Home again!

Grand Lake RV and Golf resort is about half way between Gainsville and Ocala, FL. and it was pretty cool (relatively!!!!) there. So, we shopped a bit around both places and toured about--seeing a botanical garden: www.kanapaha.org and where John Travolta lives: www.jumbolair.com/.

Then, to home. It is 2000 miles, so we did 400 miles per day, which is pretty good with a trailer behind and winter. Day 1 we camped at a KOA just north of Atlanta, GA. Nice place, but they were just recovering from the big freeze. Day 2 was a private campground in Southern Illinois--nice, only a bit of snow on the ground. We paid particular attention to the weather forecast here and decided to go west, then North rather than north, then northwest. So, day 3 was a drive through St Louis and Kansas City then north to St Joseph where we hotelled it because there was snow on the ground and we had winterized the water system in the trailer in the morning. Day 4 was up to Watertown, SD--lots of snow around but the driving was OK. Going south on I29 were a lot of Manitobans! and a lot--probably a couple of dozen--wind turbine blades going south on special trucks. Boy are they big. And then day 5 into Winnipeg. No issues at Customs and only about an hour or two of bad winter driving. We were very lucky!

What did we learn? Well, Florida is expensive, but the trip was cheaper per day than cruising. Next trip South we'll probably book into places for a month at a time--one week is just not long enough to get involved in the communities. It is cold in winter, even in Florida--just not as cold for as long. We missed TV and Internet when we could not get it. We'll take the Honda's the next time--if M can figure out how to cover them and all the other stuff we take with us. We take too much stuff--that is a recurring and unresolved issue! And, we won't go over Christmas because we really missed all the family activities for that week.

Next trip: who knows! If we go anywhere other than Bird's Hill this summer as Hosts, we'll probably take the Beetle and BugHouse to Newfoundland. Then, it is off to crise the Eastern Mediterranean (Italy, Greece, Turkey, Egypt) followed by a southern transatlantic (Spain, Morocco, Azores, Bahamas). Stay Tuned!