YOLO folks road trip to FL, Jan 2019

Our road trip to Florida began just hours after we returned to MI from Antigua. We headed south, but stopped overnight to see friends and avoid a storm blowing through south of us.  It left the scenery along the road touched by a clear coating of ice that was gorgeous.

Our stop at the Sail Rite sewing machine factory in Indiana had their senior technician, Matt, working on our machine to bring it back to its glory of 17 years ago when we bought it at a boat show.  The machine went around the world with us and they were thrilled to see it in such good shape.

Jason is getting a few tips on maintenance.

Another look at the cold, blue, icy roadside flora.

Once we reached FL, we headed to Punta Gorda to see our friends, Mike and Sue.  A rare photo of Mike without a glass of wine, but you can see how his hand is already shaped in anticipation.

Sue fixing us some goodies to eat, a yummy caramel dip for apple slices.

The burgees in their yacht club, Platinum Point Yacht Club at Burnt Store Marina create an entire wall of color.

Mike and Jason reviewing the route for the poker run event hosted by the marina.  We had a blast tooling around in golf carts to have drinks and snacks and draw a card at five different homes.

One of the dealer homes.  He really got into character!

Jason and Mike heading out to try to donate a big screen TV and pick up some specific bread.  Their efforts at both were foiled.

We stopped into the Peace River Wildlife Center, a bird rescue location, one afternoon.  This owl wasn't overly impressed with us, but I was impressed with his ability to turn his head nearly 360 degrees.

This fine-feathered friend, a type of crowned heron, lives on the outside but comes in to wander around the grounds and scrounge for a feeding.

Lots of statues of Ponce de Leon in this park.

Jason and Mike reading about the explorer.

We finally got that glass of wine into Mike's hand at a restaurant downtown, the Celtic Ray.

Jason and Karen enjoyed a beer there, too.

Sue and Mike in their condo.

Karen and Jason in the condo in Punta Gorda.

We headed a bit further south to Bonita Springs to visit more friends.  This is the view from their balcony one morning in the fog.

Jason chatting with Cathy and Floyd in their kitchen.

Cathy and Floyd's home in Bonita Springs--a true mansion, just a block from the Gulf waters.

Jason by a palm in their front yard.

Jason and Floyd working to get a door level so it will close properly again.

A lemon tree next door provided the citrus twist for the Manhattans and juice for guacamole. .

This house across the street is going to be torn down to build a bigger home.

A walk along the beach found this ibis poking around for his food.

We stayed in Orlando near this, the world's largest orange, full of tourist stuff and t-shirts.

We drove to Myrtle Beach, SC to look at this power cat that Jason had been looking at online.  A nice boat, but it had an offer on it that night from someone else, so it was sold out from under him.

The tiny marina along the IntraCoastal Waterway where the cat was berthed had lots of damage to its docks from the hurricanes the previous season.

Parts of the dock were totally destroyed and we had to tread carefully to get on/off the boat.

Jason driving across the southeast US in sun and overcast weather.

Karen riding along in the van.  Navigating required me to read the tiny print on the maps and I need the extra set of eyes to make out the small letters and

numbers.  Jason calls me 'Six Eyes".

The grey beards hanging on the live oaks were pretty awesome along the roads.

The city hall in a small town as we wound our way across the south.

A park in downtown Tallahassee had a nice area for sitting.

A map of the Americas covered a huge tank-like part of a building.  It also carried mathematical formulas I didn't recognize.

Jason and Karen enjoy a flavorful stout at Grasslands, one of the three craft breweries we visited one afternoon in Tallahassee.

A fat-cheeked infant enjoyed the live music with her family, too.

The older sister really had a good time and entertained the audience with her antics to the music of the live band.  Here, she is making faces with Jason.  What cute kids!  A nice venue to enjoy the music and a brew.

In another tasting room at Ology Brewery, I spotted the YOLO sticker on the wall.  Cool!

Karen in a southern belle cutout.

Jason in the southern gentleman version.

The museum in Tallahassee had a great sculpture of jumping dolphins in the fountain out front.

A carved tree trunk also highlighted the manatee and other Florida wildlife.

A display of actual old shipping crates for oranges in the museum created a colorful wall.

A Karen surfing selfie in the special display room that highlighted the history of the sport.

The history of surfing included old surfboards from famous icons of that sport.  Some of them are really like pieces of art with their decorations and colors.

They just make you feel warm, thinking about the beach and surfing.

Jason in his surfer mode in Tallahassee.
The destruction of the trees from the season's hurricanes was evident as we drove westward through the coastal states of Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana.  We weren't even directly on the coast and could see how the trees were broken off half way up.

So many trees were broken, just snapped off half way up.  The roadways have been cleared so this is just the leftover damage we were seeing months later.

A damaged road sign is twisted beyond use and the tree stumps are being cleared away from along the shoulders.

You can see lots of tree trunks, but very few have any tops left on them.  Just a field of dead sticks now.

Part of the route took us through a big swamp area.  We skirted the Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia and other areas closer to the coast.

We left the Gulf Coast and headed inland to Murfreesboro, Arkansas to visit the Crater of Diamonds State Park. The adventure continues away from the water.