April 26 Myrtle Beach

The weather turned yesterday, clouds with some light rain; still in the 70;s but definitely cooler as we are making our way North. Today we worshipped with a PCA in Myrtle beach. I have to say the structure, worship, forms, as well the preaching has been right in line with our Churches. The pastor here, Ted Ragsdale, chose Genesis 5; the geneology from Adam to Noah. The main thrust of his sermon centred around the Godly seed of the lineage of all his people through this first group to Christ. One thing he emphasized in his sermon was the headship of the man in the household; to be a leader to his wife and children. He also was not afraid to discuss discipline; "do not spare the rod"! very biblical teaching and very sound. Some songs were familiar but others not so much; but that's ok. A very up building worship service, to say the least.
After we got back to the campground, the sun was starting to poke through so we mounted our bikes and headed over to a park/shopping area called Market Common; nice lakes, shopping; a very quaint place to visit. After a nice 2 hour ride we settled in to our books with a glass of wine. Its 7:30 right now and the skies just opened; it usually doesn't last that long but we'll see. Still a good day :)

Myrtle Beach

We pulled into Myrtle Beach State campground on Thursday around 1:30, got settled in and started to explore the park with our bikes; checked out the beach and then relaxed and had a nice tenderloin BBQ :)
Friday I had booked a tee time at one of John Daly's creations; every single hole had water on it!! The wind was up first thing and the temperature was only around 60 when I teed off. BTW Caroline wasn't going to chance throwing her back out on this leg of the trip. It warmed up where I could take my coat off, shorts and golf shirt rest of the way! ended up with an 80.
After my round we drove to the centre of Myrtle Beach and walked the famous boardwalk. We decided to take the Myrtle Beach version of The Eye (Londons big ferris wheel which we took a couple years ago), got some very nice views of the stretch of beach North and South. We did some shopping and also checked out a new shopping area which reminded us of High Street in South Surrey.
This morning (Saturday) I had booked a tee off time but the pitter patter of rain has put a damper on that today; the forecast is for heavy thundershowers :(
We have found a PCA Church which we hope to attend tomorrow.

 our very private camp spot

 view from the "Sky Wheel"

 sitting pretty :)

 a little friend who just sits on our ladder and looks at us. he's been there the second we pulled in

 our beach 2 minute bike ride from our spot

 the "Sky Wheel"

 the famous boardwalk in Myrtle Beach

April 20 St Augustine

Sunday we worshipped with the members of the local OPC; the pastor is Eric Watkins, a wonderful speaker. His sermon was on faith and how the Holy Spirit refines us like gold through trials in our lives. This certainly hits home as Caroline continues her journey of cancer. Watkins had studied at Westminster and knows Dr Devisser from our college very well. He will making a presentation in January in Hamilton. We also met Ed T'Hart, a member in Hamilton who is moving here; small world sometimes!
Monday I go my first golf game in at a local course; very tight with lots of bush (with venomous snakes I was warned) and water. I managed to stay out of the water but not the bushes, started with a triple bogey and settled down after that. We also had visited the World Golf Hall of Fame; really cool to see the history, especially the painting depicting the game played on ice! in Holland!! Not so sure if the game originated in Scotland after all :)
We also visited the lighthouse which was again; you guessed it, the oldest in the states!
A good day

 golf world hall of fame

 walking the bridge on 18 at the old course St Andrews in Scotland!!

 the old lighthouse and home in St Augustine

 and yes it came down big time one day :(

 our site in St Augustine

April 18 St Augustine

Today we spent a full day in St Augustine. Well not really, I went shopping at a local Camping World in the morning; these RV stores are all over the States. If you've ever gone to Travelands retail store in Langley? Camping world's stores are probably 3-4 times the size! Truly everything one needs for "glamping". I needed to get an extension for my sewer hose as some of the parks we've been in have stretched the distances for both my power cord and sewer going in opposite directions. Also picked up some water filters really cheap :)
So anyways we left at noon for the town, we had decided to take St Augustine's variation of the on/off bus; small 4 section trolly's which can drop one off at many various stops but is a fully guided tour for 90 minutes. Very informative and each driver was excellent. We visited the old fort, the oldest street, oldest house in the United States (all from the late 1400's) as well a local distillery which made rum, vodka, and whiskey. After our tour we drove over to Anastasia district with beautiful beaches and homes on the Atlantic waterfront. Had a nice barbeque with distant (and close) thunder and lightning but no rain to speak of. A good day :)

 our "on/off" bus

 city hall

 "booze" factory

 the oldest house

 the Fort (the selfie stick is being put to good use!)

 even an original "David" from Michelangelo!!

April 16-17 Palatka & St Augustine

We drove from Titusville to a State park in Palatka called Rodman State campground...it was a very pretty spot along a "barge" canal; it was built in the 60's for barges to transport goods. As water conservation has become more of an issue especially here in Florida, it was built to help preserve more clean water. The campground was very quiet, very rustic; the only concern we had was there is a State prison not far away, and we saw prisoners along the side of the road "working". We biked a couple miles to the dam and watched the locals fish from the spillway. The next day we drove a short distance to St Augustine to stay the weekend at a private resort called Stagecoach RV Park. We spent the rest of the afternoon in the old town; St Augustine is the oldest town in the US. They boast that they have the oldest street, oldest house, oldest school.....you get the jist! Had a great waterfront dinner with lots of seafood and after appies, chowder, main entree and caramelized bananas over ice cream, we had lots of leftovers for a Sunday meal.  The weather has been iffy, some thunder, lightening but thankfully no rain during the day.  On Saturday we took a trolley to see all the sights of St. Augustine, took a distillery tour and walked around "Castillo de San Marcos" fort, the oldest fort in The USA still standing.

 Jonathan Livingston State park, a very rustic quiet place

 at rhe state park we biked over to the boat launch; and sure enough as the sign warned us; "STAY OUT OF THE WATER AS CROCODILES MAY BE NEARBY!! if you can blow up the picture you'll see a beeding pair of eyes just above the water at the end of Carolines pointing finger!

 a view just after the spillway

 on the oldest street in St Augustine

 The original fort in St Augustine

April 10-13 The Florida Keys, April 13-14 Hobe Sound, April 15 Titusville

Well one thing we've found out is the wifi in the States is very slow and some places nonexistent. So the posts may not be as often so I'll try and make it up with pictures :). We arrived in a town called Marathon, its about half way from key largo to key west. It was a good thing we stopped here, would've had a tough time turning around in key west! beautiful area, it was 90 and sunny every day, but the humidity was higher than what we're used to, sweating lots. We were at a private park for the weekend, Drove to the end of the keys to Key West on Saturday and visited a few historic sights.  The next day we went to a Presbyterian church, good singing, got a sermon but with too many jokes for our liking. The first thing we noticed the windows were all open; apparently the AC broke down 7AM that morning!! needless to say the pastor didn't wear his gown (don't blame him).  That afternoon we spent some time at Sombrero Beach, just down the road from our resort. Monday morning we headed off North for the first time on our way to Hobe Sound; homes of some of the more well known celebrities; Olivia Newton John,Celine Dion, Tiger Woods, Greg Norman, and Jesper Parnevik. We took a boat cruise up the inlet to see all their home, and to maybe see some manatees.  We took advantage of the happy hours special and had a fabulous dinner on the water with my first lobster dinner for $21!! looking forward to more up the east Coast. We stayed at a State park here, Jonathan Dickinson State Park very open and cheap ($28 per night), but still a lot better than a private campsite, where you are very close to each other. Today we drove up the coast to Titusville which is the closest town to the Kennedy Space Centre.  We arrived at noon, and hoofed it over to the KSC. We could only spend 5 hours here but what a treat; between the Imax film and the Shuttle simulator? Awesome!!  Other than the humanistic side of it (man can do whatever he sets his mind to and look what we've accomplished attitude) it was very interesting and so much to see.  highly recommended!

 found these crossroads in Key west!

 this close to cuba; the southernmost tip of the continental US

 view from the deck in Marathon

 7 mile bridge in the keys

greg normans pad

tigers place but well guarded

Key West

We spent the day in Key West today. very nice highway including a 7 mile bridge over water; didn't see any dolphins! We walked the old harbour district and had lunch at a water front establishment; had Conch for the first time! Little chewey, kinda like squid! walked more of the historic area and stopped and toured the original Audubon house; this is the same Audubon (birds guy) family which were one of the first settlers in key West. Did a little shopping and headed back for a nice drink on the waterfront. A nice day :)

 7 mile bridge; a marvel of engineering

 not that far from home

found the crossroads of our lives :)

 as close as you can get to Cuba without flying there

 a beautiful sunset after a good day