Cedar Key - Day # 29 - Lovely Treasures

Thrice in as many weeks while meandering around the streets of Cedar Key I have found a small treasure in a yard sale.  Found these lightly used clipless mountain bike pedals at a yard sale behind Island Pizza......new these babies sold for close to $85.....got them for $10.  Nice to have an extra set of pedals in case I run into someone down the line who needs them......sweet!  (By the way G.A.S.S. stands for Gravity Activated Spring System).  

As is often the case, I get ahead of myself.....maybe I should just write this episode out of sequence, and stop trying to be so sequential......naaa.....my nature really likes things to be in order.....:D

Friday is the day when the empty sites here in paradise begin to fill up with short timers, and now our 5 pull site section is full.  The daily highs are beginning to creep back into the high 70's, and the skies continue to be mostly clear, but it still cools off fast as the sun nears the western horizon.

We kind of puttered around until late morning when Forest and Cindy came by to see if we were going to walk into Kona Joe's for a late breakfast......sounds good to me!  Within 30 minutes we were on our meandering way into town.  At just about the half way mark, as we were passing "Island Pizza" we spied a yard sale underway.  Not surprisingly, Krash and Karen were already there sifting through small treasures (Island Pizza is right across the street from their rental home).  While everyone else chatted my eyes kept wandering from table to table in search of that one special thing I could not leave without......eventually they caught a glint of bright yellow.....I edged around the table to find the KORE G.A.S.S. pedals previously mentioned.   Now, what am I going to get rid of so there is room for these pedals? No one else pulled the trigger on anything, although Forest came close, so we continued our amble toward Kona Joe's arriving there around 11.  It's great to have Joe and Edie back from their cruise......it's been too long since my last cup of Kona Coffee!  Eventually Karen and Krash appeared with their dog Pipa, and we all sat talking and laughing......all the while enjoying the great view of the back bay off the veranda of Kona Joe's.

After a wonderful interlude Forest and Cindy continued their walk into downtown, while TLE and I headed back to Sunset Isle......of course there was a stopover at Sandy's Produce to pick up some fresh eggs, and other produce items......Sandy said she had a fresh shipment of fish coming in later which would include swordfish......haven't had a good swordfish steak in a long time.....I think we'll have to return a little later for sure.

I spent some time putting a little polish on my yard sale acquisition for the week.  Out of the blue I look up to see a 6'5" gentleman smiling at me and waving me over.  Turns out his name is Joe, and he has been following our blog for a while.  He and his wife live in Lake City and had driven into Cedar Key for dinner.....as they passed Sunset Isle he remembered we were probably staying there, so pulled in to say "Hi" and talk for a while.....cool.....a little more serendipity.

Just a little later TLE returned from her short shopping excursion with the aforementioned swordfish steaks.......it was about this time Chris (Technomadia) walked over looking for an extra set of hands to help repair his punctured Sea Eagle....turns out he and Cherie got to close to an oyster bed, took a hit to the bottom puncturing the bottom air chamber.....fortunately they were not far from their dock, so there were no casualties.  I was glad to help, because I'm sure at some point I will suffer the same fate.  To be sure the process for patching the Sea Eagle is much more complex than fixing a flat bike tire, so I paid close attention.  Looks like she is fixed, but we won't know for sure until Saturday when it's time to apply air pressure again.

Medicinal chips and salsa for Chris and Cherie in the foregound

By this time the sun was getting precariously low in the horizon and it was time to head over to the Tiki Bar for some drinks, fellowship and our 29th sunset.  We walked over with Forest and Cindy.  I finally remembered to bring a California license plate from my small collection to add to Pat Bonish's massive collection lining the interior walls of the Tiki Bar.  Forest and Pat are both avid photographers.....Pat is a professional, and immediately recognized the equipment Forest was carrying resulting in another one of those spontaneous conversations that happen so often here in Cedar Key.  While they talked we walked into the Bar and got our beverages of choice and then headed over to the deck to be amazed again.  Soon Chris and Cherie drifted in, and were joined in short order by Kyeli and Pace.....there was much ooohing and awwwing, of course.

# 29

The afterglow

We watched for close to an hour as the sun set, followed by the long, long after glow that just lights up the sky.   Soon it was time to head home and get the BBQ out so we could dig into those two large swordfish steaks.  TLE made some great sides.....green beans with a balsamic glaze, and a nice chopped salad.  Of course Mr. Coppola was there to chase the great food!

This is so funny.....I sat down this morning to write about yesterday and was thinking...."not much really happened Friday....what am I going to write about?".....well, I guess I answered that question......sometimes not much is really a lot.

Thanks for stopping by!

Cedar Key - Day # 9 - What day is this?

We awoke to a partly cloudy day.....the forecast indicated 60% chance of rain for a day called "Sunday".  the "Day Clock" on our wall indicted it was Sunday,  but it still felt like Saturday to me.  I thought about checking the battery on the Day Clock, but in my heart I knew it was right.  All that really means is more NFL, right?  I'm starting to really get into EST.....back home in Riverside the first NFL game would be at 10 am, but here in EST the first game is at 1 pm.....that gives me a half day to do other stuff before I start watching football......the second game always starts right near sundown, so I have most the daylight portion of the day to accomplish other things.  All I'm really saying is living in EST allows me to have my cake, and eat it too.....after 63 years....it's about time.....:D  

I don't recall that I have ever talked about numbers on my blog.......how many "page views" per day, per month, etc.  It's not really that kind of blog.  It started as a way for me to keep a sort of diary for myself, and for my family (kids, siblings, Mom) to share our journey vicariously.  It has never been about numbers, or dollars.  I used to get excited if I saw that 20 people had looked at my blog on a given day.  Then we came to Cedar Key the first time back in March of 2012, and we had a hundred page views in one day.  These extra views came as a result of our meeting the NuRVers here, and they all wanted to learn a little bit about us, plus they referred a few others to our site.  After a few days the page views settled back down to 30, or 40 a day.  Gradually over the months I started averaging 60-70....a number that was directly correlated to how often I blogged.  If we were sitting still I usually didn't blog, so numbers would drop, of course.  After we left my sister's home in Spokane I was determined to blog on a more regular basis, and to look for something every day that others might find interesting, no matter how mundane it might seem to me.  I went from 8 blog entries in June (we sat still for 5 weeks) to 21 in July, 27 in August, and then my first 30 blog entry month in September where I blogged every single day for the first time, and since then I have not missed a day.  I write all that to say this......after I started blogging every day I started averaging over 100 page views a day.....a few times just under 190 in a single day.....for me that is amazing.....that almost 200 people not related to me are interested in what I write makes me smile.  I don't have to tell you, but these are not noteworthy numbers in the world of blogging where some get in excess of a million page views a day, but for me it is satisfying.  

After my blog entry the day following our "salsa off" Chris and Cherie (NuRVers and Technomadia) called attention to my blog entry for that day on their Facebook page, and suddenly we had almost 400 page views in one day, followed by similar numbers the next day.  For me that is amazing.....my daily goal is still just to write something interesting on some level.......that almost 400 people other than those related to me read my blog each of the last two days feels really good.  

Now back to Sunday.....I spent a good deal of the morning compiling a pictorial review of our first 11 months on the road.  The title of that entry was (numerically) 12,445.....the number of miles we had covered in 11 months.....that is a lot of driving considering we sat still 5 weeks in Spokane, 2 weeks on Whidbey Island, 2 weeks near Seaside, OR, and then 11 weeks in Campbellsville.  What is interesting to me is that our typical driving day after we covered over 600 miles in one day driving from Mesa, AZ to Midland, TX has been under 200 miles....sometimes under 100.  Anyway, it was a nice trip down memory lane for me......I only got up to the end of July, so I'll have to finish that later today.

Just before TLE and I set out to do some local shopping.......a moment of serendipity hit again when we got a message on the NuRVers Cedar Key Meetup site on Facebook that one of our members was making a run to the Trader Joe's in Gainsville, and offered to pick up some things for those who were interested.....thank you Kyeli!  We ordered a couple of bottles of Trader Joe's Zinfandel ($5.99 per), 2 bottles of Blue Fin Pinot Noir ($3.99 per), and a bottle of Himalayan Pink Salt, all which were in stock.  Since some of our more exotic needs were being picked up for us, we just ran over to the Dollar General store to pick up some Santitas tortilla chips, and other sundries, then over to Sandy's Produce in town for some cilantro, orange, tomatoes, red onions, and a pound and a half of Mahi Mahi to grill that night.

Around the time it began to rain Kyeli returned from Gainsville with our TJ's order, then we set about making dinner, with me grilling the Mahi Mahi while it rained.......so thankful for a patio awning.....a little Frank Sinatra playing in the background, the aroma of fresh marinated Mahi Mahi being grilled, and a sip here and there of Pinot Noir..........mmmmm!

Grilled Mahi Mahi with avocado/corn salad and Blue Fin Pinot!

After dinner I watched a very exciting Redskin vs. Seahawk game followed by us watching three of our favorite shows sans commercials, which had been recorded earlier last week......Elementary, Person of Interest and CSI New York accompanied by the sound of rain on the roof......then it was off to slumberland around 10:30 pm.....early for us.  What a nice uneventful day with just a touch of serendipity.  Monday is supposed to be sunny in the afternoon, followed by the same the rest of the week.

Thanks for stopping by!

Cedar Key - Day # 8 - The Sea Eagle

To me every day seems like Saturday now, and I think that is a good thing.  Saturdays have always been one of the best days of the week for me going back decades.  I loved to wake up Saturday mornings with the realization that it was NOT a work day.  Sure, back in the days when our kids were in soccer Saturday meant we were up early, and on our way to the soccer pitch to coach and referee youth soccer all day, which can resemble work, especially with 5 kids, but it was not work in the sense it was something we chose to do for our pleasure, not required in order to pay the mortgage.

Saturday started off mostly clear with lots of early sunshine.....yay!  TLE and I got around 8 am up to see off Todd and Lucy, NuRVer friends, who are heading south to Naples, FL for a multi month workamper job Lucy picked up.  We enjoyed getting to know Todd and Lucy for the week we have been here, and are already missing them.

Lucy and Todd

When we last left off we had just received the Sea Eagle kayak via FedEX, along with TLE's new I-Phone 5.  Whilst TLE spent time on the phone with Verizon activating her phone I opened up the very large box and began assembling our new toy.   We got the Sea Eagle Sport SE-330 Pro Package which includes two double bladed paddles, two deluxe seats, a foot pump, storage bag, repair kit, and dry bag.  The SE-330 measures 11.5 fee in length when inflated, and has a 500 pound load capacity.  Their larger model, the SE-370 is one foot longer, and has a carrying capacity of 650 lbs.  Delflated the kayak weighs 31 lbs. and is 24" X 17" X 7"......great for easy storage!

Around 2:30 we decided to take our, almost, daily walk into town to buy two life preservers, 10 feet of boat line for the bow, and have lunch.   By this time is was getting a little cloudy, but was still balmy.  We stopped in at the "Big Deck Raw Bar" on Dock Street in downtown for lunch.....I had this amazing "Black and Bleu Burger" with curly fries chased by a couple of pints of their draft "double stout".....I am sorry, I do not remember the name of the brewer, but it was excellent!

We picked up the 10' length of boat line on our way to "Big Deck" and the two life preservers on our walk home arriving back at Sunset Isle around 5 pm.....just in time to catch the rising tide.  Forrest Clark, NuRVer, joined us in his single kayak, and eventually we caught up with Bill and Debby Kasson in their canoe meandering aimlessly, to quote Debby, around the oyster beds.  She took the picture below of our maiden voyage in the "Eagle".

Forest in his "single"

We paddled around for about 20 minutes and then decided it was getting dark quickly....time to head for shore!  We'll make a couple of changes to the seat spacing to give me a little more leg room, but overall we like our Sea Eagle, and are looking forward to getting out in it again. We found it to be very stable, and were never concerned with capsizing....well, maybe TLE was for a couple of minutes, but within minutes she said she realized it was not going to flip over.

We said our "good evenings" and thanked Forrest for allowing us to beach our kayak at his water front site where there was a nice sandy beach, and no mud....yay!

I finished watching the Texan vs. Bengal NFL wild card game, and then settled in to watch the Packers vs. Vikings.....a pretty lopsided matchup compared to last Sunday's very close game.

It's supposed to rain today, Sunday, but so far it looks a lot like yesterday.  There will be more NFL in a few hours.....and it still feels like Saturday to me!

Thanks for stopping by!

Cedar Key - Day # 5 - The Marine Layer

Wednesday started off  with sunny, mostly clear skies, but within an hour we had an on shore breeze come up......then the fog began to roll in.  This (see below) is pretty much what it looked like the rest of the day.  I know it looks cold, but it really wasn't.  Of course, it was more humid than past days, but we both spent the day in t-shirts and shorts.

I had some insurance work to take care of, which I wrapped up around 11 am, at which time we took our daily walk into town with our destination being Kona Joe's Island Cafe renowned for their gourmet Kona Coffee,  "scrumptious sandwiches......and Cedar Key Lime Pie..."  They occupy the old Key Motel built back in the 1930's.  They have limited inside dining, but have a large covered veranda over looking the water with plenty of seating, which is always our preference!  They open at 6am (closed Monday and Tuesdays) each day serving breakfast and lunch.  We each had an egg omelette sandwich with bacon, and, according to TLE who added a side of grits, they are amazing.  Joe runs the front of house, and Edie prepares the food.  Joe also bottles and sells his own hot sauce......called "Gourmet Datil Pepper Sauce".....we bought a bottle after sampling it on our egg sandwiches.  Joe says they sell several cases a week of the sauce, and I can understand why.  Both Tripadvisor and Yelp give Kona Joe's 4.5 out of 5 stars, and I think that is exactly right.

While we were sitting there enjoying the "quiet", and it is ever so quiet, we spied an osprey sitting on a post overlooking the water.  At the time we were there the tide was way, way out and what you see in the fore and background is mostly mud flats with a small water channel running just under the osprey.

As we were getting ready to walk back to Sunset Isle we ran into Linda, the lady I had shared the amazing sunset with a few days ago at the Tiki Bar dock.  She is a college professor down from New Jersey for the  5 week semester break.  She says she came with the intent of catching up on her work, but hasn't done a thing except enjoy the ambiance of this island town.  She is captivated by the vibe of this place,  just as most people are who come to Cedar Key.  

We got back to Sunset Isle around 2 pm, and I did a little more work, then TLE and I got on the Verizon Wireless website and finally ordered her new I-Phone 5 that she has been wanting since her last two year contract expired while we were at Amazon.  Since her current data plan was not compatible with her new phone we had to change to a combined data plan, which in the end will save us about $25/month....who would have thought?  We previously each had our own separate data plans.  The new phone should be here in Cedar Key by Friday.

Also, I forget to mention in yesterday's blog entry that we ordered a two person Sea Eagle inflatable kayak, which should also arrive here Friday.  Several people whose blogs we follow own Sea Eagles and swear by them.  We just do not have room for a large kayak, so the inflatable option really appeals to us storage space wise.  Anyway, look for some pictures in my post for Friday of us on the water in our new kayak!  We ordered the SE 330 Pro Kayak package for $299 shipped.  The same package after January 1st now costs $319 shipped.

Well, today, Thursday,  is the day the propane man comes.....there are several of us here who are under 1/4 tank, and are getting a little antsy about it.  Thankfully it is warmer and the water heater is not running as much. It (the water heater) is our main source of propane consumption in the coach......when we are plugged in the fridge runs off electric, and TLE uses the induction burner to cook most of the time.  The last time we filled up was in Sand Springs, OK near the end of September.  Considering how cold it got in Campbellsville, and how often I had to supplement our interior heating with the gas furnaces I am pretty pleased we got this many months out of our last fill up.

Around 5 pm we set up the outdoor fireplace, opened up the folding love seat, uncorked a bottle of wine and just sat outside enjoying the encroachment of night, talking with friends as they stopped by to chat.  Another nice island day.

Thanks for stopping by!