Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Enjoyed our stay in Titusville Fl. even after Murphy visited (again)…

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While we thought our tribulations were behind us old man Murphy had one more trick up his sleeve. It happened on our drive further south as we left Flagler Beach, Florida. Somehow from the time we left to the time we pulled into our next spot in Titusville, Florida we apparently lost our exterior hot water heater vent cover. How we lost it is a mystery and I can only surmise that after we scrubbed the oil off the exterior of the motorhome we must have somehow inadvertently un-latched the vent cover which simply fell off on our way to Titusville.

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Oh well, such is life on the road. I did call Tiffin Motorhomes who told me I could get an unpainted (white) replacement for about $90.00. The same vent cover can be bought on eBay for less than $40.00 so I will order it when we get to Bonita Springs Florida.

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Anyhow we ended up at the Greater Outdoor Resorts in Titusville. We did so even though this morning we were going to stay at Manatee Hammock Park but when Sharon found a BOGO (buy one get one free ) offer at Greater Outdoor Resorts we booked it to see what all the hype was about. This is a nice RV and Golf resort but some of the RV sites are a bit unkempt. They had assigned us one of the unkempt sites but we asked to be relocated and ended up in a much nicer one. A BOGO here during off season means we will only spend $25 per night instead of the normal $50 per night (high season is $65 per night).

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We did enjoy walking on the nature trails of the park and checking out all the neat and varied styles of RV cottages on the privately owned lots. We even played some Pickleball, a sport we love playing but hadn’t played since we left Arizona. This is a very nice park but I still wouldn’t pay $50 a night for it.

We also drove over to the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge and more specifically we drove the Blackpoint Wildlife Drive Park. We did this drive back in 2011 and liked it so much it called for a re-visit. We used our America the Beautiful pass to save the $5 entry fee.

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This is a self guided drive that took us through marshes interspersed with open water. This most beautiful wetland allowed us to see some of the resident birds and a few of the early migrants. Lots of Great Blue Heron, Tri-colored Herons, Reddish Egrets, Common Egrets, Green-backed Herons, Snowy Egrets, Double-breasted Cormorants, Common Gallinule, Anhinga, Belted Kingfishers and Pied-billed Grebes and American Coots were present. A few Wood Stork and Blue-winged Teal were also sighted. There were lots and lots of the cute little  Pied-billed Grebes we enjoyed almost as much as watching the antics of the Reddish Egrets fishing and dancing...

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We did some some birds of prey as we spotted Osprey, a lone Bald Eagle and what appeared to me at first to be a Harris Hawk. After looking closer and looking at my bird book I am pretty sure it is a Rufus Morph of the Red Tailed Hawk. Maybe Judy can shed some light on this mysterious looking bird…

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Well after this wonderful drive we drove a little further out to the Cape Canaveral National Seashore and once again used our America the Beautiful pass to save another five bucks. We spent about an hour or so walking up and down the very scenic Playalinda Beach. After our walk we called it a day and went back to pack up once again… Next stop for us will be near Vero Beach…

12 comments:

  1. Let's hope that is the end of Mr Murphy! Awesome photos!

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  2. Nice of all those birds to be there for you! Great pics also. Been enjoying reading your blog.

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  3. Going to double check our water heater cover! Thanks for a good reminder.

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  4. Too bad about cover, but at least it was not major.

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  5. Bummer about the cover, been there done that.

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  6. Should have taken us up on our offer to introduce you to Playalinda Brewing here in Titusville.

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    1. we didn't have a way to contact you two but thought you might be in the place we were staying so we walked all around looking for your boondocks sign out front! Sorry we missed you two...

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  7. Your bird pictures are just wonderful. Always something to replace or fix.

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  8. Bummer about the door but way to go Sharon on the Bogo and really great bird pictures John. We loved Merritt Island NWR too. Pouring rain here in Flagler Beach.

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  9. Beautiful place isn't it? I do miss it and can't wait to go back. Try Playalinda Brewery in Titusville. Good brew, all food is order in from area restaurants. Enjoy!

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    1. We tried to hit Playalinda but it didn't work out during our short stay in Titusville...

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  10. We have lost both the hot water heater cover and the refrigerator cover and you guys drive lots more than us so, you are doing pretty good. I just bought new ones and painted them black.

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