Getting in the Water

Yesterday dawned sunny and warm for the first morning of daylight savings time. When Cali and I walk, I give her her lead so she can go wherever she chooses and lately she has been particularly fond of going to the beach. We walked out to the water and she dipped her feet in then wanted to get back home. The old girl is a little under the weather today with a bout of the runs and an unsettled stomach. She had me out in the wee hours last night for a few extremely necessary walks. There are some fun looking little waves breaking out front along the high tide sand bars.

I took Cali home and sat out under the awning having a little breakfast and saying hello to the passing neighbors. Seems like nearly everybody these days has a dog of some form or another to walk around the campgrounds. At least here and Hanna Park, two of the most dog friendly zones we’ve come upon. By ten, it was approaching 75 degrees, so I grabbed the Walden and paddled out to catch some fun little 3 foot peelers in front of the condos next door. Best surf yet on the trip. Another guy joined me along with some passing dolphins and it was a refreshing positive start to my day.

I stayed close to home to keep an eye on Cali and walk her as often as she decided to venture out. She moves pretty slow these days and we are a common sight softly doing a measured walking meditation at a snail’s pace through the campground. People ask about her and she’s starting to get known among the campers. A lady near the beachfront with an older dog told me her dog was on Prozac and I said “me too” and had a laugh. Cali has been doing really good with the anxiety these days only getting a little spooked by some bigger dogs, an energy thing she feels from them. Otherwise, she is totally zen. I put in an hour or so trying to get this guitar thing figured out then grabbed a towel and headed over to the big swimming pool. I had it to myself on a Sunday afternoon. The water is probably 70 but obviously too cold for the thinned blooded oldies in the park. It was perfect for swimming laps so even though my shoulders were a bit worked out from the morning’s surf session, I pushed out a kilometer or so before retiring to a chair to dry off and read my book.

I didn’t want to leave the pooch solo for too long so I dropped off my gear and we took another stroll down to the beach. Sunday and I’m pretty sure some of the local school’s are on spring break. The beach was packed with a broad spectrum of all variations of human life forms. Boisterous teenagers feeling some freedom, serious fishermen tending their lines, rednecks rolling their rumbling 4 wheelers along the sand, numerous families with bucket wielding kids in tow, cyclists of all stripes and the ever present elderly snowbirds that rule the beach. We breathed it all in as Cali leisurely shuffled down the beach.

We had a dog day mid-afternoon lounging around in the shade reading, playing with my bike and watching my beach hibiscus grow. In the late afternoon I worked up a little ambition and rolled the bike out onto the sand and pedaled as hard as I could for half an hour into the wind heading south. Although evening was settling in, there were still plenty of people out to dodge as I sped along. I turned around somewhere down in Crescent Beach and enjoyed the push of the wind on my back and fairly flew back home feeling like Fabian Cancelara coming across the line. I made it back in 23 minutes so I continued on a piece to get in a full hour. Great ending to a sultry summer like day.

The quiet couple from Tennessee behind me packed up their gear and moved to another spot and shortly after sundown two couples from somewhere with loud, deep country drawls pulled in with a giant fifth wheel pulled by a giant rattling diesel pick up. They wiggled back and forth for quite some time trying to get the monstrosity situated then spent the night banging things around getting set up. The good old boys always have these ratcheting hammer drills to run out their levelers that sound like a tire shop changing out a fleet of oversized wheels and they set to leveling their rig before opening the toy hauler portion in the back to roll off their Harleys to prepare for bike week. They fired them up and gleefully revved them to make sure they hadn’t lost any of their full throated sound. They couldn’t figure out if they wanted to park them at the front of their site or in the back so they kept riding them around the loop leaving them for 15 minutes while smoking a few Marlboros then changing their minds and firing them up to ride back around to park on the other end. Could be a fun bike week. The neighbor in front tells me he’s leaving today, so we’ll see who moves in there. Spring beak and bike week, got to love it.