The (Liquid) Sunshine State

Ever set up expectations for yourself that you then get upset because you aren't meeting them? I guess it happens a lot in life. I have to say, that's part of the problem with my First Exit blog. I keep thinking I'm going to blog deep, important or at least interesting stuff about my journey on a regular basis and then either not seeing anything that meets that standard or forgetting to tell anyone about it. Half the time my camera is buried under "stuff" in the truck and I take pictures with my cell phone and post them on Facebook. I might not get a picture in this post. Depends on what I find that I can upload.

I was getting pretty frustrated with my trailer in repairs north of Houston, even though I continued to travel around. When it was finally fixed and I was several hundred dollars poorer, I took off hell-bent for Florida. When you travel along the coast, Mississippi is only 70 beautiful miles wide and Alabama isn't much more. By March 19, I was in the Florida Panhandle. Even though it was crowded and expensive, I felt I had arrived. And it rained.

It's rained, hard, about every other day for the past two weeks. Some days, I just don't even open the door of the trailer.

I did a lot of sightseeing in the Tampa area. I followed a story that was set there and contacted the author for pointers on what landmarks inspired what he wrote. It was fun and I cruised up and down Florida Avenue saying, "Oh yeah." One recommendation I got was to go to Tarpon Springs for a grouper sandwich out on the docks. I went to Rusty Bellies and had blackened grouper, onion rings, hush puppies, and dark beer. Yum.

Now I need to digress. Not like there was a point to anything I've said so far. Quinne is 21 today. Happy birthday my first, best, and only child! She decided that she needed to go out and travel like I was and bought a ticket to Hawaii. One way. But her trip kept getting delayed. Insurance issues. Health of her host in Hawaii. Stolen wallet and I.D. Finally, I got a message that she'd taken off. I called her to find out how Hawaii was and she said she was in Seaside, OR. Then she said something very important to me:

"Dad, Hawaii was beginning to feel like a destination instead of a journey."

When I started the trip I'm on, I told you all it wasn't about the destination, but about the journey. As I looked back on the previous week, I realized that I'd made Florida into a destination. I'd spent all of two hours crossing Mississippi, and although I camped a night in Alabama, I was focused on some work I had to get done. I "planned" to be in Florida all of March to go to baseball games and play on the beaches. Quinne's words to me brought me to a screeching halt. I was here, so now what?

Well, I've been in Punta Gorda with my old friend Don Randolph for a week. He and Susie are heading out to Myrtle Beach today and tomorrow I'm headed for Naples. I'm spending a week there. I plan to park for longer times and do more exploring, meeting people as I go. I've found a group that drum on the beach in Port Charlotte on Sunday night and I'm taking my drum out there tonight. Instead of driving straight out onto the Keys, I'm going to camp in Everglades National Park. I'm going to slow down and enjoy the journey like I intended to in the first place.

That means that I won't make it all the way to Maine this spring. I'm not even going to bother trying to travel U.S. Hwy 1 (or 1A). I'm thinking I might want to explore the Blue Ridge Parkway and visit my nephews and nieces in Virginia and West Virginia. It's possible that I won't make it back to Seattle until late August or early September, but I never intended to just be driving all the time.

On her twenty-first birthday, I want to thank my daughter for getting her dad back on track!