Getting caught up again.

 November 10 th to January 11th 2013
Jacksonville, FL area

Today is 1/30/13 and getting caught up

After our caravan we only had about 120 miles to drive to Naval Station Mayport in Jacksonville, FL.  This is one of our favorite military RV parks.  It is on the Atlantic Ocean to the east and north is the St Johns River.  The RV park looks out at two shipping channels, one for the Navy and the other is the commercial channel.  There are container ships coming through here 24/7.

Notice the rocks and cement slabs that make up this levee.  See below about Joe's accident on these.

We were here last year and took many pictures so I have very few pictures time.  I love watching all the ship activity.

We thoroughly enjoyed Thanksgiving with my son, Tim, he is a fantastic cook.  Tim retired from the Navy about a year and a half ago and has been going to school full time.

The second week of December we moved 50 miles to Anastasia State Park in St Augustine.  Even though it rained most of the time we had a wonderful time.  The state park is great, right on the ocean and very popular,   St Augustine claims that they are the oldest city in the United States, established in 1565.  I can't imagine the hardships they had to go through.  The forest and undergrowth is very thick and then to have an organized city in 1565; these people were truly a hardy bunch.

Bridge of Lions from Anastasia Island into St. Augustine.

Looking into the city.

There is a pair of lions at the entrance to the bridge.  That black area under the lion is Buddy, he puts up with anything.  I had to lift him above my head to get him up there.  Then to get him down he climbed on my shoulders, what a brave guy.








Joe's accident:  Joe was out fishing on these rocks, he slipped and fell, scrapping up his shoulder, arm and leg.  I cleaned and bandaged him up, watching for any sign of infection.  It took about two weeks to heal.  Then he started feeling ill, becoming weak, unable to eat or drink, then the fever, then the chills with more fever, then a trip to the ER.  He ended up in the hospital for 8 days, and was discharged Christmas Eve at about 6 pm, they were waiting for the results of a blood test.   However he still had to go back to the hospital every day, starting on Christmas Day to continue infusion of antibiotics for the next 14 days.  It turned out that he had some nasty bacteria off those rocks when he fell: e-coli .  This is a nasty bug to get rid of.  He is now fine and no damage to his organs.

We finally left Jacksonville January 11th instead of our planned departure of 12/27/12.  We had several reservations at state parks and when I explained to Reserve America about Joe's hospitalization they waived the cancellation fees at two different parks.  I thought I would have to provide a note from the hospital, but they said no, you have been through enough.  What a pleasant surprise.

That's it for tonight, thanks for stopping by.

Nancy