Roadtrek Travels, 2016
2 stories, in order from the beginning of the trip.
1October 11, 2016
Dateline October 11, 2016, Hurricane Matthew and Flagler Beach
Back home in Flagler Beach, we watched Hurricane Matthew strengthen into a category four and aim for the Florida coast. Having ridden out Wilma in 2005, we packed the new Roadtrek and ran west to a little RV park in Carrabelle, where we found a fishing dock, a rum and Diet Coke, and a porch full of fellow evacuees. We spent the long night fearing for our old beach house and woke to the relief that the storm would pass just offshore. We came home to find the house fine but the beach road, our A1A, half washed away by a ten-foot surge.
2December 10, 2016
Dateline December 10, 2016, Everglades National Park
For a pre-Christmas adventure we took the Roadtrek down to Everglades National Park with our neighbors Frank and Linda Ruff. We braved a forty-mile drive and a world-class mosquito welcome to camp at Flamingo, watched ospreys building nests and coots flying in long lines across a lake, and walked trails through pinelands and grasslands. We posed with a panther, held our breath at the mighty Rock Reef Pass, and toured a Cold War Nike missile base hidden in the park, once aimed at Cuba a hundred and sixty miles away. Another wonderful trip.