Good Bye Sarasota, Florida

January 29-2009

Picture: Boat tour of Inland Waterways- Sarasota to Venice Left to right: Doug Perry, Gail, Louise Perry,Diane and Ed Lippin, Ron. Doug & Louise Perry from Cranbrook have traveled with us since Halifax. Ed & Diane are from Victoria, and met in Pennsylvania .

On January 31 we will be leaving Sarasota and traveling north to Perry Florida for two nights before arriving in Destin the next week. Our three months at Windward Isle mobile trailer park has been a great experience and we have met wonderful people who have made us feel like this is our home. There will be a tear in our eye as we pull out of here Saturday morning. When we arrived back here after Christmas we attended the Tampa international RV show and just dreamt about some of the new motor homes. The following week we left for the Florida Keys with our friends and traveling companions Doug and Louise Perry. My truck was having a small dent repaired at the auto body shop so we used their car for our three-day adventure. We stayed at Florida city which is just before you start down into the keys. We had a wonderful drive down and stopped at the interpretive center in the Everglades park to see all the alligators. The following day we made it down to Key West and had lunch at Jimmy buffet's famous restaurant, Margaritaville. We spent most of the day walking around Key West and seening people in long pants, hats on their heads, and mittens on their hands. We happened to be traveling these three days when the Arctic cold temperatures pushed down into southern Florida. You will see pictures of frost on our car in Florida city. This certainly was an unusual sight in Key West as it is usually hot and humid. We had a great time and ended up back at Ed and Diane's for a hamburger dinner. They are our other traveling partners from Victoria who had moved their RV down into the Key West area. It was a long drive home to Florida city in the dark. The following morning we spent touring Miami on a bus and then a boat tour to see the homes of the rich and famous. I was looking forward to seeing the sights on South Beach but no one was there because it was cold. What luck! Returning to Sarasota was uneventful and over the past week we have been exploring the city and all it has to offer. I still do my regular bike rides down to the beach and back and Gail gets to the gym in the morning. Yesterday I had a new awning put on my RV and the propane tanks filled. Everything is finally fixed and ready for travel. My job today is to see how we are going to pack everything away for travel. This is difficult as we have accumulated items over the past month. The details of our travels to the west are outlined in our last blog and will be updated on our trip itinerary page. I have enclosed copies of our pictures of Florida at the bottom. Both Gail and I are anxious to start moving again after a three-month rest in Florida. We will be keeping you posted with more blogs as our travel continues.

Pictures:

Florida- January

Pontoon Boat Ride- Intercoastal- Sarasota to Venice

Key West

Back to Sunny Florida - Bye Ice & Snow !!!!

January 2-2009 Picture is with Lesley Anne in Hamilton's Steakhouse-Vancouver

Since we returned to Sarasota I have been riding my bike to Siesta Beach which has reaffirmed how much I hate BC in the winter !!! The weather in Florida is just perfect – not to hot – not to cold.

Having said that we really had a good trip home and stayed with Mom from November 20 to December 23. Our time in Comox was busy as we caught up on banking, medical and dental appts, and of course dinner party's. It was nice to see our house well looked after and how good mom has done since our last visit in July. We were able to help her with Christmas preparation and house maintenance issues. Thanks to everyone who supports her in our absence. Unfortunately about one week after our arrival the arctic front arrived which meant SNOW!!! This meant daily snow shoveling and chains on the car. Despite the good time we had there was a little voice in my head that said, “ You should be in Florida “. We got a Christmas letter out by E-mail and Canada Post so every one is aware of our travels. We left Comox on December 23 with the threat of snow. I had chains,blankets,candles, and food for emergency supplies. The trip was uneventful until we got to New Westminster and found no roads ploughed which involved putting the chains on just to get close to Alan’s house. Christmas was wonderful as Kazuko is an excellent cook. I spent most of the days shoveling the huge daily snowfall. We were happy to leave on December 27 from Vancouver back to Sarasota.

We have been working on our travel plans with an estimated return to Comox Mid-May. We plan on going to the largest RV show in North America in Tampa mid- January which will be followed

by a trip to Miami and the Florida Keys. On Feb 1 we will leave Windward Isle RV Park - Sarasota-that has been home for 3 months and make our way to Destin for one week and a rendevous with Brad & Sheri. As we travel west we are going to make San Antonio a 3-4 week stop. We have friends in the surrounding areas and will do small day trips to visit. Our traveling friends Doug and Louise will be staying in Naples until the end of February. We both are going to the Good Sam Rally in Albuquerque, New Mexico on April 15-20. So mid-Feb to Mid March will be San Antonio then head south to Brownsville and southern Texas. We will slowly move north through Phoenix and on to Albuquerque. From there we will say good bye to the Perry’s as they head north and home. We are going to travel west on I-40 and come up the coast. It will take about a month to come up the west coast and be back in Comox by Mid-May. The details of these plans are still being worked out as there are lots of friends we want to stop and see.

Pictures:

Sarasota- November

Christmas- Comox

Christmas- Vancouver

Sarasota- January