Claudette's Blog

Arrived in Florida. I just have a few things to say before I move on. People! I just need to let you know that while driving 22 THOUSAND POUNDS of moving metal, I will not be able to stop on short notice. So if you insist on cutting me off on the highway while driving at 65 miles an hour, I may not be able to brake in time and may squish you. I would have no other choice but to say "OH MY GOD!".

Now that I got this off my chest, I would love to say that I really love Florida. I really liked our campground called Everglades Campground in Miami. It's really in Homestead but technically in Miami. We are surrounded by farms or I should say plots of land that are used to grow home and garden plants, decorative palm trees and even a few mango and avocadoes groves.

RVing is a great way to test communication skills, especially when you are not sure where you are going and the GPS wants you to drive on a dirt road. It's really important to use language that both parties will understand. You see, I have a tendency to have left that is right and a right that is left! So, I've asked my husband to say, turn on my side or your side.

That's really helpful to me. I can VISUALIZE that a lot better than right or left (some malfunction in my brain connections I guess). So imagine for a moment here that we arrive at a crossroads and the GPS tells me to turn right, but we soon discover it's not fit for a 53 foot long rig. My husband quickly says to turn left and I'm struggling in my head "which left?" I won't go into details about the rest of this conversation, but just to let you know, no matter who you are, developping communication skills is a life long project. ;)

On our day in Miami, we decided to visit Key Largo, the first of the Florida Keys. It’s really pretty and what we noticed it has a feel of the Caribbean. So if you wish to go to the Caribbean, just go to the Keys. We went to a state park called John Pennekamp. If you are looking for great sandy beaches, the Keys are not the place for this. Although the water is beautiful, I would categorize the Keys more for snorkeling, diving and fishing rather than enjoying the beach. It’s a coral type sand, meaning that it’s not fine like beaches that you may see in Florida and other East Coast beaches (I later found out that if there are no waves, the beach tends to be coarser. The waves are what makes the sand finer). We enjoyed canoeing and snorkeling at this place. It was a really nice way to spend the day.

Tomorrow, we head out to Miami airport to pick up my son and his daughter and then it’s off to Key West.