End of The Road (Key West, FL)

We cut our stay in Central Florida short by two weeks.  We were ready to be in Key West despite being in the middle of hurricane season.  So far, the weather has been cooperating - up to now.  We kept an eye on T.S. Danny.  That one has been down graded, but on its heels comes Erika and this one is a lot stronger and heading towards southern Florida.  We are waiting to see if the base evacuates everyone. 

We have been leaving our large awning out and strapped down for better shade, but that turned out to be a mistake with the unpredictable weather.  We had one bad storm take us by surprise around 11:30 pm one night.  It ripped the canvas hinge that attaches the awning to the roof of our large awning on one end before we could wrestle it away from the wind and get it rolled up.  We were one of the lucky ones.  Several rigs had their awnings ripped off the upright arms and over their roofs.  Awning repair parts for a new hinge $90, so not too bad.  The original was weathered and replacement was due.

While we wait to hear more from T.S. Erika, here are a few photos of our travels to and of Key West.  Who can resist this invite to sit under the palm tree for a relaxing afternoon?

We spent one night in Midway State Park near Big Cypress and Everglades National Park.  We arrived early in the day and decided to visited Big Cypress NP visitor's center.

There were plenty of alligators to view while they swam around in lazy circles.  They certainly give off a lazy carefree attitude with only their tail moving and legs hanging limp.  Just gliding across the water barely making a ripple in the water...sneaking up on an unsuspected meal.  Most of the alligators ignored the people except for this one.  He swam straight up to us and stopped.  Three young Eastern Europeans stood beside us as the alligator stared up at us.  One of them turned to Sandy and said it all - "Frightening!".  Agree!  Not something we would want to run into in a small kayak.

This guy was our only neighbor at the state park.  The cats loved having all that open space to explore.  It's too bad we could not spend more time outside, but the mosquitoes were vicious even with bug spray!

A sight we have been looking forward to for almost two years - the 7 Mile Bridge.  Good-bye Mainland!  Hello Key West!

We are happy to say that Key West looks about the same.  Beautiful views, iguanas,

different sea/water birds to watch and of course...

many feral chickens running around entertaining tourists while annoying the locals.

We found out that during the off-season some of the museums offer discounts or free entrances to the military and retired military.  We took advantage of the offers and visited several places.  The Audubon House was actually owned by the Greiger family.  Captain John Greiger made his family fortune in wrecking/salvation.  A business that made many locals wealthy before the US government came along.

Audubon House 

It turns out that Audubon did not stay in this house during his six week visit with the Greiger family.  He had visited the family in their first house.  This house was built after a hurricane took out the old family home, but he did write about his stay with them along with Key West foliage and wild life.   The house and the gardens were quite interesting.

As you can see, we had to do all the tourist-type things like get our photos at the SouthernMost Point.

Here comes another cruise behind the Conch Blower.  A welcome for everyone.

So, our fingers are crossed that we do not have to evacuate, but we are ready to head north if the base decides it is not safe to stay,

Until then we will keep enjoying the views and the lovely sunsets...

Happy Trails!

Hot On The Trail South (Clermont, FL)

Actually, we are cooling our heels in Central Florida while waiting out a good part of hurricane season before traveling to Key West.  And to tell you the truth, our heels are not cooling either since we are spending every day walking around the park, or in stores, or in state parks.  Florida has been hot and humid with mid 90s, but feels more like 102+ degrees.  So we walk early in the mornings and again in the evenings if there are no thunderstorms.

Site near Peace River

Speaking of thunderstorms, they have some big boomers here.  Lightning so close that the light and thunder are together causing Sandy and cats to jump.  We had one last night with two fronts meeting over our area.  We spent the evening watching the dark clouds come together from different directions with the winds shifting.  It has been awhile since we have seen such storms develop.

We like outside...we go outside now?

The cats have been enjoying their time here. They beg to go out every couple of hours.  Dusty (far right) even begged Sandy one night around 3 am by trotting up to the door and crying.  When she did not follow him, he came back and started over again.  "Ah come on!  Nice outside!"

pygmy rattlesnake behind our motorhome sleeping near the woods

We walk around our site to make sure there are no unpleasant visitors for our cats to play with...especially the snakes.  

our latest entertainment - Sandhill Cranes

The Sandhill Cranes usually alert and walk away if they see our cats.

They ignore us as long as we don't get too close.  Sandy tried to shoo them away one day so the cats could come out and they did not budge from their prime spot under the tree. "Silly woman.  Is she trying to fly?"

Most of the time, we enjoy watching them while they hunt for food which seems to be 24/7.

Plenty of lakes, swamps and rivers to view in Central Florida.  It is a very peaceful area when we are away from the more populated areas.  Many of the campers in the area have some kind of boat or water related gear packed onto their cars and rigs.  Definitely a water world area.

We also visited Downtown Disney for a change of pace.  We found it was a great way to experience Disney fun without paying parking fees or entrance fees.

We spent most of the time wandering around and window shopping.

We have visited a few state parks.  The photos below are from Paynes Creek Historic State Park. 

Suspended bridge in Paynes Creek Historic SP

 There was little left of the historic sites, but walking the trails were interesting and the bridge was fun to cross.

We were told there had been sightings of alligators, but we did not see a single one.  Maybe they are on holiday and went to the beach for a change of pace.  Nothing like a good salt bath!  ;)

A couple of milestones were recognized since our last post:  this is our 6th year on the road with no thoughts of slowing down our travels and.......we celebrated our 40th Anniversary! 

Dan and Sandy 1975

We will start moving farther south around mid-August.  Our plans are to be in Key West by September(?) even though we know it is still hurricane season until the end of November.  It is nice to experience Key West before the busy tourist season starts in December/January.  Last year, the snowbirds arrived quite a bit earlier, probably due to the extreme winter season.

3rd Anniversary

Today is a travel day for us.  We are heading for Yuma, AZ, but first we want to do a little reminiscing.  Why today?

Well, three years ago we started our new life on the road filled with many adventures, new friends, and interesting places to visit.  It is hard to pick out one favorite place because each one is unique in its own way.  There have been no regrets in selling our sticks & bricks house.  Look at all the things we would have missed if we had stayed in Albuquerque working 40 hour weeks with only a 2-week vacation.

Ready to start our adventure on the road.

 We would never have been able to see our granddaughters or our daughter as often.  We have seen both granddaughters do a lot of growing up in the last three years into well-mannered young ladies.

 

And some of our family has been able to visit us in our different locations.

Our son, Shaun visiting us in Patagonia

 Sandy's brother Jay visiting us in Key West 

Dan's sister and her husband visited us in Patagonia, but we never got around to taking any photos.  We'll have to make up for that next time.

Then there's many adventures we would have missed.  We would never have been held up by the Burro Gang in Custer's State Park in SD.

Give us all your apples!

 We never had views like this from our home....

South Dakota

Key West, FL

Florida

Arizona

Some places are filled with friendly people....

Saguaro Skp Co-op, Benson, AZ

 Other places are a lot less populated...

Patagonia-Sonoita Creek Preserve

We never would have kayaked in the Florida Keys...

 or have seen the Arches....well, maybe since we did live within traveling distance for a 2 week vacation....

Anyhow.....or climbed rock fins...

 or frozen our feet to see Crater Lake...

How can you beat views like this?

Northern California

Shenandoah National Park

So much more to see and do.  It will be a long time before we get tired of our lifestyle.  Happy Trails to all!

On To Georgia

We are now in Georgia.  Yep, we finally decided it was time to leave Florida and see some more of our beautiful country.  We spent some time at  Eagle Hammock RV Park, Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, SE corner of GA.  Wildfire smoke drifting in was getting thick, so we decided to move up the coast.  Our new home for this week is Holbrook Pond Campground,  Fort Stewart, not far from Savannah, GA.    The campground has a small number of spaces, but with large nicely wooded sites.

Castillo de San Marcos

Before we left Jacksonville, we toured around the oldest city, St. Augustine, FL.  We kept our visit short due to smoke and sweltering heat.  We started with a national park tour of a 335 year old Spanish fort called Castillo de San Marcos.  Afterwards, we strolled down the streets of the old town.  We checked out a couple of stores and restaurants along the way.  We could not resist stopping at an Italian Pizza place after seeing the huge pizzas sitting in the window.  When we made our order for one slice each, our server wanted to know if we wanted a second slice.  Hmmm, we looked at the first slice that took up our whole paper plates…..that was a definite “no thank you!”

Bridge of Lions

We finished our walk at the Bridge of Lions which is a Mediterranean-style bascule draw bridge.  This bridge has an interesting story.   At one point, there were plans to demolish the 1927 bridge and replace it with a new contemporary style.  Others wanted the original bridge restored.  Finally, there was a compromise between those wanting to preserve history and safety.  Restoration took around 5 years.  In the meantime, the lions where taken away for safe keeping.  This caused some alarm with locals worrying their Lions were gone for good.  After assuring everyone that they were safe, this website did a “Where are the Lions?”  People could send in sightings of the Lions around the world.  Check out their fun website:  The Bridge of Lions.  

Photo Album

Sandy decided to open a small Quilt Shop on Etsy.com.  She is hoping people will check out her whimsical quilts and spread the word that she is open for business!