South Florida

Did I seriously end that last post with a piece about gloves? Yes. Yes I did. That's what happens when people say "you need to post something, anything, everyday" and I have nothing to post about.

Anyway, I'm not dead. It's just that south Florida is so boring.









The pictures I don't have yet are from more boring activities like fishing at night and water-skiing. Scuba diving was a strange and terrifying new experience, but we didn't take pictures.

Man did I have a blast. My Aunt and Uncle live on a canal that goes out into the bay so at one point me and one of my cousins dropped a kayak into the water, and paddled out to an island to just hang out on what that day amounted to a private beach. And out in Miami bay, we visited this huge sand-bar where every day there's hundreds of people out there, all with their boats, just chillin' in the water, drinking, bbq-ing (on their boats), and having a good time. It's an incredibly cool scene. Guess who didn't bring their camera.

I spent about a week staying with family in Miami, and visited more family in Parkland a couple of times.

I left Miami to head north on Tuesday. I made it to Orlando where I stopped back at my friend's place. My plan was to spend the night and head to Jacksonville the next morning. As luck would have it, this time his other friend was visiting and he works for Busch Gardens, Williamsburg, so was able to get us all in for free to Busch Gardens, Tampa. So I shifted my plans over a day and went to yet another theme park for free the next day!

The day after Busch Gardens, I bid farewell to my pals and headed north out of Orlando. An hour later in Daytona, I ran into what I can only describe as a wall of lightning. The storm was raging and lighting was just dropping out of the sky like, well, rain drops. The storm was sweeping north-east from the gulf, through Daytona, and up to Jacksonville so I turned my bike around and went right back to Orlando.

I then waited for the next 2 days for a window in the storms. Yesterday I had the window at 8pm, but couldn't get in contact with my host in Jacksonville, so I figured I'd head out anyway, and my Jacksonville friend would either get back to me before Daytona, or I would turn around again.

I got to Daytona. No word from my friend. There I was, pulled over on I-4 staring at the sign up ahead for I-95. I could either call another cousin of mine in Orlando whom I haven't seen yet on this trip and crash at his place, or I could continue on to Jacksonville anyway. If I stay another day in Orlando, the storming might pick up again and I could be stuck. But if I head up to Jacksonville, I have no place to stay and have to improvise.

I call my cousin but as soon as it starts ringing, I hang up and decide against it.

Isn't this where adventure happens? I'm neither here nor there. These in-between times are the most interesting. Not the easiest, not the most comfortable, but by far the most interesting. Stories are crafted from such nights. I stand on a precipice looking down into uncontrollable fate and I can turn around and visit my cousin, or leap with wild abandon into the future.

I look at the sign for I-95 North and turn my ignition key, a smile on my face. Then my phone rings. It's my cousin, he decided to call me back and I explained the situation. He said to come on down, I got a place on the couch, it's no problem, all that hospitality. "Ok, I'll be there in an hour." and then I turned around and headed back to Orlando to spend yet another night there.