St. James City, Florida

There was a little time for stitching before we hit the dusty trail yesterday morning, and I was able to finish up the last of the 2nd Snow Globes block. It doesn't photograph well because the sparkle floss doesn't show up well in a photograph. You'll just have to take my word for it that these are very pretty. The sparkle floss gives them a magical quality that I've not seen in my other embroidery pieces. It's making it very fun to stitch.

We had a quick breakfast and then headed out of Orlando toward the Gulf Coast of Florida. On the way out of town, we noticed this.

Now, you must keep in mind that Mike grew up in southern California, and I lived there from the age of 12 on. Disneyland was practically an every weekend experience for us. When our own kids were little we took them a couple of times, and now when I think of anything related to Disneyland, the Magic Kingdom, Epcot Center, and the like, a phrase containing the words "wild horses" comes to mind. Not to knock anybody's favorite activity, but honestly, our Disney days are long past.

Orlando, on the other hand, treats all things Disney like a religion. We noticed so many businesses, related or not, that had incorporated the iconic ears into their signage somehow. We passed this electrical substation on the way out of town. It occurred to us that possibly this is owned by Disney, but there you go...ears with electrical wires attached. Ya gotta wonder...

Okay, so enough about Disney...we were headed for less crowded horizons...at least, we hoped so. On the map, I've marked where we ended up. Looks nice, no?

It was interstate driving most of the way, but eventually, we saw more and more water with the mangroves characteristic of the area.

We also noticed a lot of these palm trees with support structures around their trunks. I've seen palm trees that have been uprooted, and I can tell you that their roots are comically short, given the height of the trees. We wondered if this is a permanent way of supporting the trees, or if these were erected for this past hurricane season.

Eventually, we crossed the last waterway of our journey in the form of Charlotte Harbor and we were on Pine Island.

One of the things I love most about beach towns is the way the structures are so colorfully and cheerfully painted.

We've been hoping to find a place where we could find some fresh local seafood.

Clams are on our radar screen.

 I think we'll find a good market nearby.

When we arrived at the RV park, we were surprised at how insistent Smitty was about getting out for a walk. We're packed in here pretty tightly, and he's always been a little too timid in these kinds of places. Not yesterday. He was brave and bold and got a good walk right away.

While he and Mike were out touring, I traced out my next stitchery. This is the "Home Sweet Home" block for the "Home and Heart" quilt.

Now it's hooped up and ready for this morning's stitching session.

We have three days to do some sight-seeing here, but really only two will be used for that. New Year's Day I'll be making a ham dinner for us with baked beans from scratch and a seven layer salad. We'll have to do our sight-seeing today and tomorrow. Today we'll probably head down to Sanibel Island to do some shelling. It's another one of the things we didn't want to miss on this trip. Nothing is carved in stone yet, however. Time will tell what we end up doing today.

Yesterday I posted this comment on Facebook:

Just now I realized that we will be as far away from home as we will travel on this trip, on Pine Island, Florida, on the Gulf Coast. When we move down the road again, we will be officially turning toward home on our first day of travel in the new year. Gotta be some poetry in that, right?

We are now 3,204 miles from home. When we hit the road again in 2018, we'll be headed for home...slowly, to be sure...but getting closer with each new destination.