Spectacular Skies and Hullivator Troubles

Sunday November 25-Sunday December 2, 2018                                    Most Recent Posts:
Gamble Rogers Memorial State Recreation Area                                   Wonderful Day at the Beach
Flagler Beach, Florida                                                                       Northing Like an Ocean Front Site

These are our last few days in my favorite site at Gamble Rogers Memorial State Recreation Area.

Dawn on Sunday is like a painting.. 

None of the pictures in this post have been altered in any way.

The skies become more muted

The full moon is in the west.

Back in the east.

Here comes the sun.  The waves are churning.

It’s so fantastic to have this right outside my door.

Sorry for so many pictures but I like each one for a different reason.   The winged ones fly by and grace the shores.

I take a morning walk on up the beach  and on my way back come up to the road to take a look at the mural displayed by the park’s neighbor.

This is High Tides, Snack Jack, Surfside Eats and Drinks.  If you can believe it, we have never in all our years of coming to Gamble Rogers eaten there.  Notice Valet Parking only “no self parking”.

I have looked into this sweet looking establishment though   This is Luxury Suites, right on the ocean and about 500 steps to the North from Winnona.  I’d love for Carrie and her family to come stay here some year while we are at the park.   What fun we’d have.

The town has issued a no rebuilding order for establishments on the ocean side of Highway A1A.  If Mother Nature damages them, they are not allowed to rebuild.   So, I imagine it is only a matter of time.   But for now it’s a great spot.   You can’t get closer to the water than this.

On Monday I decide it’s time to tackle the hullivator.  When we left to come south I found that the hydraulics on the front hullivator stopped working.  That means that it provides no assist to lift it up on the car. 

We managed to get the boat up there without it but haven’t taken it down until we could get a new arm.   That took some doing.  We’ve had these for 7 years and they have a lifetime warranty IF you have your receipt.  Do you have 7 year old receipts?   I do.   I keep every receipt for every purchase including cash and keep detailed track of our expenses.  It’s helped a lot at tax time though I think the new “benefits corporate America” tax cuts may put an end to that along with ending the mortgage deduction.  BUT I digress. . . . I also keep receipts for just such occasions as this.  Companies of course do not expect you to have receipts for a “lifetime”.  But since I did, they were forced to send me an entire new front mechanism.

Of course they sent it with no instructions for installation.

These two pictures are “before”

Here we are mid problem.   We’ve taken the old one off and I have watched a Utube video on how to replace it.

The problem is this pin.   I can see from the still good one how it goes in, I just can’t make it do it on the new one.

Long story short.  After several hours of watching, trying, rewatching, retrying and having trouble holding the heavy hullivator up with one hand and trying to put the pin in with the other, the camp host comes by and with his help it is finally accomplished.

My advice on hullivators:   They are designed for tall vehicles like trucks and SUVs and with those vehicles they will help you lift a kayak or a canoe on top.  But I cannot recommend them for sedans or small/short cars of any kind.   In order to activate the hydraulic component you must squeeze the lever on both at the same time.  Fine if you can stand up to do it but on my honda that makes the levers near the ground so I must work from a crouched position.  As long as I am in good physical shape, reasonably strong and very flexible in a squat, this will work fine but buyer beware.

This is actually the sunrise view from my front door.  Would that I could just never have to move.

The snowy egrets golden slippers are just barely visible. as the waves roll in.

He doesn’t seem bothered by waver nearly to his hips.

I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw this little scene in the sand.  Pretty sure those colors mean the starfish is still alive so after I took this quick picture I picked him up and tossed him as far as I could back into the water.  Any starfish experts out there?

I did not toss this guy back in the water.  Yuck-jellyfish.

Next day’s dawn finds two other folks out as I take this picture through our front window.

From my patio, the color is fantastic.

I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a sunrise as spectacular as this one.

The colors lighten some as I watch.

I marvel at the reflections.

Finally when the colors have drained, I come back and take a picture of the new campers who have moved in next door.  I’ve never seen a rig like theirs in a campgrond before.

I assume they sleep in the boat.  They strung a tarp over it the next night.  I assumed because of the rain but boats are made for water and rain right?

Speaking of the rain, the dark clouds moved in before long and the temperature dropped.

We weren’t really expecting temperatures like this in Florida in late November.  So far this is the coldest it’s ever been for us here. 

On the day we need to move, of course, the weather is beautiful.  We get Winnona out of her site and to the dump station and then park her in the day use are and go down to the beach.  We’re only moving about 40 miles north to Anastasia and it’s such a glorious day we are in no hurry.

If we had the time, I’d get my suit but rolling up my pant legs will have to do.

I’ve got my eye on the waves this time.

David commes down and does a half hearted job of rolling his pants up above his ankles.

Our bliss is interrupted by a park ranger who tells us Winnona cannot be parked in the day use parking lot.  We’ll have to move her over to the other side of the road and back into the picnic area over flow lot.   That’s too far for David to walk these days so we head north where he relaxes with a book after we have set up in our site at Anastasia.