Florida is History

We are now camping in Kim's sister Juli's driveway outside of Savannah, Georgia. We have the best internet connection we have ever had and the satellite dish was tuned in as soon as I raised it, so we are in good tech shape here.

We had a quick, enjoyable visit with Doctors Chris and Sarah, Kim's cousin and his wife that live in Jacksonville, Florida. Their house is full of fun stuff like a pool table and a Nintendo Wii and a swimming pool and bass pond in the backyard. Chris made us some most excellent steaks and then showed us how to play the Wii. Sarah was on call all night waiting for expectant mothers to burst, but she joined us the next day for brunch. We went to a cool place on the river that was constructed of funky old cypress and cedar wood and decoracted with dead animals for brunch. There were plenty of dead animals for brunch too. You could get anything from oysters to ostrich and buffalo to alligator. They bought brunch too, now I feel guilty.

We headed north to Cocoa Beach to hook up with Juli and her clan. We spent the following day at the NASA visitors center and got hooked on rockets, so much so that I had to go out and buy a model rocket. We are planning the launch for this evening and already there is a conflict. I promised Sophie that she could hit the launch button and Chloe is protesting. If we can't come to terms the whole mission might have to be scrapped until Mission Control grows up!

We should be able to get some nice pics of Savannah in the next couple of days and of course we will share. The azaleas are in full glory right now.

Hopefully I will talk to you soon if all goes well with the rocket launch.

Donna... you are absolutely correct, that picture is so crappy it doesn't even look like us. I downloaded the wrong picture. Ooops! Give the M.E. a big squeeze and kiss for me. Don't squeeze her too hard or a big stream of chocalate, jelly beans and peeps might come spewing out.

Love, James

Pics are of Chris and Sarah -- Chris,Juli, Chloe, Sophie, Maya at Nasa --- Juli and Kids with Astronaut --- Me with bass from Chris and Sarah's pond --- Kim on moon buggy with Chloe and Maya

The Keys

After testing the brakes of the r.v. through at least a hundred stop lights on the southwestern side of Florida we made our way through the Everglades and down to Key Largo. We arrived at King's Camp to find that the office was closed and no one was around to check us in. We were told by several of the residents to just pick a site and deal with it in the morning, so that is what we did. We watched the sunset on the end of the pier there and had a nice dinner in the r.v. and crashed. This is some boring @#$% isn't it? Anyhoo, we then headed to Key West in the morning. The water on either side of the highway that traversed the tiny strip of land that is most of the keys is absolutely beautiful. It is every bit of the aqua green/blue that you see in pictures. We stopped at Robbies pier and fed the tarpons. You get a small bucket of little dead fishes and try to get them past the pesky pellicans and into the tarpons mouths. These fishes were a good 4 foot long and probably 70 to 100 lbs.

Key west was very cool. It was a combination of old Carribean style homes, boats, piers, bars and restaurants. We walked by Ernest Hemmingway's home, but he wasn't there, so we left our regards and headed to the southernmost point of the U.S. were we had some cruise going susy chick take a crappy picture of us in front of the famous buoy. We then stopped at a rum bar and had a few 2 for 1 rum y colas and continued up Duval st. back to the pier where we started. It is cool to see some of the streets and landmarks that I have heard in my Mom's Jimmy Buffett music for so many years. Kim would just kind of look at me strange when I busted out in lyric. "There's a woman goin' crazy on Caroline St., stoppin' every man that she does meet" What??

Yeah, I would say the Keys are worth the visit, but it is a LONG way down there, so plan accordingly.

NO FISH CAUGHT! Sorry Tuna. Just a few pesky piggy perch.

I am running out of fishing territory, so I will have to switch to snake catching.

I went back through the blogs and caught some comments that were left by people I had no idea would be looking on. Thanks Cat Sanders for checking in.

I apologize for spelling Tracy's name wrong, but your own cousin told me to spell it with an 'e', so it isn't really my fault.

Tuna, I am going to revoke your commenting license if you banter on about acronyms and such while you are tripping on acid.

Kim informs me that I omitted the Everglades. The Everglades were a birder's paradise with a bunch of alligators mixed in. There were glades that went on forever and ever. I don't even know what a glade is. I will include a page of critters from the everglades and that will give you the idea.

Kim doesn't know what a glade is either....all that reading and she is glade ignorant.

We are headed North in a hurry. Prepare for some history lessons as we explore some ancient American townships.

Love James

Trek to Cayo Casta

Kim and I took a nice little boat ride across Pine Island Sound to Cayo Casta Island. It was a beautiful cool day with lots of sunshine. We lounged on the beach for a couple of hours and then took off on a shell finding expedition. The beach is a beautiful white sand with lots of shells and some sections that are all rough shell particles. We walked a couple of miles and had pockets and hands full of cool shells, when the sudden urge for a bowel movement struck me. This never seems to fail, two miles from the camp and loaded down with shells. I should be having a lovely relaxing shelling session and now all I can think about is making it to the outhouse in time. I manage to duck-waddle down the beach with an ever-increasing pace the whole time doing the silent prayer of "please let the toilet be unoccupied". I side step up the flight of weathered wooden stairs and tug on the stall door, sure enough, OCCUPIED! Now I am in the five minute, seems like an eternity, fight for dignity preservation. Beads of sweat forming on the brow and a new prayer "let there be enough toilet paper." Then I hear prolonged paper reelage a few coughs and the toilet finally flushes, but no appearance of the occupant. Then a sink running, and a few more coughs and finally the door opens to reveal the only frat boy on the island. I hate frat boys! At least there was toilet paper, so the trip to Cayo Casta will end on a good note. We took the tractor ride back to the boat, boarded and headed for Pine Island only to turn back around and pick up a couple of young campers who had forgot about daylight savings. Who, but the same frat boy and his girlfriend. Twice inconvenienced!

Sailing and Partying in Pine Island

The Larson's (Jeff, Peggy and Kim)
Kimby and Peggy
Potluck at Claudia's
Camping spot on Kim's Canal
Cutter Dog

Pine Island anti-sobriety society

Well, we were able to escape Pine Island. We found a two hour window when we were sober enough to drive. GOOD GOD! These people know how to party! The average age in this community is probably 60+, but they don't let that stop themselves from throwing back the cocktails. It is common to hear the standard preludes to cap twistage and cork poppage of "it's 5 'o clock somewhere" or "anytime on the weekends is fair game" or "what? It's been a rough day and I am quitting early!" or "I always drink when I'm fishing" Whatever the excuse it is never heartfelt since all of these folks are retired and they really don't give a crap anyway. A good Florida tan will hide the ill effects of all of your bad habits, so go for it!

I have to say that we had an absolutely wonderful time. The people in this community are some of the most kind and friendly folks I have met. Kim and Claudia are so fun to be around. They are so high energy and positive that it is contagious. Kim has no time for friviality and is constantly on the move. Once in a while you can contain him for some one on one. Claudia has a strong enough personality to break his focus and re-direct it towards her when need be, so they mesh perfectly. They both like to excercise, work hard, have their cocktails and go dancing and there is plenty of room for all of that on Pine Island.

We stayed alongside Kim's house by his canal and shared kitchen and back deck with his friend Jeff from Minnesota. We traded cooking and dishwashing duties with Jeff and had many a good conversation with him on the back porch. After a few beers Jeff's Minnesota accent would try and infiltrate my speech patterns and I found myself struggling to keep my o's from stretching and ballooning into big, long O's. "Ohhh, you need a bottle ohhhpener, reeely? I always considered my friend Ed to have a very thick Minnesota accent, but when I talked to him yesterday it seemed normal compared to Jeff's. Jeff is a great guy. He was kind, considerate and full of good laughs, he even managed to get a very prolonged barking laugh from Kim which even escalated to the level two hyper barking laugh and this is something that only my brother seems to manage, so that is the ultimate approval. I hope to see Jeff again and again in my life, he is a good guy.

Jeff's friends from Minnesota, Bob and Linda, came down to stay in Claudia's downstairs apartment for a month. Bob and I went out fishing and had a good day of catching speckled trout. I think the next day was rough though as Bob's face coloration resembled that of a beet from getting too many of those sneaky, through the clouds sun rays. Bob can cuss more than I can and his wife is much like Kim in that she is good at ignoring him or waving him off when need be. I believe Linda is one of the sweetest women I have met and I think she puts up with Bob because under that unpolished surface appears to be a very smart, worldly and maybe even sensitive man. Just Kidding Bob! Great people who really enhanced our already wonderful time.

Our final night we had a cocktail party/ potluck at Kim and Claudia's house. We met several more fine Pine Islanders like Toni(y) and Tim and Ricky. We got to have another get together with those we had already spent time with like Butch and Lynn, Kim Larson's brother Jeff and his partner Mark, Kim Larson's mother Peggy and Claudia's sister Beverly. Beverly is another outgoing barrell of never-a-dull-moment and Kim's mother is quite the peppy, quick, bundle of energy that you would expect to have spawned a son like Kim.

Pictures: Claudia and Beverly, Captain Kim Larson, Kim and Claudia with Butch and Lynn, 1st mate Jeff Herron, Bob and Linda with Jeff

Trials of a Fishing Widow

Well James has been in Florida for over two weeks now and he hasn't come close to satiating his fishing desires. I guess I should be happy he is addicted to something healthy and productive like fishing as opposed to something like meth, although I think meth might be cheaper. I am amazed at his patience in being able to spend day after day, hour after hour all in pursuit of something he is most likely going to throw back. He laughs at my ability to go shopping for hours without buying anything, but at least in shopping you are able to carry on a conversation and there are usually bathrooms close by. We have had a couple of nice fish dinners but he is still waiting to have a banner day. Maybe tomorrow..............

We are still shamelessly taking advantage of Kim Larson and imposing on his other house guest Jeff. Jeff is a carpenter from Minnesota who comes down for about a month every year to escape the brutal cold and help Kim out a little bit. He is a very typical Norwegian bachelor, but he has been very gracious about James & I intruding on his peace. Our only problem is his accent is so strong James & I are now noticing 'ya' & 'you betcha' slipping into our vocabulary.

Life here is pretty laid back; wake up and go for a bike ride/walk/run, fish/read, happy hour, bed, repeat. It's pretty easy to see why so many people who come here to visit end up as permanent residents. It was a chilly 70 degrees yesterday so we had to break out our long pants.

Hopefully James will have a good day of fishing tomorrow so we will have some good fish pictures for you Tuna!

Happy belated birthday Janet! Thanks for being such a great sister & friend.

Love, Kim

Greetings from the Sunshine State!

Greetings from sunny Florida! Thank you James and all others for the sweet words about my Nannie. She was an amazing woman and I am glad that I got to spend so much time with her over the last few years. I am always so desperate to move away from Fayetteville that I overlook the benefits of living there. Not only do we have great friends but it is also so nice to have so much family close. I still wish it had a beach, but oh well.

We had a great time in Costa Rica and are so thankful to the Norman’s for letting us crash their family reunion. It was so neat to spend time in Costa Rica at so many different places. We did a decent job of practicing our Spanish but lost it the minute we got home, we haven’t had the opportunity to use it in Florida yet, but maybe if we go to Miami.

We spent about a week in Arkansas after we got back from Costa Rica. We had to visit the tax man and the rivers were up so some kayaking was required. With the good news from our CPA that we had enough funds to continue until June we left Arkansas and headed to Florida via Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama. We stayed at a very scary RV park in Vicksburg but thoroughly enjoyed the battlefield park there and a bartender who defined southern hospitality. I wasn’t feeling well and it was raining so we decided to skip heading into New Orleans, even though we found a great campground just across the Lake Ponchetrain (I think that’s what its called) bridge. It was also the day we got the call that Nannie wasn’t doing well so we decided to head on to Florida so it would be easier if I needed to go home.

James was awesome and drove for almost 2 days straight through the rain. We drove through downtown Biloxi and were amazed at the destruction still evident from Hurricane Katrina. Strangely the casinos were all up and running but the houses were still a mess. Bureaucracy at its finest.

After spending the night in a very nice rest area and enjoying dinner out of the vending machine we made it to Kim’s house Saturday just in time for happy hour . Kim is a good friend of James’ parents Bill & Mary. He has a great place here in Pine Island, Florida right on a canal with plenty of room to park an RV. The best perk is he also has a boat which he has given James free reign of, needless to say James did not miss me while I went home. Yesterday we went out on a big catamaran that a friend of Kim’s has and today James and I spent all day on the water, him fishing, me reading. I am hoping the RV and ground will quit rocking by the time I go to sleep.
Life continues to be amazing and my hope is that I don’t take one minute of it for granted. The best way I can honor my Nannie is to have her same joy and appreciation for every day. Of course right now, that isn’t too hard to do!
Love, Kim

Photos: Kim & Melanie Norman in front of their house in Costa Rica, James & I in front of Volcan Irazu, James showing why he doesn't read, Kayaking the Mulberry