New Orleans/FL Trip (Day 21) - Mayport, FL - Ft. Pierce, FL

We left Mayport Naval Base this morning at 8:30 a.m. and continued south on I-95 to Fort Pierce, FL. The trip was uneventful with not too much traffic and it was a nice sunny day. Finally, it also became a warm sunny day, after all of those chilly days behind us. Everyone we have talked to on our trek through the south has said the same thing: it has been the coldest winter they could remember. At last, we were able to put away our winter coats, even our light-weight jackets, and put on shorts and short-sleeved shirts.

After we settled in at the Treasure Coast RV Park in Ft. Pierce, we took a drive over to a local beach, about 2 miles away. We took a walk in Jetty Park along a fishing jetty lining a boating channel. It was really a pretty location and very interesting to us because of the many pelicans sitting on the jetty waiting for handouts from all the fishermen (and women) (fisherpersons?). We had never seen pelicans that close to people before and seemingly completely fearless of them as well.












We were walking back to the car when we noticed a crowd of people near the jetty. We went over to see what was going on: one pelican had gotten tangled up in a fishing lure with a large hook through his beak. He was wrapped in a bath towel and held securely by a woman while a man was carefully cutting the hook out. The operation was successful and the bird was released to applause from the audience.
On the way back, we went south along the coast awhile before heading west across the sound and north on US 1 back to Ft. Pierce . We were surprised by the large number of beach front high-rise condominiums and resorts south of Ft. Pierce. It is hard to imagine how they all have been sold, but there are lot of retirees down here and perhaps most are occupied, either as first or second homes.

Dinner tonight was at the Cracker Barrel, close to the RV park. It is a restaurant chain predominately found just off the freeways in the southeast U.S. It is southern comfort food, cheap, lots of it, and very good.

Tomorrow we will head southwest for a day trip to Lake Okeechobee ("Big Water" in the Seminole Indian language), the second largest freshwater lake in the contiguous US. After that, we probably will check out another beach in the area.