Plans Change

After leaving Zolfo Springs our plan was to head to Sebastian to see our friend Sandy (from Steve and Sandy). Sandy had returned to the USA to help her mother who needed surgery. Although Sandy had been in the states since December, and was only about 1 1/2 hours away from Ft Lauderdale, we couldn't seem to get our schedules to mesh. So we decided to see her on our way out of the state. Bad decision. Never postpone what you want to do, because inevitably something will come up and alter your plans. And that's exactly what happened. The real bummer is, is that we might not get to see her before she leaves the US for their next adventure. Their time in Thailand is coming to a close and they are still debating where to go next - possibly Nepal or Africa. We wander the states, they wander the world.

So, since we weren't going to Sebastian, we wouldn't be driving up the east coast of FL to Jacksonville to see Glenn, we had more time to spend in Zolfo. We didn't peel ourselves away from Jim and Chris til Wednesday. And on Wednesday we said "we'll leave by noon". Well, around 1:30 we had the car hooked up and waved our goodbyes. But our destination was a surprise...even to us. We truly had no plans anymore. No destination. No idea where we were sleeping that night. We figured we'd hit I-75 and drive north. We'll hustle to get out of Florida since we need to be in Dallas in a little over two weeks. So, we'll determine Wednesday night's stop based on time and tiredness. Time won and put us in Ocala around 5:00 pm. We like to check-in to places while the office is still open. Plus, we remembered this wonderful restaurant in Ocala called Thai Ruby. The interior of the restaurant is so pretty with it's wood decor and napkins shaped into Bird of Paradise flowers. And they have a great vegetarian selection.

So we spent two nights in Ocala. Thursday was a work day and a day to try and put a plan together. Just a rough sketch so we know what roads to get on Friday morning. And that created today's 6-hour, 336-mile drive. This is one of our longest drives in our history. We don't like to spend our days just driving and driving. But, we decided we'd rather spend our time playing in Texas, and stop at a couple of parks in Louisiana as well. Another reason was mail. We needed to get our mail, and instead of having it FedEx'd to us, we decided to pick it up and say "hi" to the staff at RV Mail (PassportAmerica) in Crestview, FL. We plan on staying in Holt, FL for the next couple of nights, before moving again.