With mixed feelings I turned north today

Hollywood, FL

Although my No Fixed Address North American Tour still has another month left to go, I reached a major milestone today. The beginning of the end. I turned northward. I say it’s with mixed feelings because while in many ways I would love this meandering lifestyle to continue, and you can tell from my blog how much I’m enjoying it, I really am missing everyone at home.

Yesterday I spent the day at my home away from home on Sugarloaf Key, enjoying what will likely be my last lazy day and one of the last great opportunities (on this trip, I hasten to add!) to soak up some sun, and swim in that warm aquamarine water. From here on in, I’ll be on the Atlantic Ocean.

The trip along Highway 1 or Overseas Highway along the keys is spectacular except for the traffic and so I was happy to retrace the route down to Sugarloaf Key. I stopped at a couple of shops along the way but managed to get off the Keys with wallet intact.

The Hollywood KOA was my destination and we’re going to whip right over a description of the park and on to the more enjoyable time I had at Hollywood Beach. It was 33 degrees C and humid when I arrived and I was rather warmish (i.e. drenched in sweat) so I decided to head to the beach. Hollywood Beach is only 15 minutes or so from here, and since it was late in the day I was able to get parked near the beach because most folks had had enough of the sun by then.

From the beach looking south you can see the high rises of Miami (although for some reason I chose not to take a picture facing south) and other communities along the way both north and south. There is a “boardwalk” along the beach, fresh water showers, restrooms and lots of shops, pubs and restaurants lining the boardwalk. So I enjoyed some time in the water and soaking up some sun and then went in search of a restaurant.

There is pretty much every kind of food imaginable along the boardwalk, but I got it in my mind that I wanted Greek food, for some reason. Usually there is a Greek restaurant on every second corner but tonight I couldn’t find one. So I ended up in a nondescript place, whose redeeming quality was that it had tables on the boardwalk and there was one free. One thing I know about myself (and Nanci probably knows this too since she’s travelled so much with me) is that I am more influenced by location, ambiance and even music than I am by the food, when it comes to the enjoyment of a dining experience. I was a happy camper because I was in the action and the music in the background was inspiring but mellow and I didn’t really care that the ribeye and baked potato was just mediocre and the lime marg looked like it might make me glow at night.

Overall, a really nice day for a travel day.