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White Oak Park April 10

We got here April 7th. This is such a sweet place: 12 pull through roomy sites, each with a picnic table, fire pit and American flag. Mostly locals use this city/county park. The manager is on site in a house and does rounds twice a day in his golf cart. There’s also a boat launch.

There are 3 great birding areas nearby. We went to one of them yesterday afternoon. Pintail Wildlife Refuge. It’s about a mile loop with loads of gators and purple gallinules.

We took pictures but the internet has been dicey here. The plug on the Starlink broke so we are using T-Mobile and it doesn’t have the same juice so Vic hasn’t been able to edit the photos.

I-10 in LA is really awful especially through Baton Rouge. We met people at our last stop that warned construction was bad on I-10 and we should take 90. We tried 90 and decided it was the pits and we’d take our chances on I-10. It was Sunday so no workmen but also no evidence of any construction at all! So the question is what’s up with those fellow travelers ?!

Also what’s up with No rest stops on I-10 in LA?!

Instead of 7-11 convenience store they have Grab ‘n Geaux lol.

This morning we were up at 4 am watching the weather channel. There were thunderstorms predicted and possible tornadoes. We got a notification there was a tornado warning so we grabbed Zoe and went to the concrete block restroom and waited it out. There is a nice metal portico attached to the bathrooms so we could stand outside under cover for some of it. We had lightening and rain but no tornado thankfully.

Louisiana mosquitos are vicious – I have about 20 bites that itch but also feel like they are on fire. Ugh. I am not a fan of this state. Cortisone-10.

Tomorrow we are staying one night in Houston then a few days in Buda and visiting my dear friend Margo and family.

Since our last post we spent two nights at the auto museum in Tallahassee in their huge field. There were a few other campers but they kept to themselves.

We went through St. Marks wildlife refuge. We saw a pair of black turtles and a (pretty far away) pair of eagles.

Then we went to Pensacola and stayed two nights at American Legion Riders Club 340. There is a sign on the door – tobacco allowed. Vaping not allowed. You can smell the cigarette smoke well before you get to the front door. The only thing those people are riding is their bar stool – heavy drinking and smoking going on inside. We were supposed to go in and register but couldn’t bring ourselves to open the door. Whew that place stunk.

Lots of birds though – blue birds, a pair of cardinals, and a woodpecker.

We visited the Navy base – Correy Station – where Vic did his navy seal training in 1968. We also shopped at the Exchange where Vic struck paydirt and found some comfortable sneakers and several shirts that show off the weight he’s lost. And of course we went to the Commissary – they had great sushi and great prices.

Now we are in Ocean Springs, MS at Ft Bayou Brewing Company. This is our second time here. They serve excellent food and I got a blackened shrimp quesadilla. I always think of my friend Charlotte when I get shrimp – it’s her favorite.

Couple more bird photos, from Clerbrook.

Tomorrow we go to Baton Rouge.

April 1, 2024

We’ve spent most of the winter getting ready for another trip out West. This time we will go across I-10, stopping to see our friends Margo, Davey and Lily in Austin TX. Then on to CA and up the coast to Oregon and Washington, then kitty corner through Wyoming, Utah etc and back to FL in November.

We’ve done some stuff to our rig including having disc brakes installed instead of electric brakes. Of course the big project was removing the old decals and oxidation, applying a ceramic finish and custom decals. Many, many hours of manual labor. Our friend and RV tech Allen Cook helped us with the high places requiring a ladder and put the decals on.

We also put in a composting toilet which means we won’t be searching for a dump station every 10 days.

This is a simple thing but will make moving so much easier – Allen made a gadget that locks both doors of the fridge so no more bungee cords or straps – hurray!!!

Vic has joined not only the Elks Lodge but the VFW and the American Legion which will enhance our boon docking ability. Along with the military bases there will be no shortage of places to stay.

We have reservations at a campground called White Oak Park in St. Charles, LA for April 7th for 3 nights. That’s where we’ll be during the eclipse. We don’t do crowds very well so we aren’t trying to be positioned somewhere to see it. We happened upon this place last year. All the sites are roomy and pull throughs. It was immaculate and amazingly $12 a night. The birding in the area is worth stopping for.

First stop is the Tallahassee Auto Museum for two or three nights with birding opportunities nearby. The museum has hundreds of classic cars. The property is several acres with a huge field available for boon docking.

We wish all our snowbird friends safe travels back to their summer places.

Hope you enjoy following along on this year’s adventures.

Let’s start with something pretty.

This bush has gotten so huge you can’t see our camper behind it! It sure is beautiful.

Last Saturday I experienced sudden extreme stomach pain right out of the blue. The ER quickly determined my problem and I was taken into surgery pretty fast. I had a 4.8 mm kidney stone that had torn a hole in my kidney – no wonder it hurt so bad! I spent the night in the hospital – you can imagine how fun that was. I got out Sunday and am recovering nicely at home.

Vic and I are busy tying up loose ends, stocking up on meds and other items so our trip will go smoothly.

We had disc brakes put on the camper to replace the crummy electric brakes. We also had a composting toilet installed. So far we love it and it’s going to make logistics a lot easier on the road.

I had a trip north planned to see my daughters and their families but the kidney stone episode ruined that plan.

We plan to leave by April 1. We are still working out the itinerary but a stop in Austin TX to see our friends Margo, Davey and Lilly is a definite part of the plan.

Two more phenomenal Owl shots. I think these are just incredible. First is Vic’s male Great Horned Owl leaving the nest. You can tell it’s a male by the white marking around its neck. What a spectacular bird.

Next is Hootie and Tootie (Sally), showing how they are growing up. They will leave the nest in a few weeks (at about 9 weeks old).

Are they adorable or what?!

And here is one of the owlets that we think is very cool (mine also).

It’s been fun talking to people who’ve heard about the nest and come to see it. Some are professional photographers like the woman we met carrying 2 expensive cameras who takes people to Costa Rica on birding tours. Others are local hobbyists.

We’ve had a great time over here in Kenansville. We have to go back to Clermont tomorrow. Zoe’s annual vet appointment is Wednesday. Also we are having disc brakes installed on the camper to replace the electric brakes.

We wanted to go to Key West again this year but I think we are running out of time.

We’ve been back to the Barred Owl area but after this day we stay in the truck. Yesterday we took Sue with us, a fellow camper who is a nurse practitioner from Nova Scotia. She isn’t a photographer but has been interested in our birding adventures and wanted to see the birds and owls in person. She’s very fun to hang out with and we had a great trip out with her.

We finally got good shots of the barred owls flying.

We did get out of the truck when we first started using the call. We all had hats on. One of the owls zoomed up behind Vic and attacked his head, taking off with his hat. We were all stunned as he had no idea it was going to happen.

The owl dropped his hat. Guess it wasn’t worthy of his nest.

Sue said we couldn’t have given her a better adventure if we had tried to plan it.

We sure hope we see Sue and John on the road, we enjoyed them a lot.

We visit this nest every day hoping to see an eagle. The nest is huge but positioned on the back side of the tree making it hard to see any activity within the nest. Yesterday we got the eagle flying around and in and out of the nest.

Here are some images from recent days here in Kenansville FL.

The owl nest is also on Joe Overstreet.

On one of our trips to Orlando we spotted this Cara Cara on a telephone pole. I had the fun of taking his picture. He’s pretty high up but what a pretty bird.

Vic got this woodpecker, also on Joe Overstreet. Another beautiful creature.

Vic’s memory card broke so we had to go to Orlando and find a camera shop. Turns out the memory cards we were using are being discontinued so we got two upgraded cards and a card reader. However they sold us the wrong card reader. We had to go back and get the right one. What a pain. The place is an hour and a half each way from here. Did I say what a pain?

We are enjoying the new cards though. They give a better image and they have twice as much memory.

We were back in Clermont last week. We came back because heavy rain was forecast and we’d rather be in Clerbrook than out in a field. The rain happened, 2 solid days of it.

The next day we were outside enjoying blue skies and low 70’s. A red shouldered hawk flew down onto a telephone pole. I got my camera out of the truck and took a couple of pictures. Suddenly another red shouldered hawk flew down right next to the first one! I kept taking pictures. This is what I saw.

Here’s an assortment of birds we captured over the past 10 days or so.

I think the pair of RSH is my only shot in this group. Vic got some awesome captures – my favorite is the Snail Kite.