Off the Grid

When you are camping, at least in our case, you are off the grid a lot.  We relied on wifi (weefee as we call it) service at McDonald's.  Occasionally some SPs would have weefee but it was hit and miss.  Some days there was no phone, weefee nor TV of any kind.  It was great.

Being off the grid, there is a lot of time freed up to reflect.  I would stare at the campfire for hours, listen and watch the birds all around or Marie and I would discuss things and go for long walks on the beach and trails.  Knowing we could connect at McDonald's the next day to check in with family and friends was reassuring.  (At McDonald's usually you do not have to get out of your vehicle to connect, their signal is so strong.)

Here are some Inner Journey lessons I (re)learned as a result of this trip (I have to get them down before they vanish...):

1. Hot sauce is not for me any more.  I gave it up for Lent as an experiment and my life is much calmer now.  It was a long walk some nights to the bath house when I was 'using'.

2. Wine is not for me much any more.  Wine is much cheaper in the U.S. - 3 litres of very drinkable merlot for $9.97 at Walmart.  I drank a lot of wine on this trip.  The last night at Henderson SP in Destin I over did it.  In Mass the next day I was quite quesy and wondered why I was 'punishing' myself so to speak.  I decided then and there that I was sick of wine - I don't want anymore.  Since then I have had a glass or two but that was to be sociable. I am wine free.

3. I like (chatting with) people.  God, it's great to be in America where everyone not only says hi but will strike up a conversation with you.  Where are you from, how long you been down here, I've been to Canada, Do you know..,the weather, the weather, the weather...But also more substantive conversations about the warmth of family relations, appreciation of beauty and nature, to find the best in others, to give of one's self and leave the world better.

4. I like religion.  In the U.S., religion is in general more visible. There are so many large churches everywhere, parking lot's are full on Sunday and there are billboards exhorting people to go to church and honour life.  We rarely missed a Sunday mass and went a few times in the week and always came away with renewed reverence for God and Faith in Jesus.  The televised EWTN mass at 08h00 every day was a habit when we were in the condo.

5. Our marriage is a blessing.  We survived the close proximity of camping together in the RV without killing each other as Marie says.  It was trying at times ( I take up a lot of space.) We compromised of course and I had to learn to be more patient.  The occasional blow up was inevitable but we each have short memories and we would say sorry and move on.  I felt really blessed to have such a great partner.  Marie was galley girl and I was BBQ boy.  The closeness and increased patience has carried over so far.

6. We like travelling.  It's a pilgrim lifestyle that is hard but appealing.  Always pushing on, not sure where the road will take us but alert to new possibilities and God's greatness get's us through, day after day.  Curiosity drives me to want to see everywhere, touch the ground and smell the smell's of places all over the map.

7. The Sunday NY Times is a great read.  Suffering now from Sunday NY Times withdrawal.

Best,

Turtle Beach

So we are camping on Turtle Beach and the weather has turned great.  It's 80+ every day so far and no rain.  But last night the weirdest thing happened.  We had a dew storm.  A heavy fog rolled in and condensed on the tall pine tree above our RV and it started to rain dew.  It rained hard dew most of the night.  I did step out from under the tree and it was not raining.  Weird, a dew storm.

So where is Turtle Beach?  It is on Casey Key just south of Sarasota.  It's a Sarasota County campground right on the beach.  The Gulf of Mexico is 200 footsteps from where we are parked.  This is the best kept secret place to camp in Florida so shhh, don't tell others.

To day we went to Siesta Beach on Siesta Key, a 8 km drive north.  Voted the best beach in America a few years ago - yes the No. 1 beach in the US.  Acres of white sand, endless beach front, soft warm waves and a mile long sand bar to stroll on.  OK, you get the picture.  But I forgot to mention the thousands of beach bods strolling and lazing in the sun.  Free parking, washrooms, concessions, picnic tables, volleyball nets, beach exercise classes - all absolutely free.

Every night we catch the sunset.  There is a man who blows a conch shell like a trumpet at sundown on the beach.  There is another man playing a recorder and a woman playing the guitar and singing softly. Too much.

This the way to live, especially on FEBRUARY!