March 10, 2010 Sheridan, Wyoming

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Amarillo, Texas

Cheyene, Wyoming

Sheridan, Wyoming

All places where I have slept.

Now I am in Sheridan for a couple of days once again having car repairs. This time it seems to be the radiator is leaking so a new one has been found in Tennessee and being shipped here for tomorrow. Of course it will be late in the day so will spend 2 nights here yippee!!!

Am anxious to get home so will probably drive straight through from here.

Should be home by Friday.

March 6th Memphis, Tennessee

The miles are rolling by.

Atlanta Georgia, March 6th

I left Orlando on Thursday and went to Lake Dora. What a pretty little place. As luck would have it they were having a quilt show, so needless to say had to stop and have a look at that. From there I pushed on to Atlanta. Missed the turn to Tara and too much traffic to go back, I was hot and cranky, and hungry so was not in the mood.

Tupelo Alabama

Stopped here for lunch and shopped in the little place called Homewood. Lots of pretty stuff.

Memphis Tennessee

Stayed the night.

March 4th Orlando, Florida

March 4th Orlando, Florida

Seem to be getting a little behind. Stayed in 2 hotels where the internet was not working. Said it was the weather...

How about that hockey game? Sure is nice to be a winner. It was fun to be in the US and be the winner. We went to a little neighborhood pub and had sweet potato fries with marshmellow sauce. Yum more calories. Deb and I did some more shopping and then did the closet thing. So the car should be plumb full by the time I get home. We had a lovely dinner, grilled steaks and asparagus on Sunday. Deb was back to work Monday and I got up bright and early and hit the road. Heading west to the Gulf side of Florida. Stopped in Naples. What a lovely little city. They have a fun place called Tin City which is a collection of little shops all on the beach theme. Then I went to the city centre and there are all the high end shops. The houses in the area are out of this world. I'll tell you something wrong with the side of the fence I live on.

From there I headed to Ft. Myers and saw the Henry Ford and Thomas Edison winter homes. Again, beautiful houses, and manicured gardens. From there I drove to Sarasota and stayed the night. Sure am having trouble in the morning figuring out where I am. The rooms all looked the same. I was a little annoyed that the internet did not work. First thing in the morning I set out to the Ringling Museum of Art. That is the Circus people. The house they lived in is called Ca D'Zan and was just magnificent. Many movies were made there in the "40s. There is also a Museum of Art with all kinds of classics and a traveling display of Rockwell. On top of all this two more buildings to house all the circus memorabilia and another building with a miniature circus. It took almost the whole day to see all this.

I stopped in Tampa and saw a place called the Gas Plant antiques but was quite disappointed. There have been a couple of times points of interested listed in the AMA book have been questionable.

Stayed the night in Tampa and again the internet was not working. Headed out first thing in the morning and within a couple of hours was in Orlando. I went straight to Disney World. WOW.

There is so much to say about Orlando. Disney World is separated into 4 parks and you really do need at least 4 days to see just that. That is assuming you are in good health and have lots of energy. I chose to go to the Epcot centre as I had heard of a ride that is a must see. It is called Soarin' and is like gliding in the air but across the US. It was just amazing. As we were gliding through the Rocky Mountains you could actually smell pine and as we were gliding over an orange grove we could smell oranges. It was really, really great. I felt it was really well organized as I left one event it seemed I was guided into the next one and the next one was just about to begin. I didn't feel like I had to spend any time in line ups. It also was an advantage being one person as I could fill in quite often.

It was wonderful to see all the little children and the awe in their eyes as they spoke to Cinderella of Mickey. Talk about having complete power. It is also pretty neat to see the pride in the Grandparents of these children. Hope I have the experience of seeing my grandchildren doing this. I also think they would get more out of the whole thing being school age.

Sea World is here too and they just had an incidence where a whale dragged a trainer into the water and drowned her. I was going to go today but just was too tired. And the list goes on and on but I will pack up and be going north tomorrow.

It is time to head home.

Saturday February 27, 2010 Ft. Lauderdale

Yesterday was another lovely sunny day although cooler than before. Mike and I found our way to the coast and went on a River canal tour. It was a neat thing to do. The boat meanders along the canal system and describes all the houses where the "millionaires" live. There sure are a lot of wealthy people in this part of the country. Really beginning to wonder about capitalism.

From there we found our way to the Hard Rock Casino. That was lots of fun. We had hamburgers outside and there was a huge fountain in the lake. They played music and the water flowed to the music. Very cool. There were more shops.ugh. Walked around the casino, not putting my money in there either. The walls are decorated with memorabilia of various artists who have performed there so was interesting to see their costumes.

Got Deb at the end of the day and she and I did a little shopping. Then we went to the Country Club that is part of the complex where she lives. Deb had some dinner and we had some cocktails. They were playing Kareoke (sp?)and Deb was brave enough to get up and sing.

Feb 26, 2010 Ft Lauderdale/The Florida Keys

Well it has been a busy week. Deb had to work Monday but was off early enough that we went and did some shopping. Deb likes the 2nd hand stores too. Then it was off to the airport as she had to be in Orlando for Tue, Wed, and Thursday. Mike and I went out to dinner at the local area's restaurant noted to be the oldest "diner" in Florida. Way too much food. I will have to start a new regime when I get home.

Tuesday we went to the beach. I am still nervous to go in the water but can lap up the rays, no problem. Am being very careful not to get burnt. Out to dinner again to the local pub that Mike and Alex like to go to and had more too good food. Came back to watch Olympics.

Wednesday I set out on my own and drove all the way to the Florida Keys. It is about 300 miles I think straight driving and joins all the islands. Quite the site to see. I have read lots of stories about life in the islands in the olden days with the big plantations and boats from one to another. Quite the life style in those days.

There are all kinds of things to do there. It is very popular to rent scooters or bicycles. I spent part of the day looking in all the shops. Funny that they all have the same touristy stuff and yet we keep looking at all the stuff.

It was very, very crowded and very, very expensive to stay. I wasn't willing to pay $250 for a room so found a camp ground. They had motor homes for rent at $179. I don't think so. Ended up sleeping in my car at the KOA. That was fine but by the time I got there it had started to rain thus the car and not the tent became my room. The one good thing about the sun setting here so early is that I didn't feel like a freak being in my car.

At any rate there was a pub on premises and they had a band. So as my cousin Margaret would say "I put on my big girl panties" and went to the pub. It was all open with flaps down because of the wind. It was good for my ego, had a couple of glasses of wine purchased for me and actually had a couple of dances. By then it was getting cold so off to my accommodation for the night. It rained all night and was extremely windy. So by morning I decided to come back to Ft.Lauderdale.

We picked Deb up from the airport and went out for yet another meal. Mike and I are planning a river cruise today and hopefully can play with Deb Sat and Sun then I think I will start heading north. more later

Ft Lauderdale, Florida February 22, 2010

Here it is Tuesday already, I am in Ft Lauderdale and it rained this morning. Was mostly overcast all day. Went to have my car serviced again, sure doesn't take long to put on the miles. Well I am glad to do that. Went shopping in the local areas. Took Debbie to the airport and Mike and I went out for supper. I had crab cakes that were very good but am afraid my intake far outweighs burn off. Yikes when I get home it will be starvation.

There is a big tadoo on the news here that snakes are overpopulated and they are looking for hunters. Can you believe that!!!

more tomorrow

Ft Lauderdale, Florida February 20, 2010

The beach at Pensacola is wonderful. Miles and miles of the most beautiful white sand. They call it sugar sand. I drove the whole length of the island. It wasn't very warm. I almost took a picture of a woman so you cold see her in a down jacket, hat, scarf and mitts. It was a little overkill, but was not bathing suit weather. There is a nice board walk and I looked at all the shops. Had another lovely evening with Joan and Kerry and then was off bright and early in the morning? Before I left in the morning I had the pleasure of seeing their daughter Heather with her little one on their way to school.

February 18 St. Augustine

Well, I made it to Ft. Lauderdale. I drive from Houston to St Augustine along route 10 across the top of Florida. It was a rather uninteresting drive on a long freeway with trees along both sides. St Augustine is the oldest community in Florida and really is a neat place. There are all kinds of touristy things to do. I went to a quilt shop there and it was almost comical to listen to the women speak. That southern drawl is something else.

Feb 19 - East coast someplace

I decided to drive the coast route to have something to see. Well it sure is a slow route. I don't think I ever went faster than 90km/hr and a lot of the time was much slower. It was like driving in suburbia the whole way. I wonder how many WalMart stores there are in the USA. It would seem that all they do here is go shopping but that can't be true because there sure is lots of traffic. I must say they are good on the freeways.

Feb 20th - Ft Lauderdale

I had phoned Debbie to let here know I was arriving in Ft. Lauderdale and she has been most gracious to have me here. She is also entertaining Mike, the brother of Alex whom I worked with in Calgary, and then just to make things confusing there is another young man here and his name is Alex. He works in a restaurant so is gone early afternoon and not home until late at night. He has given me his room for a few days.

Yesterday, Saturday Debbie took me to the beach and we walked the boardwalk. It was really fun, finally a lovely day. We took our shoes off and walked in the water. There were tons of tourists out for the day. All the "Canadians" and they are so brown, wonder what their skin is like? We had lunch at a cute little restaurant on the river side and it was neat to see boats drive up to the restaurant, tie up and come in the eat. From there we did the city sights and the river walk. It is really pretty to see all the green here. We had supper on the river and then came home. By then it was dark and we were quite tired. Mike was here waiting for us and we spent the evening watching Olympics and visiting.

Very nice day.