After a night of covert camping beach side at Key West, Tim and I decided it was time to move on.  We’d enjoyed our time in Key West but with no place to stay, it was time to go.  We drove out of town without a plan until 20 miles up the road, we turned right into the Sugarloaf KOA.

Hard Day at Work

Here was, without a doubt, the friendliest, cleanest, nicest facility we’d come across in Florida.   Though we thought we’d just spend Wednesday there, we ended up staying here for 3 nights.  On our last evening on Friday, we struck up a conversation with our new neighbors, Kathy and Frank.  They were visiting from DC and had brought their kayaks.  Frank gave us some recommendations of places to see on Saturday.

Our KOA Office

We woke up early Saturday eager to explore.  We’d decided we’d rent boats from the nearby Sugarloaf Marina and explore the mangrove creeks that split the Keys in all directions.  We chatted with Frank and they invited us to join them on their paddle, an invitation we eagerly accepted.

Kathy and I check to see what is swimming beneath us

Mangrove Exploration

We started from the Marina with the wind at our back.  We quickly left the main bay and ducked into a small channel cutting through the banks of dense foliage.  This small creek was the entrance into a different world.   The crystal clear water couldn’t hide the many varieties of  fish, starfish, conchs that find a home here.  I broke my paddle down to two pieces in order to steer through a mangrove tunnel that was no wider than my boat.   Tim and I worked to keep up with Frank and Kathy as they pointed out the many varieties of wildlife we passed.

Through the Tunnel

Frank Leads us Through the Mangroves

After 2 hours of creeks, we broke through to a larger bay.  Here we hugged the mangrove banks on a shark hunt.  Nurse sharks will doze on the bottom of the shallow sand flats allowing a kayaker to glide right over them.   This 5 foot shark not only didn’t mind us there, but seemed curious about our boats and swam to each of us investigating.

Lazy Nurse Shark

We saw black bull sharks, rays and more nurse sharks as we slowly made our way up the banks.  We can’t thank Frank and Kathy enough for sharing these secret caches of amazing wildlife.

After we pulled our boats out, we said goodbye, packed up Frank and started to make our way north.  We are flying out of Miami on Wednesday for our annual 429-a-palooza trek to Park City so we are slowly making our Keys escape.

We drove up to Marathon Key, the midway point of the Keys, where we planned to go to the 1st Annual Keys Traditional Music Festival.  When we pulled up to the venue, we weren’t impressed.  A tent in the parking lot marked the stage where about 100 folding chairs were set up.   This wasn’t quite what we had in mind, so we turned around, keeping our $30 in our pocket and drove to an interesting restaurant we’d passed on our way.

Porky’s BBQ and Seafood sits right on the water.  When we walked across the uneven floor and sat down next to the pelicans, we knew were in the right place.   Here we ate oysters, ribs and conch fritters, sipped $6.00 pitchers of Key West Ale and listened to Rocketman, a local icon play Jimmy Buffett tunes.

3 hours later, we were still there, watching basketball and making new friends with the locals.  We ended up joining them at the Hurricane, a fun bar that is hidden in plain sight on the Overseas Highway.   We kicked back and listened to another good local band.  We felt like we’d still gotten our share of traditional Keys Music after all.

This morning we woke up after another covert camping escapade, wanting something a little more “permanent”.  We love to be able to camp almost anywhere, but there is something to be said for a place to come home to. And Marathon, though fun for the night, is not a particularly attractive town.   We drove away, passing two gold helmeted motorcyclists sporting matching “Jesus is Lord” leather jackets.  Time to get going.

Fixing a Flat With an Amazing View

It was one of those days where we had no expectations.  We didn’t have plans or reservations anywhere.   We just decided to see what would come our way.  10 miles outside of Marathon, we noticed some amazing camp sites that were right on the ocean.  We kept driving and came across the entrance for Long Key State Park.  We pulled in to see what we’d find.

Long Key Camping

We couldn’t believe our luck when the host told us that for the first time in weeks, they had a few empty sites.  “This is the best camping in the Keys”, she said.  We agree.  We drove in and parked Frank 10 feet from the Atlantic Ocean under a palm tree.

Floridays

Here we had one of the best days we’ve had on our trip.   We made a delicious crab quesadilla for lunch, went biking on a hard packed sand trail through the hardwood “hammock”, and then grilled over a camp fire 5 feet away from the Atlantic Ocean.   We love Floridays.

We Started Driving US1 in Maine...We've finally came to the End of the Road

After a blog break, there is much to catch up on. We’ll start on Thursday with our arrival to Key West. We pulled into town early in the morning and Frank was making a horrible racket. Armstrong Ford had told us that the van just needed some new bushings and could be driven with no problem, but when we clunked and clang across town, we decided to get a second opinion.

Frank's Broken Axle

We found Duncan Ford and Dean their service manager walked out of the office to take a look. “Hmmm,” he said, “smells like axle fluid.” 3 hours later Frank’s wheels were off…again. They’d pulled the rear axle and sure enough our axle bearings were bad. Not only that, the bad bearings has worn a perfect groove into the axle. Had we continued to drive, it would have snapped and the wheel would have come off. So two completely wrong diagnoses later, we finally had our clanking solved. The next day Frank was running quietly as a mouse…ok a big deisel mouse, but he was definitely way quieter. It’s a huge relief.

Sign at the Coffee Plantation - Everything in Key West Comes at a Price

Meanwhile while Frank was finally getting treatment, we met up with Ann and Scott. They’d driven down for a long weekend from Fort Lauderdale and brought beautiful weather with them. We spent the next two days hanging out by their condo’s beautiful pool, enjoying great Key West meals and sunsets and even better Jackson Hole company.

Lunch Break

Sunsets are Their Specialty

Mark and Christine, our friends from Connecticut, came down on Saturday and we spent two very fun nights dancing to the nonstop party on Duval Street. Sunday was dedicated to beach time and they too realized the dangerous pull of Keys Disease.

Mallory Square Jesters

Monday we were back at the condo with Ann and Scott where we relaxed and recovered. We ended the night with the final slices of Mrs. Mac’s Key Lime Pie, washed down with the last sips of the Bourne’s Limoncello. It was the perfect farewell to Key West.

Farewell to Another Beautiful Day

Today everyone has left.  After a bit more exploring of the gorgeous Key West Gardens and the Hemingway house, Tim and I are camping by the ocean on the A1A. We’ll miss everyone dearly, but we console ourselves with the last two Key Lime Beingets left over from breakfast this morning. Now if the Tarheels could just pull out a win!

Exotic Palms

Hemingway's

Due to our long break, we are also overdue in wishing many birthdays! Warm belated tidings to Pat, Sylvia, John, and DC. We love you guys!

We’d been warned…but I think we may have caught it despite ourselves.  Tim and I seem to come down with a serious case of Keys Disease.   Folks say it’s a state of mind, and I’d have to agree, once on the Florida Keys, you just don’t want to leave.

Sunrise on the Keys

After a week of cold temperatures and work, we finally began to understand the draw when the sun broke out, and the thermometer read 78 on Friday.  Frank’s doors stayed open all day to let in the warm air.

Looking out to Bahia Honda

Saturday was our day to play so we started early.  Though showers were in the forecast, we didn’t let that deter us.  After a light breakfast we got on our bikes and road 7 miles to nearby Big Pine Key.  Here 300 tiny Key Deer rule the roads.  Speed limits are posted at 35 to make sure no endangered Key Deer is lost.   We spotted 2 of these dog sized fawns while pedaling through town.  We then biked out to No Name Key.

Feral Rooster or Tasty Alligator Snack

No Name Key is a largely undeveloped area that demonstrates what the Keys would look like without a developer’s intervention.  Swampy muddy mangrove forests, and coral beaches are the Florida Key’s true side.  These sanctuaries support an amazing variety of birds, as well as alligators, deer, feral iguana, snakes, and scorpions.  It’s not for the faint of heart.

Sunshine on Bahia Honda

We spent our morning riding throughout No Name, pedaling until our trails petered out in some boggy mess.   By noon, we were tired, hot and sweaty and ready for beach time.   We rode back to the Sunshine Key and packed up Frank.  Our next destination was Bahia Honda, the one “true” beach in the Keys.   No sand was ever transferred here.  Both the bayside and ocean side beaches are natural and gorgeous.  Our afternoon was spent napping on warm sand.   The water is still frigid from the week’s cold weather so there is no swimming to be done, but we still thoroughly enjoyed our beach time.

The Old Bridge across Bahia Honda

As the sun went down we walked up on the old Bahia Honda bridge.  As you can see, sections have been removed to keep people off, but the silhouette is still beautiful in the sunset.

After a near perfect Key day, we weren’t done.  We then went in search of the area’s 5th Annual Seafood Festival.   We weren’t quite sure where it was, but after driving up and down Big Pine Key, we realized it was down the road 30 miles in Key West.   We were hungry and had no plans for the evening so we took Highway 1 all the way south.

We drove to Bayview Park and stuffed ourselves on rock lobster, conch fritters and grouper.   The crowd was mostly locals and it was really fun to see a different side of Key West than Duval Street.  We hung out and listened to music while the Festival wound down.  We chatted with a few residents and discovered that camping next to the park wouldn’t be a problem.  With our sleeping arrangements solved, we walked downtown.

It doesn’t seem to matter what time of year it is, Key West is always hopping.  We toured the local bars, watched football, sipped margaritas and even danced until late into the night.

Frank by the Beach

We woke up early the next morning hoping to get a little more beach time.  On the advice of a local, we skipped the fake man-made beaches and instead drove to Fort Zachery Taylor where we found the best beach we’d seen yet.  If you are in Key West, this is THE beach.

A Perfect Day for a Sail

Tim and I parked Frank with perfect seaside views and watched as the morning storms rolled through.  By noon the rain cleared and we started to chat with a fellow beach comber.  Bob from Miami, told us that the many sailboats that we saw on the horizon were part of the Key West Race Week.   We got more and more excited as we heard that world class competitors would be in Key West all week racing.   Today they were practicing and getting their crews lined out, before Monday’s races began.

Fast Around the Buoy

The wind was blowing hard, and we watched in awe as the boats cruised across the waves.   Many of the boats are completely flat bottomed with only a spear like 20 foot long keel and rudder.   This makes them incredibly fast.  We couldn’t believe how quickly they circled the buoys.  Frank couldn’t make a turn that fast.  It was an inspiring afternoon.

Moving Quick

We then rode to town for some more football and to split a Sloppy Grouper.  This enormous sandwich starts with fresh caught fried grouper on a toasted hoagy roll.  The kitchen then tops it with pickles, lettuce, tomato, coleslaw, bacon, FRENCH FRIES, and tarter sauce.   We split one of these delicious messes and were stuffed.  It’s yet another Must Do on the Key West list.

Heading Home

Our last errand for the day was to pick up a Conch Shell for Frank so that we can now participate in the Sunset Key 5:00 pm Conch Blow.  With Conch in hand we drove back to our site, after a fabulous Key weekend.

Fort Zachary's Sculpture Garden...feels like home

Finally the chill of winter is wearing off the Conch Republic.  Though still in the 50’s, the sun is out and the Northern wind has ceased.  Soon we hope to feel those famous warm temps!

Meanwhile Tim and I have stayed busy working and living on the Sunshine Key.  We are surrounded by Snow Birds who flock to the Keys each year for sunshine and camaraderie.  Though we are some of the youngest around, everyone greets us like old friends.  It’s truly the friendliest small town in America, even if everyone’s “homes” are on wheels.

Restless Native

Today’s work day was halted abruptly when a guy who found an iguana hanging out in a tree above his RV brought him around the camp to show off.  Tim and I piled out of the van for evidence of exoticness in our chilly home.  Surely with an iguana in camp there must be warmer weather around the corner?

Fewer Layers, Getting Warmer

Our work day was again paused as 5:00 rolled around.   Over the last two days as the clock strikes Happy Hour, we hear a distant sound:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

In the quiet evening, the faint tune is joined by another…and another.  At 5:00 the residents of the Sunshine Key raise their conchs and toast the end of another day.  Cocktail hour follows as folks emerge from their RV’s to meet and greet their neighbors.

By Request, a Gratuitous Ring Shot

Next on the agenda is a spectacular sunset that lights up the sky with reds, purples, and golds.  Tim and I have discovered our favorite spot for the day’s encore pageant.  We head out of a mangrove forest to the end of a secluded pier overlooking Bahia Honda to the West.  From our box seats we watch as cranes glide inches above the water, schools of fish dart between the mangrove roots and the sun sets behind the distant palm trees.

Sun Sets on the Conch Republic

The longer we stay, the longer we push out any other plans.  We may never leave.

As we huddle in Frank on the Sunshine Key while 30 mph Northern winds blast above us, Tim and I reflect on the dubious records we’ve been a part of over the last 5 months.  Though our trip was designed to escape Wyoming Winter, we feel like we have a stormy stalker.

The Palm Trees Blow

For the period between October-December, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia have set records for the most rain EVER since they began recording 115 years ago.   Our October-December was spent in…you guessed it: Delaware, Maryland and Virginia.

This November alone was Virginia’s 2nd wettest in 115 years.  December was the wettest.  Yeah we were here then too.

Snow in S. Fla? Miami Speculates

While we were in Miami, the coldest Orange Bowl ever was played.  Today the temperatures dropped to 35 degrees, coldest since 1970.

Even in the Sunshine Key, Jackson Hole is Represented

Now we can’t really complain since our home of Jackson has been facing -20 degrees every night, but come on…we’d be ecstatic with even an AVERAGE low.  But all that being said, we’re grateful for what we’ve got, at 55 degrees we are warmer than just about everywhere else in the States.

Wintery Keys Sunset

We hope the chilly weather will break by Thursday and we’ll see 70 degrees for the first time since we’ve begun our trip. Meanwhile, we’ll turn the heater on and snuggle in for a wintery evening in the Keys.

Tonight we spend another night in Homestead, Florida. Frank’s new hubs have been ordered from Sportsmobile. They are slated for arrival tomorrow morning, at which time Armstrong Ford will move like lightening to get them installed and get us out of here. We’ve become like family and just like family sometimes can be, they’ll be glad to see us leave.

Palm Tree Paradise

We’ve spent the last two nights shuttling between our hotel room at the Floridian and the Starbucks across the street. Though not luxurious with its orange and green tropical motif, the Floridian has all the required attributes for a hotel:  stone’s throw from a Starbucks, easy walking distance to groceries, fridge in the room, kitty corner to the Ford shop, and cheap.  After bleeding money for 2 weeks, cheap is very welcome.

Room 234 at the Floridian Hotel

We’re ready to head south.  Tomorrow the temperatures continue their slow creep towards 70 degrees. It’s not a moment too soon.  This morning I went to turn on the heat in the room.

“What’s that smell?” Tim asked.

A trickle of smoke came out of the heater as 5 years of unburned dust smoldered in the rarely used unit.  The trickle built momentum.  We decided that though it was probably fine – just some dust – we didn’t have a fire extinguisher if things got out of hand, so we better turn it off.

Instead we continue our southern Florida experience in sweatshirts and jeans, hoping for some good news tomorrow.  I see our luck turning!

Since the Ball dropped on America, our lives have become more and more surreal.

After our Black Eyed Pea Breakfast, we packed up and went to the beach.  The weather report called for rain, but the sun was sparkling and the temperature in the 70’s. It was cool for the locals but just right for us thick blooded Rocky Mountain folk.

Beach time in 2010

We spent the entire afternoon with good music and sunshine, watching the kite boarders off in the distance. Clouds rolled in at about 3 so we went back to camp for showers.  By the time we’d pulled in, the sprinkles began. 15 minutes later we were drenched with rain.  Tim and I took shelter in our tent as the water pooled up around the sides.  The deluge ended about an hour later and we emerged to a beautiful sunset.   We cleaned ourselves up and cabbed back to town for fish sandwiches at BO’s Fish Wagon and hilarious entertainment at Captain Tony’s, Florida’s oldest Bar. Here Buffett got his start.  Hemingway, John Kennedy, and Pacino have all graced its dingy doors. It’s a mecca to not be missed.

Saturday morning Tim and I woke up early with a plan. Today we hoped to pick up fixed Frank in Homestead and then find a place to give Jimmie and Keri their surprise Christmas present. We packed up camp, visited the US’s Southernmost Point and were on the road by 9 heading to Miami.

Key West's Famous Southern Most Point

After traffic jams all the way up the Keys, we arrived back to Armstrong Ford. Frank’s hubs were getting remachined and were on the way back to dealer as we arrived. Time was ticking. The rental car had to be returned by 3 if Frank was going to be ready.  But if the hubs didn’t work, we had to keep the car through the weekend. It was 2:45 pm when the hubs arrived.  All the mechanics gathered around to look at the work and agreed these were going to work. Tim hopped in the car and returned the car to Enterprise just as Enterprise closed up for the weekend. Keri and I went to the grocery store to restock our supplies for Frank.

As we stood in line for the checkout, I noticed my phone had 8 messages. DON’T BUY ANYTHING, Jimmie Shell said.  The hubs didn’t work. The bolts were slightly offset and Frank’s wheels still didn’t fit. Now we had no place to stay, no car, and nobody in Homestead was open.

We needed a little morale lift for the troops so Tim unveiled Jimmie and Keri’s Christmas present. We had 4 tickets for Sunday’s Steelers/Miami game at Landshark Stadium. We had to get north.

Frank's Sub

It was time to get even craftier. With no rental car places open on Saturday, we took the next best thing.  A UHaul Cargo Van.  We loaded up everything we’d need for a tailgate and made a reservation for South Beach Miami and got on the road.

The King in his Castle

South Beach on a Saturday is rocking.  After checking into the Carlton Hotel, we hit the streets to explore.  We settled into a pizzeria on the corner of Empasado and Washington and people watched, ate delicious thin crust pizzas and toasted to Frank’s substitute and good friends.

Dinner on the Boulevard

Despite our plans being turned upside down, our Florida posse has bounced back. Now we sit in the parking lot of Landshark Stadium with our $19.95 a day UHaul cargo van celebrating the Steelers. We’ll need more New Year’s luck for Frank on Monday, but today we are enjoying a beautiful day in Miami!

As Tim, Jimmie, Keri and I drove down the road to Florida City, we noticed a noise.

“What is that grinding?” Tim asked. We all listened.

A few minutes later, I said, “I don’t know, but it’s getting worse.”

Frank's New Year's Hospital Bed

We drove the last 10 miles to our destination listening as a light thump became a grind.  We had problems.  We parked in Walmart and started googling the nearest Ford Dealer.  2 miles back up the road was Armstrong Ford.  It was here our Divine Comedy began.

Wednesday morning we drove into the dealership.  Jimmie had already diagnosed our problem: bad wheel bearings.  Edgar our mechanic confirmed it.  They ordered new hubs from Miami that morning and we figured we’d still make our Key West reservation that night.

After working all day inside in the waiting room, we found out the news.  The ordered hubs from Miami had come in.  And they were the WRONG size.   It would be another hour drive north to pick up a new set.  We wouldn’t be getting our hubs until Thursday morning.

Well it was a minor setback, we said.  We got a room at the Floridian next door and drank margaritas at Ruby Tuesday celebrating the fact that this hadn’t happened a day later in Key West.

Thursday morning we were up early and walked back to Armstrong.  The hubs had arrived and Edgar was incentived with a $50 tip to get us back on the road by 10 am.  He got the hubs out and stopped.  Our custom wheels had extra large lugs.  The hubs weren’t going to fit.  They needed to be custom machined to work.

Edgar then began the search for a machine shop that would customize these hubs on New Years Eve asap.  Just down the road we found the place.  The machining went well but they struggled getting the bolts out of the old hub to move to the new.  Edgar located new bolts and took them over and the machine shop went to work.

By 2 pm the hubs were ready.  With only an hour required to get them on, we would make our new goal of 3 pm to hit the road.  Edgar unwrapped the hubs….and groaned.

The machine shop had spent all afternoon putting the wrong bolts on.  Our wrecked bolts were now attached to the sparkling new hubs, and our new bolts were still in their bag.

Well when faced with adversity, it was time to be crafty.  We all pulled our things out of the van, rented a car and drove to Walmart.  We are now armed with $14 sleeping bags, a new tent and driving to Key West, with or without Frank.  We hope to get him Saturday or Monday…but until then the 4 of us will have a great New Year “roughing it” in the Keys.   It may rain but at 70 degrees we’ll survive.  See you all in 2010!

On Monday, our flock of Snowbirds grew from 2 to 4 as we picked up our friends Jimmie and Keri from the Atlanta airport.  From there Tim drove the 6 hours down to Mayport Naval Station in Jacksonville where we were to spend the evening with Jimmie’s dad, Buck Shell.  

Buck spends his winters at Mayport’s luxurious RV park that is set aside for Naval veterans.  We arrived after dark but Buck still met us to escort us through the base gates. We then took a nighttime tour of Mayport before settling into Buck’s spacious RV for a nightcap and to chat. By 10 pm we were all exhausted after early mornings and long drives so we returned to Frank where the 4 of us took our bunks and fell asleep. 

Navy Vessels

Next morning, we woke to

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

and the National Anthem as a Naval destroyer sailed from port.  We then convened at the Roost, the RV Park’s gathering spot until Buck joined us. I had a full day of FIT so I stayed behind to putter on the computer while episodes of Gilligan’s Island and Beverly Hillbillies played and the ladies of the RV park brought in their sewing machines from their RV’s (yes from their RV’s) to make cloth baked potato pockets.  (I can’t tell you what a cloth baked potato pockets is exactly, but it did seemed complicated). 

Buck Meets Frank

Meanwhile Tim, Jimmie, Keri and Buck toured the Naval Base, viewed the ships in dock, learned about the traditions of the naval flag, ham radios, and Buck’s Naval history.  Tim even got a Naval buzz cut at the Base barber. They wrapped up the morning with some real Florida seafood at the Seafood Kitchen. 

Jimmie and Buck Shell

By 3:30 we said goodbye to Mr. Shell and then began the last and longest leg of our trip South. Florida is one of those states that goes on and on and on and on. Then when you get to the bottom, there’s another 4 hours of driving to make it through the Keys. We are ending our night of driving at the southmost tip of the mainland, Florida City.  

Tonight we’ll be in a Walmart parking lot before we head to our campground in the Keys.  We chose Florida City for three very important reasons: 1. free Walmart camping, 2. proximity to tomorrow’s final destination 3. Cracker Barrel where we will use our Christmas gift certificate from Ann and Scott for some Hash Brown Casserole and Sausage Gravy for breakfast.  Sure we may need to be in bathing suits for the next month, but it’s impossible to pass by the southern most Cracker Barrel in the States without dropping by!

Thank you to everyone for your well wishes!  After an incredible Christmas, Tim and I woke up to sunshine in Savannah.  Sunshine means the temperature drops about 10 degrees but we didn’t mind.  We ate a breakfast of seafood and beignets, while we waited for Tim’s sister, Christy and her husband Dylan to arrive for the weekend with their daughter Ellie.

Captivated by Huey's Beignets

We then all climbed aboard a Savannah trolley for a tour around this historic city.  We discovered that Savannah is a city of superlatives.  Every building is “largest….”, oldest…”, “first…”, or “most…”.    We heard history, ghost stories and architectural facts that enriched the exploration we’d been doing on our own.

Christy, Dylan and Ellie in front of Forsyth Fountain

Mid tour, we hopped off the bus and went to lunch at the Pirate House.  Here we dined on Southern cuisine in the same tavern that inspired Robert Lewis Stevenson to write Treasure Island.  This large rambling building included it’s own series of superlatives including oldest free standing  building in GA, most pirate haunts, and definitely best Southern lunch buffet.

Our next stop was the less historic, but possibly more infamous Wet Willy Daquiri Bar where we laughed at Dylan’s tales of his trips overseas as a Navy seaman.   Dylan and Christy then returned to their hotel with Ellie and Tim and I went out shucking.  We settled into our favorite oyster bar, Bernies, and proceeded to perfect our shucking skills as we worked our way through 3 dozen barnacle covered oysters.

Oysters by the Bucket

While we shucked, we started chatting with our neighbors.   There we met Scott and Tim from Minnesota who were in Savannah on their way to a wrestling tournament.  Though family men and wrestling coaches, they were there to party.   Scott decided that our next stop should be Savannah’s famed Dueling Piano Bar – Savannah Smiles.

Once inside the bar, we leaned back and enjoyed the show.  For those who’ve never been to a Dueling Piano Bar, it’s hilarious.   Dancing on stage, bawdy tunes and golden oldies are all on the agenda.  Somehow our 55 year old, Minnesotan, college wrestling coach, father of 3, friend Scott snuck up on stage twice where he break danced until the bouncers escorted him out of the bar.  I never guessed that you could actually be kicked out of a Piano Bar, but this guy was one of a kind.  Savannah Frowned on Minnesota Scott.

Jones Street

This morning we woke up early to meet Dylan, Christy and Ellie for breakfast.   After a morning of more exploration, Tim and I said good bye to Savannah and drove out to Tybee Island.   15 miles from the City, Tybee is where the Savannah River meets the Atlantic.   Here we drove into our campground and met Bob the camp host.

Bob was the first to introduce us to the concept of Tybee Time.  On this island, time matches your agenda.  For some it’s fast, for some it’s slow, but don’t count on others’ time to match your own…that’s Tybee Time.  He also recommended we head out to the beach on our bikes.  We were eager to follow his advice.

Tybee Beach

Within 15 minutes of parking Frank, we’d dressed in bike clothes and began our first real exercise in the last 4 days.   We rode past Tybee’s charming beach residences out to the sand.  Here the surface is so packed down that you can easily ride your bike down the beach.  Just don’t chase the birds, we were warned, but everything else is fair game.

Biking the Beach

We then pedaled down the coast line.  Tybee isn’t a beach town that empties out in the winter.  Here residents live full time and the beach is their playground.   Even at 50 degrees we saw surfers, swimmers, horseshoe players, and shell hunters everywhere.   It’s got great energy.   We finished our bike ride with a final bucket of oysters while we watched football at the local beach bar.

Tonight we gave Frank a cleaning in preparation for houseguests.  Tomorrow we pick up Jimmie and Keri Shell and drive down to Key West…we’re ready for warm weather!

Today Tim and I returned to Jackson for the weekend.  We packed up our backpacks, said goodbye to Frank and family in Williamsburg and drove with Tom to the Richmond Airport.  There Tom dropped us off and we started our trip back West.

It had been an unusual few days leading up to this point.  After our festive night at Grand Illumination, Tim and I started Monday with work on our minds.  Tim needed to prepare for the Vertical Media Board meeting in Jackson on Friday so his head was deep in emails and spreadsheets.

That evening we had a very sad event to attend.  My cousin Guy’s son passed away and we drove to Richmond to pay our condolences.  We were not alone.  As we drove up to the funeral home, we saw the parking lot was overflowing with cars.  More than 500 people crowded into the entry way of the building, wishing to pay their respects.  I didn’t know Connor, but it was very apparent that this young boy and his family had made a big impact on many lives in the community.   The response to his loss was overwhelming.

It was an unexpected reunion for much of my family.  My Aunt Gail, Uncle Bob, Aunt Holly and Uncle Steve all came up from North Carolina.  I also saw my cousins Judi, Tom and Joe for the first time in 30 years.  Though I wish very much that it was under different circumstances, I was glad to see everyone again.

As we drove home that night, Tim began to feel a little sick.  2 hours later he started to shiver and Tuesday morning he woke up drenched in sweat.  With his 102.5 fever, we were doubtful we’d be able to make our flights home the next day.  But after 20 hours of sleep and a gallon of OJ, his temperature came down and we decided to make the push home Wednesday morning.

After Tom had dropped us off, we settled into the Richmond concourse waiting for the first of our 3 flights to Jackson.  When the incoming flight from Atlanta landed and pulled up to the gate, the Delta agent announced that an American soldier was onboard, coming home from Afghanistan.

Everyone in the terminal watched as the plane unloaded and passengers entered through the gate.  The soldier rounded the corner and the clapping began.  Seconds later the entire terminal was on their feet, applauding as the soldier hugged his family.   This commercial really does happen.

After a long day of travel, we finally arrived back to Jackson.  Ann and Scott met us at the airport and we shared our own reunion.   Even with sub zero temperatures and no snow, there is no place like home.

On the birthday front we’d like to dedicate our picture of the day to our friend Mark Weiser.   Happy Birthday Mark!

A Very Happy Birthday to Weis