Cabin sweet cabin

Monday morning we got up at 8 and headed out for Pittsburg. it was about 300 miles so it wouldnt be to long of a drive. we got there at 1 and found the apartment. Pittsburg is a terrible city to drive in. it is very hilly and congested. we spent the day showing them how to use everything in the camper, as they were trading their honda civic for it. we didnt want to spend the night as they have six cats. we left around 5 and headed west. we got a hotel about 120 miles west. we were headed to indiana to stop and see doug. he used to have a cabin at the lake where ours was in diamondhead lake. we got to dougs at 4 in the afternoon on tuesday. we we only going to stay one night, but doug talked us into staying two. we did have a great time, and were treated like royalty and fed like kings. we left friday morning at ten, drove like maniacs and got to the cabin at 6:30 last night. eight days later....we were home. i have to get internet out here, so that will be one of my first things to do on monday

A birthday party....In Virginia!

Well, It's a lot of driving from Florida to Iowa with the route we took. Friday we drove from the top of Florida to A place called South of the Border, South Carolina. It is a couple of miles south of the North Carolina border.

Ready for bed

After a good nights sleep we packed up and got ready for the final drive to Sherry and Mikes

Almost ready to go...

south of the border, It had lots of touristy stuff



We left the campground around 10 am and started driving north to Virginia. After what seemed like an eternity, and with some help from our GPS we pulled into their house.

Sherry!!!!! She looks happy!

Drinking wine on the patio

They made us an excellent dinner consisting of steak, fried potatoes and broccoli with cheese. And of course a few beers. I think Sherry and I overdid the beers, but it was the eve of our birthdays. We all sat up till well into the night, chatting and just enjoying each others company. We finally hit the sack at 1:30 in the morning. The next morning we got up early, well early, considering it was a late night, and found Mike making breakfast. He put me to work on the hard part....making toast. Don't laugh, it is hard getting the right consistency of color and proper butter portions.  We sang Happy Birthday to Sherry and gave her a card. Around noon Richard, Dana, their Friend Jesse and the kids showed up.

The kids getting some dogs

Little Sherry... I mean little Shonna.... I mean little Nora

Mike slaving away

Chit chatting on the patio

time for some games..

By the way, we were undefeated in my and Mike's 2 games

It was really nice seeing them, and they are so thoughtful, they brought Sherry and Bonnie motherday flowers. It really made Sherry and  Bonnie's day. All the kids called or texted happy mothers day to the girls. Mike grilled out hot dogs and hamburgers (he is really good on the grill) and we played bags and shot targets and chatted the afternoon away. Around 6 or so the kids all left and we sat around chatting some more until 11, then we had to sleep as Mike had to work in the early AM. We thanked him for the great hospitality, as he was going to work at 4:30 in the morning and we would not be up to see him off.

mug shot of the crew

Bonnie's flowers from Richard and Dana (Thanks you guys!)

Sherry with her plunder

These made her very happy. From her daughter.

Monday morning we got up at 8:30 and sat around drinking coffee with Sherry for a couple of hours. We figured we better push off , as we had to head for Pittsburgh for the vehicle swap. We are trading our van to Bonnie's daughter and her boyfriend for a Honda civic. We hugged Sherry and told her we loved her, and headed out the door. It was a great birthday, I couldn't have asked for more.

We drove for a couple of hours, until we hit Fredrichsburg and I saw a sign for the Battle of Fredrichsbug historical site, and I had to go. I am a huge Civil War buff and I figured I wouldn't have another chance to see it.

The stone wall the rebs used for cover

15000 men were buried here

This battle was the bloodiest battle in the civil war with appx 15,000 killed. 12,000 of them union soldiers. It ended after 2 days of the Union trying to overrun the well entrenched and with a superior
position. It was really cool seeing the locations and walking the battlefield.

After my birthday wish granted, we continued driving until we got to northern West Virginia and found a campground.....and it had Internet.....

I am tired and Bonnie has been sleeping for an hour, so I better get catching up.....

the border

we are on the border of south carolina and north carolina at a campground. this place is called south of the border. i am posting from my phone and this tiny keyboard sucks so i got to go to bed. should be at sherrys by 5 tomorrow. good night

on the way...

Wen May 4th was our anniversary so we wanted to go out for dinner, bu first Bonnie wanted her hair cut.

hair cut time...

 After the hair cut we headed down to the Big Kahuna down in Fort Lauderdale, as we had a coupon for this place. It's right on the beach and the atmosphere is great, and we had been there before and loved it. Debbie has probably been here before as  it is a favorite among locals.

view from our table

After looking over the menu I ordered the Loco Moco (I had no idea what it was, but I figured I would try something new) and Bonnie ordered the Teriaki steak. Here they are being delivered.

After dinner we went down to the beach and walked around, just enjoying our last day in south Florida.

 After the beach walk we headed home for the finishing packup and what not. We had to wrap the car.

Christmas present..what could it be?

We had to finish the last little bit of laundry...

Last time for this spring

Then it was off to bed. Thursday was departure day.

 When we got up we had to put out the stay dry buckets, Close the hurricane shutters, shut off the water and turn off the power. With all that concluded we were off...around 10:30 am. We headed north on Highway 1 and stayed on it till north Florida till we stopped for dinner. We grabbed some food and found a parking area on the beach.

At the beach in north Florida

 

After dinner we found a campground and setup camp. It was starting to get dark out and we wanted to get setup with a little daylight left. We hadn't gotten as far as we had wanted to, but we were averaging 20 mpg, so that made us happy.

Dusk

Its now 10 in the morning Friday and we are still in the campground.

dawn

We gotta get going....



2 days to blast off

We are leaving Thursday morning so today was all about getting everything done. First thing this morning Bonnie wanted me to get the car washed and vacuumed out before putting the cover on.

vacuum done, now for the wash

While I was washing the car Bonnie was sterilizing the condo. She wants no dust, no crumbs, nothing left in the condo that could draw bugs. So after washing the car I ran down to the beach to just take a last relaxing look.

The pier

beach

beach

I grabbed a coke out of the pop machine and grabbed a bench and sat there for about a half hour. Then I figured I better get home to get my stuff packed up and put in the van. We had to clean the van out, and put our stuff into the van in a orderly manor.

We spent most of the daylight hours getting it all done, and we still have a lot on the slate for tomorrow. I gotta get up early tomorrow so its off to bed for us.

Birthdays in paradise

Today was Bonnie's birthday. When she woke up she jumped in the shower, as I feigned sleep. I jumped out of bed and hauled ass the 2 blocks to the Winn-Dixie to grab flowers and a cake. As I raced toward home I hoped she was still in the restroom. I slowly opened the door....SQUEAK. Yikes, I need to oil that, I was thinking to myself when she raced to see where I had been. I was busted. Thinking quickly, as I am prone to do, I pushed the flowers toward her, with love in my eyes, I said Happy birthday Honey! She loved them, and loved the cake as well. I took a picture..

What a beautiful combo

We had some errands to run so we spent the next hour taking care of them. I then asked where she wanted to eat lunch, an she said she wanted to go to Bob's Pizza down at the beach. So we ran down there and grabbed a table outside and ordered.

What a beautiful combo...again

After lunch we walked over to the beach

Tourists are all gone

We watched the people surf for a while and just relaxed. It was 85 with a 15 to 20 mph breeze coming in off the ocean. It got to be 3 in the afternoon and we headed to the store to pick up a few things. While at the store Bonnie said she just wanted a quiet evening at home watching movies, so as she was getting what we needed, I walked over to the red box and grabbed a couple of movies. I got The Fighter and The Tourist. They were both good and that was it for us...we are off to bed.

Gators

We started the day getting our laundry done. It's a dirty job, but it's gotta be done.

After that was concluded we made some grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch. After eating I wanted to take Bonnie out to a place I found by accident while garage saleing yesterday. It is straight out on Hillborough (The main East/West road in Deerfield Beach).
It is only about 10 miles from the Ocean and is the edge of the everglades. I forgot my camera, so I had to use my phone for the pictures and videos.

car parked and exploration party on route.

The undiscovered Everglades

We parked the car and walked to the waters edge, hoping to see an alligator. We hadn't walked very far and I saw the head of one right by the shore, approxamently 10 feet from where we were standing. I took a picture of Bonnie looking at it.

Gator in the water. Click on the picture to see it better

As we were looking at it another one swam up toward us. They were both about 6 feet long. I took some pictures and videos of the gators.

There he is, I think he is after me..

planning his attack.

Me agravating him..I am to quick for him. (I think)

We spent most of the afternoon at the park. It facinating watching those gators in the wild. It's hard to believe these things walk around loose. We see the news, where a gator is in somebody's pool or in the backyard, but it is wild seeing one up close. As we were getting prepared to leave another car pulled up and a lady and two guy got out with fishing poles. The 2 guys were rigging their rods, when she started down the bank with her rod. Bonnie had gotten into the car while I was walking back when I heard a loud splash!
I ran over, because I figured the gators got her, the 2 guys were right in front of me as we started down the bank. The older guy, I assume her husband, was already in the water pulling her up. the younger guy grabbed her arm and was pulling. I offered my assistance, but was told they had it under control. I watched as they got her back up the bank and I could see she was embarrased. She had tripped and took a header right into the drink. I didn't tell them there were 2 alligators right there a minute ago. WOW! At least she was ok. As we were getting ready to leave again we heard a loud motor start up around the corner from where we were parked so we went to investigate. It was an airboat. I took a video.

We were hungry by now so we headed for Crabby Jacks. Its about 2 blocks from our condo and we love that place. The food is good the beer is great and the prices are reasonable.

view of patio of Crabby Jacks from our regular table

So many choices

We ordered a couple of beers and then Bonnie ordered the shrimp scampi and I ordered the Key West Dolphin. Here they are....

We were done eating, just sitting there drinking the last of our beer when this guy walks up with a couple of palm leaves and aske us if we wanted to see some type of origami. We said yes....

That was pretty cool, I hope my crappy phone video shows how cool that rose is. Any ways its was now time to go home and watch the Amazing race and the Apprentice. we only have a few more days before we leave. I need rest, Bonnie is gonna have a ton of stuff to do before we leave. Nite!

Sat the 30th

Saturday means garage sales. Bonnie had told me she did not want to go because she wanted to work on getting the house ready to be left in sanitary perfection. So I got up at 7:30 and took off. I had made a list of around 20 sales I wanted to hit so I was prepared.

I got home about 2 with a stack of junk I hoped would be priceless.
I got a digital camera for 2 bucks, I got a credit card swiper for 5 bucks, a memory card  for the wii for a couple of bucks and some other misc junk. We shall see if it has any worth.

I didn't bring my camera as I have posted a few pictures of garage sale previously, and I believe  once you have seen one, you've seen em all. They all look eerily similar. 

Once I got home, Bonnie made BLT's for lunch. Then we watched a movie I had got at a sale. (Nim's Island)   It was actually a kids movie, but it was pretty good. After that we vegged out on our computers then ate spaghetti for supper and watched Auction hunters for a while and hit the sack. I am not used to getting up at dawn so we were tired.