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Ron Jon Surf Shop – Who Knew


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Before we do Ron Jon’s …

A shout-out to John & Linda Johnston new friends from Joe Overstreet Road Landing on Lake Kissimmee

We are enjoying local TV as we speak; thank you very much

😉

Vargas Cafe

Great Cuban coffee & food.

Alberto is an engaging raconteur and restaurateur.

Local cafe well recommended by locals.

😉

A chilly and windy day by Florida standards sent us out for lunch and looking for quirky: this, another local recommendation.

Ron Jon Surf Shop ~ Cocoa Beach

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Making Waves ~ The Ron Jon Story

It was 1959 and on the New Jersey shore a bright young man names Ron DiMenna was just discovering the sport of surfing with fiberglass surfboards. The pastime soon became a passion and homemade surfboards would no longer do.When his father heard that Ron wanted his own custom surfboard from California, he suggested, “Buy three, sell two at a profit, then yours will be free.” Dad was right and Ron Jon Surf Shop was born.

“The Original” Ron Jon Surf Shop opened in Long Beach Island, New Jersey in 1961. Ron sold surfboards out of a tiny Jersey shore shop and supplied former customers with boards to open their own shops on the East Coast. He headed to Florida two years later and opened the “One of a Kind” Ron Jon Surf Shop in Cocoa Beach, and sold even more.

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Today, Ron Jon Surf Shop has grown into a world famous surfing mecca with locations in New Jersey, Florida, South Carolina and on-line. Visited by surf and beach lovers from around the globe, Ron Jon Surf Shop is recognized world-wide as an icon of the surf and beach lifestyle.

Text from 08/11 Promotional Pamphlet

Ron Jon Surf Shop : The LL Beans of the surf  scene, the Kittery Trading Post of the East Coast beaches.

Who Knew?

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Cocoa Beach, Florida

24 Jan 2014

Predatory Stare


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Winged Predators

Not Bothered At All

Kissimmee Swamp, Lake Kissimmee

Joe Overstreet Road, Kenansville, Florida

Captured from the deck of an airboat piloted by LW.

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Kissimme Swamp ~ Expanded Gallery

24 Jan 2014

Flight


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Flight Images

Kissimmee Swamp, Lake Kissimmee

Joe Overstreet Road, Kenansville, Florida

Captured from the deck of an airboat piloted by LW.

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Beautiful Area

Kissimmee Swamp ~ Expanded Gallery

24 Jan 2014

Crazy As a Coot


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Coots ~ ‘Walking On the Water’

Kissimmee Swamp, Lake Kissimmee

Joe Overstreet Road, Kenansville, Florida

Captured from the deck of an airboat piloted by LW.

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Kissimmee Swamp ~ Expanded Gallery

24 Jan 2014

Snail Kite ~ Kissimmee Swamp


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Snail Kite

Kissimmee Swamp, Lake Kissimmee

Joe Overstreet Road, Kenansville, Florida

Captured from the deck of an airboat piloted by LW.

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Kissimmee Swamp ~ Expanded Gallery

24 Jan 2014

Kissimmee Prairie Preserve


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Kissimmee Prairie Preserve SP

(FB Link)

Accessible Wild Florida

Put this one on your list.

Bundle up and take the prairie buggy ride with the ranger from West Virginia. Do bundle up. Wear wind gear.

😉

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Kissimmee Prairie Preserve Gallery

19 Jan 2014

Kissimmee Prairie Preserve SP ~ Florida


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Kissimmee Prairie Preserve Gallery

18 Jan 2014

Crested Caracara ~ Kissimmee Prairie Preserve


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Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park

Hard freeze predicted for tonight and the wee hours of tomorrow morning.

Must be too many folks from northern New Hampshire in the same place at the same time.

A shout out to the ladies from Jackson!!

Crested Caracara ~ A first for me during the past couple months of heavy birding.

Kissimmee Prairie Preserve SP : a great place in the middle of nowhere yet accessible.

Florida, the way it was.

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Kissimmee Prairie Preserve Gallery

16 Jan 2014

Ding Darling NWR ~ Sanibel Island, Florida


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Sanibel Island (Periwinkle Park Campground) proved to be an interesting place to hang out while checking out the birding and photo ops in Ding Darling NWR.

An abundance of folk on the island this time of year, predominantly retired folks.

Lots of cars and traffic as well. A beautiful one-way toll causeway  from Ft Myers onto Sanibel-Captiva. More traffic than made sense to me.

One nice elementary school. Secondary level kids are bussed off island into Fort Myers.

Pedestrians and bicyclist everywhere; must be the excellent system of bike paths that traverse the island, paralleling the major roads for miles. From one end of the island to the other.

Which came first the senior cyclists or the fantastic system of bike paths?

And then you have Ding Darling NWR.

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15 Jan 2014

Pakboat ~ Digital Assembly


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We decided after our road trip last winter that we were finding ourselves in lots of places that we needed a boat to see what there was to see. Spent a lot of time researching folding boats and light weight boats to carry on or in the camper. Looked high and low across the North American continent, even into Europe. Decided that it would be too much hassle to deal with some sort of rack and I am loath to drill holes in the roof of this RV. Pakboats kept bubbling to the surface in my internet searches.  They looked great and seemed to perform well. The fact that they have a traditional canoe appearance sold me. Guess I am a traditionalist. Lo and behold their main facility is in what could be considered my back yard but is truly my oldest daughter’s back yard. She lives in the Upper Valley of NH, in the town of Enfield.  Alves Elvestad distributes Pakboat canoes and kayaks out of a steel frame building down a main street back road in Enfield, New Hampshire.

Good man with a good product.

Pakboats take a little time to assemble and/or disassemble. Sixty minutes: less if you do it often and don’t have to think about it. One person can do it but it is easier with two. The assembly time is easily outweighed by the fact that this 16′ canoe can be rolled up (the strong layered PVC skin and shock-corded anodized aluminum rods and thwarts) into two packs and transports within the storage space of a small RV. After one or two trips on top of the Smart car/tow car we were even able to stow all of it, skin roll and rods and thwarts in the back of the tow car and assemble at the put-in.

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Great design, great engineering, great materials :

A latter day skin-boat!!

13 Jan 2014

The Everglades ~ Mrazek Pond


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Great Blue Heron

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Everglades Gallery

10 Jan 2014

Everglades (2) ~ 2014


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Osprey

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Muscular Knuckle-Dragging Flight

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Everglades Gallery

9 Jan 2014

Everglades – 2014


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 Osprey

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Everglades Gallery

9 Jan 2014

Wakodahatchee Rookery


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No Fore Play Here …

Wakodahatchee Rookery Gallery

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… Seemingly a Little Pillow Talk Though

Wakodahatchee Rookery Gallery

3 Jan 2014