March 2023
March 2023
In which
we are reunited with Dora and head off on our big road trip.
We arrived
back in Miami on the evening of 10th March. An Uber from the airport took us to the Intercontinental hotel where she was waiting for us. Unfortunately, 2 months had been too long and
the battery was not only flat but failed.
3 hours later and a new battery
installed we were able to head off to our overnight accommodation only about 24
hours after departing Bournemouth.
Although the
main direction of travel was to be North and West, we had decided that it would
be a shame not to take the opportunity to visit the Florida Keys, so the next
morning we headed South and East. The
journey down to our first stop, for lunch, at Key Largo took an hour longer
than expected as it was the weekend before St Patricks Day and a festival
effectively closed the road for an hour but patience was rewarded with a
fantastic seafood lunch at Jimmy Johnson’s Big Chill. From there it was an easy journey down to
Marathon and our motel. The receptionist
asked if we were in town for the seafood festival. What?
It’s on all weekend. We had
intended to stay for 2 nights and pop down to Key West on Sunday but, time not
being pressing, we elected to add a day, go for a walk on Sunday morning, hit
the seafood festival for lunch, and do Key West on Monday. The walk turned out to be mostly suburban but
it was good to be back on shorts and T shirts and we found a beach to get a
little sand between the toes. The
seafood festival turned out to be mostly about other things but I did manage a
half dozen oysters and a lobster. Back
to the Motel to have a zizz while it digested then out for another seafood
supper.
Bridge between Keys
We had been
to Key West before. It was our port of
entry when we had been asked to leave Cuba at the start of the Covid outbreak
but we had not been permitted ashore to do the tourist thing. On Monday we drove down crossing many keys
and bridges including the 7 mile long one which features in so many
movies. Our first stop was Fort Zachary
Taylor which we had anchored opposite on our arrival and departure nearly 3
years before. We then went for a stroll
which included a lunch at the Firefly and a visit to (almost) the southernmost
point of the USA. Back to a different
motel, which had a mini kitchen so we dined in.
Tuesday saw
us finally heading in the right direction
Back past Miami and out on the US 41 across the Everglades. A long promised treat in the afternoon was an
airboat ride through the swamps. A great
trip, not seeing as much wildlife as we might have wished to, though there was
a little zoo and a ‘gator show so we got to see the locals. As someone who has driven boats from rubber
dinghies to super-tankers, I was in awe of the skill of the ’captain’ who
piloted this flat bottomed craft at high speed through the mangroves using only
throttle and rudder, missing trees by inches.
Great fun. Onwards to an AirBnB at
Naples on the Gulf coast. From here, we
took a walk along the beach the next day to peer over the hedge at some of the
millionaire’s mansions. Some were
impressive but others recalled the excesses of the ‘cottages’ at Newport, Rhode
Island.
Thursday, on
to our first house-sit of the trip at Clearwater on Tampa Bay. Here we looked after 2 small dogs and 2
rabbits. Then, onwards to our second sit
with overnights at a motel in Perry, Florida and a charming little AirBnB cabin
near Mobile, Alabama.
The next sit
was also for 2 small dogs, this time in New Orleans. Our first afternoon, we took them for a walk
along the Mississippi levee but the
second we just took them on a couple of little local walks and took ourselves
on a walking tour of the old French quarter, followed by a lunch of jambalaya
in a pretty down-market but authentic eating house. The following day, we drove out to an old plantation
house. We did the tour of house and
garden, all very interesting, but the tour was not a cosy affair. The Family that had owned it pre – Civil War
were almost universally repulsive. While
the story of slavery is well known and we were aware that, following the defeat
of the South and the emancipation of the slaves, many were trapped on their old
plantations, paying rent and buying food, clothing etc. from the company store we
did not know that this entailed them in heritable debt so that some of their descendants
were still paying this off a hundred years later.
French quarter.
Street band
Jambalaya
Plantation house.
Onwards
again, across mile after mile of swamp, including an 18 mile long bridge, with
an overnight in Beaumont, Texas, to San Antonio. A relaxing day here with an obligatory visit
to the Alamo followed by a surprisingly pleasant walk along the riverside
through downtown. On our way back to the
car, we passed a barbeque joint and had a huge lunch, mainly consisting of
Brisket. We had intended to go out for a
Texas steak supper but were too full and postponed it to our next stop. To get there we headed inland, leaving the
low coastal areas with a steady climb through the oilfields to Brownfield. Another motel here but with a twist. The room was decorated like a salon in
Versailles with rococo furniture and a chaise longue. We did go out for our steak supper. The steak itself was fine but our arrival at
7:30 meant that we were the last customers and it was clearly a bit late for
the staff.
Motel room
Trip miles 2501
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