Bye Florida Keys - We Will Miss You

Our last sunset on the Florida Keys was amazing!  The weather was perfect the whole time we were there and I now have a fabulous tan.  This morning was overcast with a slight breeze, which was welcome considering we were dry camping and our generator starter wouldn't work, so we had no air conditioning or ability to run fans while there.  I'm not complaining -- we had a great time.  Everybody left this morning and headed home -- all but 2 of the 14 couples live right in the area and use this rally as a means to get together and visit and have fun.  You wouldn't have believed all the food!  We had a barbecue on Friday night for Jim's birthday (our gracious host), and it included Florida Keys lobster (two lobster tails per person), more shrimp than anyone could eat, chicken for those who couldn't eat or don't like seafood, clam chowder dressing with cranberry/chicken gravy, and assorted salads.  There was chocolate birthday cake to follow.  We met some great people and enjoyed the rally.

We are spending tonight in Florida City, Florida, and tomorrow we will be heading to Everglades National Park where we will be dry camping again for two nights.  I am so thrilled we took the time to travel down to the Keys and see it.  It was beautiful and warm and great time spent with great friends!

Will check back in once we bet to Lazydays and the Alaska Rally!

Daily Walk

We are right across the All American Highway (Overseas Highway) where I can walk on the Old Seven Mile Bridge, which used to be the railroad built by a man named Flagler in 1912.  In fact, they just had the 100-year celebration of the bridge this past weekend.  It's a two-mile walk to Pigeon Key, which is where Bettye lived when her family first moved to Marathon and which is now the museum, and a two-mile walk back.  The scenery is gorgeous (lots of water, birds, and boats).  If you look closely, you can see four juvenile pelicans that were escorting me on my first walk -- they would fly in front of me, circle around and fly behind me, and once they were right beside me.  This was an overcast afternoon, but it's been mainly sunny since then.  Enjoying every degree of it!

Happy 2012!

For the first post of 2012, we are in the Florida Keys!  We are visiting Marathon, FL, and our good friends Jim & Bettye Chaplain whom we met on our Alaska Tour.  

It's been a busy time since our last posting.  After working at Scout summer camp, we joined friends for an Alfa Rally at the 40th International Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque and then went to the Grand Canyon.

After the Grand Canyon, Wayne and I went to Hebert Springs, Arkansas for a Workamper Rendezvous.  Then we were off to Coffeyville, Kansas, where I worked for Amazon.com as one of the season workampers.  It was fun and a great experience.  

Then we headed towards Georgia with stops in Missouri, Kentucky, and Tennessee.  We spent a week in Atlanta visiting Walter, Jennifer, Kelsey, Jake, Hailey, and Zoey.  It was a great time! 

Then we headed south toward the Florida Keys and the weather has been amazing.  Upper 70's in the daytime and mid 60's at night.  The sunsets here have been gorgeous.

It's great having Bettye and her font of knowledge of the area (she has lived here for over 60 years), and to get the background of the area.

We'll be leaving here on the 30th and heading to Everglades National Park for two nights and then to Seffner, Florida, for the Alaska Rally. 

I will be better about posting this year!  I've taken tons of pictures, but here are a couple of the area where we're staying.