Canaveral National Seashore

Feeling more confident about Lulu’s health we decided to push on. With an overnight stop at Pecan Park RV Resort just north of Jacksonville, we made our way to the next destination, Seasons in the Sun RV Resort in Mims, Florida. A place we had been several times before. What’s there you ask! Well, its a great place to hang out so I can explore my favorite birding place Black Point Wildlife Trail on Merritt Island. A bonus is Canaveral National Seashore which is just down the road. 

However, our trip to Mims was not without its scary moments. We drove through one of the worst rain storms I had seen. We were stopped literally in the middle of I-95 not moving because it was raining so hard no one could see. I found out later 9” of rain fell in a matter of hours. Now I know why all the campsites were flooded when we arrived.

With the weather working in my favour off I go to Canaveral National Seashore to see the sights.

It doesn't take long before I'm doing the wow and OMG thing. This wonderful seashore is part of the national parks system so my America The Beautiful annual pass was honoured here. The park was created in 1975 and is home to several species of plants and birds. Its location is between New Smyrna Beach and Titusville on the barrier island and is accessible by vehicle at the very north or southern ends. 

A 24 mile long sandy beach, a little rough today

Beautiful butterflies everywhere

There's a paved road with 5 access points to the beach. The day I went it was windy, warm, sunny, and not alot of people around. Just the way I like to explore nature.

Paved road with nobody around

Enjoying a walk through
century old oak trees

Access point #4, looking out over the vegetation to the Atlantic

Sitting on the beach watching the fisherman fish, the brown pelicans dive for fish, and me eating my wonderful picnic lunch of tuna fish ( getting the theme of this adventure), I though it was time to move on to my favorite place to bird watch Blackpoint Wildlife Drive. This 7-mile, one way, self guided trail meanders through both salt and freshwater marshes.

Again, my America The Beautiful pass allowed me entry into the refuge otherwise there is a $5.00 fee (honour system). The drive offers several areas to stop however many avid birds pull far enough off the road to allow traffic to pass.

This drive can be a hit or miss situation. There are times I see thousands and thousands of birds, other times a few, its all dependent on the time of year. I've seen several species of wading birds, shorebirds, raptors, waterfowl, along with alligators, otters, and wild hogs. Patience is a virtue here.

Mud flats usually a favorite for wading birds, nothing today

Open prairie with palm canopy in background

Usually I do the drive at least twice. On the second time around I park the truck and venture down one of the 7 trails looking for different birds. Cruickshank trail leads to an observation tower that allows one to look out over the marshes.

Cruickshank Tower in the background

With the day getting on its time to go home and tell Susan my adventures. Another wonderful time out doing what I love to do.

Taking a Deep Breath

It has now been 5 days since we started Lulu on the steroids and she is a different dog. She no longer sounds like a Pug (no disrespect to those pug owners out there), she has some energy to walk a short distance on the beach, and an appetite that puts a Rottweiler to shame. With all these wonderful signs we are taking each day and praying she makes a full recover, with or without the mass in her nose. Time will tell. In the meantime we extended our stay in Myrtle Beach for another 8 days. The same site was available so no moving involved. Yeah baby!

Our site

With the stress in our lives diminishing slightly, we finally made time to get out and enjoy ourselves. Firstly a long, long walk on the beach was in order topped off with supper at Crabby Mike’s in Surfside Beach. This is our favorite place to dine on all-you-can-eat crab. Now that I’m feeling great I stuffed myself with the succulent sweet crab until I couldn’t eat another morsel. I have blogged on this place before so no pictures this time we just dug in and ate.

Enjoying the beach

Beautiful Brown Pelican flying by

Seeing friends that we hadn’t seen in a while is always great. We were able to hook up several times with our good friend Ranger Bob who is a park ranger right here in Myrtle Beach State Park. I would have offered him an alcoholic beverage but alcohol is not permitted in South Carolina State Parks. So we settled for coffee instead.

Each year in Myrtle Beach they have a ride along the beach for the American Cancer Society. This is not just any ride. With over 800 horses walking, trotting, and/or galloping down the beach you don’t want to be in their way. I stood for an hour on the pier patiently waiting for the horses to come my way. It’s quite a sight. This year they decided to ride south instead of north. However, there were a few that came north into the state park so I was happy.

Only a few came my way

The coastline at Myrtle Beach State Park shows a perfect example of how each day the wind and salt prunes the trees. The salt laden sea breeze carries across the shores where the salt is deposited on the tree branches facing the ocean. The salt causes the leaves and buds to become dehydrated and die which in turn produces a significant stunting of the trees. Because the inland side is somewhat protected the trees grow in a lopsided manner.

One very lopsided tree

With life getting back to some normalcy hopefully my blogging will also. Please stay tuned and thank-you to everyone for the kind thoughts and prays during our anxious moments with Lulu.

The Rollercoaster Ride

This whole week has been like a roller coaster ride and not at all a good one. I'm relaying this because not everything goes according to the best laid plans. We have heartache with our little girl.  The day after we arrived Lulu was not doing very well at all. After a short walk outside we noticed a huge bulge on her butt. I couldn't even get close to it. So off to the vet we go (Ark Vet Clinic). Her temperature was 105.2 and they diagnose a large rectal abscess. Yes, she screamed bloody murder when they took her temperature but it was worse when the abscess broke. And yes I cried a thousand tears. Taking care of people was much easier than this. The vet put her on a stronger antibiotic hoping her breathing would improve also.

A very sick little girl

The next morning after a quick outside walk we noticed another abscess on the otherside of her butt. We called the vet and she wanted to see Lulu right away. By the way her breathing is worse and she's not eating much. The heartache we are feeling at this point is indescribable. The second abscess breaks, a chest xray and lab work is done. 

Meanwhile I'm not feeling great either. To make matters worse both our computers crash and have to take them in to get fixed. With all this going on my Visa card somehow becomes compromised again so we are waiting for a new one. How do you pay for things with limited resources. We didn't bring alot of cash across the border. Off to the bank to open a cross border account. That takes up alot of time to fill out and it won't happen for 7 - 10 business days.

With Lulu's breathing not getting any better we are referred to a clinic in Charleston which by the way is a 2 hour drive south of Myrtle Beach. Away we go on Friday, her appointment is at 9:30 am. She is looked at by a great vet and suggested a rhineoscopy and CT Scan. He could not do it so we had to go to their Mount Pleasant clinic 10 minutes away. Lulu was again poked and prodded and booked for the procedure later that day. We left her at the hospital and drove 2 hours back to Myrtle Beach. They are doing biopsies so bleeding is an issue. They called later that evening, she is doing good BUT there is some sort of mass in the back of her nose. Hopefully the biopsies will tell the tale.

Back to Charleston to pick her up on Saturday morning almost a week since arriving. She is sent home with a syringe full of epineprine just in case she starts to bleed. Well, if I thought it impossible to put ointment on her butt how the hell was I going to put epi down her nose if she starts bleeding. Luckily I didn't have to.

Monday the vet calls from Charleston for an update. Biopsies should be back by tomorrow. They booked Lulu for surgery on Wednesday to remove the mass. Meanwhile my watch has stopped working. How ironic is that.

Tuesday the biopsy results are in, it shows NO cancer cells. However, the tissue shows lots of inflammation and some sort of mass. So we forgo surgery at this point and opt to treat her with a high dose of steroids. Time will tell.

Through all of this I have cried a thousand tears, laughed at the silly games she would play, and praised her for all the love she showed anyone that payed attention to her. I will keep you posted on her progress. Hopefully it will be good news.   

Myrtle Beach, SC

The big decision this year is which way to travel south. Do we go the Pennsylvania Turnpike with no campgrounds open therefore we have to boondock or do we go through West Virginia like last year. With snow in the forecast it was pretty much a no brainer. Campgrounds 1 Boondocking 0.

We left our home park in great time only to arrive at the border to wait for 45 minutes before crossing. Finally through we head towards Erie PA only to be met by snow. Typical of Erie this time of year. We stopped for diesel then back on the road. Our first overnight stop was Morgantown WV. We stayed here last year so we know where to go and what to expect. Chicken noodle soup is all I could muster up to eat. Lulu still is not herself.

Waking up to a few flurries is always nice but not when you have to drive in it. Oh well onward we go. Most of the leaves have changed and fallen which is earlier than last. The trip into Mount Aire NC was pretty much unremarkable. At least the sun came out for awhile.

With a little warmer weather we make the final trek into Myrtle Beach arriving at 2 pm to sun and the smell of salt air. Oh how I've missed it. Lulu seems to be sounding more and more like a Pug. She loves the beach so maybe the salt air will help her.

We get parked in our usual site. And settle in for 2 weeks of pure bliss. Or so we thought..... Stay tuned.