Posted on January 11, 2015
-We hit 10,000 Miles on our drive to New Orleans!
After Florida we randomly decided to check out New Orleans. Dan had been there back in his touring days, but Toni had never even been to Louisiana. We spent the morning and afternoon exploring the city. We walked through the French Quarter, listened to bands performing on the streets, ate some lunch, snapped lots of photos, and popped in and out of stores. The city was crazy! There is so much happening there all the time. It was 11AM on a week day and we could barely move. We got a small dose of New Orleans and decided we were both ready for the woods.
See you soon, Texas!
-D&T
Posted on January 11, 2015
-Tight squeeze!
-But we made it work!
-We quickly became friends with our neighbors cat who decided to sleep on our patio chairs. We named him Bruce, upon our departure we found out his name was actually Peter.
-Look at those eyes!
Hallandale Beach is conveniently located in between Fort Lauderdale and Miami. We knew we wanted to explore a bit of Miami and Dan made plans to fly out of Fort Lauderdale for a meeting back home. So we figured this was our best bet. I know what you’re thinking..what the heck is there to do in Hallandale Beach, Florida? Your instincts are right. There is nothing to do. If you’re not in Key West, Florida is pretty dang boring. We made a couple day trips to Miami. We had lunch with one of Dan’s old friend’s, Christian in South Beach, and drove around the areas with gigantic mansions. But it rained a lot during our stay so we didn’t feel too inclined to get the whole Miami experience. We ended up going on lots of movie dates, ordering incredible pizza from The Vanucci Brothers (we were on a first name basis by the time we left), and lounging around the campground’s pool.
Did we mention we almost adopted a dog? One day Toni had the brilliant, (definitely not brilliant) idea of going to the Miami-Dade Animal Shelter. The shelter is the largest one either of us have ever been to. Hundreds of dogs, and little baby kittens for free, just because they had too many! Oh and just to make it even more heartbreaking, the shelter is a kill shelter. Animals hardly last more than a week. As soon as one gets adopted, five more are brought in. We fell in love with a six month old Pit Bull mix named Jack. His pen was located at the far end of one of the isles, isolated from human interaction and no other dogs in his pen. His blue eyes and wiggly body pulled us in. We played with him outside, shed a few tears, and talked about him the whole rest of the day. After a few phone calls with our mothers, and a heart to heart over dinner, we came to the decision that we just can’t take on another dog right now. We felt terrible, and we still talk about Jack now, but we have high hopes that he found a loving home. Who wouldn’t want a love like him?
We can’t say Hallandale Beach was crazy riveting, but it wasn’t terrible! It was almost kind of nice to not have anything to do. Sometimes rain and boring towns are a blessing in disguise.
On our way north we made a pit stop in Fort Pierce, Florida to see our friends Vail and Blake. They were hanging at Blake’s dad’s house and invited us over for lunch. We ate a delicious Brazilian lunch outside and caught each other up on our lives (it had been at least three years!!). Willow got in some necessary puppy time too. Vail has two eight month old pups, Melon and Bear, and all three of them ran laps for hours in the backyard. Willow missed having dogs around that could keep up with her.
-D&T
Posted on January 11, 2015
After Nashville, we headed straight for Key West, Florida and picked up Dan’s parents, Genia and Len at Fort Lauderdale Airport for a long weekend full of Key West festivities. The drive from Nashville took us a couple days and we tried to be punctual, seeing as we were in a bit of a time crunch. We signed up for a program called Harvest Hosts a few months back and decided to put it to use on your way. Harvest Hosts is a community full of people who offer a piece of their land to RVers along their routes so that they have a nice, safe, place to crash. We called up a local farmer’s market in rural Florida who were listed as hosts in the program and ended up parking The Toaster behind their market. We stocked up on yummy organic groceries, watched the sun set over their farm, and cooked a delicious dinner. We were up bright and early the next morning and headed to the airport.
Our campground in Key West was a dream. It was surrounded by palm trees, creating tall walls between us and our neighbors, and we had our own tiki hut out back, surrounded by water. Can you believe it? What a dream. I (Toni) remember looking at Dan and saying at the same time, “do we have to leave?”
Dan’s parents rented an RV a few spots down from us. Not only were they able to get a feel for the RV lifestyle, but they were right there! Only one car was necessary, all meals could be cooked together, and I’ll admit, I missed having a mama around.
Most mornings we woke up to a text from Len or Genia that read, “Out on your deck reading. Come out whenever!” It was nice having family around, even if it did get a little hectic sometimes! Genia and I would cook breakfast for everyone while Len and Dan attempted to catch fish off the deck using the previous night’s left overs as bait. Breakfast tacos, blueberry waffles, western scrambles, and always jar full of cold brew for everyone around the table. I’m just gonna say it…we kicked butt at breakfast.
After breakfast we separated back into pairs and got ready for whatever the day was about to hold. We spent most afternoons at the beautiful beaches Key West. We’d lounge on the warm sand, using palm trees for shade, sipping iced coffee from our mason jars, and reading books under floppy hats. The beaches there are insane. I’d never been in water so clear before. We usually grabbed Cuban food for lunch. Either at the place a few blocks up from the dog beach, or Frida’s, an adorable little gem near mile marker zero. Occasionally, after the beach we would get cleaned up and spend the night exploring Duval street. Duval is crazy, overwhelming, intense, overcrowded, and strangely enjoyable. If we weren’t planning on cooking a giant dinner, or just didn’t feel like cleaning, we would grab dinner somewhere on Duval. On Len and Genia’s last full day in Florida, we checked out the local boat race. The race was totally foreign to all of us, but ended up being a blast. We ended the day with Mexican food somewhere downtown and pumpkin spice cookies back at their RV. We were sad to see them go, time flew by way too fast, but the family days were great while they lasted.
Dan and I decided to spent a few extra days in Key West by ourselves. We ate too much pizza, bought a ukulele, and did a jet ski tour of the island. The jet skis were a blast. I’m not gonna lie, having a twenty eight year old who thinks he’s a twelve year old control your life on the back of a motorized vehicle is terrifying, but if the worst thing that happens is losing your favorite sunglasses, you’re in good shape.
Key West, I can’t wait to visit you again. And Genia and Len, thank you for coming to see us! You made a permanent stamp in our memories of this trip.
-Toni
