Stop 5: Wildcat Point OK

We left John Kyle SP before breakfast, since we had a full day of driving and no cell service and getting low on fuel. The town of Silas had a gas station and MacDonald's together with strong cellular superceded by the free WiFi.

We kept to the scenic route for the first 70 miles or so, and probably made better time than heading north on Interstates to Memphis and then the long hypotenuse to the point in Arkansas where we finally got on I-40, succumbing to straight over curved, for the rest of razorback country until our exit in Oklahoma.

I was surprised that our fuel mileage wasn't any better today, but in one way I'm pleased. The winds were really strong, forcing Ernie to work that much harder. But i was impressed by how smoothly Ernie drove in those winds. Early on in the drive the car was pulling to the right enough to make me think I needed to get the tires rebalanced. It took a while to realize that it was just the right crosswind.

Our original destination was Greenleaf SP, then as she was looking at her maps for the next day's drive, she saw Tenkiller Lake on the map. She was there once when she was 12, driving cross country with her aunt and uncle. So we get there, and while she wasn't overly impressed, the sister park at the other end of the lake looked better, and 20 miles further we found a lovely site on a peninsula in the lake.

The wind is much stronger than the previous night. Enough that we have to leave the left rear door closed and the right door is strapped tightly to the bikes.

Pictures are finally here.

Stop 4: Sardis MS

What does it say that the best part of the day was stopping at Mi Pueblo grocery store as we drove through Pelham? The store caters to the Mexican community, no one appeared to speak English, but they were smiling and very helpful. He produce section was large and we'll stocked with a much more interesting swath of vegetables and fruit than any Publix. The selection of sauces and salsas was immense. I learned that pork rind is available by the yard, and there are a lot more chicken parts than I knew. Alas, we were there too early to enjoy their food court, I was hoping for a breakfast burrito or two.

The drive was uneventful, all back roads wending their way across Alabama and into Mississippi. Tell Google Maps to Avoid Highways, and it will do its best to keep you off interstates. What you sometimes get, though, ate random back roads connecting County and State and US highways. Great fun, but we did get a momentary scare about a bridge (plenty of room!).

John W. Kyle is a campground set at the base of the dam that created Sardis Lake. It has the lower lake on the other side. Camping is first come and cheap ($9).

Pictures are finally here.

Our right rear door

We decided to bring inflatable SUPs where the bikes we're, so we bought a Yakima rack that swings to one side. It works (almost) great.

One of the little things that the Sprinter does well is the rear doors. You open them halfway and they stay open in anything less than strong winds.

Well, the Yakima doesn't let the right door open enough to secure. Ugh! We spent a couple days with straps securing the door to the rack. What I find interesting is how bad that design solution is.  Out of site, out of mind, the natural inclination is to pull the door before disconnecting the strap. And disconnecting is a two handed process, a bit more effort than it should be.

Enter a 2x4 in the door jamb. Sharon thought she left a prescription at home, so on Saturday I drove home from White Springs for it. While there I also grabbed my panniers and our laundry bag. And a couple pieces of 2x4 to hold the door open. It's easily visible when you're ready to close, it's easy to grab it one handed and put it in the tray. I think we have a winner!

I should note that the normal spring tension open mechanism is insufficient in strong winds, and the 2x4 falls out with sufficient wind. So in OK we tied the right door to my bike. The left door is a different problem. In big wind it can't stay half open. If we're not on shore power, no problem: opening the door wide there's a magnet to hold the door firmly. But. The shore power outlet is right beside the magnet, so the door can't reach the magnet because the power cable is in the way. First world problems are so difficult.

I realized that if I put the 2x on top of the hinge it stays in place when the door opens more with the wind. Iteration is wonderful.

Pictures are here.

Stop 3: Oak Mountain SP

A morning meander on the lesser roads, the journey was definitely part of the fun. We started an audiobook from the library, American Gods by Neil Gaiman. It will be around for several driving days.

Oak Mountain State Park is big. It runs maybe 15 miles long, and has golf, lake Marina, and lots of hiking and biking trails, and enough slow traffic roads to challenge most roadies.

After setting up we rode from our campsite to check out the nearby lake, and it looked inviting. But we were on our mountain bikes, so the call of the trail was in our ears, so we spun up the hill out of the campground, then screamed down to the North trailhead.

Sharon misread the map, and we started off on a Yellow hiking trail (maximum grade 31-52%, typical grade 10.1%) that destroyed any pretence we had about being fit cyclists. We eventually turned back, and found retracing our tracks were no easier. Exhausted, we started on a Red singletrack. The Red trails are the mountain biking trails, and this was much more fun. We confirmed that the trail was really designed to flow the other way when we turned around and flew back. And then slogged up the hill back to the campground. The lake offered succor for our tired muscles.

We awoke with a plan. A leisurely breakfast, and then pack up for the 1/4 mile drive to be near our little lake. We broke out the SUPs, filled them using our house battery, then carried them down to the water. I wasn't stable, my legs quivered, and I dropped to my knees several times, but I managed to avoid falling into the water. I paddled in circles for maybe 20 minutes before back pain and stressed muscles convinced me to return to shore.  Sharon traversed the whole lake before we deflated and re-packed the SUPs. After lunch we drove Ernie to the South trailhead and another lake, and rode some Red trails there. Nicely maintained, we were able to ride well and enjoy the flow. Knowing they are two-way trails I tend to brake for blind turns, just in case.

Our pictures from Oak Mtn should all be here.

Stop 2: Florence Marina

Our first day after the Festival, and the plan is gone. Though Sharon was interested in future stops.

The day started with a wonderful breakfast of leftovers, lovingly prepared by our dear friend Lois. Everything was delicious, she even refilled my coffee cup! Bless her heart, I hope we can all travel together, so I get a chance to refill her cup.

As a young mother Sharon brought son Josh camping and hiking, and she wanted to relive the good old days. We stopped at Providence Canyon SP for a hike, though we skipped the long rim trail. The 5 canyons we're enough fun.

Providence Canyon was inadvertently created by farmers in 1830s planting down hills rather than across, and rain and erosion removed the tillable soil and left the underlying rock. Impressive, all in all, though I was happy only walking 2 miles and not 9. Some pictures are forthcoming, THEY ARE HERE. Blogger is acting buggy about pictures, perhaps it will behave when we have a better cell signal

The state park is on the border with Alabama and the Central Time Zone. Sharon says we're going to Oak Mtn SP tomorrow, because somebody was there 10 years ago and it was great. Coldwater is too new to compete with that, so it's off the schedule.

Stop1: White Springs FL

Our trip starts with a bike festival! Sharon has been attending long before I showed up, and we volunteer as we can. The event was a bit smaller than years past, but the 100+ folks that did come made it a delightful time. We ate, we rode, we partied: all fun.

The plan was to leave Ernie plugged in for the four days, and relie on our feet and our bikes to get around, and the plan mostly worked. Sharon thought she forgot a prescription, and we did forget a couple other things, so Saturday after the rides started I drove home to retrieve, only to discover we had the prescription all the time. But now we have my panniers, and a piece of 2x4 to keep the back door open more easily.

One minor disappointment was the loss of my bike tools. Somehow my bag got unzipped while I was riding The Beast (or Gar Pond), and they fell out. C'est la vie.

Overall, though, it was wonderful time with friends from all over. We come together for a shared interest, and the community we create is heartening.

Renogy Solar

The solar panel arrived Wednesday afternoon, and the MPPT Controller that evening. (The UPS driver filled his truck with bigger items for his first run, then the smaller boxes for his second run. UPS delivers a lot to our Beaches!) So Thursday morning I drove over to my friend Stephen's house, and we proceeded to Get Solar!


The first step was to look at all the new equipment. The panel was bigger, the controller was bigger and the wires were bigger. Bigger is Better? In this case, I believe so. The old controller was tiny, befitting the little wires in and out of it. The new controller had a heat sink base with instructions to leave several inches above and below for air flow. And the bigger panel befits a 160W output versus the old one's 100W nominal.

The old non-functional panel

A gloppy mess of sealant over the wire hole

The old panel on top of the new Renogy panel

Taking off the old panel took some time to scrape off the sealant covering its wiring. It was coated with a thick gloppy pile of sealant that was a bear to get off. But underneath it was a nice plate that would accommodate the larger wires of the new panel, though we needed to expand the hole in the roof to get them through. Stephen's Dremel with the diamond bit cut through the roof like soft butter, the hard part was controlling it. We unscrewed the four screws holding the old panel on, and Voila! Ernie was solar free.

After we cleaned the roof and let it dry we sealed all of the screw holes, and then placed the new panel on the roof. Instead of new screws, we laid EternaBond tape on all four edges. The tapes sticks impressively well, and we both are confident that the panel won't be going anywhere. The tape will likely be more difficult to remove if we ever need to replace the panel than the sealant of the old one. We threaded the wires though the roof, and then sealed the hole bracket with sealant, and then more of the tape.

The new panel stretches all the way from the AC to the back

All taped down and ready to go

Next up was putting in the new Controller. It's bigger and requires the Inverter to move to make enough room, easily accomplished. Then connecting the wires, and we start charging the house battery! It works efficiently, and it's easily measurable. I bought the Bluetooth module so I can monitor the solar output and battery charge level from my phone.

The new controller passing on the power

My phone monitoring the panel and battery

We spent the weekend in White Springs and powered the refrigerator with just the panel, and everything worked beautifully. Renogy's warranties the panel for 95% efficiency for the first 5 years or so, and 85% after 20 years, so I'm hopeful that we won't have any issues with this setup for quite a while. Being able to monitor it's status from my phone is a delight – metrics make things more real.

Courtney Campbell Trail

Last Friday we took a leisurely drive up the coast from Ft. DeSoto Park, through the beach communities of St. Pete Beach, Madeira Beach, Redington Beach, Indian Shores, Belleaire Beach, Clearwater Beach, and then into Clearwater. We wanted to ride our bikes on the Courtney Campbell Trail, which runs parallel to the causeway across the bay separating Clearwater and Tampa.

We hoped to find a parking lot at the Clearwater start of the trail, but no such luck. There is beach parking a few hundred yards in, but I wasn't comfortable driving Ernie and a trailer of yaks on the narrow beach, so we continued on. About halfway along is the bridge over the boat channel, and we saw another parking lot. So we stopped and I took up a second space for the trailer. We unloaded bikes, and rode the 16 mile trail.

Parking the trailer beside Ernie

Sharon crossing the channel bridge

Sharon nearing Tampa

Bikes get a separate bridge from motorized traffic

Boats get one shot past the causeway

By the time we finished riding first to Tampa, then back to Clearwater, and then back again to the parking lot we were happy to stop. We put the bikes back in Ernie, backed Ernie out of the parking space, hooked up the trailer and drove on to continue under the highway and return to Clearwater. As we made the turn to dip under the highway it became quickly obvious that Ernie was taller than the underpass! Oops!

A bridge way too low

Fortunately there was room for the trailer beside the exit ramp

Not designed for tall vehicles

There was no clearance sign, but there was less than 10 feet of clearance, maybe only 8 or 9 feet? So we disconnected the trailer and got it back in a parking space, and then backed Ernie into another space. A pickup driver was quite understanding about letting me back up and delay his exit of the lot, not that I was giving him any choice. Once out of the way, we planned our exit.

We ended up rolling the trailer back up the exit ramp from the highway in the breakdown lane beside the exit lane, and then backed Ernie up the trailer. All the time we were watching out for traffic exiting for the lot, which fortunately was only one car during the process. Backing up on a highway is just not fun, even if it is on the edge of an exit ramp. Even re-connecting the trailer was a process I completed as quickly as I ever have. A break in the traffic allowed me to merge safely, and we proceeded to Tampa, safe and sound.

Arriving at the Tampa end of the causeway, we needed to make a U-turn to return to Clearwater, so we took the first right turn to find a place to turn around out of traffic. Unfortunately, the narrow road led us to a resort with no space for turning Ernie and trailer, and we quickly met up with a friendly security guard in his golf cart. Explaining our situation, he led us on a circuitous route around the resort's buildings and pools and eventually returning to the entrance. Finally we were able to return back to FL 60 and the causeway.

A Week with Family and Friends

We left Saturday for St Pete, Sharon's hometown, and still home to her youngest sister Susie, and her two daughters Marielle and Merideth and their families. And lots of friends.

Driving to St Pete was pleasant, taking back roads to Ocala before succumbing to Interstate traffic. With a trailer toting two yaks and a SUP, changing lanes was a well considered process. Fortunately there were no issues, and we appreciated Mercedes' stabilization software in the strong winds, as we rode smoothly down the roads.

After a great lunch at Red Mesa Mercado in St Pete, we headed over to Matt & Marielle's for a couple nights. They are the most gracious hosts with two adorable boys. William is 4 years, and Christian is 6 months, and both are charming. I don't know what age kids can do what, but Will seemed fascinated by a book Sharon brought, while Christian was happy (oh, so happy!) reaching and watching and grabbing and letting you know what he wants.

Sunday started with a family brunch. Merideth & Ryan came over with their son Kai and newborn Adyline, as did Susie, for a delicious shrimp&grits and collards and baked ham and salad feast. Then we put the SUPs in the water by their dock and manatees were kind enough to entertain the paddlers. Later Sharon and Susie caught up with girlfriends while I hung out with M&M.

Ernie curbside  

Matt and Kai on the SUPs

Monday morning we packed everything we remembered, and continued on to Fort De Soto Park. A county park, it is on an island with water access from most sites. Our site, like many, had a beach access between mangroves, and enough privacy to forget there are 200+ other sites.

We plugged in, set up the screen room and rear screen on the van, then explored some of the park on our bikes. Where the wind was strongest a half dozen kite surfers plied the water with the Skyway Bridge in the background.

Ryan & Merideth came over with their kids Monday evening, as did Sharon's childhood friend Kathy. Kai took out the SUP and learned that paddling into the wind is hard! After everyone left we watched a beautiful sunset.

The radar showed rain was coming, so we got on our bikes for a morning ride. It got threatening enough that we skipped exploring the fort, and spent the day enjoying quiet tasks in Ernie. The rain didn't get in and it was fun to enjoy the winds and thunder from a safe vantage.

Wednesday arose and we rode more around the park. After a quick trip to the St Pete Beach Publix, we put our yaks in the water for a delightful paddle. A few cormorants learned that fishing under our boats can be lucrative. They would land ever closer in an ungainly splash, give us one eye to make sure it's ok, then dive under our boats in the shallow water. Three times a cormorant returned to the surface successful, with a fat little fish in his mouth, and  would fly away, followed by the other two. While they often seem to run across the water before getting airborne, these individuals would never be caught traveling, they were off in just one or two steps.

Wednesday night we celebrated Matt's birthday! Matt & Marielle, kidless, came out to our site, along with Mike & Barbie, and we also had over our friends Richard & Laurissa. Everyone got to know everyone, and a fun time ensued.

Richard & Laurissa join Sharon for apps by our latest table

Matt's birthday feast in process

sunset from our campsite

Thursday was a very pleasant repeat. Bike in the morning, paddle in the afternoon, and Sharon's friend Susan joined us for dinner. 

Friday we left Fort De Soto for New Port Richey to meet up with Muna. Mitch was out of town, but it was a joy to catch up with her. On the way we meandered up the beach communities to Clearwater, and then we rode our bikes on the Courtney Campbell Trail, which runs parallel to FL-60 across Tampa Bay. A fun time, with a heady wind in one direction and a great tail in the other. Riding across the bay is pretty cool.

We picked blueberries with Muna Friday afternoon and rode the Pinellas Trail on Saturday from Tarpon Springs. Riding a trail separate from cars is a delight, far more enjoyable than a narrow strip beside them.

Sharon and Muna off trail

Pinellas Trail

Google Maps' option to avoid highways allowed for a pleasant return to Neptune Beach, only recognizing the route as we approached Gainesville. Ernie served us we'll, delivering a smooth ride and comfortable accommodations.

Solar, Version 2, The Plan

Last September we had a solar panel and controller installed along with an inverter, a gel house battery, and some wiring. The 100w panel was able to power our ARB freezer for weeks, so we were quite happy.

Until it didn't. We noticed that the ARB wasn't staying as cool as we wanted, and it seemed that the battery wasn't staying charged. After some testing, we determined that the panel had failed (thank you, Stephen). We also confirmed our belief that Camping World of St. Augustine is surprisingly ill-equipped to deal with correcting their installs. A bit of research also revealed that the panel they installed is well known for failing within the first year, and the eventual replacement often failing even sooner.

Rather than continuing with Nature Power, we decided to go with a Renogy 160W flexible panel, and a Renogy Solar Charge Controller. The beauty of flexible panels is that you don't have to drill holes into our fiberglass roof, and it lies flat on the roof with no airflow issues. Renogy's panel is just over 60" long, 26" wide, and just 0.08" high. With a 15.75% efficiency, it isn't the most efficient unit available, but with a 25 year power output warranty at 80% (and 95% for 5 yrs, 90% for 10), they clearly stand behind their product.

I spent way too much time on YouTube seeing if a retired software geek was up to the task. RVwithTito proved to be my final source that this was doable. If you want to see where I'm coming from, you might want to watch

• Flexible Solar Panels - What to Look For
• How to Install a Flexible Solar Panel on an RV
• Install Flexible Solar Panel on RV with No Drilling
• One Year After my DIY Flexible Solar Panel Installation

The install will consist of:

1. Renogy 160 Watt 12 Volt Flexible Monocrystalline Solar Panel
2. Renogy Rover 20 Amp MPPT Solar Charge Controller
3. Renogy Solar Adapter Kit
4. EternaBond RoofSeal White 3" x 50'
5. Dicor 501LSV1 Ivory Lap Sealant

The plan was straightforward:

1. Remove old panel.
2. Seal up any holes in the roof from the old panel except where the wires go in.
3. Position the new panel. 
4. Apply the tape and sealant carefully on all edges.
5. Run wiring down through hole in roof.
6. Seal that hole.
7. Replace the old controller with the new one.
8. Connect the wires, and chill!

What could go wrong?

A Silly Table

So as we get ready for our final shake-down trip, we're putting the last touches on Ernie T. The counter tops made it too easy for things to roll off between the cabinet and the wall so we added a little barrier to stop things from escaping. The two slides in the back turned out so nicely that we put the foot locker on a pair, too, so now it is so easy to move it back and forth. I am happy to report that the 400 pound weight capability is at least in the ballpark, since when I stand on the box to get up to bed there's likely over 300 pounds being held by the slides, and they seem to handle it with aplomb. I don't plan to put any lead weights in the locker, but even the stuff we have in there already adds up to over 70 pounds.

We thought we were done, but then we saw a YouTube video and got one more idea. Sharon really wants to be able to enjoy sitting outside and enjoy the shade Ernie will provide. So we added a piece of plywood on a piano hinge to the back of the cabinet in the doorway. We now have a table that extends out the side! Most of the work was by Sharon, giving it multiple coats of paint. All I did was find a scrap and cut it to size, and buy the hinge. I found the chain in my workbench, and we had the velcro lying around. A test drive suggested that the chain doesn't make any noise, so we aren't going to cover it in plastic for now.

Velcro at the top holds it securely for travel

The chain keeps it level for appetizers and beverages

A Tale of Two Screens

Magnets are cool. They aren't too cool around memory cards or smartphones or computers or video screens, but otherwise they're a lot of fun. They can make most anyone want to know more about Physics. It's Magic that one a little piece of metal can make another little piece of metal spin and twist and jump off a table to attach to the first piece.

Living in a van is living in a metal box. Metal that reacts to Magnetism. Hmmm...

K&J Magnetics is The Bomb. They sell magnets of all shapes and sizes, and strengths. And the strengths are listed! Our initial foray into magnetics consisted of sampling Home Depot's offerings, which quickly proved to be pretty much useless. We found that we like the BYO42, a 2"x1/4"/1/8" bar that is easily sewn into a fabric pocket. It has a Pull Force of 10.34 lbs, enough to hold a lot of nylon fabric.

One of our goals was  to be able to open the side and rear doors for flow through ventilation, with screens over both openings to keep the flying teeth out. We cut up a tent that we recently retired after 20+ years of use. For our first iteration Sharon went to a local shoemaker to sew some magnets in, but his long experience with leather turned out to be completely untranslatable to a thinner material.

Fortunately, our friend Barbara stepped up and offered to implement iteration 2! And she quickly proved to be well up to the task, delivering a reworked rear screen that is a vast improvement over the earlier version. It hangs lower over the bumper to better keep it from blowing open, and wider to allow us to attach the magnets and leave room to close the doors with it in place.

When Barbara went to re-implement the side screen, no one could find it! But we had another recently retired screen room that proved perfect for the side, giving us a zipper for making for easy entry and egress. It even has some ties if we want to just tie the opening open. And the magnets sewn into the fabric makes it easy to put up the whole shebang and keep it there.

We no longer are limited to Colorado and Wyoming, where there aren't enough mosquitoes and no-see-ums to be bothered by. The first test may well be our final road test next month down in St. Pete.

The rear screen hides everything below the bed

Barbara's artistry shines through all of her work

The side screen easily covers the wide doorway

Barbara's signature touch

Sharon is ready for bug-free camping

The bike/SUP drawer

The drawer that replaced the Big Black Box turned out pretty well. It holds its weight nicely, the plastic boxes fit snugly, so they won't easily get thrown around, and some velcro angle brackets left over from our old VW Sportwagen are handy to ensure that if the need arises.

Sharon loves her water sports. I don't want to tow 20+' of kayaks all over. I successfully paddled around on a SUP during our Baja Un-cruise. Ergo, we need to travel with a couple of inflatable SUPs, along with our bikes.

So I now have an Tribal Boards inflatable SUP, and Sharon will buy her own in April when it arrives. Mine currently fits on top of the three storage bins, but there isn't room there for two. So the bikes will move to an outside rack when we are toting the SUPs. But putting the SUPs in the bike area means dragging them over the axle brackets that are screwed into the floor.

To avoid the angled lifting, and because the first drawer came out so nice, I ordered another set of 40" drawer slides. To hold the bikes, the slide has to be longer than the first one, since my bike is a lot longer than four feet, and extends into the area between the wheel wells. So the shelf is 51" long for Sharon's bike, and 58" long for mine. Another issue is the height of the bed over the bikes, and my handlebars. If I mound the bike axle on the shelf normally, my stem won't clear the bed. Oops! So the front of the shelf is lower than the back to provide enough height clearance for my bike, while also making sure the axle is above the sides of the drawer so I can insert and remove the axle from the bracket. Otherwise it's the same as the first drawer. Since it will be fully extended to put the bikes on and take them off, I have to be doubly sure the far end is secure.

Making sure the bikes will fit on the shelf

The bikes fit snugly, but they fit!

Note the axle brackets just clear the sides of the drawer

Tribal Board! Quail Roost and Manatees!

I photographed the HEAL Great PV Paddle events from the initial one in 2012, and then the others in 2013, 2014, 2015, and the final one in 2016. I kayaked the first annual Crystal River Rendezvous of 50+ SUPers kayaking the Crystal River and Rainbow River. And for all this, and many other outings I've always been in my kayak with my Canon camera in a dry bag. SUPs looked nice, and my brother-in-law Tim, a life-long surfer and avid SUPer, was always respectful of my preference for sitting low in my yak and taking pictures from there.

Our Sprinter van is 23'8" long, and our kayak trailer is another 20+ feet.

Yaks and SUP ready for trailering

It's kinda fun that every turn or even lane change is a careful process making sure no curbs, tires, or other vehicles are hurt in the process. We took back roads down to Quail Roost RV Park in Crystal River, about 7 miles north of town. Google Maps says it can be done in 3 hours, but we avoided the interstates and meandered through the smaller highways, and did it in about 4. The RV Park was surprisingly nice, and they gave us an overflow spot that was so nice we'll ask for it again! 

After the long drive we wanted to stretch our legs and so we hopped back into Ernie T and drove to ride the Withlacoochee Bay Trail and enjoy a FL West Coast sunset afterwards. The trail parallels the Cross Florida Barge Canal, and the paved trail features some a native landscape of cedars and pines and marshland with a nice viewing spot of the Gulf at one end. The no-see-ums were hungry, so our time watching the sunset wasn't overly long, but long enough to find most of the unseen locals. 

Sunset along the canal near Inglis FL

Saturday morning was chilly (for us), in the upper 40s, but we hooked up our trailer for Chassahowitzka River, where we put in for a lovely 9 mile paddle. After exploring a side channel until the water ran out, we tried to reach the Gulf, but as we entered the open marsh of the National Wildlife Refuge the fierce winds at our back reminded us that we would eventually have to return across the open water. We turned short of the Gulf, and struggled against the wind on the return, though the trees on the river bank provided a sufficient break for most of the paddle. And we got to see manatees and birds and otters and turtles along with the gorgeous scenery, so overall it was a great trip.

We showered back at the RV Park before heading right back for an incredible early dinner at Peck's Old Port Cove, a seafood restaurant on the water near the end of the Ozello Trail. Grouper was the fish of the day, and between the crab chowder and the crab-stuffed blackened grouper was a culinary delight. On the way home, we stopped at John Brown Park to watch the sunset.

Sunday we met Muna at Crystal River Kayak Company for a manatee paddle. I broke out my brand new inflatable SUP, Sharon was on her foam SUP, and Muna rented a kayak. We got to see several manatees, though they were almost all in the waterways and not in their protected areas. Which was just as well, as the crowd around Three Sisters Spring was far more than reasonable. We headed behind a nearby island and explored a little channel undisturbed by the scrambling minions. The wind made the paddle to the channel pretty easy, and the return trip was more of a workout. We took a break for Muna to try out our SUPs, which she adapted to immediately and found them more amenable than a kayak. I, on the other hand, hadn't pumped up my SUP quite enough, and after paddling from the knees most of the trip I did manage to stand long enough for Sharon to get a picture of my butt before I went for a swim. (Sharon was kind enough to blame the board's softness for making it harder for me, but there is also the bigger issue of my lack of balance.)

Manatee and her baby alongside my new board

Muna joined us for a celebratory lunch at Blackwater Fins, a sister restaurant of Peck's with a different menu but at least equally delicious. Their crab bisque was the best ever. Ozello Trail is now one of my favorite roads in Florida!

Muna and Sharon at Blackwater Fins

More pictures of the weekend are here.