They kept following us through Georgia. Can’t figure out we’re not a fishing boat.

Just kidding. Two days in Florida and Sue loves the climate, but is having a tough time living in the four walls of a hotel room and being away from the water. She wants to see sunrises and sunsets and watch the porpoises hunting from her kitchen window.

Our insurance does not allow the boat into Florida until November 1, the end of hurricane season, so we left it in Brunswick GA while we drove our rental car to southern Florida for the biggest boat show in the world at Ft Lauderdale. We came down early to look for a marina to stay in during the winter. We’re looking a bit north of Ft Lauderdale and hope to find the right combination of price and niceness. After show we will take the 5 ½ hour drive back to Brunswick and start down the coast in the boat. I’ll have to take four days off in the middle of that trip for a quick trip, out of Orlando, to my company in North Idaho.

About when we arrive at our winter home Adam, Harini and the boys will come. Adam, Harini and Derrick will go on a one week Caribbean cruise while the two older boys stay with us on the boat. We’re told they talk non stop about their last boat vacation with us, so hopefully this will turn out well also. We have a few other trips away from the boat to take during the winter, but we still should be with the boat more than away from it.

We’re seeing first hand why all these retired people go to Florida. We’ve driven by fantastic homes and condos on the water. They’re great to look at but I’m glad we don’t have to buy one of those. We’ll let you know where we end up. We’re looking for somewhere on the Florida ICW a bit to the north of Ft Lauderdale. Friends and family are invited to visit if you are in the area.

We’ll start on the great loop around mid March 2015.