Warmer Florida

Yeah, I know. I don’t get to complain about cold weather in Florida. But Pensacola was chilly one day, warm the next. So we were pretty happy to see a steady warming trend as we headed east.

Our second night at Basin Bayou, part of Eglin AFB, was a lot warmer than the first. We even got this fabulous sunset:

Nearby to this site is a Navy Ordinance Disposal Site, and apparently Fridays is the day they blow shit up. While making breakfast the morning of the 17th, we heard this series of thuds – pretty distinctive, you know, not thunder or anything. Michael was the one who put two and two together. It didn’t last long, but was pretty cool.

Have I included any other pictures of this amazing site?

We even saw an osprey nest.

I heard these two calling and found their tree right on the water. I took this photo with a 150mm zoom lens…. so they were pretty close.

After breakfast we packed up, leaving a few things behind to mark the site as ours, and headed towards Destin. We actually ended up at Miramar Beach, which was supposedly dog friendly but really wasn’t.

We chatted up a local who told us that in order to have your dog on the beach, you need a special tag. The city issues these tags once a year. In August.

So we walked the dogs for a bit, made sure they had water and the windows on the topper were wide open, and went to the beach. It was a gorgeous day – temps in the low 70’s and sunny. We played frisbee for a while (even with a Walton County Sheriff’s deputy!), took a break by getting in the water (it was cold), took a food break, walked the dogs, and played some more frisbee. Michael called his friend Steve Milligan, and this exchange between them was pure gold:

Milligan: So glad it’s Friday.

Michael: Wait. What day is it?

Milligan: Fuck you.

After our day at the beach (I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of that soft, white sand) we made a supply run for dog food. After our experiences in the rural west, it’s a little weird being back in civilization. Things are so spread out in places like Idaho and Utah. Finding dog food was an adventure in and of itself, so when we found what we needed (Elvis is on a limited ingredient diet) we tended to buy as much as we could fit in the truck. Even Moab, one of the biggest towns in southeast Utah, doesn’t have a PetSmart. For the big box stores you generally have to drive 2 hours to Grand Junction.

Seems like there’s a strip mall full of all the big box stores every 50 miles here in Florida. Still, it’s been hard to break that “buy it now!” mentality.

Saturday we continued on east. And Milligan’s taunt kind of came back to haunt us. See, the problem with not remembering what day it is… means that occasionally you’ll turn up at a popular place like Panama City Beach, and not be able to figure out why it’s so damn crowded.

Until you realize its Saturday. On a holiday weekend.

Needless to say we did not stop in PCB, other than to restock at the Wal-Mart. We moved on to a site outside of Apalachicola, in Tate’s Hell WMA. The site was called Cash Creek but I know why they call it Tate’s Hell. Although maybe they should call it Tater’s Hell.

Cash Creek is more of a swamp than a creek. And with all that standing water… yep, it was mosquito city. Too bad – in all other ways, Cash Creek was a nice site. Flat, quiet, with a fire ring and everything. The fire definitely helped keep the skeeters away. But Cash Creek is where we learned that the roof top tent is most definitely not bug proof. Definitely something we need to address, particularly when we get to the Pacific Northwest and Alaska later this year.

Moving on from Tate’s Hell, we discovered a sweet little spot: Carrabelle Beach. More of that soft, white sand. And it seemed dog friendly! We walked Bailey and Elvis down to one end, away from everyone, and let them off leash to play. Once the dogs were worn out, I went for a barefoot run on the beach and Michael went for a sandbag workout. It was a Florida day we had been dreaming of – sunny, a light breeze, and perfect temperatures.

At some point I looked at my watch and saw that it was 1:30. We still had 3 hours to drive to our next site, West Tower, on the edge of Osceola National Forest. Time to get moving.

West Tower is definitely a unique little site. It’s all dispersed camping, and it’s free, but there is a campground host. There’s also a bathroom with a flush toilet and a sink with running water. Even a spigot of potable water, so we could fill up our containers.

Biggest bonus: a shower. Cold water only, but it’s impossible to complain about that on a nice warm day. This was the first time I’ve voluntarily taken a cold shower in… well, ever. Let’s just say it was pretty brisk. But it was lovely to not stink anymore, and to have clean hair.

The downside to this site? Dogs. Hunting dogs, and lots of them. See, across the dirt road from West Tower are three houses, kind of spread out. The campground host told us that between those three houses there were a total of 70 dogs. They didn’t bark all night long – but on those occasions that they got going, well, it was pretty loud.

Next post: we FINALLY reach Jacksonville.