But on a brighter note, readers will now be getting two blogs instead of one.

I was up about 8:45 this morning since we weren’t quite sure how early Nick and Terry would be pulling out. But by the time we had coffee and some of Miss Terry’s bread, toasted and buttered, Nick showed up and said they were getting close. So Jan and I headed over to their rig to say our goodbyes and get our last hugs in before they left.

We watched them make the turn out of the park and then went back to the rig, and I went back to work.

Damn, I miss Nick already. No excuse left to goof off.

I spent the rest of the morning working on a couple of laptops, one of which I’ll deliver this afternoon. Both had severe virus infections and took a while to get straighten out.

For lunch Jan made cheese toast using Terry’s bread, along with chips, and a cranberry muffin for dessert.

I headed out about 2pm, first to Fry’s for some RAM, and then O’Reilly’s Auto Parts to return a relay. Then it was on to my client’s to deliver the laptop.

Coming home about 4:30, I stopped off at Wal-Mart to make a return and then headed down to Dickinson to pick up some Tortilla Soup, Queso, and chips at Monterey’s to take home.

Put together with some leftover Nachos, it was a great meal.

Tomorrow looks to be a pretty full day of client stuff, hopefully enough to keep me busy, off the streets, and out of trouble.

But, as I always say, “One out of Three ain’t bad”.

Here’s a repost of some more of California/Oregon coast trip in 2010.

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Thought for the Day:

1010011010 – The binary number of the Beast

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First Time in Oregon…

Originally posted on May 16, 2010

We left Klamath River RV Park about 10 am heading for Oregon.

This was a really beautiful park and we wish we could have spent more time here.

This is our first time to be in Oregon. The only other state out here we haven’t been in yet is Utah. But that’s coming up.

On today’s trip, we tried combating our continuing cat barf problem by not feeding the cats this morning before we left.

And believe me, they weren’t happy about this, and let us know it.

But it did seem to work. Mister tried to once, but didn’t have anything to throw up. Finally they were both so miserable they just curled up together on the sofa. This from two cats that really don’t like each other.

I guess misery DOES love company.

Getting into Oregon, we started seeing acres of cranberry bogs. Always thought they grew in the northeast, not the northwest.

We arrived at the Midway RV Park in Coos Bay about 1:45 pm and got set up.

Note the large pelican carving just to the right of our site.

I think Jan, who collects pelicans, might be trying to figure out if this one will fit in the coach somehow. I don’t think so.

A little later we headed out a seafood restaurant called Fisherman’s Grotto that the park manager had recommended to us. And it was great. Jan wants to go back tomorrow.

About 7 pm I fixed coffee and we had the pie we brought home from Marie Callender’s last night. Delicious as always.

Not sure yet what we’ll do tomorrow.

We’ll see…

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A couple of cuties!

Today’s our last day with Nick and Terry before they head out for Rockport, TX tomorrow morning so we left the rigs about 10:30 am to have lunch at King Food up in Webster. And as usual, we spent as much or more time talking than eating, although you couldn’t tell it by Nick and I.

After finishing lunch we stopped off at a nearby hobby shop so Nick and I could look at RC planes. They had a good many, but we were looking for something cheaper to play with.

Next, it was on to Wal-Mart. I mean, what’s a day without Wal-Mart?

Besides a few and various sundries, Jan and I were looking for a kitchen cart. She really enjoyed having an extra work surface in the kitchen when our washer/dryer was out waiting for parts in December.

So, after doing a lot of checking, we decided to take a closer look at this one. And after seeing it, we bought one home. It looks like it will fit between my computer chair and the dining table chair just fine.

Then it was on to Fry’s Electronics to pick up some new LED Christmas lights. I’d noticed the other day that they still had some in stock and I wanted to replace the old ones in the light ball I made Jan a couple of months ago. Some of them had already started burning out. LED’s are supposed to do that.

It’s about 12 inches in diameter and hangs in the front window of the coach. Jan saw another rig with something like it a few months ago and wanted one too. It looks pretty good.

Next we drove around the area to sightsee some more, including NASA and around Clear Lake and back. Then, heading down toward Dickinson, we drove FM517 over to Alvin as a preview of the route they’ll take out of town tomorrow heading to Rockport.

Heading back east we stopped at a Buc-ee’s to get cappuccino’s and gas, before then heading east on FM517 out to San Leon and April Fool Point to check out some RV parks in the area and also Topwater Grill, a really neat seafood restaurant right on Galveston Bay

Finishing up our trip, we got back to the rig about 5 to rest up for a couple of hours before heading out about 7 for our last dinner together

And we ended up at La Brisa, just like the first night of their visit. You can’t go wrong with Mexican.

Nick said they plan to leave out about 10 tomorrow so we’ll be up to see them off. It’ll be about a month until we meet up again in Yuma for the next Gypsy Journal Rally starting the 5th of March.

But at least we got a temporary Nick and Terry fix for a few days, so I guess it’ll just have to hold us until then.

Drive safe, guys.

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Thought for the Day:

"In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock." — Thomas Jefferson

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Thought I’d post more of our trip through the Redwood National Forest in 2010.

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Elk and Deer, Yes – Whales, No…

Originally posted on May 15, 2010

We started off our last day in Klamath, CA with breakfast at the Klamath River Cafe just like yesterday.

I had the eggs, bacon, and 3 pancakes. The pancakes were so large that I could only eat one.

After breakfast we stopped by the Post Office to mail off some packages, but since it was Saturday, it was closed. In small towns, apparently, the PO doesn’t open at all on Saturdays.

Then it was on to the Tour-Thru Tree, one of several drive-thru redwood trees in the area. This tree is still alive and still growing.

I remember driving thru a Sequoia when my family came out west on vacation back in 1964 when I was 15. When I checked it out this time, I found that it collapsed in 1969 due to heavy snowfall. The only remaining drive-thru trees are now all Redwoods.

Next, heading up the road to the Trees of Mystery place that we had seen the day before, we encountered another of the many of these signs we had seen. What’s kind of scary is that this road is about 300 feet about sea level. I don’t want to be anywhere near here when a 300 foot tsunami come through.

A few miles down the road we arrived at Trees of Mystery and got parked.

We bought our tickets and headed up the 1/2 mile trail to the beginning of the Sky Trail gondola ride.

This is the Family Tree, twelve trees growing out of one trunk.

This tree has a hollowed-out passageway underneath it.

This is Fallen Giant, a 320 foot tree that fell about 500 years ago.

More tall trees than you can imagine.

The Cathedral Tree, a ring of 9 trees, is often used for weddings and other ceremonies.

This is the Brotherhood Tree, 297 feet tall and 19 feet in diameter.

After a pretty steep climb, we reached the beginning of the Sky Trail and headed up the side of the mountain.

Getting to the top, we found a family of chipmunks living underneath the Sky Trail upper terminal. I think this was Jan’s favorite part. They were running everywhere.

The view from the top was really something.

Then it was time for the ride back down. I had to search Jan to be sure she wasn’t smuggling any chipmunks back down.

Starting the trail back down we saw the Towering Inferno, a tree that was stuck by lightning in December 1995. It was originally over 250 feet tall and about 1200 years old. It burned for several days and this husk is all that’s left.

The bottom part of the trail was thru the Trail of Tall Tales, consisting of large scale carvings telling stories of Paul Bunyan and his friends.

Back in the parking lot we checked out the large statues of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox.

Funny, but I always thought Babe was a girl.

Jan thinks he’s a guy !

Leaving Trees of Mystery we headed down the road and out to Requa Point to do some whale watching. The brochures said we could see whales off the point here from mid-April thru May.

How many did we see?

None.

But we did find this plaque. When I first read it, I thought the human food they were referring to was US.

Leaving Requa Point we headed south about 95 miles to drive the Avenue of the Giants. This is a 31 mile stretch of old US 101 that threads thru some really tall trees.

Next we headed about about 25 miles further south and made the misinformed decision to make the 21 mile drive out to Shelter Cove where we were absolutely, positively guaranteed to see whales. What we didn’t know that this 21 mile drive would be the steepest, twistyest drive we’ve encountered since we drove up Mt Washington in New Hampshire last year. The 21 miles took us almost an hour and a half.

Of course it would all be worth it when we saw the whales.

NOT!

We saw some beautiful scenery, but nary a whale was in sight.

And, of course, we still had the 21 mile, hour and a half, drive back.

And then, of course, the 120 mile drive back home.

Coming back from Shelter Cove, we did see a lot of deer feeding along the road.

Getting into Eureka about 6:30 pm we stopped at a Marie Callender’s for dinner, and a couple of pieces of pie to take home with us.

Coming thru Trinidad, (no, not that one) we encountered what we had seen on a local billboard. The largest herd of Roosevelt Elk in the world crossing the road in front of us.

This YouTube video shows what it looked like.

Finally, about 8:30 pm we got back home after a long day, and over 250 miles.

Tomorrow we travel about 160 miles north to Coos Bay, OR for a couple of days.

More then…

hgdghd

So this is all you get.

We went some places with Nick and Terry.

We saw some things with Nick and Terry.

We ate dinner at Floyd’s Cajun Seafood with Nick and Terry . . .

and Brandi, Lowell, and Landon.

Just remember, it’s Nick’s fault.

To make up for it, here’s a repost of our some of our visit to the California coast in 2010.

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Coastal Drive and More Elk…

Originally posted on May 14, 2010

Today we headed out about 9 am to drive around the Redwood National Forest area. We first came across the Tour Thru Tree, one of several trees that allowed you to drive your vehicle thru them. We decided to check it out later and kept moving.

Next we came to the town of Klamath and stopped for breakfast at the Klamath River Cafe. It turned out to be very good with really good coffee.

Then, heading north on US 101 we saw the place we’d been seeing signs for – Trees of Mystery, apparently the home of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox.

They have a gondola sky ride above the trees, a trail thru the trees, and some other things. Another thing for a later visit.

We headed on up the road to Crescent City to scope out the place and do the Walmart thing. Coming back I stopped for gas and we headed back toward Klamath.

Seeing a sign for a coast trail we took a turn down the road and headed toward the ocean. The first thing we came across was a large herd of Elk just off the road, just laying around catching some rays.

Following the road along thru the forest we came across a lot of fog in the trees.

Coming back past the rig we dropped off our groceries and headed back out to make a Coastal Drive thru the Redwood National Park that we found out about in some brochures.

And it was a great drive. Most of the road was a narrow one-lane gravel road winding thru the trees right along the Pacific coast.

And we finally got a close up look at some big trees.

We got back to the rig about 3 pm and were in for the night.

A while later Jan cooked up a batch of her great Chicken Rice-A-Roni, along with some garlic French bread. For dessert we had some fresh cherries we got at a road side stand today.

Tomorrow we’re going to check out the Tour-thru Tree and the Trees of Mystery, and then drive back down south to the Avenue of the Giants for more big trees.

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Thought for the Day:

It’s easier to track the wolf in the snow than in his den.

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We were meeting Rudy Legett and his wife Caroline there for lunch. Rudy is an Aqua Hot Repair Technician, and one of the few that will come to your coach, rather than you having to take your coach to them.

We had a great time getting to know Rudy and Caroline, and hope to run into them on the road again soon.

Leaving Monument Inn, we stopped off right down the road to get some photos of the San Jacinto Monument, where Sam Houston surprised Santa Anna and his troops, and defeated the 1400 main force with only 900 Texans. Over 600 Mexicans were killed, and more than 700 were captured. Meanwhile, only 9 Texans were killed.

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Across the road from the Monument, lies the Battleship Texas, the only remaining dreadnaught battleship, and one of the few that served in both WWI and WWII.

The USS Texas fought at \the D-Day Landing in Europe, and the Battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa in the Pacific, and after being decommissioned in 1948, became the first US battleship to become a permanent museum.

Coming back to the RV park, I dropped everyone off and headed back into Clear Lake to work with a couple of clients.

Finally getting home about 5 pm, I napped for about an hour, before Jan and I when over to Nick and Terry’s for a while. After watching one of our favorite shows, The Big Bang Theory, we drove over to Dickinson to have a late dinner at Monterey’s Little Mexico.

We were happy to hear that Nick and Terry have decided to stay an extra day, so they won’t be leaving until Sunday morning. Yeah!

Tomorrow we’re all going to drive down to Galveston to show them the sights, and then tomorrow night we’re having dinner at Floyd’s Cajun Seafood with Brandi, Lowell, and Landon.

Thought I’d repost our visit to Martha’s Vineyard in 2009.

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Thought for the Day:

“Whenever I feel blue, I start breathing again!”

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Martha’s Vineyard…

Originally posted on August 5, 2009

Today we took the ferry over to Martha’s Vineyard to check out this famous island.

We sailed on the MV Island Home, a ferry that can carry up to 76 vehicles, including semi tractor trailers and big RV’s. But we didn’t take our rig, or our truck over. We just took ourselves.

The Island Home can also carry up to 1200 passengers, although we were probably only about half full. The trip takes about 45 minutes and was very comfortable. We even had a breakfast sandwich and coffee during the trip.

Our port on Martha’s Vineyard is called Vineyard Haven, and is one the two large ports on the island, the other being Oak Bluffs where a ferry also docks.

Getting off the ship we saw an Island Sightseeing bus so decided to jump on. Our tour lasted almost 3 hours and took us all around the island.

Our guide pointed out the many houses of the rich and famous. Ted Danson, Michael J. Fox, Doris Day, Diane Sawyer, and many others.

Our first stop was at a Aquinnah Indian area at Gay Head Cliffs. There were several small restaurants, gift shops, a lighthouse, and most importantly, restrooms.

GayHead Lighthouse

The Gay Head Cliffs are one of the many beautiful areas on Martha’s Vineyard, and supposedly, one of the best beaches.

Gay Head Cliffs

We didn’t get to visit the cliff area, but here’s a pretty pic from the Internet.

Moving on down the road, we passed The Field Gallery, an outside art gallery with some very strange art work.

Field Gallery

We ended our tour at Oak Bluffs, the other harbor on the Island.

Oak Bluffs Harbor

The town is very quaint, with many cute little houses left over from a 19th century Methodists camp meeting area.

Oak Bluffs Houses

These houses originally cost $400.00, but now can go for over $400,000.

After a VERY good meal of Mexican food at a place called Zapotec,

Zapotec

we checked out the Flying Horses arcade.

Flying Horses

As the sign says, it houses the America’s oldest carousel.

Carousel

It was built in 1876 and spent the first 20 years of its life at Coney Island in New York. Then in 1896 it was moved here to Oak Bluffs where it’s been ever since.

While we were waiting for the VTA bus to take us back to Vineyard Haven and our ferry home, I caught a shot of this beautiful stay-rigged schooner sailing offshore.

Schooner

It’s amazing to think that ships like this once sailed around the world.

We got back to our rig about 6:30 pm, tired, but having really enjoyed our day.

Tomorrow, a whale watching boat trip, we hope…

She was fixing some of the Galaxy Gourmet Croissants that our daughter Brandi gave us for Christmas. They were shipped to us frozen solid, and in plain and chocolate-filled favors. They come out of the box about the size of a Snicker bar, but after thawing and rising for about 9 hours, they look like this.

And boy, are they good! Flakey, buttery, melt-in-your-mouth good. They’ve been on Oprah’s Favorite Things List twice in the last few years.

About 11 am Jan and I headed over to Nick and Terry’s for croissants and coffee, and a bit of conversation and world-problem solving.

The other thing we did was watch the bad weather roll in. This photo was taken about 1 in the afternoon,

We kept getting warnings and watches for tornados in the area, but I guess they missed us.

I was supposed to go into a client’s office this afternoon, but when I called them to say I was going to stay home and be in tomorrow, they said that was fine because they were closing the office and going home. So that worked out well.

Later in the afternoon, it cleared up a little, but then around 4:30 the black clouds rolled back in and started spitting rain again. But on a brighter note, it’s supposed to be nicer tomorrow.

About 5 pm Nick and Terry came over and we all headed up the road to Stomp’s Burger Joint, our favorite local hamburger place. And I think it’s Nick and Terry’s favorite now too.

Pictured is my favorite burger, the Hog Wild. It has raw, unsliced bacon ground up and then cookded with the hamburger meat. It’s kind of an inside-out bacon cheeseburger.

And of course, you can’t forget their fabulous crispy, flakey, sweet onion rings.

After Stomp’s, we drove over to Lowell and Brandi’s to pick up Nick’s mail, and so he and Terry could meet Brandi, Lowell, and Landon. Lowell’s sister Sherry was also there, but she’ll be in Oklahoma when we all get together Friday night.

Our last stop before heading home was a quick Wal-Mart fix for a few things. Then it was home for the evening.

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Thought for the Day:

Remember, a chicken crossing the road is poultry in motion.

sdfgf

But our first stop was Katz’s Deli in the Montrose area. Jan and I have eaten here several times and wanted to share it with Nick and Terry. Katz’s is an authentic New York deli that was transported to Texas in 1979 and it’s been booming ever since.

They have Reubens literally 6 inches high, that are delicious, and at that size, really hard to wrap your mouth around.

Along with the fantastic Broccoli/Cheese Soup, Potato Salad, Cole Slaw, and Crunchy Kosher Dill Pickles, it was a meal made in Heaven. Well, maybe not, since the Jewish religion is somewhat ambivalent on the whole Heaven/Hell thing, but, anyway, it was really, really good.

Waddling out of Katz’s, we headed over to the Heights area to visit Penzeys Spices, a mecca of attraction for Jan and Terry. They have pretty much any spice or seasoning you can think of, in any size or variety.

Need 9 different kinds of cinnamon from 4 different countries? They’ve got it.

Need 6 different forms of vanilla? You’ve come to the right place.

Of course Nick and I just sat in the truck and read our Kindles while Jan and Terry spent our money.

Finally leaving Penzeys a few dollars poorer, we headed over to the Galleria area so we could introduce Terry to The Container Store.

Jan and I have been coming here for years, always fascinated by the many containers and gadgets they have. Pretty much any way to store any thing you can imagine.

We left The Container Store about 3:30, hoping to get ahead of the going-home traffic. And we made it, but just barely. As we came down off Beltway 8 onto I-45, we started seeing lights, police cars, and fire trucks.

Turns out, an SUV traveling at a high rate of speed on the feeder, had jumped the curb, flipped over, knocked over a light pole, and crashed into 4 or 5 new cars at a VW dealership, ending up upside down on top of the cars.

Bummer! I hate it when that happens.

Back in our area, we stopped off at Brandi’s to pick up Nick’s mail, and then drove over to Fry’s Electronics for what turned out to be a fruitful visit. Nick found a nice 1TB External Hard drive and Terry got her a Dyson Digital Vacuum.

Then Nick and I went across the street to Academy to look at some guns, but didn’t see anything we liked.

Since it was now about 5pm and everyone was finally hungry after our big lunch at Katz’s, we drove over to King Food, which was nearby. Jan and I were glad to see that Nick and Terry liked it as much as we do, and we had our usual great meal.

Finally, after a long, but fun, day, and a quick stop at a CVS, we were back home for the night.

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Thought for the Day:

All wiyht. Rho sritched mg kegtops awound?

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It was bright and sunny all morning and then Nick and Terry showed up a little after 1pm.

And of course the clouds rolled in.

But we ignored the weather, just having a great time being back together with good friends. We haven’t seen Nick and Terry since the end of October so we had a lot of catching up to do.

So as soon as they were hooked up at the site, and settled up at the office, we headed out for lunch at Outrigger’s, one of our favorite local seafood places. It’s located underneath the Kemah Bridge on the Clear Lake Channel just off Galveston Bay, and part of the fun is watching the many birds around the area.

This pelican and egret seemed to be trying to stare each other down. They just stood like that for a good while.

As usual we spent a lot of time talking after we finished eating, just enjoying old friends.

On the way home we drove around the area, showing Nick and Terry some of the sights. Nick and I also checked out a nearby gun range, where we hope we’ll have time to go punch some holes in targets.

When we got back to the park they came over to our rig and we talked even more.

Hey, we have a lot to catch up on for the last three months!

Later, about 6:45 we all headed up to La Brisa, to meet our son Chris, his wife Linda, and our granddaughter Piper, for dinner.

After two hours of great food and conversation we called it a night and everyone headed home.

Tomorrow we’re heading into Houston for some shopping and eating, two of our favorite things.

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Thought for the Day:

“Engage people with what they expect; it is what they are able to discern and confirms their projections. It settles them into predictable patterns of response, occupying their minds while you wait for the extraordinary moment – that which they cannot anticipate.” – Sun Tzu

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Note that it’s sunny tomorrow morning, but the rain is due in tomorrow afternoon, and then rain all next week.

But on Saturday, when he leaves, it’s sunny again. Funny how that works out.

But rain or no rain, we’re really looking forward to seeing them again for the few days they’ll be here.

Jan and I are big fans of dragons, and I recently found these two neat pictures on the Internet and wanted to share them.

I really like the Tabasco baby bottle. The way I like spicy hot food, I wonder if I had one of these.

On another note, the turn signal indicator on the rig does not make enough noise for me to hear it. Jan can hear it from the passenger seat, but due to too many gun shots and and playing loud bands, I can’t.

So today as I was going through one of the bins, I came across a little 12vdc buzzer unit and decided to fix the problem.

I removed the flasher unit (that’s the red box) from under the dashboard panel and made up a couple of spade lug jumpers. crimping the buzzer leads into the jumpers.

I then Gorilla Taped the buzzer (that’s the little black unit) to the side of the flasher unit.

Here’s another shot of the leads.

I then plugged the jumpers into the flasher socket and checked it out. Loud and Clear!

While I’m on a roll, I also want to do one as a ‘headlights on’ alarm. I’ve got the diodes, but I’ll have to look and see if I have another buzzer. If not, they’re only a couple of bucks.

Other than this, it was a pretty quiet day. Jan cleaned (company’s coming) and I worked on some projects outside. For lunch Jan heated up some delicious leftover Mexican. I think it was almost better than originally.

Then around 5pm, I headed over to my client’s office to do some stuff that’s easier done when no one’s on the network.

Jan and I are really looking forward to Nick and Terry getting here tomorrow, even with the weather they’re bringing.

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Thought for the Day:

“…. that he is incapable of staying on the river of a thought, and is constantly lured down tributaries from which he can never quite work his way back–you can see him batting the little paddles of his mind against the weeds, trying desperately to return to the river but not remembering where it is, or where it was going."

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He’s such a cutie!

Nick Russell called about 12:30 to double check the directions to our park. Unfortunately he will have to cross over two big bridges, so I guess we’ll be lucky if he shows up at all. They should be here Monday afternoon, staying for five nights. We’re really looking forward to it.

Jan and I left the rig about 2pm on our way up to Brandi’s, with a quick stop at O’Reilly Auto Parts for some electrical connectors.

Then, after playing with Landon for a few minutes, Brandi, Lowell, Jan and I headed up to The Woodlands about 3pm. They wanted to show us around the Woodlands Mall and take us to the Kirby’s Steakhouse for dinner.

And when I tell you this is a high-end steakhouse, how many places do you know that have Ostrich,

or a $120 Wagyu Beef steak on the menu?

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From the Fried Asparagus appetizer, to the fabulous steaks, and the Lobster Risotto, Garlic Mash Potatoes, and Sautéed Mushrooms sides, finishing up with Crème Brule with fresh berries, this was a meal to remember.

And somewhere there in the middle, we killed off a delicious bottle of Moscato d’Asti. And that’s all I’m saying about that.

adfsdfs

Even the bathrooms are high class.

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Afterwards we walked off dinner, sightseeing around the Woodlands Mall Outdoor Courtyard.

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The place even has a Tiffany’s. Lucky for Lowell and I it closed about 5 minutes before we got there.

Whew! Dodged a bullet there.

Unfortunately a few minutes later, Brandi and Jan came across a Baby Gap store, and about $150 later, we were again on our way. But I guess it was still better than Tiffany’s.

After a wonderful evening, we headed home, finally getting back to the rig a little before 10.

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Thought for the Day:

"The three most dangerous things in the world are a programmer with a soldering iron, a hardware type with a software patch and a user with an idea."

sdfgf

On the way home we stopped off at Wal-Mart before getting back to the rig about 11:30pm.

Thought I’d repost some of our visit to Key West in 2008.

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Birthday Wishes and Key Largo Dreams

Originally posted on May 19, 2009

First off, Jan and I want to wish our son Christopher a Happy Birthday today.

Jan and I decided to explore back up the Keys today. We went all the way up to Key Largo and then back down to Key West. There were several places that we drove by on the way down that we wanted to take a closer look at.

Strangely enough, most of them seemed to be gift shops.

Lunch was at a small, but very good Chinese buffet restaurant in Marathon called Panda Cafe. Really good!

We drove in and out of several rainstorms both up and down the Keys. But it did produce some very pretty pictures. And the ‘Glades and Keys can certainly use the rain.

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One thing we got see on our trip today was ‘Fat Albert’ floating over Cudjoe Key.

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‘Fat Albert’ is a 175 foot long helium-filled blimp floating at 10,000 ft. It is tethered to a pickup truck at the small blimp base on Cudjoe Key.

It is used mainly by NORAD, and the radar it carries monitors suspected drug smuggling flights, fast boats smuggling Cubans, weather, any low flying plane and other potentially harmful activity.

It is also sometimes used to broadcast ‘TV Marti’, which consists of anti-Castro TV programs beamed toward Cuba.

After we got back we headed down into Key West for another dinner at Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville. Just as good as last time.

And of course, a few more gift shops had to be visited.

Tomorrow will be our last full day in the Keys before we head north to West Palm Beach on Thursday. We’ve really enjoyed all the sights we’ve seen here in Southern Florida and the Keys.

Here’s a few pics…

Traveler’s Palm

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We also saw this interesting lizard while we were at Coral Castle.

Red-headed Agama

This one was about a foot long and I had never seen one like it.

A quick Google told me that it is a Red-headed Agama, native to Africa. It seems that some agamas being kept as pets had escaped and there are now a number of colonies thriving here in South Florida.

When they are in courting mode, the males are even more colorful.

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We’ve also seen a number of interesting signs.

Looks like this guy has his business plan mapped out.

Yes there are crocodiles in the Keys. The really scary part about this sign is that there is a 6 ft fence on both sides of the highway for the entire 6 miles. I’m not sure I want to think about crocodiles that can jump 6 ft fences.

And finally, like I needed another reason to eat more Key Lime Pie!

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Thought for the Day:

I wish life had an UNDO function.

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