Day 15 - Key West to as far north as we can possibly drive today

7AM

I'm done with the rain. All of Florida is forecast for rain for at least the next week. I've made a decision to bypass Miami and keep driving north today. By my estimation, the weather front is sitting right at the Florida/Georgia border. Savannah, GA is forecast for clear skies for most of the upcoming week. Savannah is less than 700 miles from Key West so, as long as traffic isn't too bad, we should be close to there by tomorrow night so we can watch fireworks somewhere. The plan was to get a cheap motel outside Miami then drive in to South Beach to watch the fireworks. T'ain't gonna happen!!! (Sandra, you and I are going to vacation in Miami. It's still a city that I'd like to see....WHEN IT'S NOT RAINING!!)

My mood has soured a bit about this trip because of all the rain and the disappointment it has caused. All I wanted was to spend some time in Florida on the beaches and enjoy some time with my son. We got about 3 hours before the rain hit. I SO wanted to see South Beach in Miami and all the charm of the art deco buildings but it's not going to happen this trip. Everything we think about right now is based on the torrential rains. We peeked out the curtains last night at about 11pm and the palm trees were blowing, the rain was coming down in buckets and there was thunder and lightning everywhere. Fuck this!! I feel like I'm just dumping money into a rain barrel. We can't camp so we're stuck paying for motels and eating out at restaurants because we can't cook our food inside the motel room. I would be much happier at a DRY $8.50 campsite in the woods, cooking sloppy joe's on my little Coleman burner, then crawling into our comfy tent and falling asleep to the sounds of crickets. BTW, last night we were awake until midnight. You know why? Because the TV was on. We are normally in bed and starting to fall asleep by 9:30 or 10. TV is evil. When I get home, I'm really going to try to NOT have the TV on in the bedroom.

3:35PM

I'm feeling a little better about things now. Dylan is driving and we're on our way to about the Daytona Beach area to get a cheap motel. Tomorrow around noonish we"ll be in some State Park near Savannah, GA. The weather forecast for Savannah is clear and hot until at least a week from Monday. Exactly what we need to dry out the tent and get back in the groove of camping.

A couple things I've learned about Florida....it's a big-ass state and freaking boring to drive on the Interstates. They are flat and boring with nothing happening. Florida is a great state to fly in to, go to your resort, have fun, then fly out. Oh yeah, don't forget to bring lots of money for jet ski rentals, fishing trips, Disney World, etc.

7:30PM



Well, as far north as we can possibly get was only as far as New Smyrna Beach, FL at the All-Suites Motel. We're about 19 miles from Daytona and found that, not only were all the hotels and motels booked in Daytona because of the 4th of July but there is also a race at the Daytona Raceway. I didn't feel like driving further so we kind of took the first place that showed up. The price was right and these are old converted apartments with full kitchens and everything. We had leftover Chinese food so the microwave came in handy.

So...I'm sitting at the kitchen table plotting our course over the next few days and I hear this sound of a calliope coming from somewhere. This is a pretty funky place so I kinda thought that the weird guy next door was playing a little Casio piano or something. We muted the TV and shut off the AC to listen. It sounded like an ice cream truck or something. We looked out the window and....sure enough....it was the ice cream man!!!! Leftover Chinese, a couple beers and a soft-serve ice cream cone for dessert! Perfect! Things are definitely looking up.

I'm hoping to do a quick 250 mile run into one of the 2 state parks close to Savannah, GA tomorrow. Savannah's weather forecast calls for 88 degrees and partly cloudy tomorrow and absolutely clear on Monday. NO RAIN!!!! Let's keep our fingers crossed!!!