Day 3 (Sat., Sept. 3)

.

It was just past 8 a.m. and I was still sleeping. I couldn't believe I actually slept up to nine hours while camping. Usually, I get very little sleep during camping trips because I like doing all kinds of exploring at night. But I guess all the driving, the uncertainty in Mississippi and the lack of sleep knocked me out through the night. I guess that was a good thing. It would have been boring to be up in the middle of the night while camping alone. Well, not so alone. I had Cookie Monster there watching out for me.

The camping experience was fun. I love to camp. I rather camp than get a motel, so this was good. I couldn't wait to use my new tent. I like my new tent because it's mostly composed of mosquito net walls. It comes w/ a rain cover just in case; and it's perfect for camping in such places like Florida. Last night was very hot. It was so warm and humid through the night, that had this tent been solid all the way around, I would have woken up in wet clothing. This way I was safe from all the insects and I enjoyed a cool night.

I think Cookie Monster loved the time in the tent, too.

Since there was sun light, I couldn't wait to see the beach. So, after packing up and getting ready for the final stretch to Ft. Lauderdale. I walked over to the beach and played around in the sand for a while. It was cool. Then, I decided to see if the ocean water is the same on the Atlantic as it is on the Pacific.

Jesus! Look at my hair. I sure got a furry dome. I have not cut my hair since July 7, right before taking a life-changing trip to Houston. I am growing quite some hair. I also had not shaved in more than two weeks. Man, I look like some kind of explorer as I discover new lands on the east coast. Very symbolic, if you ask me. I think the photo above is the first one I have ever shot of myself smiling. I usually don't smile as you can tell on most of my self portraits. But I was just too happy to be here and to experience something new, that I couldn't help myself.

It was fun enjoying the warm water. This was totally amazing becauseI am used to the extra cold water in California beaches. So, the fact that I got into the ocean and didn't freeze my butt off was good. I couldn't help but be happy for enjoying the beach. It was fun. I swam around for a little bit and relaxed. A Golden Retriever walked w/o a leash on the beach as a woman followed a few yards behind. A lady did some light jogging; and a couple took a romantic morning walk on the beach. It was fun. I felt really good.

St. Augustine is very historic. I drove around to the San Marcos Castillo. This was a fort set by the Spaniards during exploration periods. This castle was the first stone-made fort in the Americas. Before that, they were all made out of wood. So, it was good seeing and learning more about the history of the United States.

The sights and sounds around there made me wonder what it was like back in the days of exploration. It was cool to be in St. Augustine, a city that was founded in 1565.

With that in mind, I continued my journey down south. Trying to explore new lands. Of course, being so close to Daytona Beach, I had to go see it. However, I didn't have so much luck with driving on the beach there. I have always dreamed of driving on the beach at Daytona Beach. Every time you see images and videos from Daytona, you see the cars and motorcycles on the beach. The tide was high and officials did not allow anyone to drive on the beach. Bummer! I did drive right by the Daytona 500 NASCAR race track as I listened to some previews of some college football on the radio. Today was start of the college football season and I was very happy to see that one of my favorite teams, the Texas Longhorns, won 60-3. On the other hand, their rival, the oklahoma sooners suffered a disappointing upset at the hands of Texas Christian University. Yes, TEXAS CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY -- those mighty Horned Frogs won 17-10 on the road. Unfortunately, it wasn't all sweet in the world of sports. The United States beat Mexico 2-0 in World Cup qualifying soccer action. Dang, that's the same score USA won w/ in the 2002 World Cup to keep Mexico out of the round of 16. Crap! This game is more about pride than anything else and I can't believe Mexico couldn't live up to expectations. Something's wrong here.

Driving around the beach was cool, though. I came across a Best Western hotel that made me mad. It had huge "Mayan Inn" sign on the side of the building. Cool, I thought. It had an even bigger Aztec calendar symbol on the building, too. Cool! Its coolness, however, was short-lived as I could not understand why Best Western would have done such an idiotic thing.

Mayan! Yes, Mayan, as in the civilizations from Southern Mexico to Peru.

Aztec! Yes, Aztec, as in the civilization in central Mexico.

Two different civilizations.

Two cultures from different geographic settings in the Americas.

Uhhhhh?????

????????????????

It rubbed me the wrong way to see that. It's like saying that Germans and Irish people are the same. That the people from Tennessee are the same than in Oregon.

Just to put it into perspective. Let's say there's a building w/ the Yankees Baseball words on it, but under that there is a Boston Red Sox emblem -- you know, the one w/ the cool socks inside a baseball. It's all the same thing, right?

"Are you serious?" I thought.

I just couldn't believe they would do such thing. Well, I guess putting Greek and Roman symbols together would make a lot of people happy. Right?

You get the idea.

To add insult to injury, I drove around the A1A highway (if you ever hear Ice Ice Baby by Vanilla Ice, you know he talks about this highway in that song) and saw an outrageous thing: $3.59 for regular gas!!!

The beach at Daytona was cool. I still had a long drive to Ft. Lauderdale some 290 miles away. So, I hit the road.

Near Kennedy Space Station, the place where the shuttle launches to space happen, I saw something that reminded me of the harsh reality that was going on in the gulf states. I saw a row of 17 utility trucks. They were all headed to the Katrina Hurricane strike zone to help out w/ getting electricity back on. It was now three days later since I drove by and I was still amazed on how much this country was coming together during such an awful time.

An hour later I drove through Vero Beach!!! Wooohooo!!!

Being a Los Angeles Dodgers baseball fan I have always wanted to go to Vero Beach. That's where the team hosts its Spring Training. I always dreamed of playing there as I would get ready to play for the Dodgers during my baseball career. This place is just over 100 miles north of Ft. Lauderdale, so I know I will be visiting the stadiums in "Dodgertown" soon. For now, I just wanted to get to my final destination.

It was 3:46 p.m. and I had driven 2,306 miles since leaving San Angelo. At that point I was driving through the Ft. Lauderdale city limit sign. Woohoo! I've made it. It took me 1,733 miles from Houston to get here. It's quite funny as the internet search told me it would take me just 1,180 miles to get from point A to point B. I drove 553 extra miles. That's almost as much as I drove the day before from Alabama to St. Augustine.

I got into my new residence after exploring a little bit of the city. I was so impressed by all the water around here. I saw so many cool buildings and a lot of boats. There are many houses w/ backyards that have waterways leading to the ocean. So, their docks were filled w/ all kinds of amazing boats.

It took me a long time to get unpacked. I just put all the stuff into the house and relaxed. I was not in the mood to get settled in so soon. I still have tomorrow and Monday to get comfortable before I start work on Tuesday.

It felt good getting to my new home. I can tell I am going to have a great time here. Especially since there is a waterway on the backyard. I wonder how cool it looks. When I explored the house it was already dark, so I didn't see much. We'll see what tomorrow's day light will show me.

Yesterday - Main -Tomorrow