Tuesday afternoon, the FLVS training ended around 3:00 pm. As soon as I hit the
JEEP, I pointed her south and kept on until I was just on the outer fringes of Tally. At a gas station near a fork in the road, I texted my fellow FLVS trainee and buddy, Stacy, for confirmation of my gut feelings regarding which road to take.
See, Stacy has one of those fancy Drone ... no, wait... that's different, ... a DROID phone that can do almost anything you ask of it.
I do not.
I'm a flip phone, basic package kinda guy ... although I did just get a new phone ... a CONVOY. It's a man's phone built to military specs, weather proof, shockproof, and FC proof!
No, since you ask, I do not have a GPS in the
JEEP.
I have a Silva Ranger Compass that is 30 years old and needs no batteries or satellites. It does require a brain however.
I'm off on a tangent aren't I?
Apparently
my brain forgot to toss a road map in the
JEEP this trip, hence the text to Stacy.
I new SR-61 would get me to the coastal zone, but would SR-363? I thought so, and Stacy used her fancy girl phone to confirm that for me.
So I headed south on that fork.
After awhile I came to US-98 and cruised a little west and south to Shell Point.
Most of Shell Point seemed to be private homes, but there is a little beach with a sweet curve for the public to enjoy.
It was mid-afternoon on a workday, so the beach was almost empty. In the parking area next to the sand, some locals stood around a pickup with a pretty yellow lab in it, just enjoying the great breeze flowing off the Gulf of Florida.
A tough old red cedar stood a few feet from a slowly rising Gulf. It seemed odd to have a fence around it ... red cedars are not a migratory species after all.
So I walked over to read the sign.
Shouldn't that be "... in AN effort ..." ?
The tree is doomed by rising sea level, but the efforts here and the toughness of a red cedar should keep it around for a while.
There's no denying it's a beauty and this beach would miss it dearly.
It makes me wonder why "Extraordinary" efforts weren't used to save the area above.
If you turn 180 degrees from the beach tree view, you get this.
A row of ugly condos, an almost certainly dredged basin, seawalls, and probably filled wetland.
If it were an old condo, it would not be so surprising, but it's very newish looking ... we are STILL dredging basins like this in this day and age?
I should have expected condos and yachts when I hit the
"Golf Cart Community, 15 mph" sign at the entrance to Shell Point ...
It was a bright day with good contrast.
(subtle no?)
This willet was about the only decent critter shot on the whole ride home. Mostly the trip was about scenery ... rivers, boat ramps, a little saltwater, tiny communities in transition, a favorite honey (the sweet kind, not the girlfriend kind ... now that
doesn't sound right either ...), bodacious BBQ, and a final glorious sunset.
All to come in the next couple of posts.
You are invited.
