2023: Jacksonville

Boneyard Beach and Home

April 6 - 14

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About a half hour from the RV park is Boneyard Beach, inside Big Talbot Island State Park. Of course, there are MANY beaches in the Jacksonville area, but this one is known for its haunting giant driftwood trees, scattered about like elephant bones.

Shutterbug.

It was a bit of a trudge through some forest and packed sand to get from the parking lot to the beach. Once you get out of the trees, there's not much to do here but walk around and take photos, but that's exactly why we came. Mike got a little creative with his.

There were so many angles to shoot. Massive hulks of tree trunks, tangled roots like Medusa's hair. There was also a smattering of short, small stubs near the waterline showing where the treeline once was.

After an hour or so, our cameras were overflowing and there was nothing left to see, so we trudged back out the path and headed home.

As it turned out, this would be our last outing. We were tired of traveling. And Penny had been getting steadily sicker, suffering explosive diarrhea multiple times a day. While I had made tentative plans to continue on to Washington DC, Shenandoah National Park, and maybe even a visit to the relatives in Kentucky, we decided we needed to take Penny home. I was even afraid she might not make it all the way back.

Soon we were headed home. I-10 runs directly east from Jacksonville so we were on our way without any detours. Mike drove like an automaton, over 400 miles each day. But after three days on the road, I was frantic about Penny. We stopped in Amarillo at an RV park we knew and I found a vet clinic where we could get an appointment.

The next day we met a super-nice veterinarian at the Swann Animal Clinic. We told her Penny's diagnosis and the medications we'd been giving her. The vet informed us that her current low dosage of steroid was probably not enough, and that at her weight, she could tolerate a much higher dose; hopefully that should relieve her symptoms. We left with new meds and some hope.


Three more days of 400+ miles, and we were back. Penny slowly improved with the higher dose of meds. We were all glad to be home and Mike and I concentrated on taking care of our little girl.

Seven months later, she was gone.

I'm not sure how to sum up our Florida trip. As I look back on individual experiences, there were some good ones; but the overall feeling is one of disappointment. Maybe I expected too much. Maybe I wasn't realistic. Maybe Florida was just a big fat mistake.

I have fond memories of our first trip to Orlando back in the '90s, but the old Disney magic wasn't there for me anymore; the world has moved past me. I wanted desperately to get back into scuba gear, and while I did manage (by the skin of my teeth), it's clear I'm no longer strong enough or young enough; another beloved pastime into the dustbin, along with skiing and acting. The Keys were pleasant enough, but not really worth driving over 5,000 miles out and back. Worst of all, I fear that the stress of the trip accelerated Penny's decline.

Did we prove we can still do a long trip like this? Sure, I guess. Mike survived the driving, especially with his new toy the steering stabilizer. With enough down time, we both survived the fatigue of trekking around theme parks and museums all day.

But SHOULD we still do it? The disappointing experiences of this trip make me wonder. And where might we go that would make it worth all the effort involved? I suspect I'll be chewing this one over for quite a while. Meanwhile, it's back to the storage yard for Behemoth.