May 13

Slow by day and fast by night. That’s how this train rolls…..and rocks. The engineer had the hammer down all night. The train was rocking back and forth so much, I’m not sure I could have gotten up if I had to. Given the train engineer’s “need for speed”, we think he could be related to Tweaker! Anyways, we slept relatively well and I survived without injury which is the important part. We grabbed breakfast at around 7pm and watched out the window as we passed through downtown Jacksonville, Florida.

After breakfast, we headed back to the room (Sallie had reconverted the room back into the seating configuration) where the mad blogger wrote up the previous day’s happenings.

By 11:30am we had de-trained, retrieved the Wing, and were on our way west to St. Petersburg. We proceeded west on I-4 and stopped for lunch on the western side of Orlando. You know you’re close to Disney World when the power line towers look like Mickey Mouse.

Ever wonder what you do with a bunch of airstream trailers you haven’t anymore use for? Fortunately for us, we found one option while traveling west on I-4.

A short 120 miles or so and we arrived at our hotel in St. Pete. Temps hit 90F and the clear blue water and white sandy beach never looked so inviting.

We met up with friends Ken and Lara at their place in St. Pete. Ken and Lara are former coworkers from Michele’s days at AMS. Ken and Lara picked up and moved down to St. Pete for a bit of a change several years ago for a more relaxed lifestyle. They have a lovely home not far from downtown. We also got to say hello to Kobe and Charlie, Ken and Lara’s border collies. After playing a little ball with Charlie and Kobe, we went to a new nearby restaurant. We dined outside in the fabulous evening weather and got caught up with Ken and Lara. It was great to see them after so many years--the beach town lifestyle suits them well and we are glad to see them so happy.

Tomorrow, we head for the east coast of Florida in Melbourne.