Heading Home - March 26-29, 2014, km 1,719

Ft. Lauderdale - Orlando, Florida - Albany, Georgia - Birmingham, Alabama - Mississippi - Memphis, Tennessee.

It's been an interesting few days on the road, driving from Florida through Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi to Memphis, Tennessee, coming from a perpetual summer to a beautiful spring and back into winter. Daffodils, witches hazel and Japanese cherry were all in bloom before we got to Mississippi. You didn't notice right away that more and more of the deciduous green trees, such as the beautiful Banyan trees, were exchanged with spring-sprouting trees until it got really obvious in Georgia and even more so in Northern Alabama. Here in Memphis now, the lawns are still winter-brown and the air feels frosty.

Expressed in produce, we drove from Orange country through Pecan territory into Peanut Land. Haven't figured out what Alabama is growing yet....pine nuts, maybe...  The citrus trees were in full bloom, which smelled lovely. The pecan trees were wearing their winter coat and the peanut bushes were non-existent, the bare fields still waiting for the new plants. Guess not much growing in MS and TN yet.

You could also say we drove from Florida through Germany and New England States to Memphis, rural Georgia reminding us so much of the area I grew up in and
Northern Alabama being so very Non-Alabamian - for a Non-Alabamian. Never having been to the New England States, it's still on my bucket list, my comparison might be quite wrong, I'm just trying to get impressions across. Can't say much about MS or TN, didn't spent enough time yet.

On our way, we've been to the Kennedy Space Centre, the Epcot Centre and you might wanna guess what we are going to do in Memphis... While it was interesting to see the well-used space shuttle Atlantis, the huge Saturn V rocket as well as launch pad 37B, test-driving a Tesla was more exciting (even with Rolf driving); more computer-power, too, I guess. Epcot was entertaining, it better be, for over 200$ in entrance fees for two people (excluding the 16$ parking fee). In the end, though, it was less informative than we had hoped; really just a different approach to the Disney rides. The only thing that really touched me was the 18min 360degree movie highlighting Canada. I'm ready for home... But man, now I know why it's called Disneyworld! The area with the countless amusement parks is incredibly huge!

We turned into Walmartians again. US State Parks close at 5pm when we are still pounding the road and we couldn't care less for the glorified parking lots they call RV Parks. Nothing compares to the BC Provoncial Campgrounds, we are spoiled. So these days, we are driving from "Walmart near Epcot" to "Walmart near Graceland" to whichever Walmart comes next. At this point, we have about 4,100 km left to go.

The only thing we are unhappy about is the fact that we were unable to get a good prepaid data and phone plan. Spending hours with AT&T as well as t-mobile left me without the ability to use "Rolf's hotspot" most of the time and no way of calling anywhere without costing an arm and a leg. Hence, my blogging and emailing is reduced to the times we can find public wifi - with the speed that goes with that, or rather lack of....therefore, next to no pictures on the blog at this time...

After our sightseeing tomorrow (did you guess what? Hey, I pretty much gave it away! ;-)...), we will most likely head towards Springfield MO.

Back in the US

Just a quick update letting you know that we are back in the US. We will spend a few more days in Florida before heading North again. Second Chance 42 is - hopefully - safely stored in Hurricane Hole 3 on Stocking Island. Gosh, it's quite an adjustment being back in "populated country": We probably spent more money the last two days than we spent during a month in The Bahamas. The night sky is too bright, we have trouble sleeping. Could somebody please switch off the train whistles during the night?! It rains a lot here (sunshine country???). And it feels as if the motorhome could fit into one pontoon of Second Chance 42, Rolf and I are constantly "dancing" to get around each other...

I'll be writing a little bit more about any potential sightseeing we will do during our drive home. Next stop from here will be Cape Canaveral. Stay tuned...