Dec. 27 - We have moved again, a couple of hours to the west of St. Joseph's Peninsula. We are now at Topsail Hill Preserve State Park, a pretty fancy place compared to some of the other parks. Here we have cable t.v., (watched bits of my Packers getting clobbered by the Cardinals), and wifi in our r.v. How good is that?
There is also a tram that will take people to the beach, which is less that a km away. We rode our bikes down after getting set up, and decided to do a long walk on the beach. So we headed into the easterly, and after less than a km., our eyes were smarting and running, my sinuses were going berserk, and my head was filling up. So we turned around, feeling very uncomfortable. I could hardly see to make my way down the beach, but managed to stay out of the large waves, thus avoiding being sucked in by the undertow.
Turns out there has been sporadic infestations along the coast of Red Tide. We didn't have any idea it could affect us so much, but when we got back and did a little research, that was it. Not fun, so avoid it if you're near water suffering from its intrusion.

We have been watching the weather west of here: tornados, snow storms, 22 deaths in 4 of the nearby states. So we're not leaving for awhile. The weather here is setting record, as it was 80 today, and will remain warm until the end of the week. We'll monitor the weather, and if it looks bad for the next while, we'll stay here or go back to Florida, Central and South. The west might have to wait for another time.

Aside from that, we are fine, enjoying the easy life. Cycling (we've done close to 250 kms.), walking the beach, hiking the trails. That's about it, and seems to be enough to keep us happy. We think of friends and family a lot, especially this week, but have had good conversations on the phone, which helps immensely.