February 7 - 9, 2011 Tallahassee, for starters…

February 7 - 9, 2011 Tallahassee, for starters…

“Florida’s climate is sultry, whether you visit in February or August. Its thermostat has but two settings: warm and hot.”---AAA Florida Tourbook 2010, p. 29

We arrive at Tallahassee’s Big Oak RV Park in 40-degree temperatures. It is in the low 30s when we get up the next day and it has just stopped raining.

We left home December 27th traveling mostly independently until yesterday. But we are now pacified, no longer feral.  We are ready to start the Florida Fantasy 50-day caravan run by our Airstream club, WBCCI.

Wearing nametags (as we will throughout the caravan), at 8:30 AM we meet the others under the truly giant oak for a “hot oatmeal topped with ice-cream and fresh fruit” breakfast courtesy the very nice (and looking healthy) members of the Big Bend Florida unit - excellent.

The Big Benders live locally and aren’t on the caravan. They say somewhat apologetically that the weather has been unusual; January was the coldest ever recorded. They also say they get out of Tallahassee, when humanly possibly, from May until October. Our Florida caravan is for 50 days starting yesterday, February 8. We do the math, looking forward to heat and humidity.

Marcia, Ed and Susan at the Florida capitol

Unfortunately, I asked and they spoke: pro-life in a big way.

The old capitol, now a museum.

Butterfly ballot doesn't look like any big deal.

Getting ready for a press conference on the environment, I guess.

Yes, the new capitol building.

At 9:30 a bus takes the group downtown for a tour of the very nice old state capitol. The not-so-nice high-rise new capitol is right behind it. The new one was built inches from the old anticipating the latter would be demolished when the former opened. People protested but the close proximity just wouldn’t do. As a compromise the wings were removed and the smaller space returned to its 1902 appearance, as a museum. It works out very well.

Afterwards we join Bill from Oregon for a very nice lunch downtown, noticing the earnest suited and very white young men and women everywhere, lobbying and chamber-of-commercing and politicking. Marcia and I then walk to the museum in the state building and are reminded of our loss of independence – we must speed-walk the museum in order to catch the return bus at 2 PM.

Thursday is a day on our own and we drive probably 20 miles of Tallahassee’s canopied streets. On the way back we explore Lake Jackson Mounds State Archeological Park. The latter does not take long – the mounds are unimpressive, even though the signs tells us they were occupied 1200 – 1500 AD, and built by hand.

I had a boss I admired for being nice and smart, a rare combination. I would tell him of my travels to the Mayan ruins in Mexico and Central America, and Inca ruins such as Machu Pichu. I’d add that I could never get interested in American Indians with their pottery making and basket weaving. He would ask me if I had ever visited the Indian mounds in the US and I had to confess I knew nothing about them. People tell me these Mississippi mounds pale in comparison to mounds elsewhere. Out of respect for Bill, and American Indians, I will try to keep an open mind for another decade or two. But that’s it.

It has been a pretty but very cold day and we have a drivers meeting scheduled for 9 PM under the oak. Al decides it is just too cold so we hold the meeting by CB from our rigs. Al and Gracie like to update us via brief CB announcements at 8:00 AM and 9:00 PM. They suggest everybody leave their trailer CBs on all the time until the end of the caravan. We comply, squelching out (we hope) extraneous trucker traffic. We have now truly lost our feral status.

February 7, 2011 – We arrive at Tallahassee for the Florida Fantasy – our feral days over

We awake on February 7th in heavy rain and hop the interstate for Tallahassee – the start of the Florida Fantasy - arriving about noon.  We join a sea of 24 other Airstreams, our companions for the next 50 days, at the Big Oak RV Park.

It has been a great trip, if wet and cold, and we have enjoyed being feral. But it is now time to go communal.  We don our name badges, say hello to old friends, introduce ourselves to people we don't know, and become reacquainted with leaders Al and Gracie -- they led our favorite caravan to date, to Newfoundland/Labrador.  At 2 PM we all gather under the huge oak and have our first meeting.  That night we are again caravaning, in cars, to a Tallahassee country club and probably the finest banquet meal I’ve ever had.   Life is good.

February 5 -6, 2011 Grayton Beach, the famous Seaside, and SuperBowl!

We camp at Grayton next to an Airstreamer from Canada. He too thought it would be warm.

In the morning we drive east on 30A in what feels like our first sunny day and our spirits bloom. Soon we spy a lagoon with a solitary boat adding visual contrast. 

Then, with no warning, the road splits around some palms and we enter a beautiful planned community called Water Color. We drive a few blocks in little traffic and a few bicycles and find ourselves in Seaside, a planned community that predates Water Color. Although both are residential with small retail, Water Color seems more resort oriented and has an inn.

As I keep qualifying in this blog, it is January. Few people are around and we have no problem parking next to a small charter school. We walk around both developments admiring the friendly small-scale architecture, pastels, covered porches, inconspicuous and rare garages, walking distances, and silence. The homes all have signs with the names of the owners, but perhaps most owners are here only in the summer. This looks like a community where the seniors ride three-wheeled bicycles, kids always wear bicycle helmets, and you never hear loud TVs. We speak quietly although there is nobody to notice.

We walk toward the water in Seaside. On a narrow road behind an Amphitheater we spy a bunch of Airstreams and think we have encountered our NorCal buddies. As we approach we realize all six are vintage trailers on blocks, making an appealing row of snack shops. Naturally, we have lunch.

After lunch we walk through some shops and down to a beautiful clean white beach. We return and explore Water Color and circle around Seaside, but find there are few walkways or roads connecting the communities and we backtrack. It is easy to fantasize living or vacationing here, but a Zillow look-up shows most of the properties sell around a million dollars. Time to move on.

Driving east along the coast encountering yet another planned community, this in a Mediterranean motif. We continue to Panama City and explore its beautiful beaches, but the community has less appeal. It is high-rise oriented and the downtown is essentially a mall turned inside out. Guest Services suggests some places for dinner, but we turn down the Simon Properties spots and Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville and elect instead to go to the Red Bar in Grayton, which we hear is nice for seafood. This is our last night feral and a celebration is in order, as tomorrow we arrive in Tallahassee and the start of the WBCCI Florida Fantasy caravan.

We arrive at the Red Bar and walk to the beach in time for a beautiful sunset. On return to the restaurant to find it packed with Superbowl revelers and the dinner menu has been suspended; instead, for $10 each, we settle for bottomless appetizers including smoked salmon, quesadillas, chicken tenders, Jello shots, stuffed jalapenos, fried mozzarella, egg rolls, a hot dog, and a bowl of chili. We leave satisfied at half-time and are surprised we cannot catch the rest of the game on our trailer TV.

This is our last night as independent travelers for several months, and the end of at least this phase of our Florida blog.