June 30 - Key West

Start Mileage - Stayed here

I woke up this morning in the king-sized bed just as close to the edge as I do in the van. Bob is definitely a cuddler (otherwise known as bedhog).

We unpacked the bicycles for a jaunt about the city. Wandered about the back streets looking at yards and homes. If we stopped, we sweltered. Had to keep moving. We may have covered 5 miles before the lure of the pool drew us back to the motel.

We spent a while at the pool, watched TV for a while, and then took off for a snorkeling trip on a catamaran. This turned out to be quite disappointing. The boat ride was nice, but the reef was mostly dead, and there were only a few fish. But then after our week in Belize last year, most places would have been a lesser experience.

Bob and I were first in the water. We had just gotten to an area quite far from the boat, but where we were starting to see neat fish and they called us back. Got to have all their chicks close at hand. We didn't stay in too long, but went back on board and watched. A lot of first-timers…floating with BC vests on and seat mats. Blue seat mats bobbing in the sea all clustered together.

Dinner, however, was great. We went to Crabby Dick's, got an upstairs, open-air table over the main street, and gorged. We got a nice cold vodka martini and dozen steamed oysters as an appetizer. They serve them with horseradish here, and they are quite good that way. Deb got wahoo, which is not only a good cheer, it's also a great fish. Deb's was most delicious. I got Dick's Special which was snow, king, and dungeness crab. I was stuffed. There was enough crab for two people, and it was all excellent. The beautiful blonde with hooters the size of cantaloupes at the next table was quite a meal enhancer, and provided the catalyst for some intellectual conversation and observations at our table.

Many of our readers have commented on "our eating our way across America". Yes, we have been finding some fine establishments. Periodically we discuss finances and vow to cook at home more. Let's see what this week brings. But we want to try the local cuisine everywhere. It's our job and part of our search for a new home.

Besides, food is basic to good nutrition. I try to eat a lot every day so I won't lose any nutrition.

Just tonight I discovered that you can butter your bread very quickly by dipping it into the clarified butter they bring you for your crab. This is much faster than trying to scrape it out of those little plastic containers with the peel-off tops they give you with the bread.

I think it might be a good idea if I included more good nutrition tips here in the journal so those of you reading it can benefit further as a result of our travels.

It began raining during dinner so we walked home in the warm rain.

Warm rain. I have not experienced this before. Seems like we'll be seeing a bunch of it. Watch the weather channel to find out where to go next. Summer floods and thunderstorms surround us. Where are we going to go next?

July 1 - Key West, Florida

Start Mileage - 43994

We packed up and left Key West at about 10:00AM. The drive back up the keys was uneventful.

Uneventful!!! Bob actually discarded a DQ milkshake today. How did the counter help ruin a vanilla shake? Normally he sucks and slurps till the end. And,yes, he has one almost every day (or at least every day we pass by a Dairy Queen).

Looks like it's time for another nutrition tip. Dairy is very important. Before microwaves were invented it used to be one of the basic food groups which as we all know are now:

Canned, Fast, Frozen, Chocolate, and Beer. They used to be grain, meat, dairy, and stuff like that. However, I digress…. Dairy is still good to have in your diet. That's why every day I try to consume at least one large dairy portion. The outfit to which Deb was referring, Dairy Queen, has a machine which will partially pre-digest the dairy substance by mixing it up vigorously in special machines they have. They will even add custom flavors for no additional cost if you don't enjoy consuming one of the default flavors.

The weather was cloudy and rainy most of the day. I wanted to visit Ft. Lauderdale, and we got there about 3:00PM. The weather was kind of bad, we got there late, and I was disappointed that I couldn't see more of the town. I remembered it as being very pretty with many beautiful canals and houses. Oh well…. We continued back up A1A and finally stopped at a trailer park in Lake Worth, wherever that is.

We are hurrying because we want to be off the road for the Fourth. Tomorrow we zip back to my friend Howdy's house where we will spend the holiday.

I hear from the locals that the weather pattern is exceptionally abnormal this last couple of weeks here in Florida. They had a drought the first five months of the year and now they are 70% above normal…all in the time we have been here. I have been having bad thoughts of Florida in the summer, but maybe I will reconsider my attitude.

I told Bob today I would not move here….but he really likes the water and the boats and the ocean. Well, we'll see. There is a lot more of this country to explore. Quote of the day from a local--"Do not buy land in Florida until you have stood on it during a high tide in the summer." Another tidbit…don't buy land with mangroves on it.

I also am partial to places the surfaces of which do not require the shoveling of snow.

July 2 - Lake Worth, Florida

Start Mileage - 44234

It is flat in central Florida. Sugar cane and cow pastures as we crossed the Florida Cracker Trail. Water logged fields and streams overflowing their backs.

I am driving white-knuckled at times as we head into squalls with opaque curtains of water obliterating the road. The road does not turn (or hasn't for 5 miles), so I hope it doesn't turn in the next few minutes. I can't pull over since there is no shoulder and the sides of the road are saturated and waterlogged. And I can’t stop because the cars in back of me wouldn't see me. And Bob sitting with arms crossed beside me says, "I hope it doesn't start to rain hard!".

Deb is not used to rain in the east. She's used to no-lightning, no-thunder, mild rainstorms like they have in Santa Cruz. So here she is in Florida, the Lightning Capital of America driving through a "regular" rainstorm and fretting. Debbie, Debbie, Debbie….

We made it back to Howdys where he greeted us with a BBQ shrimp dinner. For a bachelor, that lad can cook.

You should have seen Deb when a bolt of lightning struck a few blocks away. I had no idea people could cling to a ceiling like that.

I noticed that, except for Deb, he seemed to be living my life for me - Great house with a boat and dock, dog, banana, avocado, and mango trees in the yard, dolphins in the canal in his back yard, parrots flying into the trees…. I could get used to this.

July 3 Madeira Beach at Howdy's

After the storms of yesterday afternoon, it was glorious to wake up to a shiny, blue day. We all popped onto our bicycles for a ride about Madeira Beach, Treasure Island and Remington Beach before the weather could change its mind. Hot and muggy, but as long as the wind persisted we were able to really enjoy this ride. Yes, it is flat. It is flat everywhere in Florida.

Then Howdy and I took the boat to a sheltered canal/cove anchored and dove in to cool down. Bliss! Floating without a care. Sadie, his dog, so much wanted to jump in with us, but we couldn't have lifted her back up, so she had to settle for barking and watching us flounder about.

And why didn't Bob go you ask? They made me stay home and work on the web page. Now that we had a 56K connection, I had to do all the work.

Then dinner. Once again we went out to a wonderful dinner. Bob had his lobster; I tried a new fish, cobia.

This was a great dinner! We didn't have reservations, but Howdy had been there enough times that they squeezed us in. This will be a for-sure entry into our book "A Culinary Tour of the USA" that we appear to be writing. We have not been slacking in the food department. Also, our search for the perfect vodka martini is in progress in a most serious manner.

Another nutrition tip…. It's good to have a variety of foods so you can be assured of getting all the vitamins and minerals needed to sustain life. So when you are faced with a decision like, "Golly! Should I have a hamburger with the usual vitamins and minerals, or should I have a whole Maine lobster stuffed with crab and shrimp which may contain vitamins and minerals unique to this particular food which is ridiculously expensive the cost of which could feed a family of four for two months?" The answer is obvious. You have only one life. Protect it.

Get the lobster. I did.

Howdy and I went to the Devil Ray's game. A minor league ball team here in town. Sheets of water as we drove to the game, but since tickets were only $3 and included fireworks, we decided to go in and wait for the game to restart.

And why don't you see Bobs name up there at the baseball game? Guess who was made to stay home and work on the web page? I never get to have any fun. Work, work, work… Why do I have to do all the work?

Those of you who know Bob understand that I do not have to respond to the above question.

Families with kids and grandparents all sat and squirmed excitedly in the stadium. Everyone was crowded in the upper section under the rain protection. Waiting for the game…no waiting for the fireworks. Finally they called the game off and started the fireworks.

What a display! Solid sound and color blasting forth from center field. The sound reverberated through the stadium and echoed back toward us. It was grand. They always had multiple rockets blasting in the sky and music of America playing as a backdrop. The sound reverberated in my stomach and we were both giggling and laughing.

Sob…. I love fireworks. I didn't get to giggle. I didn't get to laugh. What about my wants? What about my needs? Why do I have to do the work?

July 4 at Howdy's still

More work for Bob today… Howdy and I went out to do errands while Deb slept in and ate bon-bons with a Cabana Boy named Armando. I don’t mind the bon-bons, but the nude massage and "therapy" sessions may be a bit too much. Who hired this guy anyway?

I finally got to trim, varnish, and stain my stick. It's beginning to look pretty good. I'm going to put a rubber cane tip in the bottom, some sort of leather handle, and I need and idea for something to put on top. Maybe a compass? I need ideas.

Howdy and I did some errands in the AM. We got some supplies and then went to the fireworks store. As Howdy says, "No safe and sane fireworks for us. We're going to get the unsafe and insane ones." We did. The store was packed. It looked like a Price Club for Fireworks. Stuff was spilling out of boxes and into the aisles. It's the only place I've been in lately where nobody smoked. Howdy got some good stuff.

We went to a street festival in Gulfport in the afternoon. This was quite an adventure. There must have been four or five booths, three bars, and five or six attractions. Very low key. We left after a short while.

I have discovered the joys of a Pina Colada in a Tiki Bar. So next we went to a great restaurant and bar on one of the waterways next to a drawbridge. Guess what? TIKI BAR!!! We ordered the appropriate drinks and sat on the deck and watched the boats ride by. Did I ever mention that I could get used to this? We also watched the brown-breasted Floridians in their native dress. The females are especially attractive. Due to the heat and humidity, most of them are scantily clad and seem prone to display their attributes in some sort of repressed mating ritual. Quite fascinating.

We did that until the rain drove us inside where we had dinner.

We got back to the house where Howdy's dog, Sadie, was not happy. She hates loud noises. People were setting them off at regular intervals, and she was quite nervous. We gave her some loving and reassurance and set out on the boat to watch the local display from the water.

BIG FUN! For a small town they had a great display. It went on for quite a while. Even riding the boat through the canals was fun. People all along the shore were shooting off all kinds of stuff. It was fun to watch from the boat in the dark. I was a bit disturbed that some of them might start using us as a target, but it didn't happen.

We got back to Howdy's, reassured Sadie some more, and then set off the stuff Howdy had bought earlier in the day. It's always much more fun when you get to light the fuse. Why is that? Deb wanted nothing to do with it. Must be one of those "guy things." And let me tell you! Until you've seen Howdy's Festival Balls, your life in not complete. We shot off six festival balls, a bunch of rockets, and a string of 1,000 firecrackers, which made quite a mound of confetti in the street. We shot off the rockets and festival balls over the canal in back. Both the rockets and festival balls explode in the air so it was quite an adventure. AND we got to light the fuse.

Bob and Dave are out on the dock giggling like little boys as they shoot off the various fireworks they purchased this morning. Sadie, his dog, is crouched at my feet under the desk. We left her this evening earlier while we boated out to watch the city's fireworks display. In a circle around us on the horizon we could see other cities shooting off their rockets, but you couldn't hear them. Also flashes of lightening on the horizon. What was left of an earlier storm cell that had already crossed over us. So poor Sadie, in addition to it being the Fourth in a town with many bottle rockets, she had to deal with today's earlier storm.

July 5 Madeira Beach still

First a hot and humid walk with Sadie to the corner store. (9 AM)

We can't leave here yet. Howdy has filets marinating for dinner. We can't disappoint him by leaving for the rest of our journey.

So we went on a boat ride north up the Intercoastal Canal.

Howdy has been making sure Bob sees all the joys of homeowning on a canal in a semitropical region. Since it is the "holiday" people are out sunning, fishing and they must have all been paid to wave at us as we floated by. I keep making them stop the boat, so I can jump overboard. I'm hot here.

It is hot. I can't argue with that. That's why many of the natives and visitors have such lovely boats. For example, today as we were riding by one of the houses I noticed that a slender young blonde with large perkies wearing a skimpy electric blue bathing suit had a most magnificent butt… er, I mean boat. Howdy and I wanted to stop and look at it, but Deb stated most emphatically that we should not intrude on her privacy.

Naturally, while on our ride, we had to stop for lunch. Guess what! We tied up to a canalside dock, and I'll be darned if the place didn't have a tiki bar! Not only that, but they had pina coladas and fried food! Well! There were three happy campers at that restaurant. They had a particularly good appetizer. A butterflied shrimp deep fried (what else?) with some jack cheese and a horseradish dipping sauce. We got two orders.

I may have to buy new pants soon. The constant washing and drying of our clothes has caused mine to shrink.

Dinner was quite a treat after the boat ride. We went out and replenished our martini supplies and had a nice, cold martini before dinner. Howdy made us grilled bacon-wrapped filets with broccoli and cauliflower. After dinner we finally talked Deb into joining us for a small dessert.

Since it was 10:30 already we had trouble finding an open dessert place, so we just went to a local restaurant and ordered only dessert. Deb continued her search for the perfect key lime pie, Howdy had some sort of spiced apple thingy, and I, in my continuing concern with good nutrition, celebrated a gooey chocolate brownie topped with two large scoops of ice-cream, whipped cream, and chocolate sauce. It was quite good and scored very high on the nutrition scale since it contained dairy, sugar, carbos, vitamins, and minerals.

July 6 Leaving Madeira Beach

Start mileage - 44492

We finally left Madiera Beach after another wonderful four days with Howdy. We repacked the van and headed north to visit my cousin, Karen, in Winter Park near Orlando. On the way we stopped at Bob White Airfield outside of Zellwood to visit Pete and Kerry, old friends of Deb and Howdy. They own the airfield. I have never before met anyone who owns an airfield. We had a short visit and then continued on to Winter Park.

We got to Karen's before she got home so we fired up the generator, turned on the AC and had a martini in her driveway.

I have nothing much to add. The countryside in this part of Florida is slightly hilly. I mean Mt. Dora is actually an elevation of 184 feet. Another tourist town…which we are.

Karen has dinner in the oven, so we stay in tonight. Yeah!!