Florida is taking a lot longer than I had anticipated. Not only is it very long, but there are things that seem to demand a little longer look than just spending the night. Key West was one of those places. Not that there was really much there besides rather silly “tourist” things, but just because it has occupied a place in my “bucket list” for many years. I think it would be an entirely different, and more fun, if I had taken the time and effort to get involved in water related things such as fishing, snorkeling or just swimming. But I didn’t, I stayed with my feet firmly planted on the ground. It was pleasant, but I am unlikely to return any time soon.

It took a few driving days to finally get back to beach front roads. The lower half of the state has lots of beaches, but they are all either behind private fences, or require more effort than I was ready to spend for the public beaches. I peaked in a few times but only saw people sitting or milling around on the beach, doing nothing much. I like to do that sometimes, but this was not the time.

After looping inland and driving a hundred and fifty miles on totally boring highways through trees I came upon the little town of Flagler. It immediately appealed to me. For one thing it sits immediately on the beach, which is totally open, accessible and parking is free. It feels a little like a “surfer” town from the ’60s. I ended up in a rather funky, run down and poorly maintain hotel called Topaz Motel.

I was immediately drawn to it because it was NOT anything like the Best Western hotels (and others) that I have been staying at on most nights. It is true that there are only two working outlets, and those are used up by the hotel things such as lights, clock, refrigerator, etc. I have to unplug some essential item in order to plug in a computer, charge my phone or other things. The room comes with an in-room jacuzzi but it is all rusted, in pieces and has a big sign to NOT use it because it is broken. It just takes up room in the corner. The television doesn’t work. My biggest disappointment is that while I managed to get a room overlooking the ocean, the shades can’t be moved aside so there is no view of anything. The Motel itself is well on its way to becoming a hole in the ground. Rot and broken things are the most obvious features – but I like it in spite of all that. It feels right. I like it so much I decided to stay a second night.

The beach is quite close, perhaps 200 feet from my room, across road A1A which is pretty quite here. If I walk across the road to be able to see over the top of the protective dunes, I see something like this view:

Last night I walked less than a half a mile toward town and found a really nice open air bar that had live music playing many of my old favorites from the “hippy” days – the musicians were vintage also. I got so engaged it listening to the music that I forgot to order dinner. By the time I remembered that I was hungry every restaurant in town was closed. The band stopped playing at 9:00 – it wasn’t as if I had stayed up until the cows come home. A bit of moldy cheese and a handful of crackers made do for dinner.

By morning I was pretty hungry. A short walk back toward town brought me to a “resort and spa” that advertised breakfast and that it was open to walk-in customers. I walked in. The menu had none of the offerings in “normal” American diners. No grits, no hash-browns, no eggs any way you want them. I ended up getting an egg crepe. It was beautiful, I should have taken a photo of it, but didn’t think of that until I had finished eating it. It started as a round crepe covered with some sort of meat based filler, then the edges were folded over to make a square shape with a hole in the middle where the sunny-side egg sat. It came with fresh fruit and great coffee. The chef came out of the kitchen a couple of times to check on how I was liking it. What a nice breakfast. It was pretty, tasted great, with a beautiful of the early morning ocean with a few fishing boats out at sea and little gangs of pelicans gliding along the surface of the water. On top of that, but the waitress was cute and friendly. It was a perfect breakfast – the best meal of the trip.

It was a little funny watching the surfers attacking the waves during the morning. Most of the waves were perhaps five inches tall and barely made the waiting surfers bob in the water. About every ten of these ripples turned into a rideable (noticeable) wave. The largest that I saw was perhaps a foot high, but it was enough to push the surfer toward shore. The whole thing was a slow motion encounter with the sea, where there was a lot of hoping and fantasy, but not a lot of action. By afternoon I see that things have changed a bit. There are some white caps offshores, and a few low breakers. It might actually be surfable.

I think I have modified my travel plans in some significant ways. My son, Kevin, called yesterday and offered me a little advise about how to get home quicker, easier and cheaper than just forcing a long drive home. It is about 3,000 miles across the country. At my normal rate of 150 miles a day, that is 20 days of driving until exhaustion each day. I realize that 150 miles is not much for normal folks, but it is just about the end of my tolerance on a regular day-in day-out basis. I had planned on 20 days to return.

Kevin asked if perhaps I wouldn’t be better off shipping the car home and flying. That seemed reasonable, I think it costs something like $2500 to ship a car across country. It is costing me almost $200 a day in my current mode of travel, which would be $4,000 driving. I could save $1,500 and not have to beat myself up. I then wondered about just selling the car on this side and carrying the money. It costs nothing to ship the money. I suppose I can get an airline ticket for around $700 dollars, and can ship the stuff I want to keep in a box for another $100 – saving more than $3,000 and my back.

So that is my current plan. I am going to keep driving up to see my friend Warren and his wife Jill in Maryland, taking about seven days to do that. Spend a few days until they get tired of me, pack up the camping gear, sell the car and fly home. I am getting ready to be home again, so this sounds very appealing to me. Once I get home I’ll go buy a new car, which was my plan all along. I am just sort of “squeezing” the last bit of good out of the car that I am driving.

Perhaps this will get me home around the first of July – a far more relaxed approach to what I was doing. I am really beginning to miss my home, my friends and the comfort of being in my own “territory.”