Annnnd here we go again......

Palatka, Florida; put together in the 1800s as a trading center; often referred to as the "gem city of the St Johns River". A raging fire in 1884 put an end to a lot of that prosperity. Its kind of a cool town; friendly folks, Florida's oldest diner; Angels; fantastic breakfasts. The town has encouraged mural paintings on some 30 buildings; different subjects, some relating to parts of Palatka's  history, others to more recent events. The marina, as did so many others along the rivers here, suffered  a pretty heavy hit from the recent hurricanes. Rates were inexpensive, facilities were working. It was good. We rented a vehicle from good ol' Enterprise; gave us a bit of mobility that proved quite useful; Family visits, chasing mail & parts. As Enterprise is sometimes inclined to do, they gave us a free upgrade. From a Hyundai sedan to a brand new F-150. Yo; what a treat; thing had so many bells and whistles on it that it was hard to focus on steering. We managed.

We were due to leave Palatka on the 21st, but weather; in the way of wind, and an escaped gremlin in the starboard engine's (Frick, as opposed to Frack) cooling system caused us to back that to the 22nd. Issue turned out to be solvable by the captain; as did the associated issues that, of course, arose at the same time. Now, it is painful for me to go into this factor, given the domiciles of many of you, but I gotta confess that trying to work in a hot engine room when the temps are over 85, is an excruciatingly slow process; ya know what I mean, right. I honestly don't think age really has anything to do with it; I can, after all, still bend.

So, goodbyes all being said, Scooter full where needed, empty where advised, and the cooler iced down, we were ready to roll; oops; Mother nature say "whoa, bubby, be a bit" So, we waited. I don't mind radar and GPS navigation when I have some idea where I'm going. But, not here. Didn't take long before things opened up a bit. Up the river, south in this case we went to Bear's Creek, just north of Lake George .

Up this morning and on up the river, across the Lake: biiig lake, to
Morrison's Creek, which, surprisingly enough is just by Morrison's Island. Critters abound here; Ibis, egrets, herons, turtles, and for the more adventurous; "Alli", as in gator. Sorry, you'll have to click on that one to see it better. Tomorrow will find us heading north again; down the river towards Murphy's Island and or Palatka. We hoping we don't get tagged by the mass of rain and "stuff" moving across parts of the south to our west. Given that the lake is shallow any wind will create a mass of ugly. Stay safe, stay happy, stay warm! Catch you on the flip side.