Jupiter

Finally, it was time to leave Boyd’s, our longest stay since we’ve had the RV.  We were up and out of the park early, by 8 am, because we had a long day of driving ahead of us.  When it was time to get everyone buckled up I imagined, through Brodie’s eyes and actions, that this is the conversation he and I had:

Me:  Brodie, I have some news that may come as a shock to you.

Brodie:  Oh?  What’s that?

Me:  You’re a dog.

Brodie:  No I’m not.  Maiya and Belle are dogs.

Me:  It’s true.  So you need to get in the crate for the ride because you are, in fact, a dog.

Brodie:  My whole life is a lie.

We bypassed Fort Lauderdale and Miami and went right to Jupiter, Florida and the only fact I know about Jupiter, Florida is that’s where Burt Reynolds and Loni Anderson lived when they were married.  Dave tells me I astonish him because I can’t remember where I left my Chapstick but I can remember where Burt Reynolds and Loni Anderson lived.  What can I say?  It’s a gift.

The drive was long and a little boring so I spent a few minutes entertaining myself by watching Mallory see who her big sister in her sorority is.  I love that technology allows us to keep in touch no matter where she is and no matter where the RV is.  Plus she’s so freaking cute when she’s excited.

Jonathan Dickinson State Park was our new home for two nights and I thought it was a great spot.  There was a little park area right across from us where dogs could go leash free and our RV position meant we got shade as the hot afternoon sun passed over us.  We ate pork carnitas at the picnic table for dinner and enjoyed a colorful sunset.

Thursday we experienced short term memory loss and decided to give a dog friendly beach another shot.  But it was a success!  This time it was dog “friendly” and not a “dog beach”.  I’m telling myself that’s the difference.  We got the RV ready for travel and once we get that boat on the road we’re going to take care of everything we can while we’re out.  Our first stop was our neighborhood Publix to refuel the pantry.  Everyone waited patiently with Dave in the rig while I navigated the aisles, picking up staples like dog food, bread, milk and tortilla chips.  In our house, tortilla chips are a staple.

If you look over to the very back right, you can see the RV while I’m in the Publix parking lot.

The dog friendly beach turned out to be two and a half miles of area where dogs are welcome, not the 200 yards of beach that was packed with crazed animals like last time.  And the dogs on this beach were few and far between and the ones we saw were calm and polite.  Overall it was a great experience.

After two hours of splashing, running around, wallowing in seaweed and sunning ourselves, our beach day came to a close.  While Dave was toweling off dogs we’d rinsed at a shower by the beach, I turned around and got these shots of where we were.

Once we got back to the campground, we drove around the whole park to see what it was like (spoiler alert – the answer is beautiful and vast) and we stopped for a family of birds to cross the road.

What on earth kind of birds are these?  I have no clue but they were such a sweet family I had to take their picture.

The dogs were exhausted from their afternoon outing so we let them sleep and I fixed honey soy lime salmon for dinner and it was delicious.

I thought it would be fun to do a short video of what a typical late afternoon at our campsite is like.  I didn’t clean anything up, I left towels and items strewn, and Dave was inside for a moment so his chair is empty, but it’s us.  It’s home.  The sites around us change, the terrain and weather change, but we are still a little family travelling together.  That never changes.