29/12/2007a

Lack of Internet Access for the past 4 days from Tengointernet.com, a professional Internet provider, has precluded us from seeing and uploading anything.

As previously noted, the motorcycle was in dock and not repaired as promised, after a couple of telephone conversations we decided to collect it and try somewhere else, which we did Friday morning – a phone call Friday afternoon diagnoses the problem as – a tank of bad gas!! – apparently a typical American problem.

Saturday morning we hit the road quite early (10.00am), for the 200 mile drive north to a small place called Perry (still in Florida) , just for one night, we are off to St George Island tomorrow. – so far along we dropped the bike off the trailer and did about 50 miles on it (just in T Shirt and Shorts), pleased to advise – running well!!

28/12/07

We realised our RV needed a bit of TLC – so armed with out neighbours ladder – we attacked – and scoured one full side and the back, with no less than “Brillo” pads, then a coat of polish later – the result amazing – a bit different to most other Boxing Days, it must be said.

Boxing Day 26th December 07 to Sat 29th December 07
After our “Christmas Dinner” we also needed – to walk it off, and came across the best decorated RV on the site, someone had gone to a lot of time and effort (picture attached). We did get a Christmas present each from the next door neighbours, a couple of candy sticks dressed as reindeer.

26/12/07

Calls to friends and family took a long time, so we finally had the BBQ at about 8.30pm (complete with crackers and the obligatory silly hat) - after a good few beers, then a pleasant evening with fireman Sam and his wife in the next-door 5th wheel, who hails from Tennessee.

25/12/07

The roads were pretty empty on Christmas morning as we made our way to Clearwater, we spent some time on the nearly deserted beaches, after moving the RV because a certain female fed the wrong parking meter, but were unfortunately not allowed to BBQ there, so returned to the campground at about 16:30 with the intention of having the Barby here.

23/12/07

Another 60 mile drive found us at our destination for Christmas, a campsite at Largo, 7 miles from Clearwater. It is a commercial campground and is therefore a little more crowded, but with friendly people. We found a Yamaha dealer who is attempting to fix the bike, but as we took it in on the 24th nothing would happen until today (wed) and we are awaiting the call on the damages. We also made a call to a mobile RV mechanic about the gas burner on the fridge. He actually came out to us at 9pm on Christmas Eve to diagnose the problem, supposed to be coming back today to fix.
When we returned from taking the bike, the “committee” had placed 1 gallon plastic milk containers on the road opposite every site, containing a candle. These they lit after dark, and they were quite impressive, just like Santa’s runway.

23/12/07

We set up camp, walked to the local Chinese, past some way out bikes, eight cylinder monsters, and filled our faces. Had another first – a Chinese beer, meandered across 4 lanes of traffic each way to reach the “Old Town” just in time to witness the Vintage car procession, before taking a walk with the masses ( better class Blackpool – even sold English beer!!). They have an “English Shop” there that sells genuine English products – at a price. Walkers crisps $2.90 per packet, and the smallest jar of Marmite = $8.49. No one needs the goods at those prices, even sell English beer.

Saturday finds us driving back across country heading for the Gulf Coast – so a stop at Kissimmee “Old Town” as good a place as any for a one night stop – we did intend to free camp at the Wal-Mart – but decided we would be cheeky, after parking up in a motel I had previously stayed at, and that had masses of parking space, and ask if we would be ok there for the night – the receptionist a sweet person said – what I don’t see, I don’t know! – Thank you ma’am!!

23/12/07

As previously commented Sebastian Inlet is a very “fishing” orientated area, but being over water did merit a further fantastic sunset the second night we were there, which I believe we captured delightfully this time. With the area being very open – we found it rather cold after sunset and very windy – to the extent that we had to take the awning down before it blew away.

In the morning before our departure, Tony invites our “neighbours” around for coffee – a Spanish couple, camping and touring the state parks bird watching etc, (he was a professional photographer), as Tony put it – he spotted them huddled up in their car and freezing!!
During the course of our “pack up” process we discover the bike is “ill” to the point of not starting – guess we need to track down a Yamaha Dealer to get us back on the road.

20/12/07

Onward to Sebastian Inlet, but pulled in at a Winn Dixie for a necessary food re-supply. Got all the bits and bobs we wanted, and then saw a hot barbequed chicken, sense of smell took over, and it ended up in the trolley along with a bag of mixed salad. This was just begging to be eaten so we set up the tables in the car park and had lunch sat on the trailer.
Arrived Sebastian Inlet after stopping behind the school bus millions of times, to witness a most spectacular sunset, and of course I did not have my camera with me.
Not much to do here, mainly meant for those who have fishing in their blood.

18/12/07

18/12/07
Left John Pennekamp at about 13.00 for a straight 100 mile run to Jonathan Dickinson State Park. We had punched the names into google and produced directions, which seemed simple enough, but Jane did comment on the fact that the last road was called “boy scout road”. When the garmin said we were there, we were in a muddy field, and a very friendly guy walked up and said, “looking for Jonathan Dickinson, you are the second one today” and gave us directions to the park which was 10 miles away. He did actually explain that it used to be part of Jonathan Dickinson Park, but was now a Boy Scout Campsite.
The bike had been having a little cough occasionally, and decided to only run on one cylinder next day, checked the plug on the non-runner and sure enough it was duff. Was going to use one from the RV to get to a parts store, but sods law intervened, the plugs are the smaller type. A passing ranger got us a short reach plug in about five minutes and we gently took the bike the 5 miles to the store for new plugs, magic, though it is still running rich.
The park actually has two campsites, so we rode off to the other to find the “old swimming hole”. Never did find it, just a boat ramp and a boat ride at $15 per head. The camping area we were on was very spacious; the sites were well spaced out and very quiet, apart from the odd mile long trains in the distance.

18/12/07

Photos will not upload today, must be my dyslexic fingers or sumfink, watch this space.

18/12/07

17/12/07
Bahia Honda.
Another State Park site, approximately 35 miles North of Key West. We arrived after dark, and after the park had closed, which in itself caused a couple of problems, one of which was finding the booked pitch. Prior to that we had missed the entrance which meant a two mile trip down the highway to find a place to turn around. The rest area was not quite big enough for a “U” turn, and I had to reverse the trailer, and one of the rear lights on the trailer had a minor altercation with the a barrier. Small white light now from the side, no probs. The drive down though was great, imagine a two way highway, single lane on each side, most of that exactly straight and over bridges. The longest of which is seven miles, with a hump in the middle to let the boats through. It really is an amazing drive.

Morning came, complete with quite heavy rain (warm though) and Jane went on the bike to book us in whilst I made breakfast. Breakfast was going cold when she returned with two bloody knees and one bloody elbow. It appears that the bike decided it didn’t have enough petrol to go any further, and stopped. She switched on the reserve and tried to bump start it, she slipped on the wet road and the result was this.

Whilst exploring the park beach, we met a guy with a similar RV, and I asked him about our leisure battery problem, it turned out I was in luck. He is an electrical systems instructor, and insisted that we return with the RV and he would look at it for us. To cut a long story short, he fixed it, we only need a gas nozzle now for the fridge to run on gas.

The sun shone later in the afternoon and we decided to go to Key West after all, so packed the jeans and sweaters in the saddle bags and off we went, just a pity that the clouds came in again when we were about 4 miles short of the most Southern point of the USA and blocked the sun from view. (Never mind, seen one sunset you have seen them all)
Tomorrow we are off to John Pennekamp State Park at Key Largo to join up with Eric Shipley and his wife Margaret.

14/12/07

Florida City. This run was one of the longest yet, 140 miles, and we had planned to stay in a Wal-Mart car park. However the location looked a little vulnerable and we decide to carry on down US route 1 towards the Keys and see if we could get into a site we had seen on the map. No problem, plenty of room, but more expensive than the State Parks and we had rain on the way here, even had to put the wipers on once. We are here for just one night, and driving to the Keys tomorrow afternoon, another 100 miles.




'fraid Jane doesn't know which is which, just my little reminder to save her and I saying "my side" or "your side"

12-14/12/07

Koreshan. We seem to have cocked up on the planning here, trying to put fairly equal miles between campsites, this place is only 14 miles from the last – whoops. Koreshan National Park is a nice place, with a historical village attached. Well they call it historical, my house in UK is older than this. The guy who founded it in 1896 had high hopes and did quite well with the industries he set up and the plants he imported and laid out, but the whole organisation folded in 1961

Disappearing tortoise.

Old man on roof

12/12/07

Still at Fort Myers, met some more nice people, usually bikers. Sam came over and gave Jane a pad to go under the side stand to stop it sinking in the sand. We got chatting about bikes etc. and he said when he got too old he would get a trike something like this.

Turns out he is 68, I took a photo of Jane with his Santa blow up outside his static RV.

11-12-2007

Today I found out why the trailer lights were not working properly, whoever wired up the RV cable for the trailer did not connect the earth, and in fact snipped the cable off under the van. So Super Bodge to the rescue, and all the lights work now.
This afternoon was fun fun fun. Rode down to the main beach and rented a two seater Jet Ski, wow are they brilliant or what. The acceleration alone gives a buzz, but the speed and crashing over or through the waves is fantastic, the sea was not exactly warm, but you do not really notice that. We sussed it in the end, if you are on the back just hang on for grim death and scream.

A trip along Fort Myers Beach where we had a fantastic evening meal at Hooters whilst the sun went down into the ocean.


a large ice cream from Dairy Queen










a trip across to Captiva Island

Just had to publish this, Steve may just get some extra business from the work he did on our rig, a nicer guy you just couldn't wish to meet, and I wish him all the best for the future.

We dun bin doin touristy things today, the beach at Sanibel Island, including a dip in the Gulf of Mexico

Fort Myers Beach

Hi Guys I am sure you will notice a difference in the styles of writing - the "man" has given me a free hand on this one - subject to his editing tomorrow. Well we arrived Fort Myers Beach - just over 60 miles down the road from Oscar scherer (and the auto repairers forecourt)- but don't ask why it took us in excess of 4 hours to get on the pitch we had reserved (I will explain) - no we didn't have any problems with the Rig - we trundled along, stopped at a normal Wal-mart (as opposed to a Supercentre) for some provisions - and surprise surprise they had very little in that respect - plenty of other stuff tho - so we did things in style - we had lunch in their carpark (obviously concocted from stuff we had in)- we sure know how to have a good time, we arrived in the general vicinity of Fort Myers beach without a problem - but you try finding a campsite called Gulf Air - that does not have a sign out in that name - try "Sunburst" - yes pretty similar - but hey, use your imagination - you try riding up and down a very busy road three or four times doing U turns - wouldn't recommend it really - just call in to the local garage and ask - maybe for a telephone number or something, and maybe they will give you a "Credit Companies" number - but thank heavens for their customers - a very nice guy called Travis, told Tony he would run him up to the place to show him where it was and then bring him back - which he duly did. Tony walks up to me and says the good news is - we have found it!, we are booked in and handed me the "papers" - the bad news is some-one is on our pitch and the office is closed - what do you want to do! So we drove along to it - had a look around, met the local Forrest Gump (complete with tricycle) and chose an alternative spot - not a major problem as it turned out. We had a very pleasant evening complete with beer and BBQ, we have not been out today - just completed a few more daft little jobs around the place - whoops big mistake - quote " I have been an electrician, a carpenter, chef & teaboy" whilst I did the mundane stuff - like washing!! and laying around on the bench - tidying up and making dinner. The neighbours have been around and intoduced themselves, and suggested a visit to the area is not complete without an afternoon spent at the beach - so maybe that is our next venture!

Sunday through Wednesday morning was spent at Janes cousins, being wined and dined and generally beinglooked after, breakfast being taken directly fron the tree next door, Grapefruit in abundance.

Two lovely days at Oscar Scherer, just outside Osprey, chilling out after the shakedown run, which was interesting in as much as the GPS decided to take
us on a scenic route rather than the direct one. Will have to find out how to change the parameters on the beastie. The site was
smashing (even expected Ant & Dec to appear at any time) ", the first BBQ pretty damn good! but unfortunately for us it seemed
that every mosquito in Florida lived there. I only got one bite the first night but Jane got millions. I shouldn't have
laughed, it was my turn last night, must have left my legs out of bed, hundreds of the damn things made a meal of me, never had so
many, not even in the Far East!

So there we were cruising down route 41 from Oscar Scherer to the next camp site at Fort Myers Beach, when the engine died, no
warning just died, and before anyone mutters "out of fuel", that it aint. We couldn't have picked a better place to break down,
only two lanes, plenty of traffic, and workmen on the third outer lane. Nothing we could do but ring Allstate Breakdown, they
said they would be with us in 60 to 75 minutes, bloody hell!! In the mean time a very nice bobby in a patrol car covered our rig
from a rear end shunt, and stayed with us until a kindly guy with a lorry and chain pulled us to safety - into the roadworks.
Allstate finally arrived after 2 hours 10 minutes and towed us to a garage, where we waited another 2 hours for the guy to begin
looking for the fault.

Luckily the garage had "a city hookup" (free electricity) - so we had power for the fridge,
tv and computer. It turned out to be the distributor rotor arm, which I thought would have given some warning before it died,
anyways by now it was 18.30, and dark, so we decided to stay the night in his parking area, Judds Autos, highly recommended. When I asked what the damage was, he said "I will write it up in the morning, see you about 08.30". Talk about trusting, can anyone imagine that happening in the UK, we could so easily have driven off without paying.

Yesterday we got rid of the rental car and became fully dependant on our own vehicles, then drove down to Apollo Beach with the whole rig without incident. Went out in the afternoon and purchased a small generator, a leisure battery, and copious amounts of other junk, all we have to do now is see if the mechanicals and electricals come together.
Today has been spent forcing four suitcase contents into cupboards and crevices, (crooks and nannies), and amazingly we still have empty cupboards. Discovered how some of the equipment works including the awning, which contained a remarkable amount of water when unrolled. Where did the day go? All in all very busy.

Everything is together, all we have to do is fasten them up, after a little practice. We still have the rental but that goes tomorrow and we will be on our own.

Up the ramp with no effort at all, can't fall off the front there is a box in the way.

Jane says that as it is a little while since I last rode a bike, I should have a practice.

How's this for laid back then? Maybe on the road next time!! ??????

Tomorrow we roll towards Tampa.