January 29, 2016. One Last Walk On The Bench.

January 29, 2016.  One Last Walk On The Bench.  Annie is convinced that a winter blizzard will be rolling into the Midwest next week.  She wants to get home so we can endure more cold weather and several feet of snow. 

"Why don't we just stay here," I asked? 

"Because the same storm pattern will spin off thunderstorms, lightening and tornadoes in the south.  We can't stay here.  We'll be blown away."

So, we can't stay here and I don't want to go home.  What do I do?  I say, "Yes, dear, we will go home."

We will leave here sometime tomorrow.  We will go home at a slower pace than the one which got us here in two days earlier in the month.   The plan is to get home Monday evening.  That will enable us to unload and take T-Harvey back to the caves.  We'll then hunker down for the storm of the century. 

We took a last walk on the beach today.  The temperature was a toasty 61 degrees.  The sky was cloudless and bright blue.  We met a lady from Birmingham whose hobby is shelling.  She said she has been shelling here for 50 years.  She doesn't just walk along the beach picking up shells.  She digs for them.  She says she knows where to dig based on her experience.  She had a five gallon bucket with many perfect, beautiful shells in it.  She was very happy to talk about her hobby.  As we started to pull away, she gave Annie a half-dozen "olive shells".  I don't know what they are or what type of critter resides therein, but the shells are pretty.

There were several fishermen, each using several poles.  I spoke with "Mac" from a small town in Central Michigan.  He and his wife came to the Gulf at the same time we did.  They are staying through March.  He loves to fish.  He said he had caught so many that he was giving them away because he didn't have room to store them.  The fish in the bucket are pompano.  Mac said they are the best eating fish in the Gulf. 

We biked to the beach and we biked back to the campground.  As we rode back, we passed another couple of fishermen who were cleaning their day's catch of sheepshead.  Sheepshead are also called "convict fish" because of the striped pattern on their sides.  Sheepshead have teeth.  The teeth are small nubbins used to gnaw barnacles.  It doesn't sound to me like they would be very good eating.

We sat in our fluffy chairs this afternoon soaking in the sun.  A friendly bunny dropped by to nibble on the green grass.  He had to know we were there, but he showed no fear.  He stayed with us until we arose to go inside.  He then casually hopped off into the weeds. 

That's our last day on the Gulf this year.  I don't know when we will be back.  Despite the disagreeable weather, we have found ways to entertain ourselves.  We did not find Lefty, the three-legged gator this trip.  Alligators enjoy long lives, so maybe we'll find him the next time we're here.  After all, we found the same feral cat we first met three years earlier. 

See you on the road.