Vacation Finally! (Florida Boating, Post 10)

Saturday, February 6

This is the first day we haven’t spent most of the day driving. It feels like the first real day of vacation! It started out rainy, but I didn’t even mind. First of all, it was hot. Rarely in my life have I experienced true warm rain. In the southwest desert it can rain on hot August days, but the rain itself is not warm. I’m cold-blooded too, so for me to feel warm – while it is raining – it has to really be warm! It definitely feels warmer here than in Tucson.

I can’t even tell you how glad I am to be off the dang freeway. So what if it’s raining? At least we’re not hurtling along at insane speeds for hours at a time. I actually don’t mind sitting in the car reading, or writing, or looking out the window, or taking my turn driving. It all seems fine to the thinking part of my mind. It’s my subconscious that gets all freaked out about it. After awhile I’m just emotionally shot.

I’m finding it relaxing to hang out inside the van with the door open, watching it rain. I took this picture through the mosquito netting across the doorway.

We decided to cook a little while waiting for the rain to quit.

We have a hot plate and a microwave, but had not been doing very much cooking so far on the trip, mainly because we’ve been driving so many hours each day. I’m getting tired of dried fruit, bread and cheese.

After lunch we walked to a local lake.

Then we drove a short distance to a few trails. I took tons of pictures, so I’m going to write separate posts about each of the trails.

On the way to the trails I took a picture of a sign I’ve never seen before. What is that warning us about? Panther? I’d love to see one of those! (From a distance. In the daylight.)

Here’s today’s selfie:

And John:

But you don’t want to see more pictures of us. Today’s goal – to see an alligator! Stay tuned…

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