Our catch of the day

November 6, 2019—Fishing is fun, even if you don’t catch anything. That’s a good thing, because on this trip, we fed a lot of fish, but we couldn’t lure any onto our hooks. We hooked two or three tiny fingerlings, but the big ones were evasive. Our freezer is empty.

We aren’t going home entirely empty-handed, however. We “caught” some delicious chocolate at the candy factory in Daytona Beach, which is less than 10 miles from our campground. The fudges and the chocolate-covered bacon are not as nutritious as fish, but we will savor their taste nonetheless. Everyone deserves some a good chocolate treat every once in a while.

Our catch of the day was chocolate, purchased from Angell & Phelps Chocolate Factory in Daytona Beach. Chew praline, rocky road, and chocolate caramel fudge, plus chocolate-covered bacon. Who needs fish when you can catch chocolate?

On another subject…

We continue to “shake down” our new truck camper. Like any new vehicle, we have found several things that need to be corrected. What has proved disappointing, however, is the dealer prep from Ocean Grove RV, where we purchased our truck camper. Just like when you buy a car, we had to pay a dealer-prep charge for the camper. We found that essentially nothing had been checked; we did not even get all the manuals for all appliances, such as the TV/radio/dvd sets. The TV and radio/dvd are supposed to be connected via HTMI, and share the six built-in speakers in the camper.

When we made our maiden voyage two weeks ago, we discovered that the sound on the TV was not loud enough. With the air conditioner on, we could barely hear the news. Because we had no instructions, I downloaded the manual for the Jensen devices. We followed directions, but still no good sound and no TV sound out of the speakers. I emailed the company; they suggested calling when we were in the camper.

Jim called today. After talking with the technician, he discovered that an HDMI cord had not been plugged into the radio/dvd appliance. This should have been done at the factory. Since it wasn’t, it should have been discovered and corrected during the dealer prep. It is fixed now, thanks to my husband, not Lance or Ocean Grove.

Despite small annoyances, we are enjoying our experience immensely in our new truck camper.

Tomorrow we return home. Our next camping trip, which will be to a state park on the west coast of Florida, is scheduled for Dec. 15.

Until then,

Your Reluctant RoVer,

Linda

Not crabby about the weather

November 5, 2019—Cloudy, overcast, rainy skies. We are at Tomoka State Park, 60 miles from Jacksonville, south of St. Augustine, just outside the town of Ormond Beach. This is our second visit to Tomoka; we were here last year when it was cold, really cold. So we welcome the overcast skies with temperatures in the 70s.

We like this state park. The roads are sand, but they are smooth and well marked. The wash houses are large and very clean. The sites are private and not too close together. It has several spots on the shore of the Halifax River from which you can fish. And the state park has wifi! That in itself makes it a "keeper."

We dropped our lines at one of Ormand Beach’s public fishing piers on the Halifax River. It is a large pier that makes a complete circuit back to a nice, clean public restroom, and it offers a place to take a leisurely walk or a jog or (of course) to fish. This particular pier is built under a bridge, a natural place to fish. Many species lurk in the tannic water to seek out crustaceans that adhere to the bridge pilings.

Jim is talking to another angler who is fishing off one leg of the pier.

I'm guessing that the total span of this pier is at least a quarter mile. The far leg was under construction when we were here last year. 

Jacksonville has seven—count them, seven—bridges that span its rivers. How many fishing piers does it have like this one? Zero. Nada. Nil. None. If you want to fish under a bridge, you have to risk climbing rocks.

Jacksonville has the largest park system in the country. Many of these parks are on or near water. How many fishing piers does it have? You can count on one hand.

If a small town can have a great fishing pier, why can’t the biggest geographic city in the United States? Because Jacksonville’s government is cheap.

Okay. I’ll get off my soapbox now.

Last year when we came here to fish, it was very cold, but the fish were not biting. This time, they were biting—enjoying our bait—but we weren’t catching. I fed a lot of shrimp to hungry fish, probably catfish. I caught the tiniest catfish I’ve ever seen—about three inches long! Later I caught another species that was just too small to keep. Jim didn’t have any better luck, except he pulled in a surprise: a crab!

Although we have a crab trap, we haven’t used it recently. This crab latched onto Jim’s bait and didn’t let go when he hauled in the line. We kept it; it will be part of our dinner tonight, despite the fact that the crab only has one claw.

Poor little guy only has one claw. Nevertheless, he will supplement our differ tonight.

What’s on our agenda for tomorrow? Perhaps some surf fishing. We also may go down to Daytona Beach (about 30 minutes away) to visit a candy factory, which we toured last year. Some of the factory’s specialties include chocolate-covered bacon and chocolate-covered potato chips. Yum.

Fish in our freezer or not, we are having a great time on this short vacation.

Until later,

Your Reluctant RoVer,

Linda