Pensacola

Yesterday we finally left Gahanna -- still in a freeze. The icicles hanging from our front roof broke all records going back at least 24 years. But it was dry and bright so that we were able to get out the garden hose and fill Morty's water tank -- something that I was expecting not to be possible in those conditions.

We left at 2:30 PM and drove to Tennessee, stopping at 10:30 -- about 400 miles -- but still in a hard freeze. It was a little distressing to find Morty's furnace suddenly dysfunctional. On top of that the coach batteries were dead from running the tank heaters all day -- something that I thought was supposed to be handled by the engine charging system. That makes two things needing some attention.

Today, we were up and at it at the crack of dawn, driving another 400 plus miles to the Naval Air Station at Pensacola. When we stopped for lunch we were dumbfounded to see McDonalds stuck in a time-warp and still serving breakfast. Who knew that Alabama observes Central Time.

We were headed for the Naval Aviation Museum aboard ["on" would not be proper navy-speak] the base, but saw that there was a family campground on the Gulf there also. We pulled in and were lucky enough to get their last available site. Also lucky enough to look like we might fit in well enough with retired military to garner a sponsorship from the campground hosts -- otherwise the camp is not open to civilians.



The weather here is delightfully mild -- mid 60s to mid 50s. Still, everyone here is pleased with the warming trend, the same as we are. Rain is forecast tomorrow, so we plan to give the Museum a thorough going over. Today's quick look was very favorable. We took turns sitting in simulators for helicoptors and transports and were amazed at the work-loads involved in each. This is the home of the Navy's Blue Angels.

Between apetizers and dinner, we walked down to the beach, and in the near-darkness saw a Great Blue Heron swoop in down to the water's edge looking for a good fishing spot. More amazement from the Canon S90 in extremely low light