Day 3: Fall 2023 Adventure: I’ll wrestle with your conscience; Assateague Island State Park, MD
It rained last night. It was lovely. I got up at unknown o’clock and closed the windows and overhead vent to keep the rain out. I was so stealth that Mrs Milddogs slept through my futzing about. Good job me!
Morning walk was slightly delayed due to the rain. Eventually I just went out in the drizzle. Rain got a bit heavier so I took off my shirt (be still your beating heart) to avoid wet clothes that we would have to dry in the van. I walked by a stand with free dog poop bags, grabbed a clean one and put my shirt in it. I think it was a clean bag. On my walk I headed south towards the national seashore park and at the end of the state park saw a few of the resident wild horses! I turned around and headed north to the Ranger station (must be Ranger Rick) and saw 4 more horses there. On my way back to the campsite I saw a few in some of the other campground loops. So cool. This was the beginning of our wild, wild life day. Only challenge of the walk was the collection of sand I had failed to remove from betwixt my toes. That lead to some lovely blistering and discomfort. Lesson learned!
Since we had to change sites, we “packed up” after breakfast and drove up to the Ranger station. Packing up consisted of detaching the power cable, putting it in the van and driving off. We were using the opportunity to go to Ocean City, MD and grab some provisions. At the ranger station we completed the paperwork to change sites and headed towards Ocean City. Food Lion was where we went for provisions. It’s no H.E.B. but it had everything we needed. Here is a tip for Canadians, the price of food is no better in the US of A. A few things are cheaper here, like chicken and cheese. Food Lion was not counted in our exciting wild life encounters. If it was Food Elephant, it would have counted!
Evil me stopped at Chick-Fil-A to get a chicken sandwich. I know, too much wrong with Chick-fil-A, but it was right there and the chicken is ok.
On the way back to the campground we stopped at a Seafood place where Mrs Milddogs picked up some shrimp and scallops. They cooked the shrimp for her so we avoided all that mess in the van.
We sidetracked to the Visitor Centre before we came back into the park. They have some nice displays that have words. What are words for, when you forget your reading glasses? Also had a nice gift shop and a scenic vista overlooking the bay. After departing we saw a bunch of horses as we crossed the bridge to the island.
Once back in the park we took a quick trip to the water station to fill up and then the dump station to un-fill the used water. You will never guess who is still 100% faecal matter free! Yup, me!
Post trauma free dumping we toured the rest of the park. We saw a bunch more horses including this nursing horsette and her baby horse. I’m not sure the campers whose space was invaded by the horses were impressed. I think they were calling to ask for a horse removal.
Just before we got to our camp site we saw a momma deer and her little deerlet. Then at our site we saw where their feet had been. So cool.
Our new site is nice, but is un-serviced. That means we have to ration electricity a bit. Mostly at night. As long as it is sunny we produce a surplus of power during the day with the solar panels. Forecast says sunny tomorrow. Should be good. If not, we are allowed to run our generator here.
Time to go to the beach. It was still cloudy and pretty wavy so we did not swim. The water did not feel as warm as yesterday. But, we gazed a the ocean and enjoyed the crashing surf for quite some time. Then we spotted a pod of dolphins. That was pretty cool. They were a few hundred meters off shore but I saw a few tail slaps and a few jumps. Thank you, dolphins.
Back at our camp site for a break, we saw two bald eagles fly over. I feel a special kinship with bald eagles, not sure why.
Post first course of dinner we went for a longer walk on the beach. We headed to the north this time and saw a lot of formerly living horseshoe crabs. We also saw a bunch of still living surfers. Dude.
Dinner was a chicken caesar salad for me (thanks to Mrs Milddogs for her left over chicken tenders from Chick-fil-A )and Mrs Milddogs had some of her seafood.
We saw a bunny.
Post dinner we hung out and then I ventured off to try the shower in good old loop E. Hmmm, loopy. Had to get the sand off those feet. Anyway, the showers seem more dated than loop G so they get a 6.5 out of 10.
Today we learned.
- Sand between toes not good for feet
- Horses do live on this island
- Horses will nurse their young right beside your picnic table at your RV
- Horseshoe crabs (which are not crabs, but are arachnids) seem to like to die on shore
- Dolphins are cool
- Bring reading glasses if reading is likely going to be required
- Food Lion is not as good as H.E.B. (not lying) but not bad
- There are more horses in loops H and I <- you can judge if that is a good thing
- Chick-fil-A is ok, but bad and you may regret easting it (don’t ask)
That’s about it for today. The sky is clear of clouds and not much moon, maybe some stars tonight.
Horse Power!
