The RV park has a nice beach on the sound side with a bar and a great view for sunsets.

​They even have one of the old Pensacola Beach signs.​

We spent most of our days on the  beach.  Fort Pickens is always a favorite place to shell and walk on pretty sand.  We are used to seeing sugar white sand.  We have been to beaches in many states in the USA and other countries. None can compare to Pensacola Beach for beauty of the beach and color of the water.  The emerald green clean water is amazing.

We walked a lot of the shore and got to see many birds and dolphins.

We also like the beach at Gulf Islands National Seashore.  It is to the East of Pensacola Beach and part of the over 130,000 acres of beach protected to keep its natural state.

Someone left us a sandcastle to admire.  They are very talented.

We were able to watch the Blue Angels practicing. They are in the Pensacola area for a couple of months every year practicing.  Even though we grew up seeing them often, they are still the "Sound of Freedom". We are proud every time we see them.

Hungry, we decided to have a meal at Whiskey Joe's.

and  Big Daddy's Grill.

Of course, no visit to Pensacola would be complete without a meal at McGuire's.

We also enjoyed 'Bands On The Beach'. This is where Pensacola Beach Authority brings in bands play a free concert each Tuesday evening through the Spring and Summer.  Tonight's band focused on 70's music. 

​Lots of Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, Aerosmith, Journey...  They were very good but I forgot to write down their name.

Almost every evening, it was so easy to just walk down to the RV park beach, get a drink at the bar, and watch the sunset.

We were sad to leave the beach but really wanted to get back to visiting family.

You can see how I might be confused.  Not having a moon cutout in the door gave away that it was not available for an emergency bathroom break.

There were also lots of doctors and dentist appointments.

Over the next few days, we made several stops on our way to Pensacola.

One notable stop was Margaritaville RV Resort Breaux Bridge.  We have stopped here before but then it was under a different name and design.

As you can imagine the RV park was tailored around Jimmy Buffett.

They have made some pretty sign changes but for the most part the buildings, pools, and hot tub are the same. 

Of course, the music playing over speakers was all Buffet.

They also have a very nice children's pool with lots of water slides.

We loved our visit and we had the pool almost completely to ourselves.

Time to get gone. They are very strict about being out of the Fair grounds by Noon.

We were able to pull out without problems with the hope that no one gets stuck in the mud.

Our next stop is 10 miles away at Blossom TX where we will again have full hookups. Power and real long hot showers await.

The app had a schedule of each day but Sadly I did not take a screen grab before they were gone the next morning. 

We kept busy by going to events.

Live Music Xscapers Lot Crawl Community Jam Sessions
Craft Circles Group Pot Lucks Lawn Games
Open Mic/ Karaoke Team Trivia Community Organized Activities
Food Competitions Daily Happy Hours Themed Parties

Music almost every night:   
Young band, Lance Battalion, playing Lynyrd Skynyrd, led zeppelin, …
The Status Crowes
Dueling pianos

Gatherings:
Retired meeting for Day Drinking “because we can”
Pancake breakfast
Pot luck brunch
Lots of things to do on the schedule
Stitch n Bitch
Board games
Scavenger Hunt
Silent Disco & Bounce house

​There was a small trailer for photos.  Everyone enjoyed having this extra souvenir of the event.  Yes, I got a bit goofy.  Who knew that would happen?.​

Many were singing along but usually that was not a problem because the music was  loud enough it was hard to know what song was playing unless you took off the headphones and listened to the words.  Of course it was easy to tell when YMCA played because the hand motions gave it away.  

I have removed the sound because it was three different lyrics being sung at the same time without hearing the music.

We were so busy eating and visiting that I only took the above picture at the potluck.

​More rain in the morning but mainly clouds and clearing skies in the afternoon.  Still keeping the batteries up. Meetup for Retirees Day Drinking.  Wow, did that go well.  Lots of fun.

We are getting lots of rain.  This is going to make charging in the solar area a bit difficult.  So far we are not having any problems.  We are even able to watch a little TV at night and run fans without running our batteries down.

As soon as the sun pops out, I run out and move the panels to get as much charge as possible. 

Escapees gave a "First Timers" meeting and Q/A session.  It seems strange for us to attend after being a member for years but this is our first event.

We got lots of information on the organization, benefits, and special groups within Escapees.  One of those is BOFS (Birds Of a Feather) and HOPS (Head Out Programs).

Bingo was fun.  We won two gift cards.  Starbucks and a fast food place?  Gave away the Starbucks card to someone who really wanted it more than we did.

Tonight, we gathered for music at the main building.  There was a birthday cake and other snacks to share. Then the music started.

The Status Crowes are great.  They played many 60's and 70's song ballads.  Even the song American Pie by Don McLean  which is almost 9 minutes. It is a ballad of events at the end of the 1960's and beginning of the 1970's.

Free Pancake breakfast   Donations to the Escapees C.A.R.E. support group

CARE is, Caring Affordable Respite Experience, where Escapees members who are no longer unable to care for themselves can live in their RV with support from donations to supply food, transportation, and community support.

During the day, we got 2.5 inches more of rain.  Muddy mess and very little solar charging but still having fun.  You can see the ruts from vehicles that drove out or at least tried to get out.

After lunch, there was a Solar install presentation.  It was great and the presenter offered to come to anyone's RV for a personal evaluation.  We met with him and he looked at our install giving some great advice on changes and improvements.  Our upgrades are based on this advice.

We woke up to a cloudy sky.  It did not look good for seeing any of the Eclipse.

Science warning:

There are almost always two to five eclipses each year somewhere but total eclipses occur about every 18 months.  Two total lunar eclipse, or Blood Moon, will happen each year.

A few other moon facts. 
The moon is just close enough to create tides that help the oceans water circulate but not so close as to cause tides that would be destructive.  

At its furthest distance between earth and the moon, all the planets of the solar system will fit between them. 

Each year the moon moves about 1.4 inches further away from earth.  Don't worry because over 2000 years that adds up to less than 250 feet.  It will be thousands of years before any change to our tides will be noticed.

The moon is locked in orbit to the earth. As the moon orbits the earth, it rotates perfectly to keep the same side of the moon to always face earth. In the thousands of years, we have documented the moon, this has not changed at all.

The fact that we EVER have a TOTAL solar eclipse anywhere on earth is amazing and many believe this by itself is proof of God.  I agree. 

The moon had to be EXACTLY the right size and distance from earth. 

If the moon remained the same distance from the earth but was smaller by just 5%, we would never see a total eclipse.  If it was the same size but further away, we would never see a total eclipse.

If the Sun was not exactly 400 times the size of the Moon and exactly 400 times farther away that the Moon is from us, we would never see a total eclipse.  Because of this, they both seem to be the same size in our sky even if at times they don't appear to be.

It also had to have a path in its orbit that regularly matched the sun.  If our moons orbit were to be at a higher angle, as most moons are, a total eclipse would never happen or be extremely rare. 

Just random and accidental... I don't think so.  Back to our blog.

An two hours before the eclipse was to happen, we were not seeing a very encouraging sky.

Everyone gathered for the big event and hoping for clear weather.  

As the moon started to cover the sun, any clearing of the sky was spotty.

We only had an occasional hole for the sun to poke through as you see below.

With a firm resolve, we waited.

As we got to 30 minutes of the full eclipse, it looked pretty bad for us. Over the microphone someone called out for us all to have positive thoughts or prayer and then they played "Here comes the sun" by the Beatles.

With only 8 minutes before full eclipse, we caught short views of the moon mostly covering the sun.  Everyone hoping for more of those but not knowing the blessing we would soon experience.

As we approached 5 minutes total eclipse, we saw very cloudy and only rare glimpses of the sun through holes in the thick clouds. 

At ONE MINUTE to the total eclipse the sky cleared, COMPELETLY, and stayed that way until well after the eclipse was over.  Woo-Hoo!

Below are pictures  of just before, in the Eclipse, and then after.  

For the next 4 minutes, 20 seconds, we experienced darkness. 

After a quick cheer, we all fell silent in awe.

The temperature dropped quickly.
We felt a breeze. 
Stars were seen. 
Bird and animals reacted. 
Bugs started to make noises like they would after sunset.

Some called out the countdown for us to all put on our glasses back on.
​
As we came out of totality, we all cheered.

4 Minutes is longer than you think.  Time yourself while looking at a cloud, not the sun, and you will understand.

Here is one of the best videos I found that gave a day by day explanation of the event.

We all gathered to get a group picture.  Those with their arms crossed are from the Xscapers group.  Shawna and I are in there somewhere.

That evening there was a square dance, karaoke, and a talent show.

Overnight, we got a downpour which totaled 4 inches of rain. 
Tomorrow is going to be a muddy mess.