Turtle Tales: The Lighthouse People

We woke up in Theodore, Alabama to sunny skies and much cooler temperatures, but no rain! We left Payne's RV Park at 9 AM and headed to our destination for tonight, Carrabelle, Florida. Passing through Mobile and Pensacola we were able to see first-hand, the damage that the storms that rampaged through the area wrought. There was water where there should never be water, and objects floating in water that should be in homes or back yards! What a mess! However, the interstate was open and clear of debris so it was clear sailing as far as the Turtle moving on!

We made a planned stop in Fort Walton Beach, Florida to meet and visit with Bob and Sandra Shanklin, "the lighthouse people". What a wonderful visit we had! It was so much fun to share lighthouse stories and adventures with them! From their book titled Lighthouses of Florida ,comes this excerpt: "In 1987,we embarked on a long journey to photograph every lighthouse in the United States. On February 3, 1997, we realized our dream! After a summer trip to Alaska in 1998 and a winter trip to Hawaii in 1999, we had photographed every standing lighthouse in the United States! In January 2001, we added to that list by photographing the lighthouses of Puerto Rico." To read more about Bob and Sandra, go to www.TheLighthousePeople.com . Sandra is an artist and Bob is a professional photographer, so it only seemed fitting that these talents would come together to share in such an exciting endeavor! Bob is also a writer of essays (not lighthouses) from his life experiences riding a bus with his mother as a young child - selling peanuts to earn the nickel he needed to ride the bus! He is currently writing his third book! Needless to say, Jim and I are far behind in our lighthouse quest, although we have made a commendable dent in our years of lighthouse hunting!

As we shared our time with Bob and Sandra, it rained, but by the time we said our goodbyes, the rain had stopped and we encountered no more rain on our travels today! It was so nice not to have to deal with the wet stuff again!

We made another stop in Bay St. Joe to view the St. Joseph Point lighthouse. It is privately owned, but the owner has refurbished the lighthouse and added a new lantern room. It is the owners personal residence, and they have done a great job of restoring the home to its' original condition.

The Florida panhandle used to be our old stomping grounds, and it had been a while since we had actually driven along the coast line, (we usually drive 1-10 and by-pass the beach traffic). The quiet little coastal towns have grown to the point of becoming suburbs to the nearest towns all the way from Pensacola to where we are at Carrabelle. It is unbelievable the tourism growth in the area! The cheapest lot we saw for sale (and we are talking a very small lot here) was $199,000!

Tomorrow we will be visiting the Crooked River Lighthouse, Cape San Blas Lighthouse and St. George Lighthouse. We have actually seen these lighthouses before, but we videotaped them then (it was before digital cameras) and did not have pictures for our files. So we are doing them one more time..........This gives you an idea as to how long we have been doing this...........:)

We can tell we are back in Florida and close to the water, the mosquitos and gnats found us quickly once we arrived at the RV park! Ugh!

It was a great day. We made new friends, we had no rain and we got to see another lighthouse! As I have said repeatedly, it is not necessarily about the journey, but the people you meet along the way! We are blessed beyond measure!