BIKES AND THE ISLAND LIFESTYLE

I know that many people think that Jeff and I are on one long vacation.  Don't get me wrong, it is a totally AWESOME lifestyle, but it really isn't a vacation.

We still have to do a lot of the stuff that regular homeowners do, with a twist.  I still have to cook, clean, pay bills, do laundry and all those other mundane chores that come with pretending to be an adult.  Jeff not only has to know how to fix things around the house, but also diagnose issues with the unique types of equipment that come with a motorhome.

We dropped our RV off in Fort Myers, Florida for some work.  Once again, I am grateful we bought the extended warranty since this was a "pre-owned" unit.  The insurance has already paid for itself.  This time, we needed to get our generator repaired.  We seriously only need the generator if we are dry camping and need air conditioning, so this was an easy thing to postpone until we were ready to move out for a few days.

Due to the holidays, we are not getting it back quite as quickly as we would like and after a week, I certainly miss my home.  I used to love to stay in hotels.  The idea of someone else cleaning up after me and eating all my meals out was so much fun.  Not so much anymore.  I miss my own bed and the little table where I work.  Being gluten-free, I really miss cooking at home.  It's hard to find GF food for every meal.  

We decided our vacation would be to the Florida Keys.  I wasn't sure how thrilled Jeff would be driving the bus down Route 1 in heavy traffic and it was someplace I had always wanted to see.

Lighthouse on Sanibel Island

We started by taking a quick day trip to Sanibel Island since it was so close to Fort Myers.  I fell in love with the island culture and we stayed for three days.  We would have stayed longer, but all the modest hotels were booked up for Christmas.  The hotel was right on the beach with amazing sunrises and sunsets.  Ok, I only made it out of bed for one sunrise, but Jeff took pictures for me.  The island has no traffic lights and bike paths that go everywhere you want to go.  There are a couple intersections busy enough to warrant traffic cops, but they definitely seemed to favor cyclists.

 
 

After the first night, we rode our bikes to get our meals, see the town and pick up groceries.  We started out riding the bikes the hotel provided, but they were in such disrepair we switched to our own bikes pretty quickly.  I think this is the first time in years Jeff rode a bike without a Powertap!

My friend, the turtle...I love turtles!!!

I'm pretty sure I surprised Jeff with how much I wanted to ride.  It was perfect for me.  The weather was warm, the terrain flat, the people happy to be riding and no worries about the cars!  I had my two longest ride days back to back since becoming so ill .  There was a deli that had gluten-free breads for their sandwiches and a couple gluten-free pizza places.

Jeff warming up the snowman at Sanibel Deli

I'm so glad we were there at that time.  I have a friend that told me once Christmas hits, the island is a zoo!

The one downside to Sanibel Island was the insects; not the big, scary ones you hear horror stories about but rather, tiny microscopic ones that come out on the beach near sunset.  I have literally 100s of bites on my arms and legs and couldn't see the bugs till the very end.  I still don't know what they were, but they kept me off the beach the last day.

So we started meandering down the Keys, spending a couple days on Key Largo.  Beautiful swaying palm trees and a terrific view of the Gulf help make up for the commercialization of the island.  We like to have a good time, but we really aren't "party people".   It's a nice central location for a few day visit though.




 
 

Yesterday, we went back north to Homestead to see the Fruit and Spice Park.  It's not a tour for everyone, but I love cooking and plants (even though I have a black thumb) and there were varieties of fruits, especially that I had never heard of.  I thought it was pretty cool, and Jeff was very patient with my "odd" fascination.

Baobab Tree - Tree of Life

I also woke up all excited to ride again yesterday, so we rode to breakfast, again.  Just the idea of doing it makes me all giggly.  At least in Key Largo, there is a bike path along Highway 1 so we didn't have to fight with the traffic.  Once again, loving the island culture.

We planned to ride early this morning on a trail in the Everglades. I didn't quite make that opportunity.  Unfortunately, today I woke up less well than I have been for a while.  I am running a bit of a fever and have a lot of aches.  I am unsure if it is the bug bites or maybe just a fun hangover, but I have been taking it easy.

Tomorrow we are heading down to Little Torch Key.  It's about 20 miles outside of Key West, much quieter and less expensive.  We are thinking about having Jeff ride his bike down so he can get a good long ride in while I drive the car down.  There is a kitchenette in the hotel, so I will be able to prepare some meals for us.  That will be our Christmas spot this year.  Home is where the heart is and as long as I am with Jeff, I am home for Christmas.

Merry Christmas to all, wherever you may be.

 

 

 

Childhood

There are some who think Jeff and I are having a mid-life crisis.  Could be, could be...but I prefer to think that we are two hard-working people making the most of the time we have left in a society that seems as if it could fail in a moment's notice.

I could also say, "This is not a mid-life crisis, this is my second childhood."  Except it's not.  I never really had a childhood.  I was cooking complete meals by the time I was 6.  Made my first Thanksgiving feast at 8, had my first part-time job at 10, full-time job at 14.  That was back when people didn't check your ID for most things.  I even had my own apartment at 16.  I loved the things I was doing; cooking, working, living on my own and didn't even realize other people didn't live that way.

Meeting Jeff was the best thing that ever happened to me.  It maybe wasn't "love at first sight", but it was pretty much "this is the best friend I will ever have".  At least it was for me.

For the 32 years that I have known Jeff, he has done everything possible to give me the childhood I never had.  He taught me to ride a bike at 27.  I was terrible at it.  He took me camping for the first time; I think I was 29.  I hated it.  Now, I love riding and come closer to liking camping.  I hate bugs and discomfort, but I am starting to like fires and being outdoors.

One year, Jeff put Christmas stockings everywhere in our house; one for every year I hadn't had one.  He encourages me to play.   To him, my play includes bike riding, hiking, cooking for pleasure instead of necessity, playing games and relaxing.  Such novelty!!!

My first fat bike ride!

In the spring, we discovered some very good friends were in Orlando while we were in Tampa.  We drove over for a day to see Epcot with them.  They are the kind of people that you can be "kids" with, totally outrageous.

We found out the same friends would once again be in Orlando while we were going to be in Florida.  We scheduled ourselves into a nearby RV resort so we could spend time with them.  We went to "Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party" at the Magic Kingdom.  Magic was the key word.  This is not something Jeff and I would have done on our own, but with Fatboy and Sassy, it was like seeing only the good side of Disney and none of the negative.  Normally, I don't care for parades, but this was so amazing!  All the Disney characters and more.  And particularly, on this day, the Disney cast members all seemed to be in phenomenal spirits, full of holiday cheer!  I did, however, take the "Walk of Shame" and bail on Space Mountain.  As we stood in line, I became increasingly more concerned that it would mess up my back to the point I would be unable to walk.  I love roller coasters, so this was really hard.

On Saturday, we met up with Fatboy and Sassy again; this time at Universal Islands of Adventure.  I went on the Hippogriff roller coaster so got my fix that way.  We also went on the ride through Hogwarts which was so cool!  The ride got stuck for about 10 minutes while we were dangling in front of a huge dragon head.  Such a blast!  There was even a restaurant with gluten-free meals so we could eat like a normal person instead of nibbling at nuts and protein bars.  The temperatures had been in the mid-80s for several days so it was perfect for water rides.  The Popeye and Bluto Blige Rats was the most water fun I remember ever having!  The entire day was a child's fantasy and I loved every minute of it!!!  We polished off the visit with our friends with a luau at their hotel; another first for me.  Polynesian flavors and extremely attractive hula dancers (male and female) ended the day on a perfect note.  It was really hard to see them leave the mid-80s here and return to a snow storm in NJ.

Awesome friends make for awesome times!!!

So, I can't commit myself totally to this "childhood" thing.  There are still bills to be paid, meals to be shopped for and created, housework to do and the part-time job bookkeeping for the bike shop.  But I am trying to capture every minute of childhood possible.  There are a few more physical paybacks than a child would have, but it is definitely worth it!