Hanging out in Jacksonville

We have been camping at "Camp Cummins" since Sunday evening, waiting for a fuel tank to be shipped. The service shop at Cummins cannot begin to work on the engine until the tank is installed, and that will likely not happen until next week.
In the meantime we are making the best of the situation. Tuesday we went over to Anastasia State Park and visited with Don & RuthAnne for the afternoon.  For dinner, we planned to go to Aunt Kate's Restaurant but the drawbridge got stuck, so instead we went to a taco shack and enjoyed fish tacos. 
Yesterday we met Don & RuthAnne at Aunt Kate's for dinner along the waterfront.   It's a great location and they serve local seafood.  We even got entertained by the pelicans who were trying to get their share of the fish being cleaned on the dock.  Then as we were getting ready to leave a crew of 6 launched a large "canoe" and headed south on the Waterway....fun to watch.

Disaster Strikes

I am not sure where to begin. Yesterday we finally had a mechanic (Muttly's mobile repair) show up at our campsite, 9:45 am, early morning by his account.  He worked on the RV for about 3 hours, got it running, and by 2 pm he and Jim were taking it for a test drive. Everything seemed to be working just fine.
This morning we packed up, getting ready to head north to Savannah and then Charleston,  but the engine wouldn't start and the same warning lights came on. We called the same mechanic who told us to pressurize the fuel tank using an air compressor. When we did that, the fuel tank blew open, spewing 85 gal of fuel on the ground. Thankfully it stayed confined to our site, but what a mess. We contacted the park Rangers and within an hour we had the fire dept., a Ranger, an ambulance, the hazmat folks, the EPA, Dept. of Fish & Wildlife Management, as well as other campers looking to see what was going on. They sprayed foam over the spill which took away the fuel smell mostly, but we were told we still had to leave. We called Good Sam Roadside Assistance who called in a tow truck for us, and took us to the Cummins Service Center in Jacksonville.  We had to pay half of the towing bill which we were not happy about; called them to voice our anger about that and having been put in the position to use their mechanic instead of having the RV towed last Thursday when we requested it. 
To top it all off, we are responsible for hiring a hazmat contractor to handle the cleanup of the campsite, including paying for it. Tomorrow morning we will call our insurance agent to see if they will handle this before we start calling any contractors.

Cumberland Island

Wednesday we caught the 11:45 ferry out of St. Mary's to Cumberland Island.  We spent the afternoon walking to and around the Dungeness ruins and other buildings that still stand near the southern end of the island.  There were many encounters with the feral horses, including two times along the walking trails.  When that happened, we had a momentary standoff and then the horses went on their way around us, not getting too close, and not looking at us.  It was delightful to picnic under some shade trees near the Dungeness mansion ruins, surrounded by horses feeding on the lawn.
There was not enough time to head north to visit the Plum Orchard mansion this trip, but we didn't want to leave Sadie for 12 hours, which that would have required. It was an hour drive to St Mary's  and ferry tickets had to be picked up at least 20 minutes before departure, so the 9 am ferry would have meant leaving the RV at 7:30 am instead of 10:15 am.  We still caught the last ferry back at 4:45 pm, and were back at the car 535pm, home to Sadie before 7 pm.  It was still a long day, but Sadie handled it fine being left for that long.

Waiting for RV Serviceman

We spent most of the day waiting for Jeff Harrison from Muttly's Mobile Repair, only to find that he was coming from Comer, GA, about 5 hours away in good traffic and he didn't hit the road until mid afternoon.  It is now 8:00 pm and he still has not arrived!  We don't think much of anything will get done tonight.

While waiting, we did take a beach walk toward the Fort, about a mile or so down the beach, and saw two big ships come by, including one pushing a dredge barge.  We are not sure what kind of ship the second one is used for.  I also took a picture looking back across the dunes at our campsite, behind the pickup camper. 

Beach Time

We are enjoying the beach, just over the boardwalk and dunes.  Yesterday I walked halfway to the Fort, about half a mile, while looking for any unusual shells.  I didn't find any special shells but the walk was still delightful. 

Today I walked in the other direction, past the damaged fishing pier to the ocean side beach. There were definitely a lot more birds on the beach than people, a LOT more.  It was still very peaceful...love hearing the water roll in to shore.

FERNANDINO BEACH

Last night we met Dennis and Sharon in town and went to dinner at The Salty Pelican. Both the meal and the company were delightful.   This morning we picked them up at the Walmart lot in town and went back into the historic area to enjoy part of the day before they had to head home to Savannah.   We ended up back at the same restaurant for lunch, this time finding a table on the 2nd floor overlooking the bay.  We are sad to see them leave but always enjoy our time together.  Dennis has been diagnosed with stage 4 prostrate cancer and will be undergoing radiation treatments and likely chemo treatment as well in the coming weeks.  Our love and prayers go with them. 

On the move again

Yesterday we left gamble Rogers State Park and headed north about 85 miles to Fort clinch State Park on Amelia Island. The engine on the RV is still not working right so we drove separately, That also made it easier for Jim to stop at a regular gas station and fill up on diesel - not bio-diesel! Then we stopped at a rest area off I 95 so he could Change the filters one more time . Off again ) our biggest concern was Jim getting over the bridge on I 295 to the east of Jacksonville. He did get over the bridge, cresting the top at 30 mph.  Wheww!!!. We made it to Fort Clinch safely and are here for a week.

Kayaking on the Intracoastal Waterway

Saturday the winds had calmed down enough and it had warmed up enough for us to go out kayaking on the ICW.  We launched from the picnic area in the park so we didn't have to drive very far or haul the kayaks more than a few steps to the water.  We decided to kayak towards Ormond Beach to the south, into the wind so we would have an easy return trip.  Along the way we did not see any storm damage from the hurricane last fall, so we don't know if there was any or not. Maybe they are far enough away from the ocean side to have been protected from any major damage.  For a Saturday, there was not a lot of boat traffic, but we did have a few big boats pass by.  This was an easy kayak trip, very relaxing. We turned around when we got to a place where all you could see were a string of apartment buildings, and floated much of the way back to the park with the help of the wind.

Beach Report

The past few days we have been dealing with high winds and rough seas, so the red flag has been flying to keep people out of the water.  Add to that the dark purple flag warning of an influx of Portuguese man o' war, and that will convince any sane person to stay out of the water.  We drove up the coast just to see some of the homes and beaches along the coast. There are many homes still dealing with hurricane damage, but many like the ones in the photo below that appear to be unharmed except for the access road getting to them.