Cokedale, Colorado

We took the motorcycle for a spin up to an interesting town named Cokedale. The town was started as a mining town for the local coal mine. They used coke ovens to remove the gases and impurities out of the coal. If you visit this area you can still see the coke ovens. Now the town is a small group of people who have turned it into a nice mountain town. When the coke ovens stopped being used the mining company sold the houses to the residents for $50 to $100 per property.

Stone Wall in Colorado

We were pretty exhausted after all the changes of leaving our house that we built and lived in for 21 years to now living in a 5th wheel camper on the move. So we decided to take a drive up the canyon and relax and were rewarded with a fabulous show of Aspen colors in the San Isabel forest.

Below is a picture of a rock formation called 'The Stone Wall'.

Trinidad Lake State Park

This is our 1st campground on our fulltiming journey. Trinidad Lake State Park in Trinidad, Colorado.

Ed is up on the roof removing a tree branch off of the TV antenna.

Here is a view of Trinidad Lake from the campground.

This is a nice campground, clean bathrooms, laundry mat, excellent camp spots, but the price is steep (as all state parks in Colorado are) and you have to pay for the showers. Only a few of the spots are full hook ups, most are water and electric but no sewer.

Our Rig

We thought it might be a good idea to back up this story and start from the beginning. To explain how two middle aged 'crazy' people got into this wild adventure.

After much help from all of our wonderful family members we launched our 'rig' from Lyons, Colorado, on October 1st, 2011.

Here is a pick of our rig:

 A Dodge Diesel Truck and a Montana 5th wheel toy hauler. We choose the toy hauler model because we have a TW200 Yamaha motorcycle that we ride around when we have arrive at a destination. This saves us money on fuel costs. We also store our two cruiser bicycles. They save us fuel costs too and help with the ever present issue of fat cell reduction :).

Colorful Beach Houses

We went for a drive on Pensacola Beach this morning and took some pics of these beautiful beach houses. They all face the Gulf of Mexico and the white sandy beaches. There are several miles of them and they are all the colors of the rainbow but mainly are in the pastel range.

Flowers Blooming in Florida

The flowers are very beautiful down here in Florida. This area is green and tropical. If there is not a house or subdivision on a piece of land that land is covered in plants and trees as thick as the jungle.

We snapped some pictures of flowers we saw on our walk today.

Planting Palm Trees in Florida

We are staying at a new RV Park called Magnolia Manor. The owner is finishing up the last few open lots. Today they planted palm trees. Since we have never seen a palm tree being planted we thought some of you might enjoy seeing it also, so we took some pics to share with you.

We were surprised at how small the tree root ball is. It only took the planting team a few minutes per tree to plant them. Right after the trees were planted all the remaining open lots were filled with fellow RVers. This is such a great place to stay. We would recommend it to anyone coming to this area.

Sunrise over the Gulf of Mexico

The temperature, wind, and tides were perfect for fishing today so we took off early for Navarre Beach. Ed caught pompano and his fishing buddy caught blue fish and red drum. We will have a great dinner tonight. We got to the beach about 6:30am and were able to watch the sunrise over the Gulf that was beautiful. I thought you all would like to see it.

Enjoy!

Calico Seashells

We decided to go take a long walk on Pensacola Beach this morning to try and erase our sorrows about the Bronco's playoff loss. We must say the ocean breeze took it all away. We walked for about 3 miles and picked up beautiful shells to give to our daughter who makes and sells various craft creations with them.

The shells here are very pretty. Many of them have such great pink color. They are called Calico Scallop or Argopecten Gibbus Linne.

The beaches are covered with all different kinds of shells. I bought a Seashell Guide and have been having fun identifying them.

NFL Playoff Game

We had our daughter and her husband over to watch the Bronco Playoff game. Well the game ended up being a bust but the company and food was wonderful. Ed makes a fantastic spaghetti.

Afternoon Bicycle Ride

We went for a bicycle ride before the NFL Playoff Games, trying to work off some of the upcoming calorie intake that makes watching a football game so much fun.

Notice the Spanish Moss in the Live Oak Trees. Many houses had Marty Gras Flags flying outside their  houses. First time I have seen that. This area seems to be more connected to Louisiana than Florida. People here go to New Orleans to have fun on their days off vs. Southern Florida.

Crazy Rope Swing

Ed and I went for a motorcycle ride and found a beautiful park on the Pensicola Bay and noticed a old rotten rope swing hanging over the bay. We each dared each other to 'take a swing'. Lucky for us the rope held. I haven't laughed that  hard in a long time....not sure if it was because I didn't break my neck or from having so much fun :).

Go Fly a Kite

I love flying kites.  But where we lived in Colorado the wind would swirl around the mountains and would not let the kite stay up in the air. So I was thrilled with the great wind on the beaches in Florida.

My daughter and I were shopping at the cute beach front stores in Destin, Fl, when we came across a kite store. I bought a butterfly kite. I fly that kite whenever we go to the beach, which is almost daily :). The ocean breeze easily lifts the kite and I attach it to my chair. People that walk by comments on it which makes me happy to watch their enjoyment, especially the children.

Cultural Map of Florida :)

I came across this chart of the state of Florida and wanted to post it to make you all smile. It is actually quite accurate.

They have a annual Red Neck Christmas parade on the red colored part of the map in the panhandle area, in a town named Chumuckla. Yep, that is really the name...try and say that 10 times really fast :).

We tried to go and see this parade but the traffic jam was so long we couldn't even get close and had to turn around and go back home. We plan to make sure to see it next year even if we have to take the 5th wheel up there and spend the night. Nothing like a bunch of tipsy Red Necks on a float celebrating their culture. Only in America will you see something like that!

 

I have included some pics of our daughter Christina in her Red Neck outfit while she waited during the traffic jam in the truck. Take note of the fish lure earrings she made. Her outfit was perfect for the occasion.