Navarre, Florida

Good morning from the Florida panhandle. I’m sitting at the table looking out over a white sand beach at the Santa Rosa Sound. Our campsite here, compared to the muddy Tallahassee KOA the night before, is like night and day. When we called the Emerald Beach RV park with one day’s notice here in Navarre, they asked if we wanted a beach front site for the night. For only $55, we said sure (usually they are double that at most parks, if you can even find one). It is beautiful. The kids spent several hours on the beach behind the trailer digging in the sand after we arrived yesterday around 1 PM. It was also a pleasant surprise when we hit the central time zone while crossing the panhandle and gained an extra hour. I never realized how much the east coast drifts towards the west as you travel south, and we are now west of most of Michigan!

While the kids were digging in the sand enjoying the 70 degree weather, I washed the Tallahassee mud off the truck and trailer. This is one of the few RV parks we have stayed in that allows rig washing, and in fact has a separate well system to support it. It’s the first time we have washed the outside of the trailer since Brian accomplished the task in Helena! Rocky is the only one who doesn’t like this RV park – dogs aren’t allowed on the beach, and the palm trees have no squirrels!

We sampled some of the local cuisine yesterday. Nobody was too excited about the boiled peanuts, which take on the consistency of pinto beans. You eat them right out of the shell, which is rather messy with all the liquid inside. Teressa wanted to throw the rest of them away, but I made a last minute plea bargain. The Florida grapefruit and navel oranges weren’t anything to write home about either – you can find the same quality in your local grocery store!

The gulf got pounded with heavy rains last night, and we definitely have a leak somewhere in the front of the trailer. I bought patch material at Camping World in Tampa, and will give that a try when we get to New Orleans tonight. The weather is supposed to get colder with high winds today and tomorrow, but no rain.