Dennis Blew By

Hurricane Dennis didn't hit southeast Florida. But it threatened the west coast just enough to keep Lynne and John here a couple more days. Awwwwww - darn! For not 'hitting' us though, we still got our share of wind and rain. The winds buffeted the coach all night and rocked us to sleep! By the time it hit the Florida panhandle it was a major category 4 storm, but all accounts are that it didn't do the damage that Ivan did last year. On Sunday I took Jim to the airport at 6am. He's off to Redmond, Oregon for the Great North American RV Rally where he'll be operating the WiFi hotspot for Coach Connect. It sure feels funny to be in the RV alone. I am getting some really good work done tho. I used to like living alone so much. It's still a nice change, but I feel a little out-of-sorts. I'll bet he really feels funny tho. We are SO accustomed now to having our entire home wherever we are. You never have to think about packing when you take your house - and the kitchen sink - with you everywhere you go! As long as he has his computer and an Internet connection - he'll be fine.

The Cosmic Muffin

We tried to go Kayak diving on Wednesday morning, but the wind was a little too strong, so we kayaked around the canals of Fort Lauderdale instead. Very easy paddling and lots to see with all the yachts and other boats, the fabulous waterfront homes and landscaping. Lynne took a disposable water-resistant camera and the photos were developed and put on CD today. I should probably refrain from using them here and just let Lynne post them on her blog .... ... thinking ... naaaah Here's John paddling. Here's me and Jim: Now, for the high point. You see, Lynne and John call their motorhome the 'Cosmic Muffin'. It is their 'Rocketship to the Stars'. The original Cosmic Muffin comes from Jimmy Buffet's book 'Joe Merchant'. The character called Desdemona was contacted by interplanetary aliens and she used the converted Howard Hughes aircraft as her Rocket Ship. I found a great article with the whole story here. And here's the lyrics to "Desdemona's Building a RocketShip". The converted Howard Hughes Boeing 307 Stratoliner is actually for real. And it is docked in Fort Lauderdale. So, that's where we paddled! You can visit the owner's website here. Lynne, John and the Cosmic Muffin 1. Lynne's Rocketship to the Stars?! What a spectacular day!

Fireworks by Kayak

THANK YOU Sean! Thank you for having a home right on the beach and inviting us to join your July 4th party so we could paddle our kayaks to Deerfield Pier and watch the show. I don't have any photos because I figured that beach sand and sea water probably would not be good for my camera. But, take my word for it, paddling out into the ocean on a warm Florida night is a sensual experience. This is the third time we've done this on the fourth of July and it is so heartwarming to see those fabulous fireworks that they set off for our anniversary! Here's a photo that Lynne took of us. 7 years ago today we got married. My Mom paddled with us as well as Lynne and John. We even saw dolphin surfacing less than 100 yards away! We had the best viewing position possible. The crowds on the beach were to our left, the dozens of party boats were to our right, and the fireworks were being set off from the pier in front of us, vibrating our innards when they exploded directly overhead! The wind was blowing a little, which meant that we got some real exercise paddling back to our starting point. Cool. Doubly cool that we get to share this with Mom and our RVing friends! Lynne and John are parked right next door. We get to have dinner together with no more preparation than us walking next door with our plates!

Kayuba!

Our Kayak Diving club - Kayuba - had it's July 4 picnic today. (yeah, I know it's July 3 - so we get to go to another July 4 party tomorrow!) First I gotta show you a photo from the night before with a beautiful sky. This is a view from our campsite at Easterlin Park. Ok, so, here's this morning's gathering: A view from the picnic spot looking north shows that we're right beside Port Everglades. Kayaks and cruise ships sharing the same ocean. And snakes, picnicers and kayakers sharing the same beach! What was SO exciting to us, other than any opportunity to go Kayak diving, was the fact that our RVing friends Lynne and John are visiting. They got scuba certified last year in the springs of northern Florida, so this will be their first time in the ocean - let alone diving from a kayak! They're Ready! Here's the 4 of us paddling out. Y'know, this is just another kind of RV (recreational vehicle). As it turned out, I had a minor equipment malfunction (blown o-ring) so, I ended up snorkeling and we had to stay in pretty shallow water. Lynne and John did great - like they were the 25 year pros and I was the novice. The water was calm and warm and the sunshine was beautiful, just paddling and swimming was great. But, we hope to take them to the real 'Kayuba Reef' on Tuesday to see some real diving with corals and fish and eels more pretty stuff. *Thanx to Mom and Emily for for taking some of the above photos with my camera while I was out paddling.*

Work, Work, Work

Hey! We couldn't ask to be paid if we didn't work sometime huh? So, Jim's been doing some troubleshooting and upgrading. We've both been visiting users and working on support calls and emails. The park we are in, Paradise Island, is a Coach Connect park. Actually, it's how we got started with Coach Connect. You can read the whole story here. We gave our WiFi seminar here the other night and it felt so weird! In the room where we gave the seminar there are bookshelves filled with books. Those are *OUR* bookshelves and our books that we donated when we sold our house. And, some of the people who attended - we already knew! As always, when we help people with their computers, we get to meet fascinating folks. One is living in the park here because it is close to Executive Airport where she is training to get her pilot's license. She has her computer equipped with the fanciest flight simulator equipment I've ever seen. Sitting down at her computer involved climbing into the 'cockpit'! If you know us very well, you know that we never work very hard ... if only because we have such a passion for computers, Internet, and helping people use them, that it's not really work for us. BUT, also because we love to play, and, why else would you be in South Florida in July except to play in the water?! Here I am coming in from a fabulous dive right off Fort Lauderdale beach. Learn more about this great sport of kayak diving at www.kayuba.org I posted more photos, and a couple videos about kayak diving in a weblog post from last year if you want to see more.