Georgia on my…Magnus? Day 18

Saturday, February 28

(At Whimcycle RV Resort) Yesterday, when we first got here it was starting to rain. And the place looked so bare and seemed to have no amenities at all--I was disgruntled. How could this little circle of asphalt with angled parking spots for the cars and grassy driveways into little gravels "pads" for the RVs…be any good?

It then proceeded to rain all night.

We had a great dinner at Los Magueyes about 6 minutes away. The chips and salsa weren’t so special, but Ed’s molcajete (I think that’s Spanish for mess of meat) was great and my veggie bowl quite tasty. There was lots of good looking fish dishes too and at least six other veg dishes on the menu.

But in the morning, the day of this post, things were still dripping and skies overcast, but it was nicely warm. And not overly soggy. Florida drains well. And I found the lovely little dog park tucked away behind the laundry room. They also had a recreation area and a bike wash station, plus a 200' trail over to a lovely, paved bike trail that connects to lots of walking trails and other bike trails.  A sign at the dog park explained which trails were dog-friendly, which was very nice and exactly what I needed to know.

By the way, the Florida Trail comes by here!

We went over to Silver Springs SP and walked the boardwalk there. We never did see the monkeys, even though a man and woman said the monkeys had been there by the river just two days ago. But we did see Anhinga, Double-crested Cormorant, Wood Ducks, Ruby-crowned Kinglet,  White Ibis, Swallowtailed Kite, and Yellow-throated Warbler. Merlin heard Northern Parula (and I did too) but never saw one. Cool place and lots of birds!  I’d have seen a lot more if I hadn’t been looking for manatees and monkeys.

 

 There was a wedding going on when we arrived; we didn’t see it but the number of dressed up people was surprising. And at about noon the number of people in general peaked and it became hard to enjoy much of anything—too much dodging of people and dogs and strollers and children. What else would you expect, so beautiful a place on a Saturday?

If Molly and I had been by ourselves we would have wandered a whole lot of the lovely little wooded trails, both around the river and away from it. We could have spent a lot of hours there.

 

 

 

Male Wood Duck 

Female Wood Duck

Anhinga

 Note: next time in Florida, check out camping at Manatee Springs SP. Looks awesome.

Back at Whimcycle, after a quick late lunch and a little computer time, Molly and I took a long jog on the bike trail. (dogs allowed; I checked) After about 34 minutes we came to a state park with a campground and this sign—

This was also the junction of the Marjorie Davis Greenway and the Florida trail passed through there. I saw the sign for it, but didn’t walk on it.

I used the bathroom and we headed back,watching for bears all the way. We saw none, since it was about four o’clock in the afternoon, but we saw a whole lot of little gray squirrels. Bear food.

But when we got back to the cutoff that goes to the campground, I wasn’t ready to stop. We went on for 1:15 of jogging time and then started walking. In the other direction from Whimcycle (I think it was north), the trail goes on across two roads and keeps on going. I noticed that some of the people using the trail had parked alongside the road in the grassy shoulder, so I guess there is no official parking area near there. It would be interesting to see where it goes at that end.

 Correction to earlier note: it was officially called the Marjorie Harris Carr Cross Florida Greenway. But according to the map I didn’t get there, instead I got to the Santos Campground. To go further I would have had to cross a street, and I didn’t. But anyway I got to the Florida Trail which was my hope.

Georgia on my…Magnus? Day 17

Friday, February 27

We set our alarms for 4:45 am--there was a rocket launch that was supposed to put some Starlink satellites into orbit. It was scheduled for 5:20, but when the alarm went off I checked the official countdown site and discovered it had been rescheduled to 7:20. So I reset the alarm, went to the toilet, and went back to bed for two delicious hours of sleep

 

 

I woke up with baddish dreams about tornadoes and some friends I didn’t know in waking life (all made up). It was foggy outside. But, getting our coffee, we headed down to the bay anyway—maybe it would clear up.  Some hope--it was very, very foggy. So much you couldn’t see any buildings or towers across the waterway.

The rocket launched on schedule but I never caught a glimpse of it. The lady next to us said she did.  But we could all hear it! The birds out in the water were mildly disturbed.

Note to self: This is not such a bad place considering it’s in a populated area and it's crowded. People are so nice! I’d stay here again but probably only two nights, and I’d be sure to check the rocket launch schedule ahead of time.

And the wildlife refuge is awesome—I’d love to do some hiking there.

Rocket launch completed, we packed up and headed west. It's a good direction. 

 

 

 

 

 

We arrived at the next RV park near the center of Florida. It was Whimcycle Trail Resort at Santos.  And I will describe it in the next posting.

Our supper, also to be described in the next post. 

 

Georgia on my…Magnus? Day 16

Thursday, February 26

Campground pics 

 

 

 

It was a strange day. We drove all over Merrill NWR looking at birds, only to return home and find a new lifer looking at me. A Blue-headed Vireo in the tree overhanging our Magnus Motorhome!

We saw lots of birds on the drive—Cormorants (maybe the picture will tell which), Anhinga, Spoonbill (1), White Ibis, all the usual herons and egrets including a lovely Tricolored Heron (and then a lot more), Northern Harrier, Osprey, Northern Shovelers, those ducks with the white curved stripe on the face and white spot at the end of the tail feathers (are they blue-winged teal?), terns, Pied-billed Grebe, Laughing Gull, Coots, maybe Gallinule, Painted Bunting, and more. 

The Indian River where the manatees hang out. 

A drawbridge over the Indian River

 Also an alligator and I’m almost sure of a manatee. At the Manatee Overlook area in Cape Canaveral National Seashore, I saw a brown head surface for just a minute. It couldn’t be an otter in the middle of the Indian River Channel in the middle of the day and there was no dorsal fin so it shouldn’t likely have been a dolphin. So, manatee.  They’re supposedly common there, especially in the spring and summer.

No Florida Scrub Jay, sorry to admit.

Brown Pelican 

Mixed Terns and stuff

Blue-winged Teal (I think)

Greater or Lesser Yellowlegs, hard to tell apart. I think Lesser

Double-crested Cormorant

Tricolored Heron 

It was a beautiful day. Windy, though, and although nearly 80 degrees, it still seemed a little chilly in the wind. They had a wonderful boardwalk array at the Visitor Center. Which the worker there graciously allowed us to take the dogs on. Then a really long wildlife drive. And then we went to the Manatee Overlook and paid our respects quickly to Cape Canaveral National Seashore Beach. It was a lovely beach with one big sandbar making a wave. Further down from where we were, we could see a couple of guys surfing.

 Cape Canaveral National Seashore beach

Lots of dogs at the campground today, but it seems a little quieter than yesterday.  I’ve seen two different people jogging for exercise, and like me, they seem to have to content themselves with jogging round and round the campground. If I had to guess, 1/8 mile?  Maybe 1/4.  It took me about fifteen minutes but then I’m slow and I have a dog.

 

 

Georgia on my…Magnus? Day 15

Wednesday, February 25 

This was our space center day. The drive over there was very short, just ten minutes or so. It was a cool place but the “rides” (simulated) were very disappointing. In the particular the one which was supposed to be so realistic that actual astronauts had declared that it felt just like the real thing?  It was lame. Yeah, you did get a brief feeling of movement and one of weightlessness, but nothing like the ones we did at Epcot Center.

Other than the rides, we got to take a bus over to see the rocket launch pads and we could see Artemis moving, or so they claimed. At seven miles an hour at a distance, could we?  And we got to stand underneath the blast of a rocket launching (simulated, of course). And there were a lot of science exhibits (and yes, this is rocket science!), but we didn’t spend much time viewing them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So it was way too expensive for the half day we spent. Sad. Oh, well.

During the drive I noticed that lot of plants look like the recent frost here killed them. Especially the little palm trees, annuals, and stuff like that.

There were tons of ducks out on the river. Laughing gulls, Reddish Egret, White Ibis, bluebirds, robins, fish crows, jays. We did see eagles nesting in the wildlife refuge on the way to the rocket launch.  Also a gator in a roadside ditch.

 

 

 The same building as earlier, seen across the Indian River.

 

Georgia on my…Magnus? Day 14

Tuesday, February 24

It was 21 degrees in the morning. It supposedly got down to 19. Unbelievable.

Notes from the day:

I woke up with weird dreams and a headache. I blame the chocolate I ate last night. Oh well.
Wow. I didn't realize it until I checked the route, but the destination for the day was almost halfway down the Florida coast, near Orlando. Will it be warmer there? 

When Molly and I walked by the pond, I saw that the stork was still absent but there was a juvenile white ibis there.  (Note to me: the date I posted seeing Wood Stork in Merlin is is 3 days off; later than actual.)

We arrived at Manatee Hammock Campground, shortly after the check-in time of 2pm. It was a mind twister. Crowded and cramped, a hundred or twice that of RVs squished into spaces with cars and trucks at crazy angles in front and beside and all over the grass. There was constant traffic noise from the street (highway 1) in front. It had streetlights scattered all around so that you could walk anywhere at night without a flashlight--provided you could see at all with all the glare in your eyes. Yet...

Just out behind the campground, there’s a big open field and a huge empty dog park and a fishing pier out into the Indian River.  And they are gorgeous.  The tent camping sites have a really good location, between the crowd and confusion of the RV area and the peaceful view of the river (aka Intercoastal Waterway).

Right across the river/intercoastal waterway is the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral. I was told that you could see rocket launches from the campground, and duh!  We missed one!  When we were inside eating supper I started looking at the launch schedule, and realized that the launch had probably happened while Ed was grilling steaks and I was fixing my salad. Dummies!

 

REVIEW Manatee Hammock Campground

(Mostly) all about the location

We had a back-in site, full hookup, with a gravel/dirt surface. There was a nice picnic table. All utilities worked fine. They were under a burn ban, but they were okay with us cooking outside on our charcoal grill. Since our site backed up to the fence around the property, there were trees and bushes providing a little bit of privacy. But the sites were very close together. 

My first reaction to the place was, “this is a disaster.” There were motorhomes and trailers crammed in all over with cars and trucks parked haphazardly at angles.  But it turned out to be pretty easy to maneuver around. And the campers, mostly all out-of-state people, were friendly and pretty quiet. It was neat and well kept up, too.  And for the location, what could you expect?

Back toward the Indian River/Intercoastal Waterway, there was a large walking area with a huge dog park and a sweet little fishing pier. That was lovely!  And of course we were right across the river from Cape Canaveral. When the weather is clear, you can see the Kennedy Space Center buildings. And there’s a perfect view for rocket launches.

It’s only 20 minutes from the space center, plus the Canaveral National Seashore. Great place with a wonderful wildlife drive!  And beaches.

Dixie Crossroads about 15 minutes north is a okay restaurant. Good service, okay food. There were lots of other restaurants in the area.

 

Georgia on my…Magnus? Day 13

Monday, February 23

On our morning walk, Molly and I saw lots of birds on the trail near the nature center. Merlin recorded Brown-headed Nuthatch and Yellow-throated Warbler, but I didn’t see them. I saw kinglets, bluebirds, and butterbutts. What else? Hmm…I don’t remember. I got in a rush because I got turned around on the trail and didn’t know the easiest way back to the “golf cart cut through.” Silly me.

On the way back (or maybe it was later) I saw three Wood Storks soaring around the tall pine trees. Awesome!  Of course I didn’t have my camera. But now having seen what they look like in flight, I’ll never forget them.

It was too cold to sit outside with my morning coffee, so I was stuck in a tiny house with a big TV.  Misery.

 

But then we took a day trip to Jekyll Island Driftwood Beach. It was awesome. There were lots of birds out in the water but too far to ID. No whales, darn it!  I looked long and hard.

 

 

 

For dinner we ate at St. Mary's Seafood and more. It was pretty good. I had a salad bar ($3 extra), broiled grouper and hushpuppies and rice. The fish was pretty tasteless but I enjoyed it. And I got plenty to eat. The hushpuppies were very sweet. I may have to watch that sort of thing in future because it seems to trigger my sugar craving.