Thursday we went to the American Legion post 333 here in Key Largo. Why might you ask, I guess it is the hopping place to go. every Thursday they have a jam night there, with the local band, if you want you can go up and play with the band.

We got there about six or so ,and most of the other work campers were there. They have a fairly big area outside to sit and the band plays in a 20 x 20 pavilion. Now is the time to go ,as after the beginning of November, the place gets over 500 people on Thursdays and it is too crowed. The band has six members on of whom is a park ranger named Dan, who I have worked with. He plays guitar and sings, has wrote over 20 songs, and does a solo gig, every now and then.

As usual they have beer, mixed drinks and some food, all of which you can buy and proceeds go to the vets. Melissa and I had some beer and we each had a half chicken dinner. The crowd is mostly over 50 oldsters like ourselves and the music is our stuff. We thought they were very good, and Dan was impressive. One of the workcampers here who’s name is also Dan, got up and played the drums for a couple of songs. Come to find out he was in an 80’s hair band, and his band opened for Foghat for years. Who knew, his wife, Jackie showed us old pics of him and the band with there hair down past there shoulders. We were like WHAT. Later on a guy got up and played a few ZZ tops songs, with the band. All in all it was a really fun night and we will most likely go most Thursday.

Ranger Dan in the middle

Dan the work camper on the drums.

Another shot of Dan

Melissa and Dan’s wife Jackie

We found out this lady is a local and is 93 years old, and danced pretty well.

Saw this during the day, usually green but this one is mating, it was about 5 feet long.

We have now been in Key Largo for one week. It has been warm, 85, and high humidity with on and off showers, it’s there rainy season. Come November it will get a little cooler, with less humidity. We have gotten ourselves settled in now. When i backed into the site, i really didn’t look to see where we were. So Saturday i moved the 5er over some and got us better situated to the site.

BEFORE

AFTER.

As most of you know, we were here last November for two weeks, in the campground area. As we liked it ,we put in our applications to work here, and we were accepted, so we are here until Jan, 5th 2020. John Pennekamp is located in Key Largo, the first Key you get to after crossing the 22 mile, mostly man made causeway. You leave mainland Florida at Homestead, drive the causeway and arrive at Key Largo, it is another 100 miles or so to Key West. The causeway is one lane each way, and is only in total about 200 feet wide. There is a lot of traffic on it and no one goes slow. There are only two passing zones along the way, and watch out when you get to them ,cars are flying by, speed limit is 55. The other day a guy passed me in one of the left turning lanes to somewhere and the cop got him, good. When you come over the bridge into Key Largo ,it turns into two lanes each way with a divider in the middle all the way down to key West. During the winter months coming up, the whole area and the keys are mobbed with tourists. Not us we work here now, YA Hooey.

There are a number of state parks in the keys, but John Pennekamp Coral Reek State park is one of the busiest. It has more than just camping. It is the base for Scuba diving, snorkeling, glass bottom boat rides, rental of boats, kayaks, which you can travel through the 4 miles of channels in the mangroves. It has two beaches, a lot of pavilions to rent for the day, and a few trails you can hike. They also have a large circular aquarium. It is 30,000 gallons in size, and about 20 feet across. In it is a man made coral reef, with all kinds of fish. As you walk around it on the outer park of the building are many smaller tanks with actual coral reefs, taken from the ocean after boating accidents, which break the coral up. These corals, grow back slowly and also have fish in them native to the coral. The building also serves as the visitor center, for history on the area and the park, along with a movie about it. This is also the park, that is home to the Florida Wildlife control law enforcement unit ,and the harbor patrol police.

You will not find a Walmart, or a Walgreens here. You have to go to the mainland for that. You will find lots of resturants, gift shops, dive shops, a small K-Mart, Publix, Winn Dixie, and the like. Prices are on the high side.

Entrance to the park , looking at the main road, US1

Park Entrance sign, The beautiful lady posing does not go with the sign, neither does the Whippet.

After you drive in, you come to the Entrance station, (Where Melissa may be working). Here you check in for camping, or day use stuff.

Many pavilions like this to rent and have picnic’s

As the sign says, first stop is here

Here you get your boat tour, snorkel tour and all that.

Rental of kayak’s here, the water is right behind them, they put you in one and launch you right out. To the left is a small bridge which takes you to the far beach area, not a lot of people go there, it is small and weedy.

Public launch area and dive shop.

another view looking out to the channel which is about a mile long and takes you out to the gulf.

This is the main beach, with some sand ,as the keys are coral, not much sand. This is a great place to snorkel. There is a man made shipwreck about 200 yards out, with cannon, ballast stones old old timbers to explore. This will be my favorite spot soon.

This is where we enter from the main campground, into the volunteer village they call it. It has 6 spots, for work campers. I can only fit into 3 maybe. Building on the right is the bathhouse.

So that’s where we are for the next 3 months.

 

 

We are both now considered Employees of the State of Florida Parks.

Wednesday was our orientation day, from 1-5, we met the boss, and two other couples who are new also.  In total I think there are about 24 workcampers here right now. We are not parked in the regular campground we are in the volunteer village with 5 other rigs by us.

Thursday was, both of our first day. For this month and next I will be mostly in the Field/ shop, section. After that I will also have some days in the VCA, which is the Visitor Center/ Aquarium. My duties in the field/ shop, are with other full time guys doing a multitude of things, from mowing, cleaning, picking up recyclables, garbage, building and maintanance, which is what my first day involved. I went with two guys, (Ronnie, and Dan), for the day, we took out an old air conditioner, and got ready to put in a real big one. We had to plug the old hole, which was a little more of a chore as none of the new material matched so we had to recover almost the entire outer wall. I worked from 8- 4:15. My next day will be Monday, then Tuesday , Wednesday. I am sure I will be doing other things, but I have met the guys, and Justin who is the man I report too, and all seem real nice to work with. I will not lie, I was a little nervous, going in at first not knowing what to expect.

Melissa ,started at one, and worked till five or so. She is in the office with the boss of the volunteers. She was a little nervous too, but in the end she likes it. We both have the same day work schedule. More soon.

Pic below is with my field/ shop shirt, and name tag. When I go to the VCA, I will be wearing a button, tuck in park ranger shirt.

We are now at John Pennekamp State park. We got here a little after two or so. It was 166 miles from Jonathan Dickinson. Our arrival was met with much fan fare, no not really no one cared. Any way they put us in the volunteers camping area, and even though it looked big ,it took a bit to get in, but we did. Our home for the next 3 months. Of course as we got into our site it began to rain. Stopped as soon as we got set up. There will be rain here on and off for the next week, so we are ready for that. Tomorrow we go for orientation, and Thursday we both start work, but then have the next four days off. We have met some of the other work campers and all seem nice. May be my last post for a few days. Pic below is of our site.

We are now at Jonathan Dickinson state park for the night. We left Christmas Rv park just before noon today and got here about 2:30 or so. It was a 142 mile ride. We did have a few shots of rain, and we will expect that for the next 10 days or so . The park is right off historic Route 1, that runs along the east coast. We are just above Jupiter Florida and 90 miles north of Miami. It has 90 rv spots, with all hook ups, and is 8,000 acres in size more or less. The park was given to the state of Florida, by the Federal government in the late 40’s and opened as a park in 1950. Before that it was called Camp Murphy, opened in 1942 as a top secret radar training school. It cost 5.3 million dollars to construct, and about 6000 enlisted men and 800 officers lived here. It had over 1000, buildings including schools, houses and everything you need to run a city.  In fact where the 90 Rv sited are used to be the hospital. By summer 1944 as it seemed we would win the war shortly it was closed and all the buildings demolished and equipment taken away. Then in 1947 turned over to Florida.

 

Our spot

Very Nearby is the north fork of the Loxahatchee river. In the mid 30’s a  young guy named Trapper Nelson arrived and set up camp there in the wilderness of it all. He became a local legion, and known as “Wildman of the Loxahatchee”. In 38 years he managed to make a living, construct a much visited wildlife zoo and acquire large land holdings. It was quite the popular place in the 60’s. Then one day a friend found him dead, with a shotgun blast to the chest and a shotgun nearby. No one knows if it was suicide or not. In his will, all of his land was to be turned over to the park, and that area now is where you rent boats ,canoes, go for guided tours and  the like.

This is the part of the river Wildman lived on.

A cute little trailer we saw, about 8 feet long.

A sunset Melissa caught.

Tomorrow we head to Key Largo

Today we went back to the Kennedy space center. Earlier in the year we were here and at the time of our visit there were a few things closed. So , we knew we would be back in the fall.

The Heroes and Legends building is now open and it was pretty neat. It goes through all the astronauts, but mainly on the original 7 who paved the way.

The front as you enter, with the original 7 depicted. The building is forty feet high

Part of the early original Mercury Control center.

This really makes you wonder, how they did it.

Another building we got to go in was the Heritage building of the early days of Florida, up to NASA coming in. That was neat too.

In the 1890’s Melissa would have worn this outfit, in the Florida heat.

After that we went back to the Atlantis building, for the grand entry program they have to get you in the mood.

Then we took a bus tour, which is included in your ticket, ( We took an extended behind the scenes tour last time, which was extra.). The tour takes 45 minutes, and takes you out to different areas of the center, like launch pads, buildings, and the like. We did see a few things this time we did not see last time.

This is not a building, but a covered bardge, it just got in the other day with a huge part of a rocket set to launch in Oct. It’s 250 feet long, and is called Pegasis. It came down the Mississippi river, into the gulf, around the keys and into the bay here, and is now docked. Most if not all the major pieces of a rocket are built along the Mississippi, and brought here for assembly.

The  bus tour drops you off at the Saturn 5 building, which is my favorite. We saw the entry program again and really did not stay to see the Saturn V, as we did that before. We did however see the new Apollo garden walkway, that just opened for the 50 th anniversary, this year. That was also pretty neat.

Apollo II statue, with Collins, Armstrong and Aldrin, they are facing out toward the launch pad where they took off to land on the moon.

This morning we left Silver Springs and made our way down toward Titusville, it was a 125 mile drive, and we are now here at Christmas Rv park.  I am bummed out, when I looked up at the cap of the Rv, it was loaded with lovebugs, tons more than before. All I did was put hot water on it with the mop and got off what I could. No more cleaning the cap till we are in place at Key Largo.

We were here in spring when we visited the space center. It is an OK place. There were a few places closed at the space center, so tomorrow, we are going there to see them. Then Monday we leave and head down toward Miami, to stay one night at Johnathon Dickenson state park.

Today was a mere 92, so we decide to go see Juniper Springs, which in the Ocala National Forest. It was about a 30 minute drive. The springs is a national Recreation area, run by the federal government . The springs is a day use area, and was developed in the mid 30’s by the CCC. It is a really nice place and you can swim in the springs, which are only about 1/4 as big as silver springs. We first took the 1/2 mile boardwalk trail that leads to the boiling springs area, where springs come up from the bottom and disturb the sand, hence the name boiling.

Part of the boardwalk.

Here, there is a couple of small boiling springs but hard to see. In the background the bridge we crossed.

In the middle is the boiling sand, the water here is about 10 feet deep.

Back at the main springs, there is a millhouse, where there is a water wheel turning, bringing water out of the main spring. Again built by the CCC, back in the day. They say the wheel is for not letting alligators into the main spring,????.

This walkway, stone bridge which is covered in growth, was built by the CCC, and could still be used but the approachs need fixing.

Could not decide which floatie to use.

 

The main spring, with the wheelhouse in the background. Stone and concrete barrier surrounding it, built by the CCC.

Yep that’s me in the background. There is as two foot wide ledge around the springs, then it drops off to the sandy bottom about five feet seep, and drops off fast to about twenty feet deep in the middle. The water is crystal clear, and stays at 72 degrees. May seem warm but is was cold. There were only about 20 people here today, most days it is packed solid.

This beautiful mermaid popped up, from the depths of the water, right in front of me.  I think Dave is trying to butter me up for something Big.

 

We stayed in the water for about an hour or so, it was refreshing and quite a nice surprise. The whole area is very clean and neat, with nice bath houses and a small visitor center. They are looking for work campers so we grabbed two applications and will send them in.  We then went back to our Silver springs campground. We leave here tomorrow for Christmas Florida, near Cape Kennedy.

Saw this gopher turtle in our campsite this afternoon, about two feet wide.

 

Today, was very humid, but only 91.  We went to breakfast at Eggs Over. Then we went to Fort King right in the heart of Ocala. It is now a National Historic Landmark, all 37 acres of it. It is surrounded by urban sprawl. The fort which is a reproduction of the original, is about 160 feet square with two blockhouse redouts. There is not much to the fort, but there is a nice visitor center, and soon they will be doing a major redo of the whole place. The fort, which was hacked out of the vast Florida wilderness, was built in 1827 by the army on a bluff overlooking a natural spring. It was built to protect the Seminole Indians from trespassing settlers, but in 1832 President Andrew Jackson, demanded the Seminols leave Florida. So a war broke out after the Seminoles wiped out a unit of about 110 soldiers, and shot the Indian agent. This war which is called the second Seminol wars, lasted 7 years.  After all this the fort was turned over to Marion county and not long after it was called Ocala, after the Seminole chief and the city of Ocala, was born. It was a nice visit with a one mile interprative trail.

The springs

After that, we went back to the Rv ,and I decided to clean off the front cap with all the lovebugs on it. It took me over two hours. Melissa in the meantime cleaned and vacumned the truck interior.

Later in the afternoon we decided to go back to the springs park, which we have been to before, where they have the glass bottom boat ride and all that. We walked the two mile trail they have there, which part of it is on a boardwalk. We heard the boardwalk was closed earlier in the day because the monkey’s were active and on the trail. Yes they have monkey’s there. We made a post about them. As we were leaving the park, what should come running by in front of us, yep a monkey.

Tomorrow we may go to Juniper springs for a swim.

We left Stephen Foster state park today about noon and got to Silver Springs state park, near Ocala, about two today. It was a 105 mile trip, we have been here before and I made a post about it in March. This is the place where they filmed Sea Hunt the TV show, with Lyodd Bridges. We will be here till Saturday. A few things were closed when we were here last, so we may check them out in the next few days. It was sunny and humid here today and only 95 degrees. It is getting closer and closer to Key Largo time, for work camping. Since we have come into Florida, we have noticed these bugs flying around connected to each other. Find out they are love bugs, and it is mating time right now. They fly around with there butts connected.  There aren’t just a few they are all over the place, everywhere.The front of the Rv is full of them and they say they are hard to remove. Will work on cleaning them off tomorrow.