Across the Country and Back - Pt 2

When I take a long trip like this one was I try to make notes throughout the trip because I know that if it wasn't for notes and pictures I wouldn't remember a lot of things that I saw, did or thought while traveling. One note I made myself when I was in Cocoa Beach was relevant throughout the entire trip: "Remember - Other people may not be on vacation". That was just a reminder to be flexible with my plans because they often had to change on the fly.

On the way to visit my sister, Carol I had most of the day to kill. The family in Florida was back at school and work and Carol was working that say so I just checked the map and decided to visit places along the way. The first was a State Forest that showed there was a "headquarters" where I thought I might get information. Unfortunately my GPS took me literally into the forest where I wound up on a logging road and decided to find someplace else to visit. I went to Dade Battlefield State Park where a battle took place during the Seminole Wars. There wasn't a lot to see but it was still worth the stop.

Before leaving I found another park that wasn't out of the way and decided to make another stop. I was hoping since I had just left one state park that my entry fee would cover the second one as well. Nope! The government is going to get their money. I'm still glad I stopped it was a nice quiet, pretty natural area.

I still had some time to kill so I did what I usually try to do and looked for a used book store near Carol's and I found one that the woman had owned for over 30 years. I had a nice visit with her and of course bought some book. Then I ran a couple of errands and went to Carol's. The irony was that while I was killing all of this time she had decided to get off work early and was at the laundromat. I drove there and we visited while waiting for the laundry to finish. We ate a really good Mexican restaurant that night.

We spent the next day working to get a start on helping Carol clean out a storage shed so that she could downsize. We had a really good BBQ lunch that included fried appetizers including my favorite, okra and then went back to the house to hang out with Jack and get a picture of Flat Stanley with Carol before I headed out on the next leg of my trip the nest day.

My next stay was going to be in Ft. White, Florida with Fred and Leah at their cabin on the river. Because they weren't going to be there until late afternoon and because Carol had to go back to work I had the luxury of another day to just drift north, stopping where and when I wanted. I first drove over to Tarpon Springs where there is a huge Greek influence. The area is famous for sponge divers.

My next stop was near Weeki Wachee where I saw a place that I could mail Flat Stanley home. I had already packaged him with a U.S. map and his post cards from the trip. The best thing though was that the mail facility was also a really nice used book store and it was attached to a restaurant where I was able to get a country fried steak breakfast and good coffee.

The rest of the trip to ft. White I spent stopping at whatever looked interesting. I stopped at Fort Island and then at the Suwanee National Wildlife Refuge. The funny thing is that other than birds and a crab I didn't see any wildlife but as soon as I got back on the main road I stopped to move a turtle from the road and almost ran over a coral snake. I've learned to always be aware because you never know where the wildlife might make an appearance.

Next stop would be in Ft. White to meet Fred and Leah for dinner before we drove out to the river. 

Across the Country and Back - Pt 1

I'm doing this post in a different way in the sense that I'm going to do some writing before I even download my pictures that I will eventually use with the next few posts. I received permission to get off my crutches on Monday, April 4th and hit the road on Wednesday, April 6th. My plan was to eventually get to Cocoa Beach, Florida without deciding where I was going day-to-day until I stopped for the night. It worked out well and although a couple of days were long, none were to long.
While I am calling this a "solitary" trip I did have a travel companion from California to Florida, my nephew Robbie's daughter Sage's, Flat Stanley so he will show up in some of my blog pictures.

The first day I drove to Blythe, California on the Colorado River. I took a side trip through Joshua Tree National Park and saw some beautiful desert blooms. One advantage to traveling through the desert this time of year is that there is so much blooming. I left really early the next day and the plan was to go to Van Horn, Texas for the night, driving through both Arizona and New Mexico with only occasional stops. I took a side trip to visit Saguaro National Forest and again saw some great blooming cactus.

It took me all of the 3rd day to drive across most of Texas and I stopped at Baytown, Texas. My hotel was right across the street from a Chili's so I treated myself to Happy Hour. The wildflowers in the median and along the sides of the interstate were incredible. I couldn't take pictures because there was really nowhere to pull over and take them. The only pictures that I did take while on the interstate were the pictures of the stopped traffic, traffic jams that I found myself in because of accidents compounded by construction even on the frontage roads. The interstate was completely closed just east of El Paso on Thursday. Then again on Friday outside Boerne, Texas where it took me an hour to go 6 miles and finally on Saturday just before crossing the Mississippi River there was another stop and go drive for several miles. Despite all of that it was a good drive.

On Friday night I stopped in Pensacola, Florida and then finished driving to Cocoa Beach on Saturday. Saturday night we all went to dinner on the Island. It was a good time and I finally met my youngest grandchild.

I had it if I needed it!

I packed way more than I needed for the trip but that's one luxury of traveling along and driving. I had the room and no one else had to worry about keeping up with my stuff. Because I was able to do my laundry three times during the trip I probably actually used about a third of the clothes that I brought. I did drink that whole case of water.

As I mentioned above the trip to Cocoa Beach was pretty uneventful except for the few traffic incidents and that really was a blessing because the weather had been horrible in front of me and was even worse behind me. While I didn't spend a lot of time at either Joshua Tree or Saguaro National Parks I enjoyed driving through and seeing them.

Spring is definitely the best time to drive through the desert to see it in bloom.

I took pictures of the traffic jams but I figure if you've seen one you've seen them all and a picture doesn't show time, the biggest loss in a traffic jam. I stopped at various locations in New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi to take pictures with Flat Stanley and bought him postcards from each state because I would be sending him home when I got to Florida.

Donovan Richard Paulo

A major reason for this trip was to meet this young man, my 11th grandchild. Donovan was born in December and I had hoped to visit sooner before the knee surgery came up. It was fun getting to meet him and visit with Jeff and his family for a few days while I stayed in Cocoa Beach. 

We ate at the Island which isn't far from their house and I decided to have fish tacos because I think I've only eaten them once anywhere but Florida. These were different than what I usually have they were basically just a whole fish filet with a tortilla wrapped around it.

No trip to Cocoa Beach would be complete for me without visiting the Cocoa Beach Pier to see Clarence and my favorite bar tender Eryn. We met her down there about three years ago and enjoy visiting when we get there. The first morning that I went there she wasn't working but they told me her schedule and I went back for breakfast the next morning. The only thing missing was Clarence so we made sure to send him a picture.

One night while I was in Merritt Island we had pizza and Kristen brought my great grand daughter Kaelyn and her brother Bubba. It was good seeing them while I was there. While there is a lot to see and do in south Florida my main reason for visiting is to see family.

It was a good visit for a few days but then it was time to move on and head across the state to see my sister Carol.