Bye Bye Fort Lauderdale

I don't believe we're leaving just 5 days before mini-lobster season! aaarrrghh We haven't had a freezer full of lobster for a long time. But, we really gotta get going. So, we let it go. We had a busy week taking care of things. One important thing that just got completed at 8pm last night is installing new steps. They died (wouldn't drop down anymore) a few weeks ago. Jim ordered new ones, but when they came and he tried to install, they were the wrong steps. So, he returned those and ordered the right ones ... $500!!! Every day he checked to see if they arrived ... nope. Yesterday afternoon they got here. Last night he got help to install them. whew! It's kinda hard to get in and out of the motorhome without those steps! I had a couple website and database jobs to wrap up with my customers. Or, at least say goodbye and make sure our 'remote control' system was working so I could continue working from wherever I am. Then there's friends and family to say goodbye to. It's sure interesting how time is different for us in this lifestyle. I swear that, when I lived here, I might even go 2-3 months without seeing my good friend Chris at all! Now I was here 3 1/2 months and we saw each other a half dozen times. We had lunch yesterday and it was sad to say goodbye. Knowing that you're not going to be in one place indefinitely gives more importance to every day. I think that's a great thing. Have you ever been thru the exercise of asking yourself "If you knew you only had one week to live, what would you do with your remaining time?" It's kinda like that, only without the impending doom. We know our time is limited wherever we are, so we make the most of it. My Mom made it especially easy to say goodbye. I dropped her off at the airport the other day on her way to an adventure in China and Tibet. We made good use of our time by editing some of her old videos. Check out this short clip from her 2000 dive trip to Micronesia. If you just get a white screen, have patience, you don't have to do anything - it will start playing on its own. OK - time to 'stow and go'. On to the next adventure!

Route to Redmond

We'll be leaving Fort Lauderdale next Friday, July 20. We need to be in Redmond, Oregon by August 12 in order to present our seminars at the FMCA convention which starts August 13. We normally take the southerly route - I10. It seems more direct, there are lots of Thousand Trails parks along the way where we stay free because of our membership, and we usually stop and see our Coach Connect friends in Austin. BUT, Jim just made a Datastorm sale and we need to be in Springfield, Missouri to install it. SO - I went to Google maps, entered 'FROM Fort Lauderdale TO Redmond, Oregon'. Then, using the tip I just learned ... I dragged the line to Springfield, Missouri. This is what I get: Does that look like fun? We think so! By the way, if you want to learn all about the seminars we're presenting in Redmond, and lots more, sign up for our free Geeks on Tour newsletter.

Google just never stops!

I'm speechless. The Googleguys have outcooled even themselves with this one. Google maps for trip planning. Don't like the route it draws? Just grab the route and drag it to where you want to go. Check out their demonstration video.

Another great dive

We went kayak diving again on Sunday ... that's my kind of church. Another gorgeous day, but a little choppy this time. Got a good workout paddling back in over 4 foot waves against the wind. We were down for 1 hour and 25 minutes! I think that's a record for us. I really like diving in shallow water. When you dive deep, (50-100ft) you're very limited in how much time you can stay down (25-45 minutes). When you dive 20-30feet like we do from our kayaks, you can stay down as long as your air holds out. The water temperature was a perfect 82 degrees. I was in heaven, just floating along, no current, taking in all the sights, or just meditating. We didn't take any cameras with us, so this time I'll tell you about what we saw when we were underwater. Lots of standard reef fish, parrots, grunts, sargeant majors, puffers, jacks, groupers, spotted drums and french angels. Fort Lauderdale's reef system may be 'dead' but there sure is a lot of life on them. We saw quite a few of what I would call 'special' creatures too ... I've gathered some photos to show you these ...

Interdependence Day

We like to celebrate Independence Day on July 4, but we also celebrate our anniversary. So we refer to this as Interdependence day, since it celebrates when we committed to building a life together. I think we've done pretty good! This year is number 9. We celebrated by going kayak diving! I know, you're not surprised! It was a splendid, sunny, flat calm day. So gorgeous. We left all cameras at home. But here is a small clip from the last time we went kayak diving. Today we dove with my uncle John who is investigating and documenting an area where a ship wrecked in the 1800s. Pretty cool. Tonight we'll watch *our* fireworks (amazing that they spend all this money for our anniversary isn't it?!) from Fort Lauderdale beach by going to dinner at our friend Emily's. She's a short 2 block walk from the beach. Happy 4th of July!