Florida....Where it's Warm. Right?

The next leg of the trip was to visit family in Nokomis, Florida. We left Skidaway Island and traveled the 446 miles in about nine hours. The weather front that brought the rain to Savannah also brought high winds in Florida. I soon learned how to pilot the rig in strong cross and head winds. Karen is beginning to master our new Blackberry Storm and researches various things that we encounter along the way. For instance, what is a "Silver Alert" in the state of Florida? You'll have to look it up like Karen did.

Upon arrival, Bill parked the rig in his Mom's (Sue’s) driveway for the duration of our stay in Nokomis. It was not unlike the movie Vacation. Bill's brother, Vince, had pruned a couple ficus trees which allowed us easy entry. The next week or so consisted mainly of visiting family - Maw, Vince, and Bill's grandmother, Carmen. Celebrating Maw's birthday on the 11th was a highlight since we were all together as a family.





We were also able to hit some more antique shops in Englewood, Arcadia, and Sarasota. The shops aren't as good as at home or what we saw in North Carolina, but it's still fun to do. We especially enjoyed the Arcadia shops, where an old theater has found new life as a combination antique co-op and show business museum. Stage costumes, props, playbills, movie posters, and a movie projector taken from a now-closed theater in New York are some of the items on display. We were in the Arcadia area because we did a short five mile paddle on the Peace River courtesy of a shuttle by the Canoe Outpost. We saw a small gator (Karen thought it was huge), a couple turtles, and birds everywhere. We were hoping to see a Kingfisher, but we missed out on that.





Our initial plan was to head south for the warm weather, then move west. That plan is a failure because of the unseasonably cold weather in the south. During our time in Florida there were two days where the temperature reached at least 60 degrees. It has mostly been in the 50's and low temps in the lower 40's. We hope to hit warmer weather as we move west.

Barkley hurt his leg and was nursed by Dr. Kate Brown of the Brandt veterinary clinic. A claw was clipped off and he has a club foot for a few days. He's still gimpy but will hopefully continue to improve. I have to haul him up and down stairs and neither of us likes it.