The Tyranny of Reservations

Gamble Rodgers State Recreation Area, Flagler Beach, FL - Site #29

The morning came with pea-soup fog. If the empty campground seemed eery last night, it was even more so in the early morning. It had rained all night and the Weather Underground reported .75 inch of rain. Lots of puddles all around us. As we looked out into the fog, we noticed that our campsite was being visited by a large flock of common grackles. At least it was in the 60s for a change.

After breakfast we drove to the other end of the park where the "bird observatory" was marked on the map. Because of the fog, we saw nothing but Yellow-rumped Warblers and a Belted Kingfisher perched on a piling near the water. The forecast was for more of the same, then rain, then rain tomorrow. It is supposed to rain all along our east coast route for the next four days. I think my ride has been shot, not very good weather for birding either.

We decided to abandon our site at Huguenot Park, even though we had another day, and continue south to Anastasia State Park. Sitting cooped up in Speedy gets old very quickly. It was still foggy, but not raining when we left. We crossed the St. John River by ferry, still in the fog. As the large car ferry headed out into the river, it moved very slowly, blasting its horn every minute and with a deck hand assigned on watch.

Our route south on the old A1A highway passed the Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve (GTMNERR), a large preserve between the Guana and Tolomato Rivers. It has much birdlife, both on the water and in the marshes and woods. We spent an entire day here on our last trip to Florida. It wasn't raining when we arrived and the fog had lifted so we stopped for a visit. We spent about an hour looking out over the Guana River estuary before stopping for lunch. Lots of pelicans, cormorants, gulls and terns with the usual collection of herons and egrets. We also saw several Osprey, including a couple eating their lunches, and Red-breasted Mergansers, Wood Storks, Ruddy Turnstones, and a Willet.

After looking over the estuary, we drove up to the trailhead parking lot and had lunch. As we were still in the van, it started to rain ... heavily. So much for birding the GTMNERR. We decided to continue to St. Augustine and Anastasia SP.

At St. Augustine, we decided to wash Speedy. This may seem a strange activity to do in the rain, but Speedy had developed a rash. Before we left, I noticed that the roof and hood had lots of little black spots on it ... like a van that had been sitting under a tree too long. It was too cold to wash it before we left and, before today, it had been too cold in Florida. We saw a self-service car wash just before the state park, so we pulled into a bay. I changed into T-shirt, shorts and Crocs and went at the black spots. Fifteen minutes later Speedy was a lot cleaner.

Meanwhile a frog-strangler of a thunderstorm had arrived. The thunder, lightning and a heavy downpour had been going on while I washed Speedy and it seemed that it wasn't giving up. We continued up to Anastasia SP.

We stayed at this park when I did my last Florida bike ride, but we couldn't remember anything about it—until we pulled onto the park entrance road. It suddenly all came back to Ellen. This was the park in the jungle. At least the sites seemed that way to her the last time we were here.

Now, we had arrived a day early and had a two-night reservation starting tomorrow ... what to do? We could try to just move them forward or we could stay for three days and get back on schedule. I climbed out of Speedy into the storm and the two inches of standing water in the parking lot and dashed to the park office.

We couldn't just shift our reservation. So my first thought was to take a different site tonight and move tomorrow. Were there any available? Of course, but then the ranger said she'd have to find one that wasn't flooded! I was about to book and then changed my mind. With several more days of rain predicted there was not going to be any riding or birding. Let's just continue south to at least the next campground. We didn't really care for Anastasia, so why would we spend three days there in the rain.

The tyranny of campground reservations are that they are all pre-paid and canceling can be costly. We let the fear of not finding a site (particularly on the weekends) cloud our judgement and made ten days of state and local park reservations ahead of time. We didn't listen to our own experience in three previous trips to Florida when we always found a site on a weekday. We have only had a couple of weekend scrambles.

So we canceled the other two days at Anastasia (with a $17+ fee) and are now at Gamble Rodgers State Recreation Area, right on the beach. We actually have a one night reservation three nights from now, so we are now three days early. When I made that reservation, back in September, there was almost no availability here at this beachfront campground, so it was a just luck to find space today.

They had a space available, site 29, right on the beach but behind some trees, which is actually a little short for Speedy with the new bicycle rack, but we've fit it in. It is still raining and is predicted to be showery here for the entire period. As of right now, our current site is available for the next two days and unless someone as perverse as us books it overnight, we could stay, but we are waiting for morning to decide. Should we eat another cancellation fee and continue south, hoping to get below the rains, or should we stay?

Even arriving at Gamble Rodgers wasn't without drama. The site is pretty short and there is a bit of a fence across the back. While backing up, I managed to rub the bicycle tires against the post on one end of the fence. As I pulled away to shift Speedy over a bit more, the tire caught on the post and both bikes were pulled right out of the rack. I took them off the rack, but won't be able to check for damage until the morning...assuming it isn't raining.

A final note to the day. Ellen was getting the bed ready this evening and found that her pillow and her side of the Travasack (our sleeping covers) were completely soaked by the back door. The most likely explanation is that the high-pressure rinse at the car wash leaked around the doors seals. Fortunately, Gamble Rodgers has washers and dryers. They are all drying (along with my wet jeans and towels) right now.

What will tomorrow bring? Sun? Fun? We hope so!