Journey's End

We left Runnemede, New Jersey, at 8:15 a.m. and arrived home at 8:18 p.m. Thereby ends the saga of Florida, 2012.

Runnemede

 A cheering aspect of today's drive was the pleasure of seeing the southern spring colors along the road. There are endless trees with branches sprouting a youthful green, dark red, purple, and a delicate cream color, all evoking an inspiring sense of renewal.

 After a full day driving we stopped in Runnemede, New Jersey, partly from a desire to stay over night at a Comfort Inn we chose last year. It's a fine caliber inn that serves a proper breakfast and is much more economical than places further north.

Also, it is near Phily, a spectacular diner that serves great food in abundance where we enjoyed a memorable supper last year.

After an excellent meal of grilled flounder stuffed with crab meat we took a cookie from the tray of a waiter statue. Outside we enjoyed our cookies so much we returned to buy a supply. The Phily bakes its own goodies, does an unquestionably superior job, and offering a free sample to departing customers is a very shrewd idea.

 We have completed 1100 miles and have 450 miles left of our homeward trek. Considering occasional stops for a break we may not get home tomorrow before sundown but we are hoping for an arrival well before bedtime.

Fayetteville, N.C.

Greetings from Fayetteville, North Carolina. We departed our apartment at 7:00 a.m. in the dark and arrived here at 7:00 p.m. with daylight still lingering. Progress was twice slowed by accidents up the road; once by a car towing a boat on a trailer that flipped over. This boat has now acquired many major leaks. The second delay was caused by a truck that left the road and came to rest about fifty yards into the center valley separating lanes. He traveled this stretch at high speed with both feet pressing the brakes judging by the depth and flare of the furrows his wheels left in the grass.

Amazingly these were the only two mishaps in a journey through Florida and Georgia characterized by widespread mental deficiency in vehicular management. Of particular note were a number of motor cycle operators who show-cased their daring by weaving through 75-mile-per-hour traffic at over 100 miles per hour. We presumed they did not wear helmets due to lack of material requiring protection.

Upon entering South Carolina we stopped and rested. Later, when resuming our journey, we found the road agreeably less crowded and more moderately traveled. Perhaps during my nap the post Spring Break crowd had hurtled themselves to infinity and beyond.

 After checking in to the Country Hearth Motel here, which is acceptably pleasant, we went for a meal at the Cracker Barrel, a meal that was an abomination of sufficient severity to inspire a resolve never again to usher our empty stomachs into one of these establishments.

On the plus side, today we traveled approximately 635 miles out of a total of 1540. We deem this to be reasonable progress.

Packing Up

We're loading the Corolla's trunk and getting ready for tomorrow's departure. At 7:00 p.m. we returned for one last sunset spectacle on Crescent Beach. We set up our beach chairs as did many others and sat down as though to watch a movie.

When we accompanied Robin and Anna to this beach for their last sunset there was a moment when suddenly hundreds of seagulls came storming in filling the air with screeching and flapping wings. I checked the time and it was exactly 6:06 p.m. I remember thinking, 'This must be their moment.'

Since then we've put the clocks forward an hour. This evening hundreds of seagulls again suddenly and noisily appeared, and I checked my watch. It was 7:06 p.m. I find this highly interesting. There is evidently a signal out there perceptible only to seagulls.

The actual sunset was of course a treat to behold and it commanded the attention of all those on the beach...

Once the sun dipped below the horizon we heard outbursts of applause and one group broke into the song, 'You Are My Sunshine.'

After returning to our apartment we walked to a local waterfront which is actually the intracoastal waterway, and watched the sun's final fading rays.

On the way back I took a flash photo of a tree Carol found particularly appealing ...

And so our 2012 stay in Florida draws to a close. We hope to get an early start tomorrow.

And The Days Dwindle Down

 Today we set off for Treasure Island, near St. Petersburg, because we heard the beaches and accommodations there were very good and we wanted to see for ourselves. Yes, the beaches are good and quite huge, similar to Siesta Key. From the parking lot it would help to have a camel to get to the sea. See photos ...

Then we drove to nearby St. Pete to see what beaches there were like. Top quality and quite similar. See photo ...

So we're gradually getting a good picture of a substantial stretch of Florida's west coast.

Later in the day we stopped for supper at Walt's Fish Market and Restaurant close to our place. This was Carol's idea and a very good one. We had the best sea food meal ever. Below is a Google street view of the place...

It was dark when we arrived for supper and the place was full. These people know how to prepare fish! I had cod and Carol had a mixed sampling of three or four different items.

Tomorrow we begin packing and preparing the car for an early Saturday morning departure. It's time.

Early Birds

Since the AT-ST lacks room for our beach chairs, we chose the strategy of simply arriving at the closer beach in our Corolla earlier today. At 8:00 a.m. nearly all parking spots were available. We set ourselves up on the beach which was still covered with shadow and enjoyed a take-out breakfast we had brought. This turned out to be a magnificent idea. Breakfast and a good coffee on the beach at 8:00 a.m. is amazingly sweet.

The occasional jogger passed by and as the sun rose higher they gradually grew in number and variety, from those who seriously thump along with earphones, heart meters, and pulse monitors, to those who are merely strolling but compensate by paddling their arms in the air.

It was a peaceful day today with no bellowing from the bellicose, no evocations of the rectal orifice, no defiant posturing of oneself in front of moving vehicles. It was just a day for the weary to crash on the beach.

One young man with two friends set up about eight feet from us and softly played a guitar and sang songs for a while. He began with "That's All Right, Momma" which he sang gently and in a low-keyed delicate way. It was superb. Then came "Love Potion Number 9," and "Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone." The fellow had a subdued wispy voice and his semi-private concert was a delight. I was surprised that a young man like him would know "Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone." Possibly he's met Michigan J. Frog.

And that is the story for today.

The Attack of the Sand People

Jar Wars turned to Car Wars this morning as we arrived at our customary beach access parking area. To picture the field of battle you must imagine a single lane toward the beach with parking only on the left at a 45 degree angle. Backing up onto the main road is not allowed so to leave one must drive forward to a turn-around area and proceed out frontwards, trusting any who might be entering to allow you out first. It's a quaint, cramped and awkward arrangement.

When we arrived one driver was waiting by the road entrance for a car preparing to leave so he could take that spot. I went on up the road to see if there was something else.  There wasn't. I made the turn to leave but the fellow waiting had moved up and was now blocking my exit and the exit of a second car wanting to leave.

I got out to see what the blockage was about when the head of the blocking party, whom I shall call the block head, came swaggering out to declare he would take on anyone who tried to get any parking spot before him. As he walked back to his car the older man, driver of the second car wishing to leave, said the block head was a body part, something I understand to mean the anal cavity. His wife told him not to say that because the block head might hear him. He said he hoped he did hear him, except the man did not say "he" but again alluded to the sphincter aperture.

He offered me his parking space but having forgotten my light saber at home I chose a tactical retreat instead. The block head having now opened the road by returning to his original waiting spot, I began to drive out when his wife jumped out of their car, baby in arms, and hurried to stand in the middle of the road near the other car preparing to leave (are you getting all this?) Now this car had originally managed to back into its parking spot and would leave frontwards, following me. She somehow suspected that, after driving past this fellow, and after he began to leave, I might perform some automobile magic to obtain the parking spot behind him. True, a vehicular backwards leapfrog over him would have achieved it but I happened to be in my Corolla not my AT-ST.

After mentioning we were leaving, this woman of severely crippled spacial organization skills, got out of the way. Some people are truly magnitudes more apt at dispute than they are at rudimentary reasoning.

So we drove to the next public beach area with ample access and found a great parking spot right away and we enjoyed what we had set out to enjoy (see below).

As evening approached we visited the Siesta Key Public Beach to see what it was like and take in the sunset. This beach is vast. See photos below.

Tomorrow I must remember my light saber and AT-ST.

Monday Morning and Afternoon

Some business matters kept me at the computer this morning but then it was back to the beach. We found a good spot near the water to set up and do some reading. I even did a little writing. The waves beckoned and we joined them for a while before returning to our beach chair meditations.

It was a pleasantly uneventful day except for an unexpected Jar Wars episode that unsettled a few sunbathers. But we successfully resisted the foe and are still in possession of our precious marmalade supply. You just can't get this kind of Cherry/Orange/Pineapple marmalade in Montreal.

Saturday and Sunday

Yesterday we embarked on a search for our annual supply of Florida marmalade.First we went to a citrus center here in Sarasota. We tracked it down with our GPS and indeed it was a fine looking establishment with ample parking and big signs so we wouldn't miss it. Sadly, they were out of business, closed, shuttered, and abandoned.

We tried another place in Bradenton. It was a citrus farm with a glitzy store trying to out-cracker Cracker Barrel. You could buy fruit, mugs, T-shirts, name plates, caps, key chains, stuffed animals, candies, ice cream, everything but marmalade. Well, they had a few small token souvenir jars but not a serious provision.

We were an hour from Clearwater and we recalled the large place we had found there. We often bought our supply of marmalades from them and we decided to return there. We found the place transformed into a General Motors Service Center.

We then recalled a small citrus shop near Indian Rocks Beach where we had also found these marmalades so, not to be defeated, we went there (see below). Success! But who'd have thought you could not sustain a citrus marmalade business in Florida?

Before leaving the area we took a brief look at Indian Rocks Beach. Crescent Beach, where we are now is definitely better.

Today we returned to the Kingdom Hall for the meeting. Photos below show the platform again, the Hall exterior, and the parking lot. Today, as the meeting progressed I saw lizards scurrying along the top of the wall enclosing the garden behind the speaker. Yes, it's a bit distracting at first.

 I'll have to put in a suggestion that we install picnic benches in our Kingdom Hall parking lot too.

The Way It Is

Not much to report. Taking care of business, doing some reading, and tomorrow it's Sunday-Go-To-Meeting. One detail of note, last evening we had an outstanding meal at Cody's Roadhouse Restaurant. There are about a dozen of these restaurants in the territory surrounding Tampa. The one closest to us is a half hour away in Bradenton and it's well worth the trip. Cell phone photos below ...

Venice

Today was a day of what the French would call vagabondage. We meandered around the area and went as far as Venice to poke around. I thought it was time for an oil change for my car but the dealer explained to me that my car is engineered to use synthetic oil and consequently is still good for another 6000 kilometers. So I'll get the oil change done in the Great White North.

That's it that's all.

Monday & Tuesday

Yesterday was what one might call a 'nothing' day. We stayed in our place here, took care of some chores, and did a little relaxation/reading near the pool.

The following photos are frame-freezes from a video clip, which is why you see video controls in the images.  I couldn't figure out how to get rid of them.

 The above shows the central area of our apartment with my computer table at right.

 The above photo shows Carol by the pool, and below is the pool.

Today we drove over the bridge to the beach. Since we are no longer in the condo we do not have access to the private beach, at least not along the same beach-access path. Today we parked and took a beach-access path about fifty yards to the left of the one we had been using. The day was super sunny and warm. And that's the extent of the excitement for Monday and Tuesday.

Meeting Day

This morning we went to the local Kingdom Hall and took in the meeting. The hall has an unusual design behind the platform. Instead of a wall there's a window looking onto a garden enclosed by a stone wall. I took a cell phone photo which did not come out too well. Closer to the platform I snapped again just as the chairman was getting onto the stage. See below ...

After the meeting we went home to change, Skype with Anna and Nathan, then we went out to shop a little. At one point our road was crossed by a couple of herons. I caught one in my car's headlights with my cell camera.

We stopped for a supper to bring home. The young man serving me asked where I was from. I said Montreal. He asked, "Where's that?" Turns out he's been in Florida only 4 years and is originally from New York City. It reminds me of this old New Yorker Magazine cover cartoon that shows the map of the world many New Yorkers carry in their minds.

Click on the image to see it full size ....

That's it for today. I much like the new WT format.

Phase III

Today we parted company with Robin, Anna, and Nathan who are now back in their Londonderry home after an afternoon flight. Carol and I could not enter our new digs for a few hours so the first thing we did was go to a MacDonald's for a cold coffee. There we saw an older and a younger couple very nicely dressed, the men wearing ties. We figured they had to be Witnesses on a break. They soon left but the younger brother hung back to flip through a newspaper. I went up to him and said, "May I ask you a question?" He looked at me with surprise. I smiled and said, "Are you going to be doing return visits now?" He caught on right away. We shook hands and introduced ourselves before he had to run to join the others.

Then we killed a few hours in a mall where Carol poked around for bargains (and found some) and I discovered the joys of finding, in the concourse, a sofa complete with footstool to sit on while I waited, catching up on the 2012 yearbook on my iPad. When I felt like reviewing a scripture that came to mind I simply switched to the NWT and did that. Then I played some skittle bowling. iPads - Wheeee!

When we arrived at our new accommodations a note was on the garage door. See below ...

We're the Sheppards all right, but the party will have to be another day. That's about all that happened today. After the cruise and the two weeks with Robin and Anna we now enter the final phase of our get-away. The weather could not be better.

Last Day at the Anchorage

Robin, Anna, and Nathan leave tomorrow for home and Carol and I move to smaller accommodations for the remainder of our stay. So today was a clean-up, packing day. Nathan and I brought a bunch of stuff to the condo's recycle area where he enjoyed dumping the various types of refuse into the appropriate bins.

After an earlier supper we walked to the beach to see the sunset and take photos (see below). And so the chapter of our stay at the Anchorage draws to a close.

Two-for-one

No post yesterday due to lack of content. Among the nothing we did I played an improvised game of shuffleboard with Nathan.

                                Today was a pool day instead of a beach day.

                           Just when you thought it was safe to go in the water again.

                                Nathan is getting to feel at home in the water.

                                                     Horsing around.

                                                      Family meeting.

                                     Granny has turned into a Baseball Momma.

                                               Snoozing in the pool. As if.

                                                    Official Towel Boy.