Typical Day on the Road
January 2008
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Jan. 1
We're still in Orlando FL., where we spent most of December. Zephyr started the year out right by making another trip to Universal Orlando -- with notebook in hand so he could make notes about the attendance of various rides. Isn't that why everyone goes to a theme park? Meanwhile, Mom and Dad took care of office business at the local Panera. Hey, did you think it was a holiday or something?
Jan. 2
First thing this morning, we tried out the brand new YMCA in Dr. Phillips (yes, that's the name of the town), which is on the edge of Orlando. Kimberly took FOUR consecutive classes. After that, we took our well-toned bodies to the nearby library to do some work with our computers.
Jan. 3
Zephyr made another pilgrimage to Universal, while Mom and Dad took care of business. We're finally experiencing some real winter in Florida, thanks to a cold front that was suddenly blown in by strong winds a couple of nights ago.
Jan. 4
Up bright and early and back to Classic Chevrolet in Altamonte Springs, where we camped out in the waiting room all morning with our laptops. We even brought breakfast in with us. Hey, we're at home wherever we go.
Having stumbled, finally, upon a place to get the oil changed as well, we've just about brought our house on wheels up to snuff for the time being.
Jan. 5
Picked up mail in Kissimmee at what may be the busiest post office in the whole world. Zephyr received some authentic human hair wig and whisker attachments for an even more realistic Jack Sparrow costume, and he was ecstatic about that. Dennis received the most recent disc from Echolocations (formerly called InRadio before they moved from Minneapolis to Portland) which he was afraid he'd miss because he unknowingly let his subscription expire, and he was ecstatic about that. Kimberly, however, wasn't terribly ecstatic about the bills she received.
We then drove into Orlando to the FedEx headquarters to pick up a package, a shipment of suspension spring helpers to install on our RV.
Ever since we've had this vehicle, which has been about a year and a half, we've had a problem with its sagging butt, which scrapes whenever we drive into or out of a driveway having a grade any steeper than a pillow. (There are triangular metal braces underneath to protect the vehicle itself from damage, but even so the scraping is annoying.) We tried replacing the shocks, but that didn't help. We bought some suspension helpers from a parts store, but they turned out to be too small. So finally the only option was to order parts from J.C. Whitney, the Chicago-based mega-supplier of hard-to-find parts. Trouble is, until now we haven't been in one spot long enough to place such an order. But finally we did, paying by credit card, and asked to have the shipment sent to General Delivery in Kissimmee. But when we got a confirmation email, it had the shipping address listed as our mailing address in California, which would have meant that we'd have to pay shipping again to have these heavy items forwarded to us somewhere else on the road. So Dennis contacted Whitney, and they agreed to change the shipping address; but then we got a notice that the product had been shipped -- but they sent it by FedEx instead of by mail, as their web site said they would. This was a major problem, because we were certain the post office would not accept a FedEx shipment. So we contacted FedEx, and this morning they called us back and said we could pick up the package at their office. Phew!! Now we have to make an appointment to head back to Classic Chevrolet to have the parts installed.
Jan. 6
Merry Christmas to those who celebrate it today! We celebrated with yet another office session at Panera, at a shopping center called The Loop. It may be the last Panera we see for a few days, because we're getting ready to head south for some performances, and we're going to be in some relatively small towns.
Zephyr found a set of keys to a Honda in the parking lot, and went around clicking the buttons at every Honda he saw, but there was no response. Attached to the keys were membership cards in two organizations, so Dennis got online and looked them up, sending an email to one and making a phone call to the other. He provided the membership numbers on the cards, hoping these organizatons could look up the member and get in touch with her (the evidence strongly suggests the keys belong to a woman, and we're not going to make any stereotypical jokes here). But no luck as yet.
Jan. 7
We pulled into a campground in Sebring (not far from Tampa), which is en route to our next performance. We'd hoped our first item of business upon checking in would be to dump the waste tank, which is almost at capacity. But we discovered that the drain is too small for our hose, and will work only with an attachment that we don't have. So Dennis had to get on his bike and ride to an RV supply store about a mile down the road to buy it, spending almost as much as we paid for the campsite itself.
Kimberly promptly dug her sewing machine out of the trailer and began fashioning new curtains -- she's been dissatisfied with the ones we have now ever since she made them shortly after we acquired the RV.
Jan. 8
Spent the first half of the day at the RV park in Sebring, evidently a retirement haven. In the morning, you can see the ladies having an exercise class in the pool; there are men playing shuffleboard in the afternoon; and in the evening there are bingo games for everyone. In between, you can see folks riding around on bicycles, or just strolling and stopping to chat with neighbors. We hope we're this spry when we're retired -- especially since we probably won't be able to retire until we're in our eighties and/or nineties.
Checked out of the campground and headed toward our next show. Along the way, we passed a couple of signs with pictures of bears on them, which seemed to suggest that these critters inhabit this area, but that seemed rather unlikely. They just didn't seem to go with orange trees somehow. But Kimberly posted to Twitter about it, and someone familiar with the territory soon replied that yes indeed, the bears do roam hereabouts.
Shortly thereafter, a piece of rubber trim on the outside of the RV began to flap loose, thanks to a screw having come out a few days ago. So we pulled over on the shoulder and Dennis got out to replace the screw, apply adhesive, etc. -- all the while keeping an eye out for any ursine assistants that might happen along to volunteer their services.
Spent the night near Fort Myers.
Jan. 9
Spent some time in the local library, getting online with our laptops. Zephyr is the latest member of the family to have computer crisis; his appears to have just about given up the ghost.
We got word of a horrendous pileup on Interstate 4, between Orlando and Tampa, involving about 70 vehicles and killing at least 4. Yikes.
And speaking of horrendous messes, we're also hearing about the presidential primaries, as anyone who isn't vacationing on the moon can't help doing. Can it really be that time already? Seems that the campaigning never stops these days. And thus we can look forward in the days ahead to in-depth analyses of the candidates' hairstyles, clothing and gesticulations -- although thus far the number one issue on which journalists seem obsessed is Hillary's "cackle". Well hey, we can't expect anything remotely resembling fairness and balance from the media. But would just a modicum of maturity be too much to ask? Instead, we get ABC deeming it newsworthy to post photoshopped images of Clinton dressed as a man and Edwards dressed as a woman; and we get rampant speculation that Edwards and Clinton and even Giuliani are gay and that Obama is a Muslim; and we get resurrected accusations about Whitewater and other faux "scandals" that were soundly debunked ages ago. Meanwhile, our men and women in uniform are still dying in Iraq, and we're all still paying over three bucks a gallon for gas, and climate change isn't about to just go away. End of sermon for today.
Jan. 10
Returned to Alva Middle School in Alva (yes, the town borrowed Thomas Edison's middle name) to perform for (as we recall) the fourth time. We again presented "Shakespeare Shazam", which we debuted here last year -- but since we were performing only for the 6th grade, our student audience was totally different. Zephyr plays his electric guitar at the beginning of the show (yes, in a Shakespeare production -- it makes perfect sense if you've seen it), but today when he plugged it in, it was even more kaput than his computer. So he made do with a much smaller model that just clips onto your belt -- it was the first amp he bought, before he invested in the real empire-smashing artillery. And the show went on, and went on quite well, thank you.
Afterward, we drove to Stuart, on the eastern side of the state, which will be the site of tomorrow's shows. En route, the strip of trim on the outside of the vehicle again started to come loose, and we again pulled over to reattach it.
Along the way, we stopped at a Guitar Center to look at new amps, but Zephyr decided he didn't really need a new one that badly -- he has a huge one stored in North Carolina. So onward we went.
Jan. 11
Two early morning performances at a school in Stuart -- 8:15 and 9:15 (Hey, do you realize 8:15 is 5:15 in California? Reminds us of our first year on the road, when we had to switch from West Coast to East Coast time very quickly.) On top of that, we did our Shakespeare show, which requires a lengthy setup, and we were performing it for elementary students, including kindergarten, which can be a real challenge. And, as if the situation wasn't challenging enough, there were several miscommunications between the person who booked us (who was not there) and the administration, and we of course bore the brunt of it. But everything got ironed out, and the performances went swimmingly, and even the kindergarteners enjoyed The Bard.
Drove through Miami to Miami Lakes, site of tomorrow's performance.
Jan. 12
Today we performed at the Miami Lakes Library, again doing "Shakespeare Shazam". That's four consecutive performances of this production, clearly a record. It's a very well used library, with students sitting everywhere for tutoring sessions; we performed out by the stacks, since the community room is being used to set up balloting machines. We were concerned about having an audience, since it can be difficult to pull people into a library to see Shakespeare (go figure), but the place was packed. And we were concerned about a language barrier, since many residents of the neighborhood were Hispanic; but the audience responded extremely enthusiastically, across the age spectrum. We also were concerned about getting enough kid volunteers to perform parts -- and they're crucial in this particular production. But there were more eager beavers than we could use -- we had to turn down a few of them, much to their protests. But the volunteers we did have (chosen by the librarian, not us) did a fantastic job. One of them was the daughter of the mayor, who was in attendance. He seemed to get a kick out of (or at least didn't mind) the gag in the show poking fun at politicians.
Afterward, we drove back toward Orlando, having to wait out a huge thunderstorm. When the rain had abated, Zephyr was in the parking lot (of Home Depot) talking on the phone and reading out of a book to someone. A policeman came by to investigate him, saying "we don't usually see people in this parking lot reading books". But apparently he was not in violation of any code.
Jan. 13
Back in dear ole Orlando. Zephyr found a very good deal on a laptop at Best Buy, so he snatched it up rather than pay nearly the same amount to repair the one he's got. It entailed standing in line for about an hour, as soon as the doors opened at 11:00 a.m., because it was the first day of the sale and everyone else in town wanted a new computer too.
After a stop at a JoAnn's fabric store so Kimberly could buy some more material for the drapes, we headed to the airport to pick up Zephyr's friend Cassia (KAY-sha), who flew in from Massachusetts to spend a week with us. We then went shopping at Publix, getting enough food (two carts full) to last 4 people for a week rather than 3 people for 4 or 5 days. Not to worry, Cassia eats only cucumbers and carrots, it seems.
We then found a laundromat (and not a very friendly one -- one man descended upon us as soon as we pulled in to ascertain that we were parking there for the purpose of doing laundry, and once we were inside, a woman dictated what machines we could and couldn't use, and hovered closely the whole time) to wash up the bedding for our house guest.
To close out the evening, an hour or so at Panera to take advantage of the only Internet access we may have for the next few days -- we got plans!
Jan. 14
Dropped Zephyr and Cassia off at Disney World (specifically Animal Kingdom), while D & K went to check in at Fort Wilderness campground. We were able to complete the checkout process upon arrival, but our campsite was not ready until about 1:00, so we had to spend a few hours waiting in the overflow lot. D took advantage of the lull to get in a bike ride around Disney property, while K pulled out the fabric and began cutting it in preparation for resuming work on the new drapes.
Finally, we moved into our home for the next 5 days, and out came the sewing machine, laptops, and other assorted gear.
In the evening, we took a break to attend one of the nightly campfire activity sessions, which included a marshmallow roast, an appearance by Chip 'n' Dale, and an outdoor screening of "The Parent Trap" (not the old one with Hayley Mills, but the remake with a very impressive debut by Lindsay Lohan), which we found to be tremendous harmless fun despite its many flaws in logic. The weather has turned rather nippy for a change, but that didn't deter us.
Jan. 15
Zephyr and Cassia again were up relatively bright and early, and headed off to spend the day at Epcot. D and K remained at home, enjoying the peace and quiet to get more work done. In the evening, Kimberly again went to the campfire session to meet up with some other families (SIX clans total) from FOTR (Families on the Road), the online group for RVers that is having a gathering next weekend at Port Canaveral. The outdoor movie tonight was "Hunchback of Notre Dame" -- not the silent classic with Lon Chaney, of course, but the somewhat forgettable Disney animated musical of a few years back.
Jan. 16
The youngsters took a break today from their frantic schedule of testing out all the Disney parks. And speaking of testing out, it appears that we are guinea pigs of a sort for wi-fi service at Fort Wilderness. You have to pay $9.95 per day to get your laptop online here, and we asked if we'd be able to get all three laptops onto the same account, without paying three times. And they told us that...well, they weren't really sure, because no one had ever used more than one computer on the same account before!!! Well, it's not surprising that most folks only bring one computer along, if any, because most folks are here taking care of something known as a...um, er, what was that word? Oh yes, vacation, whatever that means. Still, it's hard to believe this situation has never come up before. In any case, the personnel displayed the usual extra mile of service and assured us that if the system charged us more than once, they would adjust our account.
With Cassia as our guest star, we recorded our 70th podcast, which went quite well with an extra person to bounce off of and improvise with.
Tonight's campfire flick was "Flubber". Not the original, but the remake, and we're beginning to wonder if there's a pattern concealed somewhere in the selection process.
Zephyr and Cassia went out for the evening -- to Downtown Disney, where they had dinner at Wolfgang Puck's. Yes, that is a bit elegant, and they dressed to the nines in their chic-est black outfits, with plenty of eye shadow to go around.
Meanwhile Dennis, having finished editing the podcast fairly late in the evening, took his laptop up to the wi-fi station at the campground entrance, but for some reason had difficulty getting online. After about half an hour of trying it on his own and with the help of personnel at the check-in desk, he called tech support and finally was given a code to bypass the whole system.
Jan 17
Kimberly was at her sewing machine all day, doing the equivalent workload of all seven dwarfs. Zephyr and Cassia were off to Magic Kingdom to rub elbows with Mickey and Minnie. And Dennis took care of (among other assorted tasks) some patchwork on the trailer, repairing a gouge left several months ago by we-don't-know-what. He also managed to work in an afternoon swim, as the weather was finally warm enough despite the heavy rain last night and the intermittent rain today. (The pools here are open 24 hours, which is something you won't see often.)
Tonight's cinematic offering under the stars (which really can't be seen) was "Toy Story 2", the original and only version of a sequel to the original film. But we didn't go.
Jan. 18
Zephyr and Cassia headed out to Disney Hollywood (formerly Disney MGM) while Mom and Dad stayed at home and took care of business. Kimberly more or less finished the new drapes. We got tired of the uniform tan we've had since we bought the vehicle, so a couple of weeks ago we visited a fabric shop and bought some material to fashion new ones, deciding there was no reason they all should match. For the window next to his seat, Zephyr selected a red and black background over which we can (later) impose a skull-and-crossbones. Dennis was pondering possible designs for the window next to him, but he spotted one in the store he couldn't possibly improve on: it's a folktale/fantasy motif with castles and fantastical creatures that seemed just the ticket. And now these new adornments are in place, and we just have to make some adjustments, and wait for the arrival of the jolly roger.
Tonight, D and K returned to the campfire cinema, where we met up with some other RV families that Kimberly has met online (and one that we've met in person). The first feature was "Peter Pan" (no, not the remake, but the animated original) and it occurred to us that this story, if not this movie, must have provided a great deal of inspiration to Lemony Snicket: the Baudelaire orphans are rather similar to the Darling kids, particularly in the resemblance between Klaus and John; Count Olaf seems somewhat modeled after Captain Hook, as does the hook-handed man; and the alliterative names of some of the places in "Unfortunate Events" (e.g. Curdled Cave) recall some of the features of Neverland (e.g. Crocodile Creek). The second flick was "Freaky Friday" -- no, not the original but the remake, with Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan, a few years older than she was in "The Parent Trap". It was quite a laughfest.
Jan. 19
Today we exchanged one "daughter" for another.
After striking camp at Fort Wilderness, we drove out to do some errands before dropping Cassia at the airport to fly back to Massachusetts. Then it was a couple of hours' wait, and we picked up Ellie at the same airport, flying in from Buffalo for about a day and a half with us. A couple of years ago, she flew here to join us -- or more specifically to join Zephyr at Disney to celebrate her birthday. This year, her birthday (her 25th, but who's counting) was Wednesday, but she'll be able to celebrate it with her "little brother" belatedly. In the meantime, we had a thunderstorm that delayed both flights a bit -- what is it about Cassia and flying that seems to attract thunderstorms? By the way, since Cassia is so fond of cucumbers and carrots and other things that, like her name, begin with a "c", and since she spent much of her time with us searching for her missing Chapstick (which begins with the same letter), we gave her, just before her departure, a "Cassia care package" containing carrots, celery, cookies, cheese... and Chapstick.
Jan. 20
Zephyr and Ellie spent the day at Disney Hollywood Studios, while Mom and Dad spent the day biking around Disney property and riding the shuttle boats and monorail between the various theme parks and hotels -- a one-day vacation without spending a dime, except that we bought some birthday pastries to bring back for when Zephyr and Ellie return. But that turned out to be pretty late, because after the park closed at seven, they went to a movie and then dinner, both at Downtown Disney. We went there to pick them up and, along the way, a bottle of vegetable oil that had been inadvertently left on the sink tumbled off and burst, leaving a lovely mess to clean up off the floor (fortunately, it was just on the linoleum and not on the carpet). While we were doing that in the parking lot at Downtown Disney, the security person in the little watchtower began flashing the spotlight on us and -- apparently -- yelling something in our direction. But we saw nothing to be concerned about, so we went about our business. Then along came a guard on bicycle and informed us that we were blocking the tower guard's view of the front row, and we should move back a little. But before we could do that, Zephyr and Ellie came out, so we just left.
Jan. 21
Martin Luther King Day, which perhaps should be called Wilbur Mills Day. (He was the Arkansas congressman responsible for the law that moves all holidays to Monday.) And what did we do on this federal holiday? Work, of course. First, we dropped Ellie at the airport at 6:30 -- she tried to get a later flight, but the next one available wouldn't get her back to Buffalo in time to be at work at 1:00 -- then it was back to The Loop get online work done at Panera.
We experienced a first today: while in Panera, the place became extremely crowded, and the manager made an intercom announcement asking those of us with laptops who were not eating at the moment to vacate the tables so there would be a place for diners to sit. We had no problem complying with this, of course, (we had finished eating) and went out to the RV to have a little meeting to discuss the book we're writing about our years on the road. (Yes, for those of you have asked, we finally decided to do it!) Later, Zephyr went back into Panera to finish something he'd been working on, and to have a bagel and hot chocolate in the process. Meanwhile, Kimberly did some shopping at Michael's, and Zephyr also had bought something at Best Buy earlier.
But then came the other first -- not, by any means, the first time ever, but the first in this particular location. A security guard came by and said he'd received complaints from Panera, of all places, and from Shane's restaurant next door, and they didn't like it that we were taking up so many parking spaces, and wanted us to leave. (It's nothing new for us to be unwelcome -- it's a dead giveaway when they refer to the RV as a "camper" -- but we've been to The Loop many times before, including the day after Christmas when the place was a beehive, and there was always ample parking for us, and nobody complained.) It seems they were particularly concerned, he said, because we'd been there since 10:30. (We actually arrived about 7:00, but we thought it best not to correct him.) He even mentioned that he'd been about to issue us a "parking ticket" (from a security guard!!!), a new one on us. Kimberly informed him that our son was still inside Panera, and we had been shopping other places as well, and asked him where we should park. At first, he said there really was no place for us, but then he said that if we were really sure our son was inside Panera (yes, we assured him, we recognized our son when we saw him), then we could pull down a little farther, and park behind Michael's since no one ever parked there. And so we did.
Problem solved, right? Nope, he returned about half an hour later and said that we would have to get off the property right away. Kimberly asked him why, and he replied that people were still "complaining". At this point, Dennis became rather annoyed and went outside to eyeball him and let him know in no uncertain terms that we were there on legitimate business, and there was plenty of parking available, and we had patronized just about every business in the complex, and our money is as good as anyone else's, and if anyone objected to our presence, we'd be happy to take up the matter with the owners of the property. At this, the guard (who, we emphasize, was a very reasonable and congenial fellow caught in the middle of an unpleasant situation) said to forget about leaving, and he would just tell the complainers to cool it. And we weren't bothered again.
After finishing up there, we went to JoAnn's Fabrics, and next to it was a Sally's Beauty Supply. Dennis realized that this was the branch where the owner of the lost keys had purchased her membership -- the membership card attached to the keyring had a number on it, and when he contacted Sally's corporate headquarters in Texas, they were able to trace it to a specific store, though not a specific customer. Twice he's called this store to see if they can get in touch with this individual, but both times received what might qualify as the runaround. So tonight he took the keys into the store and asked if he could just leave them there, and they said yes. Phew! They're finally off our hands and we trust they'll soon find their way home.
Jan. 22
Zephyr had planned to return to Disney today, but decided against it. We all did more business at Panera (a different one this time) and had a workout at the YMCA, which we hadn't done in a while.
Jan. 23
Zephyr's last day at Disney, even though he was a bit under the weather. He went to his favorite of the parks, Hollywood Studios. Meanwhile, Kimberly had what she called a "do nothing" day, a great rarity for this workaholic, and Dennis worked on the book project for most of the day.
Merritt Island and vicinity: after shopping at a Publix for the weekend, we stopped at a costume shop we found listed on the GPS so Zephyr could buy some spirit gum to use with his Jack Sparrow costume. It was an odd little shop set back about 100 yards from the road on a dirt driveway, and it's apparently open all year, but only if you call and tell them you're coming. We did, and he accomplished his mission. We were not so successful at a nearby car wash, which had no functioning change machine, and was so filthy and overrun with garbage (with big boxes full of it even dumped in the driveway) that it didn't exactly invite us to stay.
Then we drove to Jetty Park at Port Canaveral and checked in for 3 nights. This will be the site of the third FOTR (Familes on the Road) rally, except that it wasn't really supposed to be, sort of. Kimberly had put a great deal of effort into planning and organizing the first two, in St. Augustine, FL and Wisconsin Dells, WI. But even though both events were fun, only 4 or 5 families attended each, even though many more had said they would. So she threw up her hands in exasperation and said she wasn't going to bother getting so involved in such an occasion anymore. But this year, it turned out that several FOTR families are going to be in the area at the same time as us, and an informal gathering just fell into place. Fine, she told everyone, but she's not going to organize an actual rally as such again. Yet more and more families added to the roster, even up to the last minute. At present count, there are at least 13 such families booked at the campground, with a possibility of 3 or 4 more, a total of at least 66 people (more like a hundred if you count pets, which many of them do). Perhaps the moral of the story is, if you want an event to really take off big time, just don't do any planning for it.
In late afternoon we had a potluck gathering at which MOST of the FOTR folks appeared (62 by our count), and everone was thrilled when two gargantuan cruise ships -- one from the Carnival line and one from Disney -- went out to sea, passing within about 1000 feet of us. And fortunately everyone had finished eating by the time the rain suddenly swept in.
Jan 25.
The second day of the informal FOTR gathering, which is not only the largest yet by far, but also consists of people who are actually on the road instead of just those who are thinking about going. The campground is not only next to the point of departure for cruise ships, but also next to the Cape Canaveral launch site. We'd hoped to see the shuttle liftoff while we're here -- it would be almost a ringside seat. And in fact, the campground originally was going to reject the group discount rate for us because the sites would be much in demand due to the launch. But it's been postponed yet again.
Zephyr donned his Jack Sparrow garb to conduct a treasure hunt with the kiddies, and he was a smash hit.
More FOTR pictures and memories
Jan. 26
First thing this morning, some of the FOTR group (including D & K) had a yoga session on the beach.
This afternoon, some of the group had a grand tour of everyone else's RVs. In the evening, we gathered an enormous group -- about 25 or so -- into one RV to help us record our 71st podcast. (air date 1/31)
Jan. 27
Began the process of checking out of the campground. Dennis saw the ocean rescue team running a drill, and thought at first it was a genuine emergency, but then he saw that the "body" on the board was really a dummy.
Several of us dropped in at Ron Jon's in Cocoa Beach, always a fun store to browse in. It's a surfer's supermarket, and it's open 24 hours, so if you get a yen to catch some waves at 3:00 a.m., this is where you can come to get your gear. We noticed that Rudy Giuliani was to make an appearance here today, but we didn't stick around for it. We hoped to show everyone the Dinosaur Store, but unfortunately it's closed on Sundays. Zephyr went with a couple of his friends to see a movie.
Jan. 28
Melbourne, Fl. A low-key day, washing the RV and trailer and finally finding a place to get online. We had an intense family discussion about whether or not we should take the time to go down and do a biking tour of the Keys. (Mom and Dad are all for it, but Zephyr is being a teenager.)
Jan. 29
We decided to grab the Keys if they'll fit. But so far we haven't found a vacancy at any of the four state park campgrounds down there. So we're exploring options.
Jan. 30
So we decided to go snorkeling today at Key Biscayne, which is at the upper end of the Keys, about 50 miles below Miami. Biscayne National Park is the only national park that is mostly underwater. So naturally, the major activities here are fishing, swimming, boating, snorkeling and diving. We were hoping to camp here as well, but the only campground is out on an island, and you have to be dropped off by a boat. There is no biking on the island, and really nothing, we learned, except mosquitoes. So we passed on that.
Just outside the entrance to the park, we passed the Homestead raceway; and in the gift shop is a photo of NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon when he went diving here. There was a time when this would have been of immense interest to Zephyr; when he was about 10, he went through a NASCAR phase, and Jeff Gordon was his favorite driver. But he outgrew that long ago.
We didn't know, until shortly before the snorkeling tour's 1:30 departure time, whether it was on or off. A minimum of 8 passengers per tour is required, and we only had 7 lined up. Then they decided that if no one else showed up, they'd take us to a new spot within the bay rather than the usual place out on the coral reefs. Another person did come, but they ended up taking us to the new spot anyway. Go figure. Ultimately, we wished we'd been taken to the usual location -- the water was deeper there (up to about 10 feet) and from the photos we'd seen, we figure the coral formations were more interesting.
We did spot a couple of lobsters and a seahorse, the largest seahorse we'd ever seen. We also spotted, alas, some bottles and cans, some of which were retrieved. (If there are life forms growing on them, however, then they're not disturbed.) The boat pilot and his assistant were very courteous and congenial, although it was a bit strange to hear them take a jab at "them nutty environmentalists" who halted development on the islands -- when their own lives and livelihoods are so dependent on the ecosystem here!
Nobody on the tour wore a wet suit, and at least a couple of us regretted it, after spending an hour marinating (minus a couple of trips back to the boat to warm up in the sun). On our next expedition we resolve not only to rent a wetsuit, but also to bring along a thermos of hot chocolate.
Jan. 31
Finally, Dennis and Kimberly took a bike excursion to Key Largo. We parked the RV in Florida City, which made it about a 55-mile roundtrip. Zephyr, not being an avid biker, remained at home. Well, actually, he took a little bike journey of his own -- about a mile to Blockbuster, where he rented 4 videos and had a marathon movie session during Mom and Dad's marathon ride.
It's just as well that he didn't come along, because we found the trip to be a bit of a letdown. The Keys, of course, are noted for aquatic activity, which we certainly appreciate. And it's easy to see why they'd have a reputation for that; they're very narrow strips of land, consisting essentially of one major road with a few businesses and homes separating you from the ocean on either side. In other words, you're never more than a mile or so from the beach no matter where you are. So yes, a water adventurer's paradise. But from all we'd heard, we were expecting a little more. The businesses are not particularly noteworthy, many of the houses are run-down, and the beaches we saw (in John Pennekamp State Park, where we'd hoped to camp but learned the campground was booked solid for the next THREE MONTHS!) were not particularly memorable. The shipwreck museum that we'd hoped to visit had closed years ago (there's a Harley store there now) and relocated many miles farther down the Keys. Furthermore, for most of our ride we didn't even have a bike path; and when we did have one, it was so bumpy that it caused Dennis' headlight to bounce off and get damaged beyond repair.
We did, however, spot an alligator in the wild, the first time we'd ever seen one up close (about 25 feet away). But this was not on the Keys; it was on the road through the swampland leading to the bridge to the Keys, a road heavily strewn with garbage. And while we were in the state park, we had a close encounter with a huge iguana, about half as big as the alligator. So the ride was not without its reptilian rewards!
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