Johns Trippin'

Do you have a Kindle Fire? Do you have a limited data plan? I happen to have both of those things. Did you know there is apparently a bug in the Fire that causes it to eat data like it's going out of style? I didn't, but I do now. Not cool, Kindle. Data usage report from T-Mobile

At Coastal Georgia we had a site on the lake. Behind all the sites on the water there was a strip of grass with some benches that anyone could walk on. In the lake behind our site there were reeds where we saw some ducks. There was also a small alligator in the lake too. The neighbors named him Chompers, and he was about four feet long. One morning I went out on the dock to see if I could see anything. There was a bird on the other side sitting on a branch so I ran back to get the binoculars. I looked and it was an anhinga with his wings stretched out who was drying them off. Anhinga through the binoculars Every day I could that week, I would go out in the morning with the binoculars and watch the anhinga. Sometimes he wouldn't be on the other side of the lake, though. The first time he did that I went out and was disappointed because I didn’t see him. Then I saw that he was on the dock itself! There were some kids in an RV that we went to the pool with. But most of our time was o...

We woke up at 1:00 this morning and drove 3 hours to Titusville, FL to watch the SpaceX Crew Dragon 2 launch.  We're on the A. Max Brewer Bridge with a few hundred other like-minded souls, awaiting launch! 

Before setting out on this trip I knew that I wanted to track our location. This wasn't really so people could find us wherever we were (though it doesn't bother me; come visit if you are close by!). Rather, it was so I could plot the route on a map to help memorialize it. My original plan was to buy a cheap phone, write a tracking app for it, and throw it in a cabinet somewhere to do its thing. Hold that thought. I mentioned in an earlier post  that my fancy modem has the ability to post its location every few seconds. It has this ability because the modem is intended for mass transit vehicles like buses or trains. This functionality allows a dispatcher to keep tabs on the vehicles. I didn't actually know it could do this when I ordered it, but once I found out it could... See where this is going? I've been tracking our location since we pulled out of our driveway a month and a half ago, but I wasn't doing anything with that information. Until now. You can now pull...

"This is nice!" Michael said when we got to our site #17.  He said it no less than three more times before the day was over.  All of us agree that this was one of our favorite sites.  Michael loved that had great internet.  He could work right at the picnic table outside with no problems. The kids really loved a great climbing tree, fun playground and wonderful biking and hiking trails around a nice lake with a boardwalk too.  I loved my discoveries... Naturalists: David Jordan and Doug Todd.  They loved sharing their knowledge with us!   It started when I went to the office to learn as much as I could about the park, get a map and get Junior Ranger books for the kids.  I remembered seeing a pitcher plant on a plaque or pamphlet or map somewhere and asked them if they could tell me where I could find them.  David circled the place by the lake behind the Staff Residence Houses.  I had a feeling that I would miss them and well, I felt...

At Welaka State Forest we were snug on the couch talking when it was time to get ready for bed. We also had really nice neighbors. We had a fire with them, and after that we played with a boy (I can't remember what his name was). But that morning we had a really nice breakfast which was followed by collecting fire wood. We barely got a fire going before it started raining. I caught 7 lizards which was followed by petting horses. I LOVE HORSES!

I need internet access. Not want. Need. That's not a statement of entitlement. I'm not looking to watch more YouTube or stream more Disney+. I need internet access to work. I'm a programmer, and being a programmer in 2021 requires internet access. My livelihood depends on it. From the research I had done prior to departure, I knew that internet wouldn't be a slam dunk, but I also didn't appreciate just how hard it would be. Get comfortable. This is going to be long. And if you are only here to follow our travels, you can probably skip this post. But if you are here because you are thinking about doing what we're doing, this may be useful. I'm going to explain how we got to where we are. If you don't care about that noise, just skip to the summary. I'll kill some of the suspense immediately: the only viable option for broadband on the road is cellular. Yes, there are satellite plans. That may be good if you are dying in the wilderness and need to fire...

I really liked Indian Mound. Our site had a little river behind it with an alligator in it. The store had a dock behind it that we did homeschool on a few times. We brought our nets and we caught crabs, hermit crabs, and more! There were two people living in their RV by the dock who were very nice and they let us have six hermit crabs. Caleb, Jordan, and I each got two. Jordan named one of hers "Barnacle," because he had barnacles growing on his back. I really liked my two, which I named "Joshua" and "Jacob." Joshua was smaller than Jacob. I really liked that they came out quickly and didn't just stay in their shells. To me they were very cute when they peeked out at you. That night when we were playing with them we noticed that there were only five crabs. We checked outside and sitting on the picnic table was the other hermit crab. He snapped back into his shell when he saw us. Joshua and Jacob Jacob Mom rented a canoe and Caleb, Jordan, and I paddled...

I know we haven't posted much lately. One of the most surprising things to me has been the utter lack of time we seem to have. That's not a problem unique to us for sure, but I did assume it would get better once we hit the road. After all, we'd be giving up all nightly activities, most non-grocery errands, and things like the Y and the library. We should have nothing but time, right? Wrong, apparently. I'm not entirely sure what's going on, but I have a few theories. Since we all live in the same two rooms, we have had to align our sleep schedules. That's great because it means Julie and I get more sleep, but it also means we have less down time in the evenings. We've also tried to take advantage of the places we are and do outings when possible. For example, we were in the Florida Keys last week and travelled to Key West two nights for various activities. Other nights were spent at the pool. I suppose we take life at a slower pace now too since we're r...

With hard work and determination, I know that I can continue to improve! I'd like to thank everyone who supports me and continues to believe. 🙏

At the Everglades we went on a boat ride. On the boat in big letters it said "boat tours". We saw about 10 crocs and 1 manatee on the boat ride. A lady on the boat made a joke and said every time we have to slow down because of kayakers: ''it's the invasive species, American Kayaker!" There were lots of manatees at a pond. And there were lots of baby ospreys!

One of our goals for the first part of our trip was to get as far south as we could. Victory would be to stay on Key West, the southernmost point in the continental US (more on that in a bit). Alas, our need to book sites now due to the compressed timeframe meant we had to settle for what we could get. What we could get was Cudjoe Key (Kuh-Joe). It's about 20 miles from Key West, and that ain't bad. We can't do it every week, but every so often we'll splurge and stay at an RV "resort." I say "resort," because it's all relative. When you put "RV" in front of it, it immediately drops a few notches from whatever you are currently picturing in your mind as a "resort." I bring this up because this was one of those times. There are a handful of state parks in the Keys, but they are booked months in advance. We had no shot at those. If we wanted to get to the Keys, we'd have to upgrade. Some bright entrepreneur figured out that ...