A Surprise at Tomoka

Here’s the promised post about our final Florida state park on the coast, Tomoka State Park, against the Halifax River which runs along the Atlantic—right above Daytona. Our campsite is in the thickest of woods, which you can tell from Tracy’s view here at the edge of the site.

What can he possibly be looking at? Maybe for the critter that stole our coconut from the top of the picnic table, right under our noses.

What are we up to here?

Drinking Beer at Establishments, No

We’d thought about grabbing a beer at the kayak/canoe rental down the road from the campground—how convenient that they have local beer on tap!

But when I messaged the outpost owner to ask if the staff wears masks inside (easy enough question to answer, I thought), I was assaulted by a barrage of angry defenses about masks sometimes and sanitizing somethings and the fact that we’re in Florida where, you know, “everything’s like shirt, shorts, and shoes.” Which tells me only that I do not want to be getting beer and peanuts from these folks. Bummer.

Kayaking, No

There are actual kayaking trails through the marshes here, but we haven’t wanted to take the kayaks down off the trucks, for reasons. See the end of this post.

Biking, Yes

We did go biking!

Tomoka State Park is right outside Ormond Beach, an historic town along the river, with boardwalks and bike trails all over the danged place.

The town buildings provide a sampling of every kind of architectural style you can think of.

And the homes built right on the river are behemoths, with formal, gated entranceways and glass-encased rears that look out over the water to the city of Ormond on the Sea. Such a pretty name!

Check out the front door of this one! (Glad I didn’t get the cops called on me for taking all these pictures as I rode by on my bike.)

Taxes, Yes

This is what it looks like to do your taxes from the road. Not a bad setup, right?

Vaccine First Doses, Yes!

Okay, I’ll break the fourth wall here by revealing that I wrote this post a couple of days ago, not know what would come of possible vaccine appointments. And now we’re literally driving away from the pharmacy where we just got vaccinated (well, Tracy is driving and I’m typing).

I won’t bore you with the details of Florida trying to keep non-residents from getting the vaccine here, but that’s why we’re haven’t tried yet. However, after several friends encouraged us (thank you, Karen, especially!), Tracy and I booked appointments, but with little hope of passing the residency requirement.

Then we prepared. I printed a file folder‘s-worth of receipts of our campground reservations in Florida since November, plus one utility bill and a copy of our marriage license, just like we were going to the DMV. These items are literally on the Florida vaccination website check-off list. Then Tracy and I rehearsed the language we’d use when questioned about residency, and I was coached as if I were going to take the stand.

Guess what? We did get our first doses, HURRAY! And the folks at CVS didn’t even ask for our driver’s licenses! I must’ve looked a little silly carrying that folder. Who the hell cares—we amazingly got the first dose!!

Ukulele Segment

While I was nervously counting down to our very iffy vaccine appointments, I taped this simple version of the title song for this blog, with Banjo as my backdrop. I should have worn earbuds so my voice is louder than the uke (and should have worked on this a bit more, since it’s super repetitive), but I won’t film it again because Banjo is the star, anyway.

Okay, you guys keep staying safe!