FLORIDA - Part One

We have been in Florida for over 3 months and are just leaving to continue our adventures north. We started in the far west in the Panhandle, cut across to the east coast where we worked our way down to St. Augustine, Daytona Speedway, Cocoa Beach, Ft. Lauderdale then down to the Keys and then up the west coast to Ft. Myers and Nokomis (where Kim had her foot surgery).

Instead of putting out blogs on each of those stops, we're going to put out a few blogs highlighting some of our activities with photos and captions. We trust you'll enjoy the quick overviews.

St. Augustine

America's oldest permanent European settlement

The oldest schoolhouse in America

One of the nice walking streets downtown. Shops, restaurants, historical places.

Kim insisted I try on these beer glass glasses.

Old Spanish architecture downtown where the city center used to be.

Maybe this is why she wanted me to try on the glasses?

You can take this boat out into the bay and Atlantic Ocean....for a fee of course.

Castillo de San Marcos fort re-enactment of the color guard.

While I explored the upper walls, Kim took a break to listen to the lectures. "Hi Blog-Folks", she says.

Inside the walls of Castillo de San Marcos where guides give lectures while dressed in period costume.

Looking out over the bay from the upper walls of the fort, Castillo de San Marcos.

Cocoa Beach and Port Canaveral

A first-class deepwater port for passenger ships near Cape Canaveral.

There were three large ships in dock loading when we were there.

Look at all the decks on this boat !

One in the foreground and one in the background. We could not get over how huge they were.

One of the local Florida icons.

I bet you can guess which is Kim's hat shelf and which is Steve's....and NOT by the type of hats either!

This truck was pulling a 38-ft 5th wheel and, for his get-around car, he had one of those Smart cars.
This is how they loaded it up.

Sandhill Crane in our RV park. This one was OBNOXIOUS ! He was noisy and aggressive. After we left photographing him (her?) he came over outside our door and "honked" for food !

...just had to take this photo of the Duck Gathering 2012.

One morning we got up before the sun, drove over to the beach and watched the sun come up over the horizon. Kim took dozens of shots. This was just an example of how beautiful it looked.

After the sun came up, the sky got even more gorgeous.

Florida Keys

The word "key" is derived from the English word "cay" which in turn is derived from the Spanish word "cayo" and all mean "island."

Also, "cayos" is the Spanish word for little islands.

They are called keys because they are a chain of little islands.

Looking west toward the Gulf of Mexico from the Seven Mile Bridge.

This is Steve snorkeling in the Gulf. Our RV park had an area sectioned off with floats. He was in the water at least three times a day. One day I saw a manta ray while he was in the water....eeeek !

We thought the entire keys' roads were like this but only a few spots had these long bridges connecting the islands but, once you got on them, the view was spectacular.

Way down in the last island, Key West, is this spot that is the Southernmost Point in the continental USA....only 90 miles to Cuba from here. Naturally, there was a very long line to get photos taken. We took this from across the street in our car.

A typical tourist street in Key West....many many were like this.

We wanted to get out and walk around the town a bit but this cruise ship arrived at the same time and about 3,000 people debarked to clog up the streets....rats.

There were many styles of home in Key West....and expensive. This one is about $400K.

Another style of Key West house...even more expensive. Location, location, location.

...and a bunch of houseboats too. Not sure how they ride out the storms.

One day we rented a kayak. This is Steve coming to get me. This was a tandem kayak.

Most of the sunsets were amazing. A few days were so-so, but most were like this.

Everyone in the park would start gathering about 30 minutes before the sunset to watch.

This is one of the better photos Kim took. Nice huh?

One day, I got on top of our motorhome to wash the roof. This was our view of the Gulf.

One day, Hobbes wanted to do some reading.

Well, we hope you like this smattering of photos and events....we'll do at least one more Florida blog before we move to another state.

Kim and Steve

Kim's New Wheels !

Kim had some foot surgery done on her right foot April 23rd. She had a large bone spur and, because the cartilage was worn away between her big toe joints, she was in increasing pain. The joint bones were rubbing against each other.

This made it so that most shoes pressed down on this spot...more pain.

After surgery...no weight on her foot for two weeks.

She sat in our lazy boy chair on pain medicine and rested.

Our cat, Hobbes, kept her company. Guess who got to do ALL the chores for those two weeks!!??

Here are the x-rays from this last Thursday when she was FINALLY able to take her walking boot off after 6 weeks and walk freely (and pain free) for the first time in months!

Side view showing the bottom horizontal screw to fuse the 2 joints together as well as the 2 vertical screws front and back.

Top view showing the "plate" that makes sure the joints stay solid. LOTS of hardware in there.

We had two questions for the doctor: (1) will this set off the airport security alarm? ANSWER: it might but if you take off your shoe, they'll just wand that area. (2) will it rust? ANSWER: no, it's surgical steel.

Anyway, you should have seen Kim's face when she was walking around the hospital afterwards. Joy all over her. FINALLY, pain free feet. Congratulations Kim for sticking through it all.

Steve

Daytona International Speedway

Daytona is the first race of the season for NASCAR and it's the "SuperBowl" of racing for the sport. We've (well, actually Steve only) thought of visiting as soon as we got to Florida so....

...on our way down the east coast of Florida, heading to St. Augustine, we stopped off to take a tour. You will have to read the entire blog because I saved the best for last...way at the bottom.

Daytona International Speedway opened in 1959, but the history of auto racing at Daytona
goes back much farther than that.
In 1936, the precursor to today's Daytona 500 was born on a course that went down 1.5 miles of highway, then turned and came the same distance back up the beach.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daytona_International_Speedway

The official tour tickets.

Our tour bus that pulled us around the track. We got let out on the backstretch. Interestingly enough, the entire racetrack has banking. The backstretch has 3 degrees. The Start/Finish has 18 degrees and the corners have 31 degrees.

NASCAR, and other forms of racing, have now instituted “Steel and Foam Energy Reduction (SAFER) barrier” wall systems. This is a floating wall inside the original wall, with foam and steal separating the two walls. The concept? When a car impacts this wall, it will give way making the impact much softer than hitting a concrete wall at the same speed

The SAFER barrier consists of sections of 3/16 of an inch thick steel tubing, 28 feet long and 8 inches by 8 inches in diameter, backed with thick, closed-cell foam block and retrofitted to the existing retaining wall of a racetrack. .

Photo showing the connecting cable system to strengthen the SAFER barrier.

Photo showing the connecting cable system to strengthen the SAFER barrier.

As part of the tour, we got to see the garages for the race cars.

Kim in Victory Lane ! (after winning my heart)

We got to go into Victory Lane where they roll the winning car after the race.

This is where you see the driver dowsing everyone with whatever the sponsors drink happens to be...Gatorade, Pepsi....etc.

The race is over, and you’re team has just picked up that ever important win after a hard fought day. Your driver has done his burnout and his polish victory lap, pulled into victory lane, and has gotten his Gatorade bath. After he gets his TV and radio interview, its time to pack the hauler and head to the house… Nope, not so fast.

It’s hat dance time.

I’m sure you’ve seen it. Whether you have been at the race live, or watched it on TV. Part of the victory lane activities is the traditional hat dance. The whole team gathers around the driver and the trophy and proceeds to take photo after photo, changing hats each time. Each hat represents a NASCAR sponsor, track sponsor, or team sponsor. There are Goodyear hats, Sunoco hats, series hats, sponsor hats, track hats… You get the picture.

The amazing cornucopia of hats that are ripped through during this chaotic few minutes would make even the Mad Hatter crazy. And its all done to show everyone involved a little love. Each entity represented in the hat dance will receive one or multiple versions of the photo for their records. They can and have been used in posters, advertisements, sponsor materials, and for office decoration.

These photos let everyone know that your company was part of a winning effort. It's really fun to watch them....and, even though everyone else is back taking showers and eating, these guys are still doing the dance BUT, they don't mind a bit....THEY WON THE RACE !

Joey Lagono in the middle of his hat dance.

Right before the photo is taken, the team has already changed hats.

The drivers' meeting room where all the drivers and owners gather before the race to go over the rules and any last minute instructions. You can see our sponsor's hat - DIXON, CALIFORNIA !

They painted the seats all these colors for looks...there is no more meaning than that.

The front grandstands hold over 100,000 people ! The back stretch stands hold another 50,000 people ! Then there are all the RVs and campers in the infield....it's one of the largest cities in Florida on race day.

We got to go up the the press box at the very top to view the entire track.

They had a dirt bike race right before we got there so all that dirt you see is where the green grass and Daytona logo is usually seen.

....like this !

View looking towards the last turn heading towards the Start/Finish line.

Now...for the best part....it was windy out so you'll have to listen closely to hear the narration.....and our laughter at seeing these 31 degree turns. You cannot believe how much of an angle they are until you see them live. The movie might take a moment to load but it's worth it.

View up the turn from the tour bus. Imagine cars going over 170 mph three-wide going around here !

Another view to show the steepness.
The tour director said you have to go a minimum of 95mph just to keep from slipping down.

In 2010, they completely re-paved the entire track. This is showing them scraping off the old road. Again....check out the turn angle.

Then they went and re-paved it....they used tractors at the top to hold onto the paving machine
so it would not slip down as it paved.

Like I said at the top.....that was the best part....seeing the steep angled turns....amazing !

Afterwards, we hung around the always-present Gift Shop but only bought a 50-cent postcard.

Nice, nice tour. Our director has followed the race for over 30 years as a sports reporter and now works full-time giving tours. He was a wealth of knowledge and very willing to answer all questions in depth.