End of the Prairie and Start of the Marsh

Thursday we had a nice Volunteer/Staff luncheon with lots of good food and deserts. One of the rangers brought in pulled pork and it was really good. He said all he did was carry the crock-pot, his wife did the rest. Charlie, who bakes as relaxation, made bread sticks and sponge cake. We were stuffed, but did do one more painting project in the afternoon.

One of the other volunteers had constructed a big box for recycle bins to go in. We painted it to match the rest of the park. We didn’t even get out our ‘painting clothes’ to handle that job. Friday was just a catch-up day, a few last minute things. Judy helped make new car passes and Jon painted the plastic covers he made last year for over four of the lights in the bath house porch/laundry area. Whenever the astronomy groups come in they always covered these lights with red cellophane. Last year the plastic covers were installed with the red cellophane, but after a year it had degraded and the lights were full of bugs. This year we are trying red paint on the Plexiglas with red plastic paint.

Worked on getting things packed up on Saturday and then went into Okeechobee for our last time. We went back to Cowboys for a Valentine late lunch, did some grocery shopping and church then back to the prairie for the last time. We had showered and settled in for the night. Then Lilly announced company, several rounds of visitors. It was other volunteers stopping by to bid us farewell.

Sunday’s drive was easy but oh the traffic lined up for the race at Daytona. We did not have any problems and sailed right through. When we arrived, we found that the site that would be ours for the next 6 weeks was occupied. They put us done by the boat launch where we dry-camped for the night. It was early when we arrived so we took a drive up to Fernandina Beach to see the sights, pick up a few groceries and get a bite to eat. With no power, we were in bed reading by 8.

This is where we spent our first night at Little Talbot Island. The environment here is quite a bit different than what we are used to. So many trees!

While we waited for our site to vacate, we took Lilly for a walk on the short nature trail. We had only gone a short distance on the walk when we saw a lady and a young girl (maybe 5 or 6) coming toward us with two big dogs. The lady pulled the Shepard mix dog off the trail but the little girl could not handle the chow mix. It lunged at Lilly and got Judy in the mix. She was pulled down on the ground wrestling the dog. Fortunately no one was hurt.

This is the marsh at low tide. This marsh (called Myrtle Creek) separates Little Talbot Island from the mainland of Florida. You can see a bridge way in the background that links Little Talbot to Big Talbot.

This is near high tide. Notice that all the high ground spots are now covered.

We met with the Volunteer Coordinator (Ranger Brian) and got some information as well as gloves and shirts. We will report to the maintenance area about 7:30 in the morning