This morning the skies were clear of rain and blue with lots of sunshine. Today we are moving on down the road, but not too far. Our destination is St. Joseph Peninsula State Park on the end of St. Joseph Spitt about 57 miles. The park is at the end of a barrier island across the bay from Port St. Joe on the mainland. The tide was out as we drove west down the highway and we could see people wading in the shallow water.
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We took the causeway that brought us to the bridge and the town of Apalachicola on the other side.
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We got to see a little more of the town as we passed through it on Highway 98 west. Main St. was quiet on this Sunday.
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From Highway 98, we turned off on Highway 30 which took us along the coast of the small peninsula we were on before turning off to get to the park. They were serious in this section of the highway about keeping the water off of the road.
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This area on the peninsula was more populated than we expected, with lots of stilted beach homes and rentals. We arrived at the park about 12:30.
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Campers have to vacate their sites by 1:00 which is checkout time. We thought we might have to wait a little while if someone was in our campsite. We checked in at the Ranger Station and were told we could proceed to our site. “More than likely the other campers are already gone.” The road into the campground was narrow and, at times, had overhanging palm branches. It was a tight squeeze through some areas, but we made it to our site #98 only to find the people still there. Luckily, the site next door was empty, so we could at least pull off of the road while we waited until 1:00. Well, 1:00 came and went and no sign of anyone. Their truck was hooked up to their trailer, but there was no one in sight. It was 1:15 when the people finally returned from the beach and finished packing up to go. It was 1:40 by the time the site was empty. Oh well, what can I say? Some people are not that considerate of others. We were patient and it was not too much of a problem. The day turned out to be sunny and steamy (85 degrees). If you were out of the sun and in the shade it was nice. Storms had been forming all around us (as we could see on the radar), but by the time we got to the park and were ready to set up camp, they had all disappeared. We set up camp in a beautiful site that was nicely paved in cement which will help a lot if it does rain. We had reserved this site across the road from the boardwalk to the beach and convenient to the bathroom.
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The campground is in a pine forest right on the coast. The sites are very private and scenic. We will enjoy our stay here for the next 2 days.
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We got all settled in and relaxed watching football later in the day. Tomorrow we’ll do some exploring around the area. I took Auggie for his evening walk and then dropped him off at the trailer before walking to the beach to check out the sunset. It created some beautiful colors in the sky, but then dipped behind the clouds before dropping below the horizon.
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