Florida

Tuesday 1 November 2005

Today we fixed up a change in flights because Miami is devastated by Hurricane Wilma and we have found out that a long lost school friend of Sandy's from Mount Pleasant days is within striking distance in North Carolina so we have changed our flight to out of Raleigh instead of out of Miami. John very kindly looked after us and ran us all over the place to get this done. John then took us to Okeefenokee (1 and 1/2 hrs) to take in the area with its "shaking land". It is a beautiful swamp area with acid water that mirrors everything, wonderful flaura and fauna and an original little homestead still in tact. This is where the Swanee River is which the notorious song is about. The shaking land are islands founded by seeds taking hold in peat that has come to the surface of the waterway. These are the largest fresh water swamps in USA. There were many lazy alligators, big and small, living a life of freedom and enjoying their habitat.Very knowledgable guides who obviously love the area gave us excellent train and boat tours and a red indian (Cherokee heritage) gave us a live specimen talk. We loved being with John and we ended this splendid day with a lovely supper at the Haileys which was prepared by Rose. We felt quite emotional about parting from these wonderful people.

Outside JohnJohn's Flat

Monday 31 October 2005

Up at 4am for a 5am start with Keith, Rosmarie, John, Patsy and Sandy in the Hailey's 4X4. Had a huge American Breakfast with pancakes at Cracker Barrel on our way to EPCOT centre near Orlando (a 21/2 hour trip). The EPCOT (Experimental Project fpr the Community of Tomorrow) is a Dream World type resort which concentrates on possibilities and vision for the Future. It was wonderful. There were amazing displays and interactive and non-interactive rides. We finished the day by enjoying a chinese meal together followed by the best fireworks display we have ever seen which happened over a huge artificial lake surrounded by International Pavilions. We left EPCOT close to 10pm and Keith was able to stay awake for the long drive home. We were all dog tired and fell into bed about 12:40am. What a great day!

At the EPCOT Centre

Sunday 30 October 2005

We left for Savannah, Georgia, at about 9.00am in John's Honda Civic and arrived downtown after a few minutes wandering around the outskirts! We took a city tour on a Gray Line TrolleyBus and were immediately spellbound by the interesting and varied history of the place. Established in 1733 as a British military output most of the buildings of the inner city are 18th and 19th century. It was another magic day.


Saturday 29 October 2005

Today was special. We had a wonderful real American slow cooked BBQ at Keith and Rose Hailey's beautiful home with many of their friends from the neighbourhood. We also met their three lovely daughters Megan, Elizabeth and Annemarie. Great food with ribs, chicken and steak cooked by Keith on his food fired self constructed BBQ and great company with lots of laughs. We loved listening to the Southern accents. This is a good place to be and we are pleased that we are here with John.

Elizabeth, Keith, Rose, Annemarie and Megan Hailey

Friday 28th October 2005

A crazy day! We arrived at JFK airport to find that both our air ticket and itinerary were incorrect (which both had different times on them) and in fact our plane for the first leg of our trip had already left without us and we were not even booked on it anyway! We were in fact only booked on the second leg of the journey from Washington to Jacksonville but we needed to get there. We were told that if we could get ourselves to LaGuardia airport and catch a wait listed flight we would be able to get to Washington in time to connect with the orginal second leg that still held our original booking.

We jumped into a Yellow Cab (our first American Cab ride) and he hit the road fast for us only to be caught in a huge traffic jam after 15 minutes. It was agony suffering the urgency of needing to get to LaGuardia in time to catch a flight and watching the cab metre tick over while standing still! Eventually, after a hefty cab fare, we reached the airport gate in time, only to be told that the plane was 100% full so we could not get on it anyway. We therefore missed our original connection in Washington as well. We waited four hours at the airport for the next flight and were given the last two seats and then had to wait on stand by in Washington for ages and caught the very last plane, the last two seats again, to get to Jacksonville at midnight!

Any other time it would not have mattered being stranded but this one time we were being met at the airport by JohnJohn. Anyway, JohnJohn took us home and we chatted until early hours. It is wonderful to see him again.

John Bousfield