Florida day 2

September 21

The bed was so luxurious that we slept past the time we should have to see Brent before he left for work, so we didn't have the chance to thank him this morning. Ricki was still there, though. She showed us around her magnificent home (they have an infinity pool in the back, like the one we saw atop the Sands Hotel in Singapore) and she insisted on taking us out to breakfast. I was concerned about reaching my cousin Beth by our appointed hour, but we took Ricki up on her offer and followed her to Peaches in Bradenton for breakfast. Once again I ordered grits … can't get enough of that stuff. They prepared it differently here from what I'm used to – it had pepper in it. Ricki had an appointment of her own to keep so after thanking her (and Brent) for their hospitality we hurried in separate directions.

We drove to Beth's feed store, nearby (I drove past it twice without identifying it) and had a wonderful reunion; it's been ages since we've seen each other. Razelle had a wonderful time talking with Beth's customers and sparring with them about political matters. Razelle was in her element. I wandered around the store and accompanied Beth's helper (Randy, who hales from Montana) to see the bales of New-Mexico-grown hay they have stored in back. I learned about horse feed and hay from Randy, and I also enjoyed talking about the geography of those states just mentioned, because we'd been there not so long ago. Beth and I talked about her mother's (my Aunt Anna Mae's) last declining years. We miss her. Beth is a very savvy person. I must find a way someday to visit with her again. I'm sorry this visit couldn't have lasted longer. Beth's daughter Michelle and son Billy and Billy's girlfriend Lexii arrived before we left so we could meet them, too. We gave them the grand tour of our van and all of its salient features. They are just the right age to appreciate these features and I couldn't get over how much they truly did. I asked Lexii and Michelle if the "mood lights" in the van were really that enticing and they both smiled and answered, "Absolutely."

We posed for pictures in front of the feed store, including Beth's German shepherd, who had so obediently stayed away from Razelle during our entire visit. Beth gave me a souvenir hat and we parted company from her and her gang with warm hugs all around.

I tried to buy gas in Bradenton before I set off across the empty interior of the Florida peninsula to the Atlantic side. I tried my credit card at the pump but it was rejected. The same occurred at the second gas station, so I paid cash. "Hmm, what's with gas stations in this state?" I wondered. No other state had given me this much trouble.

We then drove to Myakka City to see Uncle Dave on Beth's farm. Uncle Dave came out of his house to greet us when he heard us drive up. It was a great pleasure to see him again. Uncle Dave is so bright and friendly. Razelle enjoyed his sprightly manner and sharp mind and he enjoyed Razelle's company in return. We sat in the air-conditioned house and visited a while. A digital thermometer indicated that outside the temperature was a hot and steamy 97°F (36°C). It suited Razelle just fine to stay put and talk with Uncle Dave, but the heat did not deter me from going out to tour the farm.

Beth has a nice spread out here; geese squawked at me from the shore of their pond; a donkey came over to the fence to greet me, followed by a pair of horses that didn't want to be left out in case I had something to feed them (which I didn't). They let me pet their foreheads and then they ambled off. The cats, peacocks and chickens I encountered during my tour, however, gave me a wide berth.

We parted from Uncle Dave too soon. We wished the visit could have lasted longer, but Razelle's cousin Jeanne was expecting us in Fort Lauderdale and we had a schedule to keep. For days now we have been discussing and negotiating and planning this rendezvous with Jeanne, one of the few relatives Razelle could see during this trip (compared to my so very many relatives), so this rendezvous was especially important to her.

We drove along US-27 around the south shore of Lake Okeechobee through alternating cloudbursts and great numbers of splattering bugs. The wiper fluid reservoir in the van was getting low so I made a game of squinting through the copious flecks of insect guts on the glass before me while I waited for the next and the next dependable car-washing deluge of a cloudburst to clear the glass each time. It was a long ride over straight four-lane divided highway surprisingly empty of traffic. This is how I entertained myself to pass the time.

I also had the opportunity to take a crude census of the wildlife that resides in this part of Florida, based on the road-killed critters we passed: armadillos, raccoons, turtles and even an alligator. Nowhere else on our round-the-world journey had we seen such an exotic mix of mammal and reptile corpses. The clumps of feathers we passed were not so easily identified. How could anyone say this was a boring place to be? The only disappointment for me was that the vast body of water that is Lake Okeechobee could not be viewed from the road because of the high levee that surrounded it.

I watched the dashboard clock ticking up and the GPS ticking down and saw that we would arrive in Ft Lauderdale at sunset, a good half an hour ahead of schedule. Razelle was elated that our complicated schedule had worked out so well – despite the distances we had had to cover, we were going to be waiting for Jeanne instead of making her wait for us. We parked at the restaurant in Ft. Lauderdale that was our rendezvous point and went in to get a table while we waited for her and Walter.

This restaurant is the south-eastern-most destination on our path across this continent. It seemed like ages ago we were at the diagonally opposite corner of the USA, at the fish ladder in Seattle, WA, our north-western-most destination. We had covered so much territory and zigzagged our way across so much of the continent and experienced so many memorable moments just to reach this restaurant ahead of schedule to reflect upon it all while we waited for Jeanne and Walter to arrive. This was such an important reunion between cousins; we had been trying since Arkansas to make this rendezvous fit and it had! Jeanne called to tell us that Walter had already arrived but he couldn't find us. Razelle cruised around the restaurant looking into the faces of every single man there until she found him. Jeanne arrived shortly thereafter. Over our meal we all had a great time talking about our trip and catching up on Jeanne's experiences since she and Walter had last been in Beer Sheva.

We finally parted from Jeanne and Walter and drove to Deerfield Beach to be hosted by Barry and Brenda. It had been a long day but we had so much to talk about that we were up until after midnight, chatting about aspects of our trip and similar experiences Barry and Brenda had had during trips they had taken. Finally at the end of what seemed like one our fullest days, we crawled into the bed we'd been given and went to sleep.