Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Installment One

Hello from dark - right now at least - it's 8:14pm - Sarasota, FL. I had a good trip down, no problems to speak of. Made some adjustments in the trailer hitch and the bike carrier while at Adam's in Columbus, GA. Drove until I was tired yesterday and stopped in Perry, FL - don't ask - just a place to park with full hook-ups so I could get the antifreeze out of the water system and check everything out. Then on into Sarasota to the Airstream Rally today. It officially starts tomorrow, but they parked a couple of hundred trailers today. I didn't make it in time to register, so I'm "outside the fence" with about 25 others. We'll be the first ones in tomorrow, but nobody seems to know what time. This is the second largest rally each year. Only the International is bigger. It takes an incredible amount of work and planning. All volunteer. I'm not quite sure what to expect. But I got here late and was taken care of by a very helpful and friendly gentlemen. So that's a good sign.

I took the Honda off the carrier and went grocery shopping. I didn't know if the refrigerator would actually work on propane. I'd never tried it. It does, and now has some food in it. My eyes were almost bigger than the saddle bags, but I made it home without losing anything.

Did I just type "made it home"? To a grass field outside the fence of a county fairgrounds? with 700 or so people I don't know? in Sarasota, FL?
Yeah, I guess I did. Because I'm sleeping in my own bed tonight. I may have to close some of the windows, it's supposed to get down to 55 tonight.

Here's a picture of some of the 450 Airstreams that are gathered here.

Map, Columbus to Perry


Map, Perry to Sarasota


OK, if you can look closely enough you'll see that I got on I-75 to go around Tampa and St Pete. But ALL the rest of the trip from Columbus was on Non-interstate roads. It was wonderful.