On the last Saturday of February we set off southward again. After about nine hours on the road, our first stop was moochdocking near Washington, D.C., in the driveway of the CEO of one of my clients. It was great to meet IRL (In Real Life) and get some hangout time. An early-morning departure and a few more hours brought us to Wilmington, North Carolina where we had two nights booked in a Boondockers Welcome driveway.
I worked and explored the city by bike, while Hendrika explored the historic district. We left Wilmington early and spent the next two days at Myrtle Beach, overnighting at a Walmart. Hendrika enjoyed the aquarium, and I did a beach ride and a road ride the next day.
Then we pushed south with a quick overnighter at a boat launch near Charleston and another early morning departure to spend the day in Savannah. Then it was time to empty the tanks and launder, so we spent the next two nights at a private campground on Tybee Island recommended by some friends.
Taking advantage of a Saturday, we drove to Winter Park near Orlando, with a stop at a favourite, Washington Oaks State Park. In Winter Park, we stayed with some friends, I joined a club bike ride, and we all did a boat tour on Sunday. After another bike ride Monday, a day of work and rest, we drove to the shores of Lake Okeechobee, overnighted in a parking lot, and rode the bike trail.
Then it was off to visit a business contact in Palm Beach. We enjoyed a meal, "parked" in the shopping mall overnight and enjoyed the pool at a Ritz-Carleton during the next day, courtesy of my business contact. A quick overnight at a Cracker Barrel in Homestead, just south of Miami, brought us to the Everglades National Park where we had four consecutive nights booked, the first two in Flamingo, the very southern tip of Florida, and two more in land at Long Pine Key for paddling and riding.
And then it was the Keys — the Caribbean Islands you can drive to! ! The boondocking spots marked in iOverlander were full of night-knock stories, so we, unusually, had booked actual campgrounds for our eight-day visit. Three nights at Key Largo Kampground, near John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, a night at Big Pine Key Resort, and then four nights at Boyd’s Key West Campground.
I took some weekday time off and did lots of riding or runs, and we snorkeled, did the quirky Key West train tour and had ice cream almost every day.
Alas, it was time to start our northward return home trek. We spent one last day on the Keys at Bahia Honda State Park, and then motored back to Lake Okeechobee for the night. After a morning ride on the paved bike trail and a few work calls, we skipped to the east coast and spent the afternoon at Frederick Douglas Memorial Park. As it happened, a horse riding business was just starting a guided ride along the beach when we arrived, so Hendrika was able to join while I worked in the van and fretted about our bike rack, which looked like it was about to fall off even though it had been reinforced once before.
For the next four nights we stayed at a Walmart, two Cracker Barrels and small park, spending the days at New Smyrna Beach, South Ponte Vedra Beach, and then on the road for a couple of longish driving stints to get us back home to Toronto with stops to winterize and dump for free at a West Virginia rest stop.