Blogs from Homestead, Florida, United States, North America

Biscayne National Park, Florida We've been on the road exactly four weeks now and the trip is just getting off the ground. And I mean, literally, 'off the ground'. Yesterday we took our sailboat tour of Biscayne National Park. Biscayne is a distinct national park, unrelated to the Everglades, except by proximity, that encompasses a huge acreage of land and sea due east of the Everglades and south of Miami. 95% of this park is underwater and, as a result, a boat of some kind is the only real way to explore it Nature divides the park up into four basic ecosystems: The mangrove forests line the shores and, well, we saw them up close and personal the last few days. The coral reef is perhaps the most exciting zone. The world's third largest barrier reef ... read more

Shelly and I celebrated our first week on-the-road yesterday. We toasted our cups to successfully arriving at Big Cypress National Preserve, drinking fresh Florida orange juice of course! We’re staying at Monument Lake campground, which seems to be a well-kept secret as not too many people are here. Winter is south Florida’s busy season so keeping away from crowds isn’t always easy. Today’s high temperature was 81 and the low was 65, YAY! The van, known to some as the Gypsy Outhouse, gracefully rumbled south toward warmth and good company. First, we visited Lizza and Ian in their nice apartment in North Decatur. They were wonderful hosts and tour guides. We cut daffodils from the yard (blooming in January?, perhaps a global warming perk!). About 2/3s of the way down the Gulf coast in Englewood, we ... read more

Traveling alone has forced me to rely on myself. That’s been really good, I have to do things and fix things that normally I rely on Steve to do. Since I basically went from my father’s house to my husband’s (Steve & I got married when I was 20). I’ve never really forged out on my own. Being alone and being lonely are 2 different things. I haven’t really been lonely. When I’m in a campground I try to strike up conversations. My targets are usually people who drive interesting vehicles, and since I want to upgrade someday, I like to look and talk to people about what they are driving and camping in. Sometimes the people you approach are interesting, and sometimes you stumble on people who really want to talk to you more than ... read more