Lucy, we seen a camper very similar to ours with this sign on it !

Visited the Naval Air Museum in Pensacola, Florida, really impressive, my sister and her husband Don were there in 1955, Don was on a navy air intelligence photography course. We have some pictures of the old school Don, it is shut down now! Then we visited the USS Alabama in downtown Mobile, Alabama, met an interesting gentleman selling his book about being a prisoner of war in the Phillipines. We got out of Mobile Saturday morning just in time, the Mardi Gras parade was forming up! Many houses are decorated for Mardi Gras! Trish and I were discussing what "Twittering" was , I explained it's similiar to blogging, only it's mostly famous people updating any one interested , on their cell phone. ie: Paris Hilton saying, "I'm going to the bathroom right now, I have to do #2! " I heard something similiar in the Wal-Mart bathrooms twice now, it was young guys in the stall next to me talking on their cells and telling the person on the other end of the line that they were sitting in the Wal-Mart crapping! I can't imagine using this blog to tell everyone in the world that I was in the Wal*Mart shitting!

Hello to Bill & Donna in St. Lawrence, when the temp. gets up to what they are now in Florida maybe we will be able to visit again, look forward to driving around town with a dozen cold ones, seeing the foxes, the swans, and the beautiful rugged scenery! We want to go to St.Pierre and Miquolon .
We bought the special meat deal for 19.99 again from Save-A-Lot , Trish made sixteen meals from it, that's about $1.11 per meal, then the beer is about 55 cents a can, we buy wine for 2. 99, gas is about 1.50 a gallon cheaper than home and a forty ouncer is usually from $14. to 17 dollars, we don't eat in restaurants, so when Trish cooks up a meal , I tip her generously and then the next day she puts it in the gas tank! That saves a lot!

More evidence that the Emerald Coast supports THE SAINTS !

We are camping for three days at a state park, on a beach on the Emerald Coast. Almost all campers seem to have a dog, this morning I met a guy who said he got a dog that was trained to assist blind persons. The dog could do 25 tasks, one task was getting something from the fridge, you attach a towel to the door and the dog can open it. He had to send the dog back to school for #26, to learn the difference between a Keith's and a Coke! We met a US Senator from Oregon, he assured us it would be warm enough to travel along the Pacific Coast in March, we are thinking of doing just that, right up to B.C. Tomorrow it's Pensecola and then Alabama, only nine days 'til the Saints take on the Vikings, Post 145, here we come!

Lucy, while I was photographing this guy, a car came by and they shouted WHO DAT ! WHO DAT!

This proves Florida supports THE SAINTS !

Back in the Florida Panhandle, stopped in a place called Panacea (a cure for all ills), I do know we are feeling much better, adjusting to the warm weather, trying not to think about s..., curling, ice, freezing temps ,etc. We camped last night at Caravelle Beach again, on our way, today, to Panama City. Still start our day with a Tim's (Trish style). Looks like the large can is going to hold out for the whole six months! Meeting many nice people, many on the road for years, met another guy from Montreal area in a truck and camper, both older than ours, Gary Allen was his name, he was in the navy in Halifax and played football for Stadacona Sailors! We have the Navy poster from Legion Magazine up on our wall, I can foresee a few hangovers, with all the reunions starting this summer.

World's Most Famous Couple on the World's Most Famous Beach !

We drove right down onto the beach, it really is amazing.

Lucy, looks like Florida is with y'all, at least Daytona Beach.

It's not Disneyland but Trish begged to go on it and the dollar did not break our budget.

Trish captured another mosaic manatee !

A mosaic manatee.

WHO DAT? WHO DAT ? WHO DAT SAY DEY GONA BEAT DEM SAINTS? the N'orleans Saints are going to the Superbowl and Paul and Trish are returning to Post 145 to watch the game with Lucy and Andy. WAHOO! Eh!

Trish was wondering if we would ever be bothered parking in parking lots for the night, I said,I thought at least once in our trip we would be awoken during the night, that night it happened, a police car was outside, he shouted, please come out with your hands up! I went out, after getting some pants on, he stayed about ten feet away with his hand on his gun, he asked me what I was doing there! I stated we were tired, couldn't find a campground ,so we were trying to get a few hours rest. He said the manager didn't want us in the lot, I said OK, could you direct us to the Wal*Mart, he smiled and said it was three miles up the road, just out of his jurisdiction! Trish said she would never shop at a Kohl's, even if she won the lottery.
I took Trish to see the Tupperware museum in Kissimee, guess what, closed years ago! Can't afford Disneyland!
Breakfast this morning was grapes, gator jerky and a Bud Light! Grapes and BL for Trish, she wasn't eating no alligator. This from a person who tells me she once ate frogs legs and chocolate covered ants!
Camped at Blue Springs State Park in Orange City, many Manatees!!
Yesterday was Daytona Beach, drove by the Speedway, then onto the beach, you can drive for miles and miles on the beach, no charge! We are driving through St. Augustine today, then looking for a place to watch the football game this evening, Go Saints Go!
We seen a license plate that said, RETIRED , no address, no telephone, no watches, no money, that's us!

We got some bad information, they weren't burning the sugar cane fields because of frost, they burn them every year, just like we burn at home for blueberries! At the campground last night we met a Korean vet from New York, he has lived here for over thrity years, very friendly, wanted us to stay the week-end for the VFW parties, then he brought us a pot of chili. Bernie, the truck is working well, very well! Travelling around outside the cities , you would think you were on the prairies ,except for the palm trees. Miles and miles of nothing but cows!

A truck and camper is somewhere between a tent and a motorhome, so sometimes we park with the big boys and pay a fortune and other times we get a tent site and have water/elec only ,no sewage ,but we empty on the way out! Paid $38.00 for one night and then $39.00 for three nights in a tent site! Reminds me of the story of the guy who went to a psycholigist, he said sometimes he dreamed he was a teepee, other times he dreamed he was a wigwam, the doctor said his problem was, he was two tense!! Sometimes we are a motorhome and sometimes we are a tent!

Had a coffee with another old navy friend, Ron MacKinnon in Fort Myers! Then he e-mailed me a photo of him and Rick Casavant with Joe Saunders just before he died! Now camping for a few days on Lake Okeechobee, largest lake in Florida and second largest in the USA! Airboats and alligators, this morning we seen two gators in the wild, one was well over 12 feet, Trish got a picture. Hanging around hoping someone offers us a ride in an airboat. Driving here we noted the sugar cane fields were all brown, the frost killed the crops and today they are burning the fields.
Like to welcome Rob (my son) and Dar as followers!
This guy showed up near our site, last nite, with a truck load of wood, once he got a good fire going Trish and I introduced ourselves and joined him. After a few beers he told us he was a little disillusioned with life, he mentioned Clinton getting caught with his pants down in the Oral Office, then he mentioned OJ getting away with murder, then a comment about MJ getting away with molesting boys , then another comment on how his favourite NASCAR driver was caught cheating in a race, altering his car illegaly, then how his favourite TV fisherman was caught paying a diver to put a large bass on his hook, but then he got down to the real problem in his life, he and his wife had argued that afternoon, he figures seven mouths are enough to feed, but she wants to have more, I am kind of with him ,four dogs and three cats should be enough!

Who dat! who dat, who dat say they gonna beat dem Saints? Arizona didn't, way to go Lucy!
We just joined a class action law suit, a group of Snowbirds are sueing the State of Florida, best thing about it , it's on contingency. We are sueing for two weeks of cold cold weather, all the adds promise otherwise. This is the truth Chuck, if you would like forms to join us, send us your full mailing address. This group in the campground is determined, they found the right lawyer, and we stand to get a lot of money, somewhere down the road. The deadline for signing up is January 30th, and the lawyer is asking for $35.000,000! He wants 5000 signatures by the deadline!

Looking out our back door, we could not ask for more !

There is supposed to be a 14 foot alligator,
Hope he shows up much much much later!!

We had to cross the Sunshine Skyway in St. Petersberg, to finally sit out in our lawn chairs.

Hooray, hooray, we had to use the fly swatter today!! Finally, we are able to sit out in our lawn chairs, with a beer, in the Sun, thirty days since we left Canada and this is the first day it was comfortable to do so!! Settled in for a few days in Fort Myers RV Park! Had another Navy reunion at the largest Legion (membership) in the world, Madierra Beach, almost 7000 members, yes 7000, and that doesn't include the Canadian Legion members that frequent the establishment! Old friends Donnie Sherlock and Jerry Leger have places down here and jugs of draft kept flowing down our throats, a great time was had, I hadn't seen either of them since 1980 or so! The wives drank Margaritas and we emptied the draft kegs and changed some of naval history.
Then we stayed a few days with Donnie and Marie (Sherlock, not Osmond). Donnie is involved in Shuffleboard, you should see his trophies, and the day we left, he had started into the three day Canadian Championships, being hosted by his park! Welcome to our new followers, Sylvia, Dale and Jim! Mark, make sure you let me know who wins the McLellan Cup at the Curling Club!
Trish thinks it is so funny to see cow pastures with palm trees in them!
Today we are bothered by ants, flys and hornets, it's great! Hawks are continually over the river behind our camper and we saw a butterfly, Sonny is with us, Cathy!

Camped under grapefruit trees in Plant City for a few nights. Visited an old navy friend, Chuck O'Neill & his wife O'Dette, they reside in Kingston, Ontario, but have a home here they use four months of the year, they have done this for over a dozen years, golf course on site, Chuck has a garage for his golf cart and drives it to the course most every day! Forty years since we seen each other, we told stories for hours. Trish was fascinated by O'Dette's stories of growing up in Belgium during the war!
Tonight ,we are at the Church of God campground, laundry, showers, club-room and wi-fi, all for $20.00. The rules are a little different from other campgrounds. No drinking, no smoking, men must wear shirts at all times and women are not allowed to sunbathe at any time! Trish hides behind the camper to smoke, and we closed the blinds, got out a beer and played cards naked! And Chuck, that's the truth!!

Paul needed the Canadian snow brush to reach these oranges.

This is a Rest Area we spent the night at, as we drifted off to sleep we could hear the sound of the waves on the beach below.

Another use for the Canadian snow brush this morning, needed it to knock the oranges out of the tree for breakfast in the campground! Trish says she has never seen one palm tree before, and here we are staying in Thousand Palms RV Resort located in Inverness, Florida.
Can't believe it, in Wal-Marts they are selling crawfish from Spain, cheaper than the real thing from Louisiana , that's America for ya! We also bought flounder for $2.50 a pound!
While waiting for the ferry across the Mississippi, we watched fisherman land boatloads of crawfish. Seen our first Pelicans along the Forgotten Coast of Florida, that's what they call the area from the Emerald Coast to Tampa. Spent the night at a rest area on Carabella Beach, it was a training area for the D-Day invasion! Most houses and hotels are on stilts, in case the Gulf rises during a storm! We are enjoying Mr. Paul's eggs, he is the Commander of Post 145! Thanks!
Each time I see a MacDonalds I burst out laughing, we had beautiful home cooked cajun and Southern food at Lucy & Andys but one night on the way home from the Legion, we did stop for Chinese, I tried to pay , but they would'nt let me, they finally conceded I could pay for the dogs Christmas treat, double cheeseburgers, usually they have just cheeseburgers, Zeus likes the works, hold the pickles for Zena!

Finally Florida, but it is fuking freezing, down to 20 degrees farenheit, last night! Fettucini
Alfredo and Lucy's Gumbo for supper! And a few swishes of the Apple Pie Recipe from Joquita.
We saw a small bobcat running away from a dead female wild boar just as we left Alabama!
Stopped at Crestview, Florida Legion, we had been there last year and met a lady who had served in the US Navy in Argentia, Newfoundland, she gave us free drink chits last year and we had planned to use them when we seen her again, we found out she died in October,2009, her (in memory of) plaque on the ceiling above where she sat at the bar usually, we saved the chits and had a drink, sitting below her ceiling tile! Then a few bikers came in, they asked who owned the vehicle from Nova Scotia, they said we had brought the cold weather, we thought it was time to get out of there! Stayed last night in Fort Benning Army Rec Area,located in Destin ,Florida, stayed here last April, but didn't need the heater then! On our way further south, probably Panama City tonight!

Left Leesville and lost the #10 hwy right away, around and around Fort Polk we went, travelling through the Kisatchie National Forest, finally found Pitken. Gary ,we went through St. Landry Parish next! We crossed the ippississiM River on the same ferry as last Spring,The ferry was called the Feliciana, again no toll, maybe because we are going backwards? Slept at the Wal* Mart in Amite, LA. We like Wal*Marts because there are no alligators, or snakes! Stopped to chat with Jim Canada at a campground we stayed at last Spring, too early in the day, to stay, Talk to y'all next when we reach Alabama!

The New Year's party at Post 145 was great, good band, good food, good friends, at midnight they served ham and eggs, and of course some black-eyed peas and cabbage on the side, peas for health and cabbage for wealth in the New Year, we are good for a decade, we had black-eyed peas and cabbage again with New Years Dinner. Showing my age at the party, I wondered out loud how some of those girls got those tight jeans on, a younger fellow said he was more interested in how you get them off! I danced with a 84 year old lady, when we left the floor, she said, "See, I still got it! Only problem is, I might lose it any second!"
I often tell the story of Paul Aulenback at home, dancing every dance and playing hockey twice a week in his early eighties. The reason he can do that is because, he never, ever smoked, drank nothing but rum and had nothing to do with women until he was thrirteen years old! Back on the road tomorrow for five months! Andy goes back to work tonight, Trish is making donairs for tomorrows lunch.