Museum in Cedar Keys State Park

We have really enjoyed our time here in Cedar Keys over the last four days.  It was pretty nice weather and fairly warm.  We didn't get to do all we wanted to here so we will have to come back.

Though it rained a couple of days, it was perfect for reading and watching football games.  When the weather was decent, I was able to give the Roadrunner a long needed wash.   And I think we rounded the corner on getting over the crud so we are feeling more normal every day.

One day we drove around the town and drove through neighborhoods and along the water as much as we could.  We noticed a whole lot of houses for sale.  And not surprisingly there are a lot of 'us' here.  'Us' as in snowbirds.  This place has a definite small town feel with lots of condos and apartments as well as a number of RV campgrounds.  We love just ambling through the town and seeing what we could see...

We drove over to the nearby Cedar RV Resort which is about 100 yards away. It looked like a very nice place and an option next time.  Although we like it right here at Anglers RV Campground at site #54. We'd probably come back here if we had the option.  Its nothing fancy, a little older, but it has a good mix of old and new and is a very friendly place.  And the price is good.

While here, we are hoping to see the museums but were only able to see one.  There are two museums in Cedar Keys:  The Cedar Keys Historical Museum and the Cedar Key Museum State Park.

It was raining yesterday but since it was our last day, we wanted to check out what we could.  Our first stop was the Cedar Key Museum State Park.  For a $2 entrance fee it was great!

 The first thing I noticed was this sign indicating John Muir was here in Cedar Keys.  Really?  I thought he was a Sierra Mountain/California outdoorsman and naturalist.  He visited after the Civil War in 1867 on his 1000 mile walk from Louisville KY.  Fascinating reading in his A Thousand Mile Walk to the Gulf.

 Inside, there were a number of small 'basic/" displays.  It was just what I like:  a few tidbits, a few historical facts and something I could digest and remember.  My goal at at museum is basically to come away with some type of working knowledge of the history and what the place is about.

 We learned the Cedar Keys once had a bustling red cedar lumber industry.  A New York businessman - AW Faber - was looking for lumber for pencils that didn't splinter and red cedar fit the bill.  He bought large tracts of land to build two mills.

He also imported graphite from Siberia.

 Fishing was a major industry here.  Now the main industry here is tourism and clams.

 On the property of the museum is the home of Saint Clair Whitman.  It was moved to its present location and is a great display of life in the 1920's.

 My favorite room in the house was the kitchen.  Look at that modern stove.  Pretty nice!

 And the Starbucks coffee bean grinder on the wall.

 My dad was born in 1912 so I can imagine he grew up in a smaller, less well equipped home like this in the Depression Era.

This home reminded me of other historical homes we have toured.  The first one that comes to mind is the Little House on the Prairie/ home of Laura Ingall's homestead in DeSmet SD.  And the Woodrow Wilson birthplace in Staunton VA.

We drove over to the Historical Museum but it was closed on Sunday so we will have to wait until next time.  However, I invite you to take a look at friends Steve and Karen and their blog GoneByRV to see thoughts on Cedar Keys.

That's some thoughts on our time here - thanks for checking in on the Roadrunner Chronicles!

Roadrunner Financials - December 2015

Roadrunner Recap
In December, we visited the following locations along the Florida Gulf Coast and into Central Florida:

• Oak Grove RV Campground, Pensacola NAS, FL
• Postal Point Campground, Eglin AFB, Fort Walton Beach FL
• Hurlburt Field FamCamp, Fort Walton Beach FL                                                                     
• Angler RV Campground, Cedar Keys FL           

Good News Areas We Are Under Budget

We had a very good month budget-wise.  We drove a lot and therefore paid for a lot of gasoline.  We also ate too much and spent too much for Christmas.

Biggest Expenses
Nothing really stands out in the way of spending a lot.  Christmas presents and things for baby Brooks were at the top of the list.

Large One Time Cost Item


Monthly Average

We are still recovering from out big month to get the Roadrunner engine fixed in August.  That month was a big one for us.  But we have steadily decreased our spending so our averages look better.

As always, if you think this spreadsheet might be useful I'd be glad to pass it along at no cost.  Just let me know.

Thanks for joining us today on the Roadrunner Chronicles!

Happy New Year!

We are currently at Cedar Keys FL where the temperature is 75 degrees.

Greetings from Florida!  Hope you are warm and well wherever you are and that you have been enjoying the holidays.

We drove back from Virginia Beach to Fort Walton Beach where we had the Roadrunner parked.  The Honda got fixed and we picked it up on Monday.  We were very pleased with the fixes to the Honda the way Miracle Strip auto body shop handled everything.

They replace front and back bumper, hitch, front grill, and quarter panels.  And steam cleaned the engine as well as vacuuming and washing the car.  Nice touch.

USAA has been exceptional so we will follow up with all that and get that behind us.

Our trip to Fort Walton took two days.  The first day was a loooong day day Interstate 95.  After 11 hours we stopped in Brunswick GA.  Everyone we talked with were shaking their heads too -- it was a long day for everyone.  All those snowbirds are heading south!  (...that would be us!)

We are recuperating from some cold / crud stuff we picked up so we were glad have a day to relax and pack up before we headed east and south to our location in Cedar Keys.

We're at Angler's RV Campground which is an older park.  The price is right, we have plenty of space, the people are friendly and it is quiet.  A great place to spend a few days.  At $30/night it is reasonable and even more so with two nights at $16.50 with Passport America.

It was a lovely day when we arrived in the early afternoon and we drove the few miles into town to the pier and wandered around.

 Lots of fishing going on!

We also had dinner downtown at the Big Deck Bar and Grill and had some shrimp and grouper.  We are looking forward to our next few days here!

Thanks for joining us today on the Roadrunner Chronicles!

A Christmas Stocking for Brooks

Kelly comes up with some great ideas and one of the most recent was for Grandma to sew a Christmas Stocking for Brooks.  Kelly bought a kit and gave it to Pam.  And she was up to the challenge.

But this story goes back about 33 years and a Christmas stocking for Kelly.  My oldest brother Marty and his wife Bonnie lived in Oakland California in 1982.  Pam and I were in Birkenfeld, Germany when we were stationed over there with the Air Force.  

By then Pam was out of the Air Force and home with 19 month old Adam.  And then Kelly joined us in November.  She did not have a stocking for her first Christmas and her Aunt Bonnie made one and sent it to us.

Now with our first grandson - Bonnie's memory comes to mind and her continuing impact on our lives in the form of another handmade, needle crafted stocking.  From one generation to another...

This Christmas stocking kit Kelly got is a little complicated and overwhelming for me, but not for Pam.

After she digested the instructions, she put all the moving parts into an extra screw bin box.

She got right on it and worked on it daily for the 2+ weeks.  Talk about a labor of love -- she probably has put 50+ hours into this. (I got to help -- I probably threaded 30 needles...)

This stocking effort reminds me of two other projects Pam did.  She sewed a small quilt for Adam and then did one for Kelly back when they were newborns. Quilting, needlework -- all of those things are for the detail people with a steady hand.  And patience.  My hat goes off to them.

It's been a real joy to watch and reflect back to those times.  And to see how this little gem is taking shape.

And finally, the long awaited stocking came together!

Now it hangs in a prominent place on Kelly and Jon's hearth along with the other Christmas stockings, waiting for Santa to come.

We hope you have a wonderful holiday and a Merry Christmas!

Thanks for joining us on this edition of the Roadrunner Chronicles!

Fort Walton Beach Time - Dec 2015

Last week after we got rear-ended, we found out it would take a week before we even got into the body shop for repairs.  There are worse things than being in Fort Walton Beach for a couple of weeks.

One great thing about the area is that our friend Karin lives here.  We let her know we'd be and town and went out to dinner at Lulu's Restaurant (Lulu is Jimmy Buffet's sister)

in Fort Walton Beach one evening.  This is our second time eating there and it was a little disappointing.  This time for some reason, the menu changed and we basically had bar food that was a little on the high side.

But it was great to see Karin again and we scheduled a 'Habitat for Karin'.  Basically, she needed a some more hands to mount a TV brace on a wall on the back porch

and put up a large mirror in the dining room.

 I forgot to take a picture of it after we hung it, but I did get a photo of Karin and Pam supervising while I drilled some holes through the brick for the anchors to the TV brace.

On another day, we went out to the Eglin AFB Golf Course and played 18 holes.

Pam thinks we played here a time or two long ago, but I don't remember it if we did.  I do remember that while we were stationed here in the late 1970's, Eglin was a championship golf course.

We had a lot of fun and it continues to be a very nice golf course.  Like most rounds of golf, there were a few good shots but nothing like days of old...

While here in the FWB area, we found a new fish market.  We stopped one afternoon to get a pound of shrimp and cooked them on the grill.

 Not too flashy and I think this place has been quite a few years.  It is tucked away back from the main road and right on one of the many inlets on Choctawhatchee Bay.  Kind of a 'mom and pop' store.

We cooked out on the grill that night.  The shrimp was good and it was fresh!

One of the sunny afternoons last week, Pam pulled out the sewing machine and set up shop in her outdoor 'sewing room'.

She had a pair of pants that needed to be shortened so she took up hemline.

This area is a special place for us because we met and were married here.  We had some extra time so we drove by our first home and looked around.  Our apartment was on the second story and the second window from the left end.

 It was a pretty nice place back then and they have done a good job of maintaining it for the last 36+ years.  The unit we were in was vacant so I peaked in the windows.

This was the view out of our front door.

Yesterday we dropped the car off at the Miracle Strip Body Shop and got picked up in an Enterprise van to get a car.

We ended up with a nice Chrysler 200.  Since we dropped it off early, we went out to breakfast at Joe and Eddie's which is a popular restaurant in town.

It's not the 33 Dinner (my all time favorite in Maynardville TN), but it's got the basics

Later we drove out to the Army's Fort Benning Rec Area in Destin and checked things out with a little drive through.  It continues to get attention with demo and rehab to one of their guest buildings.  It's one of the nicest military vacation stays in the area.  With suites and dorms and an RV campground on the same property, they use every square inch, but it is still a great spot to stay.  We've stayed there three times.

That's a brief rundown of some of the things we've been doing during our stay in the area.
Thanks for joining us today on the Roadrunner Chronicles!