2020 Florida: beach time before we hunker down

Heading for St. Augustine, we were still wondering whether it was the right thing to do, or should we just be making a bee line home. Once we saw how spacious and quiet the campground was, and the few people on the beach, we decided to relax and enjoy the last bit of camping we may have for a long time.

North Beach Resort in St. Augustine is a well run private campground. Our site is huge, and the Alto is nestled in amongst the palmettos and canopies of live oak trees. It is idyllic.

a little oasis

The beach is a short walk across the road, and it stretches for miles. The sand is much different from the gulf side, coarser and full of ground up shells. Definitely little tougher on the feet than the cushy talcum like sand on the Gulf side.  The Atlantic is cooler, and the onshore winds make for some crashing waves. There were a few brave souls working on their surfing skills...good for them!

We made a quick excursion to check out the nearby Anastasia State Park, a little reconnaissance for future road trips. It is a large park, lots of nice shaded sites, and a massive beach. We can see why it is such a popular campground, and hard to snag reservations. We made our way back downtown, walked through the streets, practising our social distancing as we went, looking at the all the old original buildings. Lots of nice architecture and cobbled streets. One of the main streets, St. George, was lined with period buildings, but a tad too tourist trappy for our tastes.

lots of period architecture

seriously old cobbles

Castillo de San Marcos...completed by the Spanish in 1695

The next day we literally hung around our site, walked the beach, and tidied up to pull out in the morning. Overall, it was good decision to take a couple of days to chill out and clear the head space a bit.

the sea was angry my friends...

chillin' after dinner

Our journey home was all about just driving. We made our way through Georgia and North Carolina, camping at a state park and a KOA as we went. After leaving St Augustine, we drove via Hwy 301 into Georgia, stopping at the George L Smith SP, a small park around a very bayou feeling mill pond. Our site backed onto the edge of the large pond, which is only accessible by paddling through a maze of seemingly endless stands of moss draped trees. Lots of no swimming signs posted everywhere, we figured a few alligators were in there.

stands of cypress and tupelo trees

Thankfully the park was still open during our journey, and the park staff had pre-arranged the check-ins to minimize contact. Clearly a very reasoned approach and implementation. We were a little apprehensive about being camped within a few short feet of the water, but a young ranger assured us that they have not seen any alligators for awhile because they do not like colder weather,...but were a little apprehensive considering that the last few days have been 80F????

Hopped on the I77 and stayed the next night at a KOA in Statesville NC. The weather turned cold and ugly overnight, so instead of camping, we drained as much of the water system as we could, and arranged to stay at a Comfort Inn at Carlisle PA. It then became just a matter of driving to chew up the miles. Getting to Carlisle gave us a reasonable drive for the next day to get to Watertown, which would set us up nicely to arrive at the border early the following morning.
Mother Nature though, had other plans.

We cruised along the I81 until just below Syracuse, and then the snow began. Instantly...and a lot.  The forecast called for a 1/2 inch accumulation but there helluva lot more coming down, and ended up being around 6 inches.  I spied a snowplow coming down an on ramp, and timed it so I could tuck in behind him and this worked well for quite a while until he decided to clear the opposite lanes. Then it was back to the reality of a road covered in heavy wet snow. We made it slowly around Syracuse, then decided to bail on driving further to Watertown. Through the snow splattered windshield we saw a sign for a Comfort Inn which turned out to be a good spot to wait out the storm.

We had a good idea of what would happen at the border, but there was still the anxiety of the unknown, given the fluidity of our govt reactions to the virus. The border guard had a number of extra questions for us, then instructed us to head straight home to self isolate, which is exactly what we did, and are doing now.

Without question, it became a stressful trip towards the end. We agonized over whether we should have stayed the few days in St. Augustine, but that worked out fine.  All you can do is look at the information in front of you and make the best reasoned decisions you can. As things started to tighten up and close down as we travelled home, flexibility became the only way to roll. It felt like we were constantly changing reservations...and dodging the weather.

In the whole scheme of things, our issues were minor, compared to the havoc the coronavirus was starting to inflict on lives and jobs. That being said, it sure was nice to get home, back on familiar ground, to deal with whatever comes next.