Key West, FloridaFor those of you who may not have figured it out yet, we are in Key West - basically as far south as you can drive in the Continental USA.
Here is the proof.
Notice, if you will, that Susanne is holding on to our pet SPOT. This is a personal satellite tracker - sort of a combination of a GPS and a one-way Sat-data-phone - a Christmas present from Sue`s brother.
Periodically we press the OK button on SPOT and he responds by taking a GPS position and sending an email, via another satellite, to a select list of recipients, detailing our exact lat-long position, complete with a link to Google maps. At this point it is really just a test as we are still able to send and receive normal emails and even update this blog pretty much any time we wish. But someday, when we are presumably at sea, this will no longer be possible and SPOT will be our only way to let people know we are still alive.
Meanwhile, this landmark also marks our personal evaluation point. I think this trip has now established some basic facts about ourselves:
- We do not do well sitting in one place for any length of time.
- We do not seem to be capable of planning ahead for more than a week at a time.
- We really miss Sine Timore and are more and more concerned about her well-being.
- We are absolutely incapable of sticking to a budget, no matter how liberal we think it is.In addition, the fates are ganging up on us. Wherever we go, we find nice weather and then our presence seems to turn it to crap. Right now, our beautiful tropical island is threatening to turn into a cold, rainy bog, possibly going down as low as 20C tonight. And it would have been a perfect day for watching the scheduled yacht race. As it was, we still watched for a while, before being forced to seek shelter (and Key Lime pie of course).
Our dollar is on a downward slide making it more and more expensive to continue to travel in the US, and really, we cannot go any further in this direction anyway.
We have a commitment to be back in Edmonton for various appointments at the start of March and we would really like to check on the boat before then. Ideally we would have liked to stick around in Florida until the boat show in Ft. Lauderdale in mid-February, but it just would not give us a good enough driving window for making it all the way back to Canada afterwards.
All of these factors have combined to make this our turn-around point.
So, tomorrow, the 1st of February, we will turn our car around and start back into the frigid north. Just how long could that take us? Well, while SPOT was busy sending our position home at the above-pictured buoy, we also asked Heidi (our trusty Garmin navigation system) to plot us a course home. According to her (and she is rarely wrong about these things) we are exactly 6413 kms from our beloved Sine Timore, using the quickest possible route. Of course this would take us through the heart of a winter-bound continent, so our actual route is bound to be a little longer, as we attempt to avoid the bad weather until we arrive in Nanaimo, where we have no choice in the matter.
In all likelihood, we will be following a very similar route to that which brought us here. Hopefully we can drop in on a few places that we skipped by on the way down but generally it should be a much quicker trip this time.
Stay tuned for what promises to be the gumball rally for 2010.
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Sunday, January 31, 2010
Turn-Around Point
Saturday, January 30, 2010
In Search of Warmer Weather
While Daytona Beach was nice, it was still cooling off a little too much at night for our comfort. So, we decided that for our last fling in Florida, we would seek out as much warmth as possible. Headed due south till the road runs out.
Any guesses as to where we ended up? Here are some pictures that should supply all the clues you need...
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
ICW - East Coast
Monday, January 25, 2010
Spaced Out!
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Mountain Climbing, Florida Style
Friday, January 22, 2010
Disney Interlude
Epcot
We spent a perfect day at Epcot, probably the best choice of theme parks here for older adults like us. There were quite a few people there but not nearly as many as there could have been. The recent cold weather seems to have thinned out the crowds somewhat.
So we had a warm sunny day in which we were able to see absolutely every attraction without, for the most part, waiting in long lines.
Since we were here 20 years ago there have been a lot of upgrades. Technology has definitely moved on during that time and it has been used to good effect throughout the park, from the rides to the fireworks and light show in the evening. If you have never been here, or it has been a long time since you were, we would recommend a visit now.
Having said that, we did not really feel it was necessary to see any more of the theme parks on this trip. We would have liked to stick around the Orlando area for a few more days, especially as the weather is so good here, but suddenly the hotels are getting busy and they want a lot more money for us to extent our stay. So it is with some regret that we are forced to move on.
Overnight we had a bit of the thunderstorm and we noticed that the storm cells are moving in a southeasterly direction. Therefor we are setting our sites in a northeasterly direction, towards what we hope will be more nice weather and cheap hotels.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Orlando
It turns out one of the least expensive places to stay in Florida is in Orlando. Lots of hotels and lots of vacancies.So we climbed into the car and, after a brief stop en route at the Florida Air Museum, we arrived in sunny Orlando, at the Residence Inn Orlando Seaworld/International Center. This overly complicated name is needed in order to differentiate it from any of the other 50 or so Marriott properties here. The rest of the hotels are apparently owned by Hilton.
Indeed, it is beautiful weather here - warm with clear skies.Some surprisingly odd architecture though.
Now, when I say that Orlando is inexpensive, that is only if you avoid going to any of the tourist-trap theme parks that abound. With this in mind, we have purchased a cheap bus pass so we can cruise around the area and just do our usual window shopping and touring on foot. This is how we ended up at the Prime Outlets mall, upon seeing which Sue remarked "This is the best mall ever!" Needless to say we did not leave unscathed and Sue now has a new wardrobe (admittedly not a terribly expensive one).
So the way we figure it, we may as well go to some of the theme parks if we are going to be in the poorhouse anyway. Thus tomorrow we will venture to Epcot...
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Sun and Sand

Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Pause
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Carlsbad Rocks!
Friday, January 8, 2010
Reality Check
"I have to stay until 4:30" he replies.