Treasure Coast to the Space Coast of Florida

We finally left Port St. Lucie, Florida! We didn’t go far, but we had to get the coach weighed and we had to go to where they do it. 

Port St. Lucie is in the Treasure Coast region in Florida. It is located on the Atlantic Coast and comprises Indian River, St. Lucie, Martin counties. The region, whose name refers to the Spanish Treasure Fleet lost in a 1715 hurricane, evidently emerged from residents' desire to distinguish themselves from Miami and the Gold Coast region to the south. 

Titusville is a city in and the county seat of Brevard County, Florida. Titusville is on the Indian River, west of Merritt Island and the Kennedy Space Center and south-southwest of the Canaveral National Seashore. It is known as the Space Coast. When we lived in Oviedo (Orlando area), we visited this area often.

Actually, we are staying in Mims which is part of the Titusville, Florida Metropolitan Area. The RV park is Season's in the Sun.

 entrance to the park

 the office

 here we are!

 most of the RVs here are 5th wheels

 there are several ponds around the park

 Gator in the pond

Pileated Woodpecker

 pool area

 Carolina Wren

 Anhinga

 the eggs never hatched and she covered her nest

 Muscovy duck

The first night we went to Dixie Crossroads. We have eaten there many times and it has always been a really good place to go for shrimp. They are known for their Rock Shrimp which need a special tool to open so they do that for you. Broiled, they taste a bit like lobster. The rest of the shrimp are mostly local varieties that vary by season.

 Crabby Bites & Corn Fritters

Royal Reds

We had some Crabby Bites (which weren’t grease logged) and they had Royal Reds shrimp and we both ordered those. 

Unfortunately, I have to say it’s the worst meal we have ever had there. The Corn Fritters were grease laden (like the oil wasn’t hot enough and it soaked into the fritter). The shrimp must have had the same issue unless they changed their batter as they were gummy. We left feeling heavy like we ate a gut bomb…..what a disappointment, especially since we haven’t eaten there in over 5 years and were really looking forward to it. 

We were going to visit a nature area today, but the rain kept us in. It has been rainy & stormy just about every day since we have been back in Florida. Instead we went shopping at a Camping World Store in Cocoa. While it is bigger than the store at La Mesa RV, it wasn’t huge and was jam packed with stuff and people which made it hard to get around and find things. Greg did manage to find items he needed for the coach and I got a space-saving spice rack. 

This morning we had a sunny day until about lunch time. We drove to the Enchanted Forest Sanctuary in Brevard County (Titusville). There were about 4 miles of hiking trails and while we didn’t see any birds except for a Broad-winged Hawk. There were some pretty butterflies and the Coquina Rock was interesting to see. Coquina rock is a long spine of coquina shells & grains of sand compressed over the ages into a ribbon of eroding limestone. There are large holes in them called solution holes and are formed when rain water mixes with decomposed leaves that creates a mild acid that eats through the limestone. It takes thousands of years for the holes to form. Here, it signals a segue in habitat to young scrub on white sand. There is a deep ravine that runs along the path as the spine of the Atlantic Coastal Ridge is a prominent landform down the middle. It has a good representation of the various & diverse Florida habitats. We could have spent a couple more hours there exploring other trails, but bad weather was coming.

 Swallowtail

 Golden Silk Spider aka Banana Spider

 Black Swallowtail

Zebra Heliconian 

 Heliconian 

 huge Bumble Bee

 Gulf fritillary

 Coquina Rock

 Gopher Tortoise hole

 bridge we walked over

 me in the middle

 Greg

 Broad-shouldered Hawk

 Beauty Berry Bush

It’s kind of strange that most all of the same news anchors and commercials are still on the local TV stations. Guess not much changed in 5 years since we lived in this area. 

Sunday, we took the coach to be weighed in the St. Cloud area. (northern Osceola County located on the southern shore of East Lake Tohopekaliga in Central Florida or about 25 miles southeast of Orlando) We have fished for bass in Lake Toho a few times.

Why do we have to do this? Just like trucks it’s important not to be overweight. The main reason is it’s extremely dangerous to be overweight overall and also dangerous if one side of an axle is overweight even if the total weight is fine. Weighing the coach properly can mean the difference between a safe, trip and a costly, disastrous trip. (plus, it’s illegal)

The total weight is the coach with all fluid levels full (water, diesel fuel, propane, grey & black tanks etc.), plus the Toad (car being towed) and us in the vehicle. 

Greg chose the St. Cloud location since they have the type of scales that can weigh the individual wheel positions in addition to the overall weight and the axle weights.

We had hoped to get the proper weights so we would know the proper tire pressure for our load. However, we are learning that so far nothing has gone as planned. We started out the day pretty well. Got the Toad hooked up and ready to roll. We stopped to fill the tank with diesel and drove away towards St. Cloud. All of a sudden, the coach just started bouncing BADLY. At first, we thought maybe it was because we hadn’t driven the coach fully loaded before. We pulled over and tried to figure out what was going on, but it still continued all the way to the weighing place. I said “place” as there is no office or anything, it was just on a fairly deserted road and a couple was waiting there for us. When I got out of the coach I commented how bumpy our ride was. The guy says he could see the coach bouncing as we drove up. He noticed that the air bags on the front suspension were empty. We tried various things prior to discovering that to no avail. The guy said we should probably hold off on weighing since he couldn’t give us tire pressure numbers due to the suspension. (the numbers would be off) We decided to have him weigh anyway, so we could at least know if we were in the ballpark. They just lay down these flat scales and then you drive over them. That took no time at all. We are well under the weight limits and were balanced pretty well.

However, we knew we shouldn’t drive the coach in that condition and Greg called the service number. Since it was a chassis issue, he had to call Freightliner for that. They told us to sit tight and they would find a mobile tech to come to us. We had our lunch in the coach and within an hour a gentleman came and set to work finding the leak to the airbags. He found it and set to work fixing it. It was simply a rubber washer type thing that fell off. (Height Control Rod came off on one end) He was taking photos of his work and sending it to the office and they liked his work, but wanted him to crimp it a bit more. 

Then, we got ready to roll and found that the Toad had a dead battery. (not sure what caused that) Greg jumped it to get it started and I drove it behind the coach to get the battery charged up. Sheesh! We are really enjoying this RV life…..

I would have liked to have seen what the coach looked like as we bounced down the road. I noticed that people on bikes and in cars were really looking at us. Add to that me holding my breasts as we bounce down the road. OUCH! On the way down we saw several large groups of wild turkeys and quite a few Sandhill Cranes. No photos as with all the bouncing and boob holding, it just wasn’t possible…..

We managed to get the coach back before it started to pour rain too badly. Greg got the last of it hooked up just as it started to rain like a banshee. 

We needed to go out and get groceries and we were both craving Brusters Ice cream and despite the torrential downpour and the lighting we headed out to get some. It was even better than we remembered. After we got back the rain finally stopped and the sun came out just in time to go for our evening walk. 

Monday, we are off to Georgia!

So, my next blog will be from St. Mary’s, Georgia. (just over the line, but it’s Georgia!) Internet can be sketchy in some of these places so I may not always be able to post.