The fact that it was Chelsea’s birthday must have cast a bit of magic on the day, because we had the prettiest and quietest ride yet on the trip. Getting out of Daytona was easy, and we rode through a beautiful quiet tree-shaded area for much of the day. We decided to stop at Beverly Beach, and the rain started just as we checked into the campground. One of the maintenance men who was at the counter when we checked in suggested a particular site, and it was just perfect. It was right next to the women’s bathroom, and had a big overhang where we could put our bikes out of the rain.
We got our tents up as fast as possible, then had time to get our goodies out to take a shower and change clothes. We were starved, as always, and here we were with our brand new stove and a great, dry overhang to cook under! We didn’t know how to use the stove of course, and we had some pretty big laughs trying to figure it out. And then, in the middle of cooking, a great big “flood” headed our way – the water had been pooling up unbeknownst to us, and started flowing our way. We had a mad scramble to get all our things up and out of the way, but we still had a dry space to sit and eat.
We loaded up the laptop and wandered on over to the camp store, where they had comfortable couches, air conditioning (YES!) and electricity. I settled in and started catching up on blogs while Chelsea hung out and read and wandered around. We ended up celebrating her birthday by getting hot dogs and buns at the camp store and heating them in the microwave! Oh well, we had air conditioning, so that was festive!
Ron Watkins was the maintenance man at Beverly Beach Camptown who had given us the great advice on the site for our tent. He and his wife are living in a 19 ft camper van right now, and fixing up another space to live in – a much bigger one. Ron and his wife have spent 17 years traveling and working around the US doing everything from maintenance to managing hotels and campgrounds, to counting worms. They were just delightful folks, and Ron’s wife gave Chelsea a feather from her special collection – a little bitty scrub jay feather – as a small birthday gift.
We ended the night really early so we could get out early in the morning.