When It’s Warm, Bake Memories

I’m still lingering in Florida, which is one of the few warm places in the country right now so makes sense to take my time leaving! Heading toward exiting the state around February 8 or so, then heading to Texas and beyond. Meanwhile, still have places and memories to bake before I leave Florida behind until next winter.

Big news is I finally scored a spot in the Keys at Bahia Honda State Park, a near-impossibility this time of year. Unfortunately, only have one day to explore, but I’ll make the most of it. Yes, expect pretty pictures soon of all that warm sea and sand.

Meanwhile, winding up a wonderful stay with new friends in Miami today where Tamasté got a new alarm system installed. Will help me feel a little better wandering away from the van, especially out west where I’ll do a lot more hiking and time away from the van. System protects via alarm, plus detects glass breaking, impact, and GPS location. Cool app allows me to see where it is and activate the alarm, handy when I go to a restaurant and forget to activate the alarm.

The house I’m staying at (well, the driveway since I’m overnighting in the van) is a gorgeous example of tropical luxury and taking advantage of the Miami climate.

Every imaginable fruit tree you can grow in this climate they have here in multiples: banana, mandarin orange, kumquat, mango, papaya, coconut, several citrus trees I can’t pronounce, passion fruit and on and on. Paired with that are several fish ponds, including a massive koi pond, a chicken coop, and about a dozen or more large aviary cages, some occupied by exotic macaws, parrots from several countries, and even a rescue squirrel that lives in the large, parrot aviary! Said squirrel is very old, about 12 years (maybe 14?), well beyond the usual life of a wild squirrel. They rescued her as an abandoned runt and nursed it to health and a long life. Cats, dogs (two amazing Belgian Groenendaels, seen in the pix above), family headquarters for nine children, 18 grandchildren…it’s quite the place and lifestyle as you can imagine.

We even had a mini-Travato meet up and wonderful Cuban lunch with five Travato owners and had four silver Travatos parked together! Always nice to talk “shop” with fellow Travato owners and travellers, share how we’ve all customized our rigts to suit our lifestyles. Add to that a tour of the birds and fruit trees and it was an excellent get-together. But it’s impossible to photograph four Travatos in this setting, so you’ll have to imagine there’s one more hidden behind the three in this picture.

So while I get Tamasté ready for my trip down the Keys to Bahia Honda, enjoy some images from this wonderful home and my relaxed visit.