Maryland to Florida Panhandle (via North Carolina) - April 2019

Gemma Caeli Berard Baptism - Holy Redeemer Church, MD

A family celebration of Gemma's Baptism concluded our time in Maryland at the end of March. 

Family Breakfast - Megan's BD

We also celebrated Megan's 11th birthday while Dan, Christie, Anna & Megan were in MD for the baptism. 

Megan's birthday

Time to head south to the Florida panhandle for warmer weather - too early to head north.

Duke Gardens, Durham NC

It wasn’t easy to leave MD (a few tears were shed), but with a  stop in North Carolina to see Cheryl, Darren and Ellie made it a little easier. 

Duke Gardens, Durham NC

While in NC, we enjoyed a visit to Duke Gardens in Durham - in full Spring bloom!

We arrived in Destin, FL on April 6^th, after a two-day drive from NC.  We stopped overnight near Jacksonville traveling on I-95 South to I-10 West.  That stretch across the Florida panhandle is always longer than you think it is – about 327 miles from Jacksonville to Destin.

West of Tallahassee along I-10 there is a long stretch where damage from Hurricane Michael is very evident.  Miles of downed and snapped trees, and mangled highway signs and fences are still being cleaned up.  Thankfully not a very populated area from what we could see from the highway, but this area is directly north of the portion of the gulf coast that was hit hard, including the town of Mexico Beach that we visited last year.

Destin RV Resort

Destin RV Resort

Arriving in Destin, we settled in for a week stay at Destin RV Resort.  A small private park that we stayed in last year located across the street from the Gulf of Mexico with direct access to the beach and The Surf Hut beachside grill/bar.  The weather was pleasant, but a little cool at times which I think is typical for this time of year.  I was able to continue my remote tax work and wrapped that up before April 15^th.

Beach from Surf Hut Grill - Destin

Santa Rosa RV Resort, Navarre, FL - pool area

We moved about 30 miles west to the Navarre area and Santa Rosa RV Resort for a 10 day stay.  Another private park with full hook ups and very nice amenities.  This park rates pretty high on the list of nice parks we have stayed at.  Located on the water, it has a large pool and patio area, other outdoor seating, and paddle board/kayak rentals. 

Santa Rosa RV Resort

The park has wide spaces with concrete slabs and lots of very nice landscaping. Also, a convenient laundry facility that I took advantage of to wash bulky rugs. 

Only drawback is the location right off Highway 98 that makes it a little noisy at times, but we would definitely return.  A bonus is its location near my sister, Linda, who we were able to visit!

Blue Angels Air Show - PNAB

With our location just east of Pensacola, there is lots to do in this area.  We made a return trip to the Pensacola Naval Air Base; this time we were able to catch a practice session of the Blue Angels. 

Blue Angels Air Show - PNAB

Based at the PNAB this time of year, the Blue Angels post their practice schedule on their website.  Easy parking and nice viewing area right on the flight line located behind the museum. 

Blue Angles - PNAB

They have bleacher seating and a person narrating what is going on during the practice show.  It was nice to enjoy a smaller crowd, easy access and FREE admission!

St. Sebastian Church, Navarre

Easter Sunday we visited St. Sebastian Church located a few miles from the park.  Appears to be a newer building with a large seating capacity.  We estimated at least 1,000 people attending the 9am Mass.  A beautiful setting to celebrate Easter!

Pensacola Blue Wahoos game

Also located in Pensacola is a Double A baseball affiliate of the Minnesota Twins, the Pensacola Blue Wahoos.  We took in a game on Easter Sunday between the Blue Wahoos and the Mobile Bay-Bears (LAA affiliate), including a special Easter buffet dinner on the Winn Dixie Party Deck in right field.  

Pensacola Blue Wahoos Stadium

 A  newer stadium overlooking Pensacola Bay, the game was lots of fun with very reasonable ticket prices.  

 The Wahoos are part of the Southern Baseball League with 10 regional Double A teams, including the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp (MIA) and Montgomery Biscuits (TB).  Got to love the team names.

Navarre Beach

Last, but not least, I must mention Navarre Beach.  A very large public beach area is located across the Santa Rosa Sound from our park; a short 4-5 mile drive across the bridge to the beach.  Once again, I have to applaud the obvious effort to make this area open to the pubic with no fees and plenty of parking, pavilions, restrooms, and open beach. Lifeguards are also on duty during the day.

Navarre Beach pier

 There are large dunes leading out to a wide and long white sand beach.  A very nice, less congested beach area that we really enjoyed.

Navarre Beach - toes in the sand 

Our three weeks in Florida went by quickly and we left to retrace our steps for a stop in NC and MD before heading to Michigan by mid-May.  A little extra time with the granddaughters (and their parents) is precious.

 RV Update:  Here are a few RV notes to share:

Mechanically everything has been running fine.  A small issue with the steering dampener installed last year.  No doubt due to rough I-95 roadway in GA, we lost some bolts holding one end in place.  A quick trip to the hardware store, Jim was able to fix it while we were stopped for the night.

Verizon Wireless:  Let’s just say that we are happy with the service availability, especially the internet for my remote work access, but a few issues kept popping up. Trying to understand their plans and making sure we are on the best plan to fit our needs is another story.  We did some research and tried to educate ourselves more on “unlimited data”, "streaming quality", and “hot spot usage”  (all effected by the plan choice and may be slowed down after pre-determined limits - still unlimited - but SLOW).  We like to stream shows to our TV occasionally and with heavy internet use, we had to make another small tweak to our plan that includes 2 cell phones, 1 jetpack, and 1 I-pad.  We can rotate between devises to give us plenty of internet at the higher speed as well as HD quality streaming, but they sure don’t make it easy while trying to remain within a reasonable price.

One discovery we made was the purchase of a “Lightning Digital AV Adapter”.  This small cord allows for streaming from an Apple phone or I-Pad directly to the TV without having to turn on a “hot spot”, thus not using up the faster hot spot allotment used for internet.  It works from apps (i.e. abc.go) and it helps to have a plan that includes HD quality streaming.

RV Tank Sensors:  We are having a problem with our gray and black waste tank sensors.  They are showing full way before they are actually full (guess that's better than the other way).  This is a pretty common problem with RVs, especially when you are sitting still for a period of time.  We are trying a couple different cleaning solutions recommended by other RVers, so we will see what works best.  

Still working on the new blog format.  It's taken me longer to convert than I thought; a little over my head on the tech side, but getting there with help from Cheryl. Hope to have it ready for the next post.

 

As we close in on our two-year anniversary (as full time RVers) later this summer, we don’t see any end in sight.  Enjoying the travel and flexibility and still have a long list of places to see.