The Atlantic Coast

The Atlantic Coast

Unsuccessfully trying to outrun a weather front I drove across the state of Florida to the Atlantic coast. I camped overnight at Sebastian Inlet SP making note of a wonderful camp for fishing, boating, ocean swimming and more. I understand now why it is so hard to get a site here- it’s one of Florida’s most popular State Parks. Unexpectedly, a musical duo performed at a park pavilion last night. I guy on guitar and a girl on bass singing modern folk music that smacked of the stuff we all sang in coffeehouses in the late 60’s and early 70’s. Check out ‘Friction Farm’ on the web. They are definitely worth hearing.

Being a map collector from a very early age I helped navigate the eastern coast of Florida as my family spent days cruising up and down the coast on the many trips to visit my Grandparents who retired to Fort Pierce, Florida in 1956. US Rt.1, FL A1A, and US Rt. 441 from the Smoky’s to Florida were like my backyard. Needless to say, things along those routes have changed dramatically. The area north of Ft. Pierce inlet, where I believe I got the worst sunburn of my life at about age 5, was wild shoreline with Pepper Park as the only hint of civilization. Now the tiny park is framed by businesses and high rise condos. Thankfully, the south side of the inlet still retains much of its old character.

My Grandparents house, which was nearly alone on the western edge of the city, surrounded by open grass/palmetto scrubland, is now in the middle of a concrete jungle of malls, campuses, businesses and a super-crowded zone between Florida’s Turnpike and I-95 (neither of which existed in 1956) which run parallel to each other here. 6 lanes of lights, turn lanes and dirty city streets accommodate 12 interstate lanes of campers, trucks, busses and cars stopping for gas, coffee, food- whatever you can buy quick and then leave more quickly.

A short drive and I’m camped at Jonathan Dickinson SP. It’s an inland park of ‘coastal sand pine scrub’ which is a unique ecosystem in the world. There are bike trails and a lot of wild history here that I’m itching to get to. I hope to do tours that teach about the Hobe Indians, Quaker shipwreck in the 1600’s, a fur trapper that lived here during the depression and the top secret radar training base that was here in WWII. Whoo-oo!