Bravo! Adventure
December 10
Harborwalk Marina, Destin, Florida
We're not going anywhere today. A cold front came through overnight. We had
some rain. The sky is now scattered to broken clouds but the winds are high
and that means that the Choctawatchee Bay would be rough. So we have a leisurely
breakfast. Jules prepares scrambled eggs with onion and cheese and to that is
added sausage (real or Boca).
There is some discussion of options if we would be weathered in here for some days. Jules and I have air travel schedules to meet. Elaine even got involved by phone and explored the bus situation. We look at the map and consider what it would take to get Jules to Tallahassee to catch a bus back to Tupelo. No point in going much further on this until we see what tomorrow brings.
We want to see the gulf shore and learn that the shortest approach is to walk over the highway bridge to the west over East Pass Inlet. The view from the bridge is great, but so is the wind.
Overlooking the Destin, Florida harbor
We continued to what appeared to be an officers club, probably for the nearby Elgin Air Force Base, and walked in to the beach. The place seemed fairly quiet, except for a few guys trying to extact a semi truck tractor from a sandy area near the club building.
The view from the beach gave us a full appreciation for the fury of the gulf. Even subtracting out the effect of the normal shore waves, it was rough. We could see spray being blown off the crests of the waves. We weren't there long until a police vehicle showed up. They don't seem to mind that we've ignored the postings about needing permission for access here, but we guess they wanted to check us out.
On the way back, Doug suggested that we walk down to the inlet shore before going back over the bridge. We noticed a puppy on the trail that ran off when we approached. When we returned to the parking area, there was the puppy again. This time it sensed Jules' compassion and ran right up to him. The puppy was very friendly, clean, and looked healthy. A car and a pickup were in the parking area. The car had a couple people who looked rather out of it, and may have spent the night there. They had a dog, but the puppy was not theirs. The pickup driver met us midway. He had seen a young girl drive in, take the puppy on the trail, and then return and drive off. Then the puppy returned. The guy was mad. He said he had a cat and that when things get tight, the cat eats before he does. He tells us that he's a ship welder, and shows us the burns on his arms and chest to prove it. He says that he's a wiry little guy and that means that he gets the tight jobs. But there are no ships being constructed in this area, and consequently no work. It's starting to look as though he'd spent the night there as well. He said that he's soon heading back to Gulfport where he'll get back to work. Before we part ways, he shows us his cat. The pickup has a cap on the back that looks as though it may contain all his worldly possessions.
Jules with puppy. Pickup in background.
By now Jules and the puppy have gotten well acqainted and there was no way that we were parting ways here. So Jules carried the puppy back to the marina and the woman in the informtion booth called the animal shelter. When they came, they said that a red bow on this puppy will make someone a very nice Christmas present.
The rest of the day included various activities. We Hoovered. (In the UK, Hoover is a verb and it seemed appropriate to use it here since the machine was actually a Hoover, and the Hoover headquarters is about a half hour from Wooster, OH.) The following photo is being included here for Elaine's benefit so she will believe that we actually did this.
Barry Hoovering
Jules and I walked to a motel that let us use their guest laundry facility. We didn't have that much to wash, but we didn't bring that much either. We all three soom to have similarly low standards on this issue. Doug took this time to download a new driver for connecting his mobile phone to his Mac. When he recently upgraded to OS-X, his phone connection would no longer work. So when Jules and I returned from doing laundry, he demonstrated his Internet connection using his mobile phone.
One other thing Doug wanted to troubleshoot was the satellite dish for television reception. It had stopped working long ago and he had made some contact with the manufacturer, but needed to have a computer attached to the serial port for further progress. He'd asked me to bring a cable and adapter so that we could use my computer for this. But by the time we got connected, it was past five in Connecticut where the manufacturer was. Maybe we can try tomorrow. Time for happy hour.
Jules had the good idea to order out for pizza for dinner. While we hadn't had a lot of lunch, that breakfast was great. I had started to nod, so Doug suggested that I catch a power nap. Following the pizza, we played a game of 31 (my first win) and then Doug had another card trick to show us. We then noticed a great blue heron walking around on the dock in front of the marina. It was slowly and deliberately wandering the area, probably looking for a snack. When it finally flew, it was totally silent.
The winds seem to have come down considerably during the afternoon and evening. We're hoping for a departure in the morning. This has been a very nice place to be for the weather and we probably needed a break.