InvictaMoto's Family Travels

FR19 may have crashed and burned but rising from the ashes like a phoenix from the flames is Devon Staycation. Coded GB19. A week in ear!y August in sunny Devon. Or at least I hope it's sunny. Devon is a popular holiday spot for English families. With two national parks, Dartmoor and Exmoor, and places to visit where even dogs might be welcomed. I searched for dog friendly on the 'net, with an added filter of "enclosed garden". I rejected a few until I came across Annas Cottage. And it features an enclosed patio and seating area.  Even Reggie won't be too unhappy with that, plus in the reviews people say that there is a field for dogs to run around. Whatever he will make it his personal territory. I paid a third deposit today. Balance end of May. So now to plan things to do!! Annas Cottage

Sadly we have decided to change our destination for the August holiday. All my plans and routes have been deleted.  France is NON! At some stage Tripit will update and remove everything from our calendar. Maybe next year? Or maybe later in the year with a different guise? Not for us in 2020

Eventually. The weather forecast was for heavy rain and then thunder and lightning. As boarding time approached we didn't get to move very far. The plane was here and so were the crew and passengers.  Once on the plane we were told that due to the weather the area was shutdown for refuelling and flight. It was just about midnight when we eventually took off. Estimated flight time 7h 40m. It would mean cutting it fine for the transfer in Dublin to the London flight  We landed with about 35 minutes in hand but sat in the taxi way before getting a gate until 1345. And our 1340 connection had left. Stranding over a hundred passengers in Dublin. We were lucky to get a new flight at 1430. We saw quite a few others from the MIA flight.  It took off 20 minutes late and we touched down just before 1600 at Heathrow. Our bags managed to come with us though and that might be a miracle. DriveFly were really good and the car was there  We were back in Hythe around 1800. A stop in ...

Late up. Why? At 4am I woke up wondering where I had put the DriveFly receipt for our car at Heathrow. Panic! It was in my backpack. With a late departure we had a run out to get some vittels for the plane, and some US biscuits (it's kinda traditional) to take to work. I opted for Nutter Butter. You can't make that up. We were packed up and the car loaded to check out before 6pm. TomTom brought us right to the Dollar check-in. I remembered to fuel up this time. At $2.659 a US gallon. It worked out at about 31 mpg (US gals)  for the last tank fill-up we bought in Marathon on Tuesday. Start mileage End Mileage I n the end we covered 1158 miles in the two weeks.  Not bad really. The car was rented on a full to full basis and judging how much to prepay was always guesswork. I usually slightly under guessed but this time I need to be more spot-on. I can't be to peed off that when collected it was one bar from full and we took it back full! ...

Really more like Kindle Day and lunch at Denny's. The sausage, bacon and egg with pancakes combo for $5.99 was perfect for lunch. Last full day here and we had a lie-in. A relaxing day before lunch and after. Claire to the pool and me the not so calming afternoon watching Arsenal at Napoli in the Europa League. Albeit on a Spanish language channel as I can't find it in Ingles. Except despite advertising the game last night they are showing Valencia and Villareal. Grrr. And so thoughts turn to dinner. Where tonight? Taco Bell have joined Wendy's on the ❌ list after Claire was "unwell" after the last visit. Wendy's went there in 2014 after the greasiest slimiest burger ever .. In the end we went for a drive up and down the streets of Weston. Firstly to Walgreens for more turmeric to take home and then to Publix. Fried chicken and potato salad.  

Today we went to the Flamingo Gardens in nearby Davie.  We have been a couple of times before and it always a good half day checking out the animals and birds. Glade and human friend Animals like Glade. A four year old alligator that came to the gardens after being rescued. Along with many others he was part of an egg theft and kept in a Tupperware and us far too small for his age. Others are generally rescues and brought in by the public. Even the black bear! American Black Bear - rescued Plus the birds the park is named after. They have mostly kept the park for native species. Elvis - large male alligator Close-up of Elvis But there are some imports. Such a peafowl. And then back to the apartment via my usual visit to Walmart for Fruit of the Loom underpants. Sadly Hanes have taken over and no FotL to be seen in briefs!! So bought only one packet of Hanes. End of an era. I watched Tottenham beat Man City in the Champions League semi final. Bah! And Claire had a doze.  Dinner...

That's about it. TomTom decided not to take us on any toll roads but on the 997 and 27 that I have expected. Since last time they have dualled 997 part way but the bit to the north of Homestead still single with road works. Still better than I75 and US1. Stops? One at a Dunkin for breakfast and one at a t-shirt where Claire bought some fancy Skecher shoes for $34. Then back to Flamingo One. Lunch? Cereal! I watched Barcelona show Man Utd how to win without breaking sweat and Claire had a nap.  Now at Starbucks in Weston. Tried the app on my phone that I use at home. I expected for it to register two drinks but not take money... It did the latter. Have no idea about the reward star!! Coffee in the sun Weston Town Center

With a trouser belt malfunction we had a short trip to a local KMart. A new Dickies belt purchased and then a little drive up and over the Seven Mile Bridge. I forgot to check the odometer but I am unsure it is not that long. We stopped off at a bit of beach. There is very little like this it seems. Then back to Sea Dell. Dinner? Across the road at the Cracked Conche Cafe. It seems that conch is like a big whelk. And rubbery. Very rubbery. The portions enough to feed a family of five. Had we not been at a motel and at the apartment we would have had a box to takeaway. Pictures taken on the way back. Cracked Conch Cafe, US1 Marathon FL And the motel. Tomorrow? The world is our oyster.

A nice old fashioned sort of place. We have room 12 on the back of the site Our neighbours  have the Challenger that you can see part of. Sounded nice when it arrived. Good enough and near where we wanted to be. Plus much cheaper than Key West. Sea Dell Motel A walk down the street show us the sea, but like most places, no access as the coast is privately owned and fenced off.

Time for our trip to the Keys. Off around 9am for the 122 mile drive to Marathon. I had planned waypoints en route a Theater of the Sea and the Dolphin Research Centre. Traffic was horrible in TomTom"s "fastest" no tolls route. I75 and some parkway or other. Did I say no tolls? Despite that being in the route setup we found ourselves on the Don Shula Parkway, a toll road. Hopefully the Sunpass in the window will have been picked up and Dollar will pass on any tolls. Once we finally got to Homestead and onto US1 we felt about better. A stop at a BK for coffee and we were down to Key Largo and the Keys. We passed the Sea Dell motel and as we were too early we went for lunch.  Barracuda restaurant. Great plate of shrimp and fries. With it still too early we went back up to Grassy Key and the Dolphin Research Center. Superb demos is dolphins in action. So many more noises than you saw on "Flipper". Older readers may remember the TV serues. We spent nearly three hou...

A lie in. Cereal for breakfast. No bagels. No peanut butter. The out to see the street art at Flagler Art Village in downtown Fort Lauderdale. Once we got there it was pretty closed. So we had lunch at Henry's on the block.  Superb sandwiches. And coffee. Claire wanted to see the beach so we headed towards Ft Lauderdale Beach and A1A. Into heavy traffic. Nowhere to park and a pop concert clogging up the area. One entrepreneur offering "beach parking" for $40. Finally back and Claire in the pool. Me? Not today. Shade for me with Kindle. The pool is probably safer than the lakes on each side of the property. Gator!

Apartment sorted. We were rather longer than half an hour and we are in a smaller resort called Flamingo 1 down the road. We are second floor overlooking a small lake. You can just see it through the trees. View from Balcony Once the cases were lugged up we were out again to a Publix. Sadly no beer for gout foot Devall.  And another salad. . Salad from Publix And tomorrow's adventure? Maybe stay locally. We will be due our "usual" visit to the Flamingo Gardens -  https://www.flamingogardens.org  - and it is only a few blocks away. Monday we are offto the Keys.

Up early. Only one bagel today. Cutting down... Packed and car loaded. Dishwasher on and we were checked out of the Vistana and on the way.  Last pic before leaving. Even though the Sonic is a small budget car the boot takes two large cases! The 192 to I95. Gas stop filled up with $15. This time the right side of the pump... Same shitty budget conscious pipe. Stopped at a Target and picked up some supplies. The idea to get to the sea and have lunch. Got to Deerfield Beach. A quarter per five minutes to park and I had only four on me. Machine "green" button effed so couldn't even spend my dollar. Back to I95 and I595 to Weston. Found check-in. No apartment allocated. Very unusual. Will definitely mention that to RCI. Receptionist did all the paperwork and asked us to wait for a room to be cleaned and added to the computer!! So here we are in Weston Town Center having a coffee. Back soon...

R&R and packing almost complete. Kindle time increased for both of us. Check-out tomorrow before 10am so an early rise and finish packing. After breakfast pack the dishwasher and leave it on. To save washing up tonight's dinner courtesy of Taco Bell. Taco Bell Never again!  Taco Bell on the "never est again list", although it might have been just this one! Claire not well afterwards....

Today's short trip to Mead Botanical Garden shouldn't have taken long. Maybe 30 or even 35 miles to be trip. Firstly gas. As we turned out of the resort the gauge went from two bars to one. The filler cap is on the right rear. I went the other side. Pipe too short. At home pumps have longer pipes to allow for filling either side. Not 7-11 gas station here. Saving a couple of bucks on some piping. Some buggering about to turn the car around as I had already paid $20 for pump one. Job done.  Off to the Garden. I4 heavy as usual. A few miss turns and we arrived. Via McD for a frap. Gardens not as good as the Harry P Leu ones we went to the other day. Spanish Moss on the trees Small lakes and ponds A pleasant walk around though. Then back on some torturous I4 avoidance route from TomTom.  Lunch at Perkins. Now catching up on R&R before we start packing our cases. Remember the estimated mileage? It was 59 by the time we got back!!!

Thursday So what to do. The turmeric seems to have done a job, and allied with no beer, and my foot is much better.  So we decided to have another go at Disney Springs and the balloon. It was far less windy and was very hot again in the sun. Lathered in Factor 50 we will both go home as pale as we arrived almost a week ago. This time we chose the Lime Parking! Makes little difference as it happens. First stop a frap in Starbucks.  Inside there was a latina model posing for her photographer. Hardly anyone gave two hoots at all the posing and pouting. To go with the over made-up face and lips she had spectacles and a book. Yep. A real book.  Then to Aerophile. We went up quite quickly and it does move about on the single cable.  There are some good views across this corner of Orlando but mostly if the Disney empire. Once down we had another boat ride and a leisurely walk back through the shopping streets.  Minnie Claire Then we returned to the car and off to the a...

Yesterday the gout that had started in my right big toe here in 2017 raised its ugly head, or rather toe. The trip to CVS secured some turmeric capsules and I took a couple a few hours apart. I awoke this morning with the swelling much reduced. We had a short trip out to Disney Springs. I didn't want to spoil Claire's holiday but also didn't want to aggravate the gout. I might have got away with one .. Parking in the Orange parking garage and then wandering to the lakeside. We spied the balloon.  We don't go on much so after a coffee at Starbucks we went across.  After a long wait they decided it was too windy to let it go up to the full 400ft and then closed completely. Luckily before we bought a ticket. We decided to take a boat ride around Lake Buena Vista. Quite relaxing too. Once we had done a circuit of the lake we exited towards the shops. In time for the Rainforest Café's volcano eruption. I managed to get two shots. Then I espied the Orlando HD Shop. My rit...