Great and Not So Good, Part 2

2012 Mar 18

After spending time recording the second part of the "Great and Not So Good" saga, I inadvertently did something which caused the whole effort to disappear into cyberspace, from where I was unable to retrieve it. So what follows is an attempt to rewrite part two, which took place on Friday, March 9, while we were staying in Gulf Islands National Seashore at Fort Pickens Campground. I HATE when that happens!

So…there we were at Fort Pickens Campground, which is a beautiful, restful, place with access to the bay and the gulf, wide, deep sites, and lovely scenery. Except for the intensity of the satellite TV drama, and the probability that we would only be able to have two nights there, it seemed perfect.

So, Friday dawned. After restful sleep, during a major rain  storm, both Raymond and I were ready for a new day. For me, that meant, a walk on the trails with Greyla. For Raymond, it meant restarting the satellite procedure. Funny how differently our minds work. 

As I sat having my morning coffee, Raymond explained that he could use my help with the satellite set up today. Let's just say this was met with a less than enthusiastic response. In my reality, the satellite issue was dead. We would perhaps revisit Camping World and their, "easy 800 number", but I had no plans to sacrifice a second day at the perfect campground fooling around with the portable dish, the cell phone and incurring a monthly bill. Silly me. This is what marriage is about, right? Compromise, helping your partner with what is important to him, even if you couldn't care less. And thus began day two of the satellite drama.

A good nights rest helped Ray to clarify some things he had read the previous day. He was attaching wires and adjusting position by direction and all that good stuff. Now, he wanted me to make the phone call to customer service (for which you'll remember, we had multiple different toll free numbers). Amazingly, the first number I called actually worked! Unfortunately, when we got the the part of the prerecorded phone call, where I had to input numbers from the bottom of the receiver, I was stumped. After apparently inputting the wrong number, I was disconnected. Encouraged that we had gotten this far, Raymond took over. Again, disconnect at the input stage. Now, it again becomes my turn. After several attempts, somehow, I managed to get to a human being!  I promptly handed Ray the phone, once again thinking, "my work here is done". Once again, how silly.

This young man, was walking Raymond through whatever the process is until it became time to actually set up our account, at which point R handed the phone to me. The Customer Service Rep and I then did a surly little dance regarding our name. He asked R for our last name before he handed off the phone, so when he asked me, "Can I have your name?" I assumed he meant the first name which would be on the account, so I replied, "My husband's name is Raymond". Mr Surly, then said, "Should I call you Ray?" And so it began. 

After concluding the technicalities to enable Dish Network to charge us a monthly fee, there were still intricacies of satellite service to be worked out. Mr Surly  decided that we probably needed to speak with Tech Support and transferred our call.

Tech Support, which became Tech Support-one, was Raymond's call, which he handled for sometime before being told he would be transferred to "Tech Support-2" By now, R's phone talking frustration had kicked in and I got the phone. On the phone, was Lu. She was very nice, patient, and had an accent which I was having trouble deciphering. Matters were further complicated by the need to repeat everything she said to Raymond who was manning the controls. This seemed highly inefficient, so I gave R back the phone. Oops! As he listened and asked Lu to repeat what she said, several times, I could hear the frustration building in his voice. Then, without further warning, Raymond, a gentle soul, who is very easy going and good natured, and who wouldn't say "Poop" if he had a mouthful, was suddenly channelling his Father. He sounded so much like his Dad, complete with sarcasm, that I had to look twice. After he  said, "What did you say?" "What?!" and "I can't understand a word you're saying!" He shoved the phone back into my hands. Poor Lu was equally frustrated, I'm sure, but offered to transfer me to someone else.

Now, it was my turn to be annoyed by the whole process and my involvement in it. When the young man began asking the same questions I had heard R answered much earlier in the process, I lost it. I explained that we were in an RV and had been on the phone for some time now and wondered couldn't they possibly have a technician who could come to our motor home, figure out what we were doing or not doing, rather than spend yet another hour on the phone. Craig seemed thrilled by this question. He asked for our zip code and after finally finding the zip for Fort Pickens, he gave us a number for Dan's Satellites. 

When I got off the phone, it occurred to me that perhaps this was not the solution Raymond was looking for. Thank goodness, he was quite happy to defer to my decision. And so, I called. A message was left on Dan's answering service and R waited for a call back. Greyla and I finally went for our trail walk.

When we returned, R had already had a phone call from Rich Williams, and had been walked through procedures by Rich who was willing to make an RV call, but was also willing to spend time on the phone for free.  After an additional call to Rich, later in the afternoon, it was decided that he would come to Ft Pickens after his work day concluded. He would call once he was on his way, probably sometime after 6PM.

We were blown away by how kind, professional and helpful this man was. He got the portable dish positioned correctly, facing Southwest, not due South as we had been told. He explained the interference to the signal caused by trees. He gave us a flexible connector so that we could still tightly close the slider window even with the coaxial cable running in. He gave us additional coaxial cable, "just in case". He discussed something called "The Tailgater" with Raymond. He called Dish Network to be sure we had satellite feed. He showed us how to remove the TV from the wall mount, so that Raymond could add HDMI, at some point. He even showed R that he would either have to drill a hole to make room for the HDMI, or, better yet, get an articulating bracket mount for the TV, in order to make it more easily visible from the dinette, as well as making room for the HDMI cable. He was simply, another really NICE person, doing his job, but also going above and beyond, what was absolutely necessary. 

Before Rich left, he gave us his card and said even though we were going to be leaving Ft Pickens, we should feel free to call him if we had any more issues, or needed help. We also discussed the possibility of buying a Tailgater unit, which sounded like a much better item for us, than the portable dish. Less adjustment, fully enclosed, automatic; just a better idea all the way around. Rich then said that even though he was busy on Saturday, he would be willing to come back with a Tailgater, if we decided we really wanted that, but he couldn't do it till Sunday. And, basically, he wasn't trying to "sell" us. I think he actually seemed reluctant for us to spend additional money, since we already had the Winegard Portable Dish. We weren't sure where we would be by Sunday, so we left it undecided. And it turned out that Rich, from Dan's Satellites wasn't even from the Pensacola area. He had come from Pace, FL, to take care of us. What a guy! Funny how, a positive interaction with a real person negated all those previous hours with Customer Service and Tech Support. 

Raymond had ESPN, he was happy. Rich Williams was kind and helpful. Now, if only there would be some cancellations and we could stay on at Fort Pickens...

Big Lagoon

2012 Mar 15

Our site at Big Lagoon

Our next reservation, after St George Island State Park, was further west along 98, near Pensacola, at Big Lagoon State Park. 

I have been very impressed with the state parks in Florida. Big Lagoon was very nice. My only complaint would be the noise from the nearby Naval Air Station, but there's not much you can do about the Blue Angels. :)  There are ample trails for walking and plenty of places for solitude. Greyla and I went out each morning for our walks together.

Greyla Girl

                                                                  


Our only mishap occurred the morning that I decided to allow her off lead, as we were well down the trail, with no sign of anyone else around. For those who don't know Greyla, she is nearly 13, a black lab mix, who does not get on well with other dogs. You see where this is going, don't you?

As we trekked along, seeing not one other soul, and knowing we were getting near the Intracoastal Waterway Beach of Big Lagoon, I let Greyla off her lead. I know, I know!  I broke the rules. She was walking along with me, sniffing and bouncing for about fifteen minutes or so, when she suddenly took off around a bend in the trail. I, of course, took off after her, calling her name. As I rounded the bend, I saw her challenging another dog. The other dog, a  black Lab named Smokey, was also off lead. He, however, was more social than Greyla, as well as several years younger. As I got her back on lead, she continued to fuss at Smokey, who to his credit, mostly ignored her. Smokey's human, David, was a very nice guy from Panama City and was more concerned about Greyla injuring herself than about her bad manners toward his dog. Seems that when Greyla was challenging this large male, she managed to bite her own tongue! No serious damage, but David was very much the Southern gentleman, in his worry about her self inflicted injury. It was not the ideal way to meet another dog lover, but we shared some doggie stories before heading off in opposite directions. Greyla hasn't been off lead since that day.

While we were at Big Lagoon, we saw two converted school bus campers. One was at the site right next to us, but we never got the opportunity to introduce ourselves, which was disappointing. They were always either away from the site, or inside their bus, and the right moment for introduction never seemed to present itself. They had several children, one of which was just a baby, so I had hoped to get to at least hold the little one. I am sure their schedule was full, so I didn't want to intrude.

Meeting other campers seems to be one of the hardest things for me, so far. Because I am somewhat introverted to begin with, I find it difficult to know when or how to approach strangers. 

The weather while we were at Big Lagoon was mostly sunny. And we enjoyed lots of bird song at our campsite. Along one of the trails, there was a large pond with a sign, "NO SWIMMING ALLIGATOR", but we never did see him. Just as well. Greyla may have wanted to challenge him, too, and I don't think alligators are known for their tolerance of pushy, barking dogs.

Both Big Lagoon and St George had fire rings and you could purchase firewood from the camp hosts, which was a really nice change from all the private campgrounds we had been in up till then. Perhaps the location came into play, as well. It was awfully nice to be able to have a campfire, though. 

And, these state parks offered us our first opportunities to use a dump station. We did great at St George. However, when leaving Big Lagoon, I managed to squirt myself with the clean up hose. Oh well! It could've been soooo much worse! Sorry there's no picture of that! 

Florida's Forgotten Coast

2012 Mar 14

We are on our way out of Florida. We seem to have slowed down into super slow motion, but we are closer to the Alabama border than at any time since we began this adventure.

We had reservations in March at two Florida State Parks, after our stay at HoHum RV  in Carrabelle, Florida. First we stayed at St George State Park, on St George Island. After which we moved to Big Lagoon State Park, near Pensacola.

 At HoHum RV Park, Carravelle FL

HoHum was a small private RV park, with a number of sites available directly on the Gulf. Because of the local geography, while at HoHum, we had sunrises over the Gulf, instead of the sunsets we experienced while at Sunset Isle at Cedar Key. HoHum was pleasant, although the weather was not. We happened to be there during a damp, foggy period, with only sporadic and brief periods of sunshine. But, in spite of that small drawback, we liked it there. It's the kind of place you go when you want to decompress, unwind, read, write, or just veg out. There is a grocery store in the town, about 5 miles away, as well as a few restaurants, but generally speaking there is little to do in the immediate area. Although, there is the Camp Gordon Johnston WWII Museum and the Carrabelle History Museum, both located in Carrabelle. HoHum was a nice rejuvenation spot for us. We walked along the beach with Greyla and out onto the pier. We watched the dolphins, along with the ducks, pelicans, egrets, terns, gulls and ibis. 

Crooked River Light

After leaving Carrabelle, we headed west toward Eastpoint, Florida on 98. We were on our way to a barrier island named St George. Along the way we passed the Crooked River Lighthouse, so we had to stop. I am nuts about lighthouses. Have been since I was about 8 and saw the movie "Captain January". But I digress.

We arrived on St George Island on the final day of their annual three day chili cook-off. The crowds were insane and there was no parking, especially for a 30 foot long motor home in the center of the Island where all the chili action was happening. So, we decided to head directly to the other end of the Island where the state park is located and leave the pictures of St George Island Lighthouse for another time.

The state park turned out to be wonderful! The campsites were rather typical, but the trails were great! The inclement weather, however, seemed to be following us. Late on the afternoon of our arrival, one of the camp hosts came by to tell us to batten down the hatches, as extremely high winds and driving rain were forecast for that night. We managed to get a walk in along what I would call a maritime first trail before the rain began. The wind and rain were dramatic throughout the night. I felt very sorry for the couple of tenters we had seen earlier, on our walk. There is definitely something good to be said for being warm and dry in your comfy bed as the wind and rain whip about the outside of our fiberglass cocoon. 

Northern Parula

The following morning was fabulous! Sunny, breezy, and just right, as to temperature. Greyla and I went for a two mile hike through the maritime forest, leaving only our footprints behind. It was lovely. While we were having our coffee, after our return, there was a thud on the dinette window. A beautiful little bird had flown into it! Luckily he was just stunned. I picked him up, soothed him and let him perch on my finger until he seemed to come to. Then I placed him on the limb of a shrub next to our site and took his picture. He was so stunning! When I attempted to identify him, a thought he looked liked a Northern Parula, but the range seemed wrong. Turns out that was exactly what he was. the Park Ranger said that at their time of the year they often get "strangers" passing through from the tropics on their way back north. We would've stayed longer on St George if we didn't already have reservations further down the panhandle. 

The day we left, we stopped at the beach for a final look, since it was temperate enough for leaving Greyla in the motor home. (No dogs on the beach. Mostly because of nesting habitat of birds and also because of turtles.)  The beaches of St George Island are some of Raymond's favorites. While I like them, I am still partial to the northern beaches of Currituck County, NC. Raymond thinks the St George beaches are cleaner. Both are wide and beautiful. The sidewalks on the approach to the beach were interesting. They had the impressions of seashells, starfish, and seahorses, embedded in the concrete. It was very cool. 

Sidewalk

St George Lighthouse

As we left the Island, we stopped to take pictures of the Lighthouse. St George Island State Park is definitely on the short list of places to revisit.