Katie goes to Florida

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Blessed? You bet.
To be able to say "I'm going on a month-long road trip by myself," and actually begin it, is pretty COOL! My chariot, better known as the gypsy outhouse, was packed up with a little help from my supportive husband, and off I drove on February 1st. Destination #1 was Cedar Key Florida on the gulf coast about 45 minutes southwest of Gainsville.

My friend Gail, who works for herself, was able to meet me for the first week. We picked a pet-friendly place to stay from the internet that we thought looked good and booked it. Gail's sweet doggie Gracie is our constant companion. Check out the Low-key Hideaway (tiki bar and all) at lowkeyhideaway.com
Our hosts Pat & Cindy are great. We're splitting the cost of an efficiency and I'm really glad for the shelter. The weather has been kind of schizophrenic: warm to cold to warm rain to cold rain with a chance of occasional sun beams. Still, we ARE sleeping with a window open every night! Getting to a warmer climate was one of my main goals; and looking on TV at the monster winter storms in the middle of the country make me feel happy to be where I am!!!

Instead of driving the entire 9 and 1/2 hours on the first day I decided to break it up and stay in Valdosta GA. As an experiment I stayed in a Walmart parking lot for free. I had read that Walmart founder Sam Walton was an RV lover, and made it a company policy that his stores would let people stay overnight for free. Steve has higher standards, and would never do it! My fellow parking lot residents consisted of 2 other RVs and 2 tractor trailer trucks! In spite of a little night noise, it wasn't half bad!

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