The weather is finally warm! Currently we’re at 81F/27C which makes a nice change from the nights we had which were below freezing a couple of nights ago. The last update came from Hattiesburg, Mississippi and since then….

There was a flash flood warning issued for the state of Mississippi when we were there, and it was certainly pouring down rain. When we stopped in a campsite for the night, we backed the van onto the bit of concrete they had allocated as a campsite, and it was almost underwater. The rest of the grass out the back of the concrete was submerged, and we would have had to wade to the table to eat. In the morning it was gone though, so it was quite okay in the end.

Went to Gulf Islands National Park in Ocean Springs, Mississippi. Didn’t see a lot of wildlife due to the bad weather the day before but saw an interesting video about the history of the area. It featured 400 year old forts that we later went to see in another part of the park - made Australia seem so young as a country when you think about people building stuff 400 years ago! And we are still to reach Europe…

When we reached Alabama, we were going to stop, but then we decided not to, and instead drove across it. There was not a lot of interest to us in the area we were, and since we’re returning to Alabama in the near future to see friends living there, made sense to cruise over to Florida instead. We did go to a naval base though, to have a look at some battleships and aeroplanes. Only open until 4pm, so when we arrived at 4:10pm, we were able to go into the gate for free, not $4.00 as it would have cost earlier.

On our second day in Florida, we lost an interstate highway because of a stupid map of the state. I tell you, these Americans are hopeless with maps - nothing is ever where it is supposed to be based on the directions given. And that is not just me defending our navigational skills - it seems to be a real problem when the interstate is clearly marked as two miles south of a town, but turns out to be actually four miles into the town. Most frustrating. Ah well, we got to freak out the local soldiers at the Duke Field Air Force Base. Felt like a bad spy movie where the van rolls up with people pretending to be lost and then they shoot the guards and steal the nuclear weapons inside. For the record, we did not shoot the guards. We did steal the nuclear weapons though…*evil laughter*

From De Funiak Springs to Oldtown to Florida City was our path. Florida City turned out to be our Bermuda Triangle. We could not escape it. Disobeyed the city ordinance of no camping in the Walmart car park and escaped without a problem. Or so we thought. Got up in the morning to find a flat tyre (one of the new ones!) because a screw was embedded in it. Perhaps the city officers of Florida City do not issue fines - just flatten your tyres?

Fixed the puncture and did battle with the SPOTD at Walmart. I could not check in to get my flat tyre fixed unless my car was there too, since he needed a registration number. I tried to explain the car was up on a jack and missing a wheel, but he was stupid. I found someone with a brain and all was fixed eventually, but the SPOTD was most infuriatingly simple.

Put the repaired tyre on, though clearly not properly because later that day, we heard a funny noise coming from it, and it turned out that there was a small issue. By not being on properly, we’d lost a wheel bolt (sheared straight off) and the wheel was about to fall off. Sitting in the carpark waiting for the AAA (another SPOTD report there!!!!), our guardian angel showed up in the form of a middle-aged man on a scooter. His name was Denys Herbert and he just happened to own the same van as us, just happened to want to help, just happened to know how to fix it, just happened to know where the local auto parts shop was, just happened to be willing to drive me there to get the parts, just happened to have a wheeled jack, just happened to have a hammer, just happened to have a good mechanically minded friend he called for professional advice as backup, and just happened to want no reimbursement for any of this help! On top of this, he has a campground up near Quebec and told us we should come and stay with him no charge when we get there! Amazing!

Oh, the AAA guy showed up just as we finished fixing it - about two hours after he was called…

Finally escaped Florida City and went to the Everglades National Park. Saw plenty of alligators and anhinga (a kind of diving bird) and even saw a little ribbon snake (not poisonous) when walking through a trail. Also saw eagles and vultures and many other birds we’re not familiar with. Lots of fun.

Alligators, by the way, are really small. A big one is about 8 feet long, it would seem, which makes the crocodiles in Australia look bloody enormous. I’d love to import a few crocodiles here and set up a park called “And You Thought Alligators Were Big?”…

Driving north now, expecting to be at Cindy’s this arvo, so we’d better keep going or we’ll be late. Apparently we missed a rodeo last night up there, which is a pity. Also annoying is that there was a rocket launch two days ago, and we really would have loved to have seen that. Ah well, such is life.

We stayed in a town named Stuart last night. Total cost for camping was US$6.42 which was the cheapest place (other than the Walmart carpark) we’ve found so far. Have bought a gas cooker and a couple of pans, so we’re roughing it with meals like spaghetti bolognaise and oriental chicken stir fry - a long bloody way from the “sausages in bread” routine we tend to follow on shorter travels!

Final comments now…

FOLKS AT MELBOURNE UNI : I’d love to say I am missing my thesis work, but I’m not. Oh, and you can buy grass here in the Walmarts. You buy it by the square yard or something. Anyway, would have been lots easier to just buy the grass and put it where I wanted for my research, rather than making me go all the way to Glenormiston each week.

CRAIG : Went to the Florida Keys a couple of days ago, just to see “Craig Key”. 140 miles round trip, just for you, and the damn island was only about 400m long. Still, we were there, and you can be excited.

AUSTRALIANS IN GENERAL : Everything here has too much sugar. Or salt. Or lard. We can feel our arteries hardening with each meal…

Rightio, that’s it from us. We’re scarpering off now to get back on the road to see Melbourne, Florida. Apparently named after the local Australian postmaster’s home, we were surprised to find that out, because we assumed it was in existence before our Melbourne was.

Categories: Travel, Odyssey 2001