Big Bingo Winners!!! and Keeping Entertained

 This weeks highlight was the ladies winning big at bingo!!! The Coast Guard Chiefs Mess hosts Tuesday night bingo, so Sheryl and a couple of her friends decided to go. We husbands went also, but held down the bar while the girls played. The girls all shared cards and agreed to share any winnings, the final game came and wouldn't you know Sheryl's friend won the big jackpot. The jackpot was shared and a couple of happy campers walked away with big smiles.

 We got lucky one day and we awoke to no breeze at all, bad for dry camping, good for kayaking out on the open water. The water was like glass and made for a great morning paddle.

 Key West hosted their yearly Key West Arts and Crafts Fair, I took the bike downtown just to check it out. Turned out to be your standard craft show, nothing exciting.

 After checking out the craft show, I tooled around town for a bit and ran into a fellow RVer from the base,ending up at Willy T's on Duval St, listing to some great music.

 And then Winter hit, the cold front blew through bringing rain and arctic temps in the 70's. We toughed it out for the day and lived to tell about it!!!

 One of the friends we made here is a chain saw carver from Washington State. The other day he was talked into giving a demonstration of his skills. He is quite the talented guy and caved a couple of bears out of a piece of driftwood and a 4x4.

 The proud PaPa and his creation.

 Sheryl decided she needed her teeth cleaned, so we found a dentist here in Key West. Just had to post a shot of their office as it is so Key West.

Yesterday the wind died down abit, so out came the kayaks again. This time we headed over to the Mangrove tunnels by the Key West airport. It been since last year the I kayaked through them and they are still just as amazing to do. The tunnels are a 1/4 to 1/2 mile long and in many places only an arms width across but no wider than you see in the pictures, and only a couple of feet deep. One tunnel takes you out to a large salt flat area by the airport where you can explore for as long as you want. Another tunnel takes you back out to the canal and back to the put in. It was a fun few hours and we had a great time.
That's another week or so in the bag, staying busy and just enjoying life. The weeks ahead are filled with things to do here in the park, so we'll be picking and choosing our poison. So until next time........................................

Coming Down to the Wire

We are counting down our last two weeks here in Key West. We've had a great time and have been staying busy, however it was time to pick a date and get back on the road, It was decided we would spend our last two weeks in Full Hook ups and be off from there. Speaking of Full Hook ups, we scored a great site, just feet from the water and great views, this will make our last two weeks here much nicer and even harder to leave. One thing we can say is, there is never a lack of activities here to keep you entertained. Since the last entry, we have been doing just that, keeping busy.

 We have also been taking full advantage of our new inflatable kayak, when the wind isn't to high to make paddling unenjoyable. We headed out with a group of friends to paddle along the shoreline here at the park and meeting up with several more folks floating in the Gulf. We ended up having just a big gathering, all while sitting in our kayaks and having a few cold ones.

 A few days later it was off to show our friends Jim and Jackie the Mangrove tunnels just off the base. They had never been through them before. Hard to believe they are right here in the middle of the island, when mainly thinking of Key West as Duval St and party central!

 The tunnels can get pretty narrow in places. Once you enter you have to take your paddles apart, as you can not use a full length one.

Once through the tunnels you emerge onto a large salt flat by the airport, where we found these Horseshoe Crabs just under the water.

After another trip through the tunnels and back out to the canal, we headed for more open water. Spent some time taking in the sights and then headed back towards the house. Another great day of paddling.

  We joined in on another Sigsbee Shuffle, going from Host RV to Host RV sampling their goodies and making new friends. Our friend Judy was a Host during this shuffle, so we started there first.
 

 Sheryl and Mechele enjoying the fun.

Looks like we will be leaving on the 26th and we still have a few more things to do before heading out. We have reservations at the Flamingo Campground in Everglades National Park for a week and are looking forward to exploring a new area. Well that's it for now, we should have another entry or two before we leave so stay tuned and we'll see you then.........................

Our New Sea Eagle Kayak

 Well, after being here in Key West for over a month now and seeing all the beautiful water surrounding us, we broke down and bought another Kayak. I know what you saying, didn't you guys just sell your kayaks??? Yes we did, the difference now is, I don't have to take this one on and off the Jeep all the time as we travel, which became a major PITA. With the inflatable Sea Eagle, I can just let the air out and she'll store in one of the under compartments till next time we need her. We had been taking about getting one for while now and Sheryl found a pretty good deal on Amazon, so we placed the order and it arrived at our campsite in just a few days. The Sea Eagle Sport comes in two sizes, we opted for the larger one, 12.4' vs 10' . We figured the more room the better and hopefully more stable. After getting her out of the box we were very impressed with how well built it is and how well it handles out on the water.

Here we are on our maiden voyage, not a long trip, just a short spin around the base and through the base housing canals. Not much in the way of pictures as we found, you seem to get a little wetter than in a traditional kayak. I think it has to do with higher sides and having to bring the paddles up higher, thus more water from the paddles seems to find it's way in and on you. Hmmm sounds like a good excuse for a waterproof camera in the future???
Ok, just a quick entry to show off our new play toy. There will be much more to come as I foresee giving this little kayak a work out while were here and throughout the rest Florida. So, until next time................................see ya then!!!

White River Kayaking

We came to Cotter Arkansas after we left Gilbert specifically to Kayak the White River and of course for a change of scenery. However with Sheryl's back being out we were wondering if she was going to be able to do it. Well after a few days it began to heal and feel a little better each day. While not being completely healed and still a bit sore, she decided it was time to hit the water! 

 We entered the White River at Wildcat Shoals, off Denton Ferry Rd. and paddled the river for approx 2 hours back to the RV park. Once again the park owners were great and drove us to the put in area and drove our Jeep back to the RV park.

 Along this stretch of the river, the western side is mainly wilderness, while the eastern bank is mainly homes.
The water is crystal clear along the entire river, making for even more beautiful scenery below us.

 A thick layer of fog blankets the river from early morning to mid afternoon and and can make for some eerie forms as it's clearing.

 In several places along the river, there are boulders and rock fields that stretch across the entire river, making for some interesting navigation. Here is Sheryl stuck on one of those rocky areas lying just below the water. She did quite well getting herself unstuck using the ole scooting method I showed her....lol. In all fairness, I ran aground also in the same area, but was lucky enough to get unstuck first and able to get the picture.

 Floating along into the river mist.

 Sheryl enjoying the slow current carrying us downstream.

Yours truly always looking for the next shot.

Like the Buffalo river, the White is a great paddle. For all you fishermen out there, the White River is touted to be one of the best Trout fishing rivers in the U.S. We saw many people fishing and talked to folks here at the park that had caught their fair share each day.

Tomorrow we leave and start making our way toward Topeka KS. for the wedding. We are still trying to decide which route to take through MO. We are wanting to avoid Branson, so may just putt along the back roads and see what we can run across. So until then..............................

Kayaking The Buffalo

 The weather has been kinda gloomy since our arrival here in Gilbert, AR. Tuesday, that all changed and we were off on our Buffalo River adventure. Our put in was Baker Ford, west of Hwy 65 and we took out at the Gilbert access just down the street from our Campground.

 The river is very clear with a turquoise hue and winds through the Ozark mtns. The flow is slow and steady, but speeds up to a pretty good clip in the narrow areas resulting in some fun little Class 1 rapids.

 The river is lined with high cliffs and deep woods.

We were out for approx 4 hours and had a great time. Most of the time we just let the river float us along at it's own speed with an occasional paddle from us, now thats a float trip!

Tomorrow we leave Gilbert and the Buffalo, travel 50 miles to the town of Cotter and our spot along the White River where we'll spend the next week. So until next time........................

Stinchcomb Wildlife Refuge, OKC, OK.

 On the eastern side of the OKC metro area is Lake Overhoslster, and OKC's primary reservoir. The lake is fed by the North Canadian River and therein lies the Stinchcomb Wildlife Refuge. The refuge is approximately 1000 acres and extends for several miles along river to the north of the lake. The lake and refuge is popular boating and fishing area, however, even though it was one of the first beautiful weekend days this year, there were surprisingly few boaters/kayakers out along the river.

 Being I headed out in the middle of the days, this guy was about all the wildlife I saw.

 This part of the North Canadian river seemed to have more than it's fare share of downed trees, many right in the middle.

There are a few smaller off shoots of various lengths from the main river, a calm break from the larger water.

It sure felt good to get the kayak back in the water again, considering it's was last fall since we had them out. This was a solo trip however, as por Sheryl has been fighting a bad intestinal bug that has been going around here and really kicking everyone's butt. Sheryl has a follow up with one of her doctors on Friday and that will determine when we head out, either Sunday as scheduled or later. Hopefully she'll be cleared and we can getaway from here for a few weeks before returning for another quick check up again.

So until next time....................

Kayaking Boca Chica

 We had been planning a kayak trip for New Years Day with several folks from the park, however due to the aftermath of  New Years Eve, the trip was postponed a day....lol. So, Thursday, we were up and headed to Boca Chica Key, approx 10 miles from Key West and home of NAS Key West. We had a total of 8 kayaks on this trip, a smaller group than before, but just as much fun. The trip began along the open waters of the Atlantic Ocean for approx a 1/4 mile.

 We turned into a mangrove river and began our exploration of the area.

 We all had fun paddling and chatting the day away.

 The farther into the groves we went,the narrower the river became, although nothing like the tunnels we experienced on our last trip.

 After about a mile or so of paddling we popped out of the groves into an inland salt lake, where we hung out for a while, chatted and contemplated lunch. Once lunch plans were made, we reversed course and headed back.

 We emerged again to the Atlantic, however the winds had seemed to pick up and we had to paddle into a pretty strong head wind on the open water. By the time we made it to our put in point we were all pretty spent, we loaded up and off to lunch we went.

It was another great day on the water and another successful adventure in the bag. We only have a couple more days here in Key West before we start heading north, not too fast mind you, but north bound never the less. So with our adventures behind us, we will see you next time right back here................