Florida Keys- DAY 2

Today was our last day in the Keys so we decided to head south to Key West to get our cultural shock of the trip. We left out about 9:30 for about a 70 mile drive to the "southernmost town" in the United States. It was a beautiful drive down with lots of small islands in the Atlantic and Gulf, we crossed about a million bridges and most towns were just small fishing towns with some type of tourist attractions. We didn't know what to expect in Key West and found out real quick there were some different kind of people living down there. (See pictures of all the mutants we encountered). We parked downtown and walked around looking at all the restaurants,stores, landmarks, etc. We decided to break away from our normal diet of sandwich and chips and splurge on a sit-down meal at a restaurants called Caroline's. As we were finishing up lunch a "category 8 hurricane" hit the town flooding everything, including us. We had seen enough and headed back north to hang out on the beach (aka our backyard) and do some more fishing on the bridge. We don't have any definite plans for tomorrow except to start heading north in the morning. We talk to everyone soon from our new location.....



-Potts

Marco Island 7/17 - 7/20

Friday 7/17:

Friday morning we pulled out of St. Andrews and headed for Marco Island to see our college friend Daniel and his fabulous girlfriend Shaunna. It was about 600 miles and took 11 hrs. to get there. We busted into Marco around 6:30 pm and were greeted by our wonderful hosts with a steak/potato dinner, clean beds, and warm showers. What else could two gypsy rednecks ask for? I also fell in love with a new girl. Her name is Lily and she was a Miniature Schnauzer puppy fresh out of a canine hysterectomy.

Saturday 7/18:

We woke up early that morning and Daniel and his friend Captain Drew took us on a fishing trip of a lifetime. We headed about 45 miles into the Gulf of Mexico and had a great trip. We caught two Cobia, one Red Grouper, a huge ass King fish, a 10' Nurse Shark, and a 5' Black Tip Shark. We got back into Marco around 6:00 and the plans were to have a fish fry. We went for a little swim and then Potts and Captain Drew cleaned fish until 10:30. It ended up being too late to have the fish fry and we ended up going to a local bar called Kretch's for some grub. The food was awesome and the locals were totally freaked out by the white trash from Georgia! We met some really cool people and had a great time mingling with the locals!

Sunday Funday 7/19:

We slept in Sunday until 10:00 and our wonderful host Shaunna cooked us a great breakfast. After breakfast Daniel and Shaunnna took us out to Key Waden, which Potts dubbed Lake Wesabi. Key Waden is a huge local party island where all the locals bring their boats and hang out. We had a pretty chill afternoon soaking in the water and went back to the house around 5:00. Daniel and Shaunna cooked us another great meal. We had fried Cobia, french fries, and cole slaw. We crashed for a final night in Marco and would like give a huge thanks to our wonderful hosts Daniel and Shaunna. They were the best and totally spoiled us.

Monday 7/20:

Today was another day of travel. We left Marco around 10:00 and cut across the bottom of Florida and went through the Everglades, and then down into the Keys. We set up in a new campground at Long Key State Park, which is about half way down the Keys. Our new spot is awesome. The camper is backed up to the Atlantic Ocean and we are very close to some of the finest bridge fishing in the keys. We went surf fishing in the back yard this afternoon and then went bridge fishing this evening until dark. We made some new friends from Ohio at the bridge who educated us on bridge fishing in the Keys. Jim and his wife are good people and they put us on the fish.

Florida Road Trip 2K9- Day 3

We returned to the jetties for some more fishing and pretty much only caught more sunburn. After being shut down at the jetties, we went surf fishing about 30 yds into the ocean and had no better luck. While surf fishing, our new arch nemesis the raccoon (featured in the pictures) literally used his grubby little paws to open our cooler and throw our cold beverages into the sand! The little turd was looking for our bait and being a true little pillaging coon! A group of fellow beach bums circled around the cooler and took pictures of the cute little critter tearing our cooler apart. We proceeded to sprint out of the water and our mission for the rest of the day was to kill the little coon. We hit him with full water bottles, sand, an old muffler found in the jetties, and rocks. He was a tough critter and in the end we actually made amends and helped the little kids feed him Doritos.

Tonight we cooked up the only productive catch from yesterday and went for a final strip cruise on the quest for diesel fuel. Tonight it's hitting the hay early b/c tomorrow we pull out and begin the trek to Marco Island.

Potts/Cheggy

Florida Road Trip 2K9 - Day 2

Hello everyone this is Cheggy writing from St. Andrews State Park in PCB. Today we had to wake up early and camp out on a sidewalk for an hour to get our sweet new home site for the next two days. We finally got our new reservation and then headed back to the old camper to hook up and relocate. After we got situated at the new campsite, we decided to head to the beach and relax. We went fishing on the jetties inside the park and Potts actually caught 5 Mangrove Snapper and 2 Surjacks. After the festivities at the beach we came back to the campsite and got cleaned up to go to Captain Anderson's for some grubb. After dinner we cruised the strip for awhile and unfortunately realized we are creepishly too old for strip cruising at PCB! We wrapped up the night with spotlighting Alligators at the gator park inside St. Andrews and then headed back to the camper to watch Pineapple Express. Today was pretty chill and we just enjoyed soaking up the sun and making new friends.

Cheggy

FLORIDA ROAD TRIP 2K9-DAY 1

So if you haven't heard our out west trip has been delayed for about two weeks. A previous commitment for me to go to Boston is at the end of the month and I didn't want to get to far away from Atlanta. So the best way to spend two weeks not too far from Georgia? A road trip through the sunny state of Florida! Today was our first day of our adventures, with our destination being the redneck shores of Panama City Beach! Cheggy and I both new to the RV scene hooked up the 32' travel trailer and headed south. With an easy drive down and our last minute skills to find a place to stay, we have set up in PCB for the next 2 days! With all the traveling ( and restless nights) we have nothing too fun to report for today. A crazy Wal-Mart trip for supplies and we're back to the camper for a night to catch up on sleep. See the pictures from our "homesite"!

-Adam Potts