Road Trip - Day 1

Well, we're starting day 3. Day 1 involved getting all our stuff (pillows, sheets, clothes, etc.) on the moped and over to the rental car.












Then it was off to Publix for what everyone has told us has the best Key Lime pie to present as a thank you gift, and we were on the road by 9am, as planned. It was 92 degrees....at 9am.... This is what 20% chance of rain looks like.

The Miami/Homestead area has had a lot of rain this year, and this day would be no different. It was scary a couple of times when we couldn't see squat, but luckily once we got a little farther north the drive was nice and dry. Just 7 1/2 hours later we were in Palm Coast, just south of Jacksonville. This is supposed to be a sightseeing trip to figure out if there were any cities we like, but for the initial trip, we were on the "get 'er done" expressway (I-95) just to get to our destination. We were hooking up with friends we hadn't seen since their St. Kitts visit.

 They've been living in a marina in Philly, but were in FL for the month, and we absolutely had to take advantage of that. We've known them since our cruising days, rafting with them (in St. Martin), and even having them stay with us for a week when they had boat work done.



We know we get along well, and I was really glad we were able to brainstorm together. They're staying in a nice house along a canal that leads to the ICW. There have been a couple of additions to the crew since we've seen them.



Michael couldn't help but sneak some fishing in too. Kids.

The next day, I checked Facebook and noticed a couple of other pals, normally on the gulf side of FL, were in the neighborhood. Just 20 minutes away, in fact. So Michael & I jumped in the car and headed over. Another reunion - fun! I didn't take a picture because they were all grubby and not in good moods thanks to the reason they were in the neighborhood. It was still nice to see them though. Anyway, they recommended a couple of places we could look at as job possibilities, rentals, etc. so we drove around a bit, and didn't think Hammock Beach sucked.

Back to house #1 and lunch. Then it was time to check out Flagler beach. We'd seen some rentals we might be able to afford near the beach there (on the internet), so wanted to see what it looked like. The beach was great.

It took Michael all of 5 seconds to jump in the water.

There was lots of playtime as all of us thought about how great it would be to live near there (Hans & Kristen are looking for a new home too - next year).

Can you tell what this is?

Other than gross, it seems to be the intestines of something. Several washed up. We're guessing they were being used as chum/bait, which meant I was staying out of the water.

Group shot!

Afterwards, we drove around a little to get an idea of the area. It's nice, and we could live there (Flagler's Beach farmer's market - yes!), but if the only jobs we could find were in Jacksonville, then it's a no. That's an hour commute in each direction and not something we want to do. The PLAN was to go back down the coast slowly, on Rt 1 and A1A, get home, and then rent a car next week for the Gulf. But we changed our minds.

We decided instead of doing 2 trips, we could combine this one. We'll head over to the gulf side today. We're headed down the Atlantic as far as Vero Beach, will cut across the state, and then will look at the Tampa area, and go south from there along the gulf coast. It'll be warmer there in the winter, and a helpful book/blog reader suggested it would be cheaper as well (thanks Rick). That's today's plan anyway.