March 10 – 7

Today (Tuesday) we arrived in Cedar Key as we left the Florida Panhandle and headed to south Florida. We had a longer driving day compared to the last few weeks with about 240 miles. Keep in mind, 240 miles (almost 400 km’s) is longer in an RV and especially when you are taking the “scenic route” along the coast through small towns like Port St. Joe, Apalachicola, Carrabelle and Sopchoppy. We left Mexico Beach after spending three relaxing days in a much slower paced beach town vs. the commercialism of Panama Beach, Destin and Pensacola Beach. Today was a sunny drive with temps in the 80’s. As we left Apalachicola (apa-lachi-cola) –easy right!….and spotted several schools of dolphins alongside the causeway.

Yesterday (Monday) was a quieter day with overcast skies and temps in the mid 70’s. Not hard to take. We did some household chores, went for bike ride around the town and did some reading – outdoors. During the bike ride, we just happened to stumble across a custom painted golf cart – was Jimmy in town? Likely not, but we had to take some pic’s of this beauty. (see below)

Sunday was a “funday”, as the weather was excellent up to 80+ with  bright sunshine. We started out the morning by going out for an early walk with Jazz walking a good 4-5 miles and came back to the RV for a late morning brunch – omelet, sausage, bacon and raisin bread toast. After this amazing meal cooked by yours truly, we donned our bathing suites, beach chairs, towels and books and headed to the beach for the afternoon. (yes we had a couple of cool ones in the cooler as well). What a great afternoon on the beach! Later in the afternoon we needed to check out the beach bar and grill (Toucan’s) right behind us to get a status update on the NASCAR race. A Gulf side seat, a pitcher of beer and the race is on – no complaints! We arrived back at the RV to see the final few laps of the race and it was time to BBQ some ribs. Yep they were meaty and delicious………..hmm, hmmm, hmmm.

Saturday, we arrived at Mexico Beach in the early afternoon to a “campground” called Rustic Sands. It was a bit rustic, but wait it gets better…….First of all, with our Passport America membership, 3 nights with tax cost $73 total including full hookup, cable and lighting quick wi-fi! Accountants like that sort of value!!!

The owner of the park informed us as we checked in that on Saturday nights they have live entertainment, food and happy hour in the clubhouse (see pics), so we decided to scratch our meal plans for the night and check it out. First of all, let’s get rid of the bad – the food – the wings (M&M style where not thoroughly heated through and were cold. The homemade pizza – OK, would be a stretch but it was edible).  On a positive note, happy hour for $2 gave you a beer or as Kathy had, a glass of their finest Cabernet – about 10 oz served in a styrofoam cup.  Not a big deal, as it actually tasted OK. Now the best for the night was the entertainment. (see pic) Randy and Art (the postman-yes really). Randy played the guitar and sang and Art looked like he was from ZZ Top with a long grey beard and cowboy hat playing the saxophone. What a sound combination that worked. The two of them were amazing…. really! We watched a couple of sets and really enjoyed their music and ability to relate to the crowd. They are regulars every Saturday. What a fun night.

One last fact for the Mexico Beach area. Saturday night/Sunday was time to change the clocks for day light savings. That was OK, however Mexico Beach lies right on the central and eastern time zone line so whenever an event was posted they had to list CST. We thought at first we would be losing 2 hours that night, but the “line” was 1 mile east so Tuesday we would lose the other hour.

Have a great week.