Cruising Down to the Keys

The long driveway up to Harpal's in Winter Park.

 Yes, I think of it as cruising. There are a lot of similarities to our life on Scott Free. The long passages and the grateful feeling once we're settled into our "berth". We anchor our trailer to the ground directly instead of through the water. Now it's former cruisers and good friends at the end of our day's journey. 

From Savannah, we had a 5-hour drive to Winter Park, FL Our friends Harpal & Jeannie had volunteered their home for a night on our way south. They are with their sons on the West Coast now. We spent the night of January 6th glued to CNN horrified at the invasion of our Capital while our lawmakers were carrying out their Constitutional duty.  After a tasty dinner and a good start on our laundry, we locked up for the night and slept in our trailer. The next morning we were unable to reenter the house. Harpal had given us the combination to the garage, which worked very well the day before. But not this morning. Our laundry was inside and we wanted to get an early start - no chance. We didn't have Harpal's cell number so had to wait until the sun was up in California before calling David Wood in San Diego to get it. Finally, we got a hold of Harpal, but he had no clue why it didn't work. He sent a friend over but to no avail. And then we realized that we didn't have any power in the trailer. The electrical connection was dead. Somehow, we had tripped the circuit and the garage door was on it. Well, at least we knew what was wrong. It was lucky that our first call to a locksmith was successful and he showed up an hour later. It only took him 2 minutes to pick the front door lock!

At this point, it was too late to keep our date with our Shrewsbury friend Weezie for lunch, so we had to cancel. We had reservations at Bedner's Farm in Boynton Beach, FL for that evening and needed to arrive before their closing at 6 PM. This was our first stay at a Harvest Host property. They are a national organization of wineries, farms, breweries, etc. where members can stay for one night at no charge. They hope you will make a purchase while you are there, but it isn't required. Their produce stand was gorgeous and had not only vegetables & fruits but cheese, meat, and dairy. We filled up our refrigerator and cooler!  Up to 4 RVs can park for the night behind the store and we joined two others overlooking the farm. One couple came over and we chatted for some time. 

The next morning, we were off for a long day's drive down to Duck Key, Florida to join our friends Russ & Marty Wolf for 8 nights. They have a big parking lot in front of their home overlooking the water and the bridge to Grassy Key and parts further south. What a wonderful week we had with lots of long walks, talks, and meals. One day we traveled down to Key West and toured the city, enjoying a good lunch overlooking the harbor. Another night, we had a great meal at Burdines in Marathon - outside on the deck overlooking the entrance to Marathon Harbor, where we spent many weeks several times on Scott Free. It was sad to say good-bye, but we were off next for a 3-day visit with Barbara Craig, our former fellow cruiser on Enkidu in Bonita Springs. That's where we are now, but we'll save that story for my next post.

Harpal & Jeannie's house in Winter Park, FL

I have no idea why but blogspot uploaded my
photos in mixed up order. So here's the Conch
"train" we took in Key West with a rooster
passenger on top.

Marty, Scott, Russ and I at Burdines's in Marathon

The view from the balcony at the Wolf's house on Duck Key at sunset

And now we're back in Key West walking around
the residential neighborhood

I love the Victorian cottages everywhere.

We stayed masked until the food & drink came.
You can see the Marina behind - this is again in
Key West. It was pretty cool as you can see from
our jackets

Looking down on our trailer from the Wolf's
balcony on the street side.

The Wolf's dock and motorboat. Scott and Russ
 took it over for it's yearly maintenance and we
 had a fun cruise around the canals of Duck Key.

Walking the beach in Marathon

And now a tour of our trailer. Here's the kitchen
area with stove and oven, microwave, frig, and
separate freezer. We brought our bread maker,
toaster, and Instapot!

The dinette and entrance. I've hung a number of
my paintings and one by Christine Holtzshuh
above our bed of radishes.

We added our own mattress, lots of pillows. The bed is very comfortable. There is a 
bathroom in the rear with a separate shower with plexiglass sides. We were very impressed with 
the amount of storage and of course, we have our truck too!

This was our RV site the night of January 7th at the Bedner's Farm in Boynton Beach, FL