TUESDAY - After a long 200+ mile drive along the Florida coast we arrived at our next destination.
T.H. Stone Memorial St. Joseph Peninsula State Park (wow, that's a mouthful) is now our 53rd Florida State Park where we have camped. Only 33 of those were in THE POD, the other 20 were in a tent before we started RVing.
These seven coastal Florida Panhandle state parks, along with the four state parks located in the Florida Keys, are among the most popular campgrounds in the state, which consequently makes them the hardest to secure a reservation at.
A look at the following photos will show why they are so popular.
Our wide and level gravel site with water/electric/sewer hookups for $19/night
(that price includes our Florida Resident Senior discount).
That bridge behind our campsite leads out to the white sugar-sand beaches of the Gulf Coast.
The entrance to the beach is right next to our campsite.
The park even has a big-wheeled beach wheelchair to loan out to qualified disable visitors.
WEDNESDAY - While Tricia was out doing her early morning walk I sat down at the dinette table and fired up my laptop.
My morning routine involves entering yesterday's data into our spreadsheet. Daily items we keep track of are high/low temperatures with a general weather description, our location, campsite costs and type, elevation, any money spent on laundry, propane, gasoline, groceries, restaurants, and miles driven with/without THE POD.
One of the location substats is the time zone we are currently in. This is usually easy to determine, except when we are near a Time Zone Boundary Line. As I've discussed several times on this blog, the term boundary "line" seldom, if ever, is a straight line going north and south as you would expect.
Most of the time the boundary line follows state borders, when that's not practical it follows county borders within the same state. While there are 13 states with more than one time zone, I only found two where that split isn't in a north/south general direction.
One state where the split runs east/west is Idaho. Northern Idaho, north of the Salmon River, is in Pacific Time Zone like it's neighboring state of Washington. This is because Northern Idaho has significant economic ties to Spokane, WA.
Meanwhile Southern Idaho is in Mountain Time. Even a few counties in eastern Oregon who share a significant economic tie to Boise, ID are in Mountain time, unlike the rest of the state. So that's why the east/west time zone divide occurs in Idaho.
But I'm getting a little off track aren't I? We are in Florida afterall!
The state of Florida is one of the thirteen states that contain more than one time zone.
First a little geography lesson. The point where Alabama-Georgia-Florida all come together is where you'll find Lake Seminole. The water that flows south out of Lake Seminole is called the Apalachicola River. It flows all the way south into the Gulf of Mexico.
There are 58 Florida counties east of the Apalachicola River and they are all in the Eastern Time Zone. There are only 9 Florida counties west of the Apalachicola River and they are all in the Central Time Zone. However, there is one exception to that, isn't there always?
Gulf County, the county we are currently in, is entirely west of the Apalachicola River, but the small coastal area of the county south the Intracoastal Waterway is in the Eastern Time Zone.
Why? Because, back in 1918 when time zones were first implemented into law, the shipping and railroad industries held a lot of political clout. For completely selfish, but unknown reasons, they wanted the relatively short coastline of Gulf County to remain in the Eastern Time Zone and their wishes were granted.
Fast forward to 1982 when the residents of Gulf County had the opportunity to change the whole county to the Central Time Zone, but 55 percent chose to keep it split, just like it is.
In 2018 a bill was proposed to move all of Florida into the Eastern Time Zone, but it was not passed by the Florida Legislature. However a bill to permanently keep Florida on Daylight Saving Time was passed, but it may never happen since it requires an act of Congress to change a time zone.
Anyway, that's what I learned this morning, but if you're more interested in seeing photos from Tricia's morning walk I completely understand! Hence, I present you with...
MORNING SCENES FROM PORT ST. JOE
Thanks to a heavy fog this morning most of the photos will appear Black & White...
...but I assure you they are all in full color.
Tricia wasn't the only one out for an early morning walk.
Thanks also to the heavy fog it was easy to spot all the spider webs.
Most of the tree tops have been stripped by the seasonal hurricanes.
I had to end this ghostly slideshow with a burst of color.
THURSDAY - With a little less fog this morning than we had yesterday, Trica's photos from her early morning walk weren't quite as "interesting'.
Still, I found two of her photos that were worth sharing.
When it got to be around lunch time today we decided to go back and check out an interesting spot we saw on our drive into the park on Tuesday.
The McNeill Family has been serving food in this region since 1903. In 1929 they opened the Indian Pass Raw Bar at it's present location at the intersection of County Road 30A and Indian Pass Road in Port St. Joe.
If you want to know more about the interesting history of this place you can check it out HERE.
But if you're more like me, I just want to know what the food tastes like TODAY. So we drove 15-miles back up the road to find out.
We were the first ones in the door at NOON today when they opened.
Tricia's not much of a seafood lover so she opted for a cheeseburger and chips.
I selected their specialty, locally harvested oysters with a cup of seafood gumbo as an appetizer.
I'm not at all interested in eating sushi or raw seafood, so I ordered their Baked Oysters. They're served on the half shell, topped with lemon juice, butter, garlic, and parmesan cheese before baking them to perfection.
It's been a long time since I've tried eating oysters, but these were delicious. The Gulf Coast of Florida is known for having sweet tasting oysters and pink shrimp. I'll have to order another dozen before we leave this area at the end of the year.
After lunch we drove into the downtown area of Port St. Joe (pop. 3,775). One of the Amazon book series I read is set in this little Florida coastal town. It's written by an author who lives here and I just wanted to see how much of his writing is based on fact or fiction. As I suspected it's pretty much all fiction (i.e. the police station is located no where near the marina).
The series is called the THE NIGEL LOGAN ACTION SERIES by KIRK S. JOCKELL.
There are currently 8 books in the series and the most recent one to be published was back in June of 2024. If you're looking for something easy to read with memorable characters and takes place on the Forgotten Coast of Florida, this would be a good choice.
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