim brought some toys and soon Christian was playing with Sam’s torpedo. Later we did family keep away and Christian got involved in that, too. When we were playing with the torpedo, Christian’s granddad came out to check on him and to find out what the torpedo was. He soon was in the pool playing, too. That was fun.
We hit the beach later and enjoyed some rough waves. Celia loves to ride them, too, but Amanda and Carrie stayed under the tent. Right now my back is on fire.
July 9, Wednesday (I think) Late afternoon:
We ate supper out on the 2nd floor porch last night. Celia and Carrie made spaghetti. It was the best meal we have ever had in a condo-sitting out watching the gulf and the beach. It worked out really well.
This morning, since it was so hot and since we got lots of sunshine yesterday, we rode into Apalachicola. First, we used our $50 gas card we got from the owners of this unit-just for staying here. Then Celia dropped me off at the city cemetery so I could explore it while they did the town. We met back up in town and went to lunch at a place I’ve been calling “The Dead Pelican”, because I can’t remember its name. It is in a marina, right on a canal. We sat by the water (inside of course) and saw boats motoring by us in the canal. We also saw an alligator in the canal! Ben spotted it first. I couldn’t believe it. We enjoyed the meal. Ben and Amanda sponsored it.
Then we all went back to the city cemetery and wandered around. Back here we did the pool, our famous game of keep away again. When folks started coming out, Celia and I hit the beach while the others came inside. There’s lots of sea grass washing up on the beach. Just down the beach some vultures had gathered for a snack. I’ve never seen vultures on the beach.
Tonight is the big adventure if the weather holds-a shark fishing trip. We are looking forward to it.
Late-Late evening:
What a trip! A boat big enough for 49 took 15 or 16 of us out shark fishing in the bay. We had a great time. The deck hands hooked a huge one at the back of the boat. Sam got to fight it until it broke the line. Amanda caught a big Spanish mackerel. And Tim hooked a 7 foot black tip shark. It wore him down so Sam jumped in on it and fought it. Finally a deck hand got it up to the side of the boat so we could get a picture. We rode back to the marina in the dark.
We hit the Burger King on the way back out here and brought the food back to the beach house. We are eating and talking nosily about the night. It was funny. When the shark first hit Tim’s bait, Tim said “I’ve got something big and its substantial.”
July 11, Friday
We went up to St. Joseph National Seashore yesterday. We stayed 2 hours. It was boring and trashy so we came back here and spent a good afternoon. We played our keep away game in the pool-but Amanda hurt her right hand, one of her fingers. Hopefully she will be okay. The boys grilled burgers and dogs for supper-then Sam sponsored ice cream on the roof. I spent sometime on the beach in the afternoon picking up trash. There is so much of it. I took a garbage bag full off the beach with another pile still down there.
Friday late evening:
BK in Pt. St. Joe for breakfast-back to the Red Top Café in Apalachicola for dinner. Now to pack. I had a final walk on the beach. The Kentuckians had been going shark fishing but got rained out. The boys have been packing the cars.
July 12 Saturday
7:05 a.m.
Leaving to drop the keys. There’s a rainbow!!!
7:32 a.m.
Turning onto Hwy 71 North-the beach to our backs.
8:25 a.m.
Blountstown-Breakfast at BK.
8:46 a.m.
Leaving BK. Looking for petrol. Gas Mart:$4.07 a gallon. $50.00.
8:53 a.m.
On the road again.
9:17 a.m.
I-10 and cell phones back.
9:48 a.m.
State line in Alabama.
10:00 a.m.
Dothan.
11:00 a.m.
Eufaula
11:55 a.m.
Phenix City.
2:05 p.m.
Home again!!