At about 2.30 this morning both Mike and I were out of bed and Tal-y was feeling like the Queen of the trailer as she had the whole bed to herself.
We didn’t do anything exciting today, just a bit of shopping, a bit of cooking and a lot of eating. I made split pea soup as I’m trying to use up all the food we have here before we leave so I don’t have to throw too much away. Now I just have to figure out something exciting to do with black eyed peas.
Tal-y actually went in her new house today and lay down for a while without me having to throw treats in it first, and the armadillo came by to wish us happy New Year this afternoon while we were sitting outside the trailer (he has nails to rival Tal-y's). Tal-y said Happy New Year back in a very loud voice.
Tal-y wasn’t very impressed with the fireworks tonight. I tried to take her out about half past midnight to go to the bathroom and she was scared to death, she tried to hide under the truck. I guess she’s going to have to hold it till the morning, which will be good practice for her long flight in a few weeks.

Mike: Happy New Year! I'm in my shorts and t-shirt.

We went out for a little drive today just to get lunch and stopped off at Walmart and ended up buying a crate for Tal-y. It has to be long enough for her to lie down in and high enough that there are two inches above her head when she’d standing; Walmart had the perfect size crate. We got it home and put it together and put a blanket in it; now we just have to get her used to going in it.
We took a walk around the other end of the park this evening as I talked to some people this morning that said there are sand cranes and turtles here. We saw both while we were walking around. There was a herd (??) of cranes with bright red heads walking among the trailers and a little teeny tiny turtle just hanging out under a palm tree. While we were wandering we discovered that there was a trailer sale going on today so I got to look inside a few fifth wheel trailers. Wow. A couple of them were bigger than our last apartment; the kitchens were definitely bigger, and they even had log fires in them. I’d be afraid to let Tal-y and Mike in it, they’d have to wipe their feet extra hard.

Mike: No way Jose! If I want a house, I'll buy one that isn't on wheels!

We got up this morning fairly early and decided to take a drive to Orlando International airport; well to the Virgin cargo desk at the airport anyway. We decided to go talk to them face to face to get some info on sending Tal-y to Britain. The lady was very nice and very helpful and put my mind at ease about sending Tal-y across the pond. We had considered sending her from Orlando and as she would have to be accompanied then I would go with her, but it’s going to be too expensive so she’ll be flying by herself. But at least after talking to the cargo people we have some more information about the process and the things we have to do to make the journey go easily.
After leaving the cargo place we dropped Tal-y off at Petco so she could get a haircut. Even though it’s supposed to be cold tonight and tomorrow it’s supposed to be warming up here to around 75 degrees so it was time for her to get rid of her thick coat. While she was getting groomed Mike and I ate and did a little shopping. We picked Tal-y up after about three hours and she looked so cute, the groomer did a really nice job of cutting her hair. I considered asking her to cut Mikes hair as he hasn’t been to a hairdresser since before he finished work. He’s the only one left to get tidied up for the new year now but I’m not going to hold my breath as he’s not very inclined to get his hair cut anytime soon.

Mike: With everyone else getting haircuts I can't afford to!

Wow it was windy last night. It started raining late yesterday evening and then the wind really picked up. It kept me awake for a lot of the night, or maybe I just woke up everytime Tal-y jumped due to the wind howling. As usual Mike slept right through it all and just added to my lack of sleep with his snoring (which of course he’s going to deny doing).
Since today wasn’t really a very nice day for hanging out or doing anything outside we decided to go to the cinema and see Harry Potter. After dumping the toilet (which everyone should do on Boxing Day!) and showering we headed for Winter Garden. The cinema was about 40 minutes away and was the closest one to us that had afternoon shows. When we got there, there was only one other person in the theatre besides us but before the movie started the theatre was completely full. I was quite surprised as the movie has been out a while now. The cinema was nice with comfy stadium seating, and the movie was pretty good. I think it was definitely one of the better ones and it followed the book a lot closer than some of the others; Mike stayed awake for almost all of it so it must have been decent. It was sad though and I shed a tear at then end. Now I’m looking forward to the last one.
When we got out of the cinema the skies had cleared even though it was still a little windy. Since it was really dark by the time we got home Mike was very chivalrous and came for a walk with Tal-y and me. It’s a lot colder tonight than it has been and is supposed to get to record lows tonight and tomorrow night so I’m off to fill my hot water bottle and cwtch up in bed, nite.

Mike: I don’t snore any louder than you! Happy Boxing Day!

Merry Christmas to everybody, I hope you all got everything you wanted and had a lovely day.
I think this morning was the latest I have ever been in bed on Christmas morning, I didn’t get up till after 9. I got some great presents, some sparkly jewelery from Michael and a kool Kindle from mam and dad.
While I took Tal-y to the loo Mike got to work on trying to fix the leak in the bathroom. When I got back we had no water in the kitchen and mike looked like a drowned rat; turns out that while he was ‘fixing’ the sink the water blew and went everywhere – I’m glad I wasn’t here for that. He spent a while longer fixing and putting the taps back together but it still has a leak so it looks like we’ll have to get someone out to take a look at it next week. As a result of the leak I got to do laundry on Christmas day as Mike used our bath towels to mop the water off the bathroom floor, typical man.
I got to talk to my family this morning for a while and it sounded like everyone was having a good time; I miss them, especially at this time of the year. I may have shed a tear or two after talking to them all. Not that I miss the welsh winter weather but I wish we could have been over there for the holidays, maybe next year, or maybe everyone can come visit us in Ecuador.
This afternoon Mike and I took Tal-y for a walk around the park in some lovely 70-degree weather. We walked down to the lake and finally got Tal-y out on the pier. Up till now she would get to the metal part of the pier and turn round and run back to the beach. Today she made it all the way to the end, it was a Christmas miracle that may have had something to do with the fact that I carried her.
We got some good news from Romania, well actually Hungary, baby Abigail arrived and both she and Tiffiny are doing fine. Congratulations to you guys.
Tal- y ate more than her fair share of mashed spuds for dinner and is now lying on the bed unable to move; she is definitely welsh, potatoes in any shape or form are her favourite food. Mike and I also ate a lush dinner, tofurky, mashed potato, veggies and gravy. It’s just a shame that the Lakers couldn’t beat Miami.

Mike: Nice Christmas day! Merry Christmas everyone!

Happy Christmas Eve. Not much happening today, just doing laundry (I must have clean bed clothes for Christmas) and getting dinner stuff ready for tomorrow. Mike made stuffing and I made cheesecake; it only took twice as long to cook as it was supposed to but it looks good. I also made lentil loaf for sometime over the weekend, but didn’t realise till after I had gotten everything cut up ready that I didn’t have any lentils, duh. I substituted yellow split peas, I hope it tastes ok.
Just before bed tonight mike discovered that we have a leak in the bathroom sink; I guess I know how he’ll be spending his Christmas morning.
Well I’m off to bed right now to wait for Father Christmas to come, I wonder how he gets down the chimney in a trailer that doesn’t have a chimney?

Mike: Not the sharpest tool in the shed! Ugh, split pea loaf!

We finally made it to Gatorland today, and it was a really cool place. It’s actgiantually a beautiful preserve that’s easy to walk around with lots of gators, crocs, and a few birds. We got there about mid morning and got to look around a little before going to the first show that was on called Up Close Encounters. The show started just after we sat down and the guys doing the show ran into the audience and put two boxes on the benches, one of which was right in front of me. Thankfully I didn’t get the first box they opened. They got another woman up on the stage and made her shut her eyes before they opened the box and took out two giant hairy spiders and put them on her hands. I think I would have passed out, or worse. Then it came time to open my box, I tried moving but they found me. It was okay though cos it turned out that in the box was a poisonous snake, a timber snake, that they didn’t make me hold. I did get dragged up on the stage later though with three other people and we got to hold a python; I got the tail not the head (I called the coin toss, Tails for Wales). It was very neat, not slimy but almost spiky when it moved and very muscular. I think I was very brave!
Afterwards we wandered around some more and some all sizes of gators, some were massive and others just babies; we also saw some white alligators, although they weren’t albino. Then we went to watch some gator wrestling; I swear the guy doing it was a nutcase. He was sitting on the gators back holding it jaws closed before prying it’s mouth open so the audience could see inside. Suddenly there was a loud snap as the gator decided he didn’t want assist in the show and closed his mouth; the wrestler moved his hands super fast. Then he showed us how all the strength is in the gators lower jaw by holding the top jaw open with his chin -–like I said a nutcase. It looked like dangerous and difficult work as the guy was sweating and breathing heavy through the whole show. He did tell us that the gator wasn’t being particularly cooperative which didn’t help things but he did a really good show, he was very entertaining. At the end he flipped the gator over and it just lay completely still, apparently when they are flipped on their backes they go to sleep. To ‘wake it up’ he tickled it’s belly and the gator immediately flipped himself over, it was amazing to watch.
After the show we went to the top of the observation tower to check out the huge lake that was full of alligators and crocodiles. The views were amazing and the gators too, they have cool names like Chaos and Mania. There were loads of water birds, herons and storks, just hanging out, some were even perched on the back of the gators. Apparently the different birds that nest in the trees among the gators do so as the gators are a deterrent to other predators – better the devil you know!
We had a good day out, Gatorland is definitely worth a visit. The park is really well put together and they are doing a great deal of work to shelter the injured and to provide sanctuary to gators and crocs that are causing havoc in neighbourhoods throughout Florida.

Mike: Gatorland is cool! That’s where you take someone you want to get ride of!

We had intended to visit Gatorland today so I got up earlyish to walk Tal-y, and while we were down by the lake we met Jack and his owner and decided to stop by this morning on our way out to get the info. So after showering and stuff we headed off to visit the english. Mary was on her way out but Steve gave us some really useful info both about shipping Tal-y and also about leaving the trailer and truck while we go to Ecuador and the UK. They left their vehicles for 12 months and when they got back the truck started right up which was a concern of Mikes; he had toyed with the idea of selling Serena but is glad he doesn’t need to. Well being an englishman Steve likes to chat and so we didn’t leave till well after 11 o’clock. We headed south to go to Gatorland but stopped along the way for lunch during which we decided that maybe it would be a better idea to go to Gatorland tomorrow when we can get an earlier start. So we did a little shopping instead (we now have tofu turkey for Christmas dinner and I have tofurky for sandwiches, yumm), and then headed back home.
While I was sweeping the mat off outside this afternoon we had a little visitor, and yes I knew what it was right away. He was snuffling through the undergrowth right behind our trailer and came almost onto the mat. I think he would have if he hadn’t realised that Tal-y was there straining at her cord trying to get to him. He was really cute and rubbery looking, I wonder how he feels? He took off once Tal-y started barking at him, and I left her keeping watch from a perfect vantage point.

Mike: Were you going to tell them what it was? A giant tofurky! No, just kidding it was an Armadillo!

Well both Mike and I had a little lie in this morning since we both got up at 2.30 a.m. to see the lunar eclipse; it was actually pretty cool even though it was not as spectacular as a solar eclipse. We saw it when it was almost complete and the moon had a kind of pinkish hue to it; thankfully the sky was clear and the moon was full so it was hard to miss it. It was a little chilly out at that time of the morning and I don’t think there were too many other folks checking it out – their loss. I took some cool pictures, check them out!
When he got up Mike had to go pick up our mail; it’s a little weird that the post office doesn’t open till 10 o’clock, the East Coast really does get a later start than the West Coast. We actually stopped by the post office yesterday to check if it had arrived but the line was out the door so we didn’t bother. Well he waited this morning and then discovered that the post office he thought the mail was being sent to doesn’t accept general delivery. He had to drive about 15 miles north of us to the main Clermont office to get our mail. Well that took him most of the morning while Tal-y and I stayed at the trailer and cleaned up a little and tried to catch the fly that has been living with us since we left Live Oak. At least I tried to get rid of it with the swatter while Tal-y sat in the corner trying to hide; I’m not sure whether from the fly or the swatter.
This afternoon I took Tal-y for a walk down to the lake where we met a nice english couple – an oxymoron I know but it’s true. They are from Weston-Super-Mare and spend 6+ months here are at a time travelling around the country with their dog Jack. They were very informative as they have shipped Jack back and forth between the UK and here a number of times, and we are going to stop by their trailer sometime to get some info and phone numbers. It’s nice to talk to someone who has actually done what we are trying to do and it doesn’t seem that it’s going to be as complicated as I think it is.

Mike: A night to howl! Can’t we send Tal-y on a slow boat?

We drove to Clermont today which wasn’t too long of a drive, although longer than it needed to be cos Mike had to keep stopping to pee – he really shouldn’t drink so much coffee on the days we drive. The drive was nice, even though it was really overcast and a little rainy at times; by the time we got to Clermont the weather had cleared up and it was just a little windy and cool. We drove down the I75 most of the way and every inch of it was covered with advertising signs, it’s pretty weird. Apparently California used to be the same way but they were banned, and I can see why, they are really distracting as you’re driving, as they are everywhere some advertise things that are 100+ miles away. We did see a sign for the Medieval Times in Orlando and so I think we are going to go see that show while we are here – I guess the signs do the job.
We had the address programmed into Nell (and I checked that the coordinates took us to the same place) but when we got to the address is was the middle of a shopping center. Mike had me call the ranger at the campground (not one of his smarter moves I have to say) to get directions and it turned out we were about 15 miles away from where we were supposed to be. To be fair to Nell though, when they gave us the map of the grounds the coordinates that were on it were not the same ones as on the website – dumb!
Anyway we got here and got checked in and Mike was asked which space we wanted; it’s kind of hard to pick a spot when you’ve never seen the campground before. Fortunately there was a woman in the office who pointed him in the right direction and we now have a really nice private space way back on the preserve with lots of trees and plants all around us; the perfect gator hideout! Not really, and besides the guy who checked us in said the gators are all at the bottom of the lakes but we might see some armadillos – will I recognise one of those when I see one?

Mike: Ah! Warm weather! Aren't you supposed to pee at "rest stops" or do I have to wait for "pee stops"?

We haven’t done much of anything for the past three days besides hang out at the trailer, walk, and eat. There’s not too much close to us, and by too close I mean anywhere near, that doesn’t involve us driving for a few hours in one direction or another. So we decided to just relax and enjoy the sunshine and heat for a few days. We did drive into Live Oak a couple of times; I thought it would be a small town but it’s quite a good size and has everything anyone needs for a few days visiting.
Mostly me and Tal-y have been walking around the park and we’ve seen lots of squirrels, a long horned cow, and a cute fox. Tal-y really wanted to visit with the cow but I didn’t think that was a good idea; I don’t think she even saw the fox, but I did and it saw us. We stared at each other for a few seconds before it took off into the woods; if it hadn’t taken off I think I would have. I put Mike to good use and we now have enough beans to last us well into the new year; he also took the opportunity to take care off some other bits and pieces that he’s been putting off doing like loading spanish onto my Ipod. Now I really have no excuse and just have to start listening and learning.
We are off to Orlando tomorrow, well just about 25 minutes to the west of the city anyway where we are going to spend the next two weeks. I’m looking forward to keeping this lovely weather and getting to go to some of the bunches of attractions we’ll be close to down there.

Mike: My chores are never done!

We finally made it to Florida today, yeah warm weather at last, well warmer anyway. It was quite cold when we got up this morning, the sewer pipe thing was frozen when Mike went to disconnect it from the whole in the ground. Apart from the chilly weather we didn’t have too much trouble hooking up this morning; maybe cos Mike did it by himself. Ever since we were in Yemassee and the guy next to us hooked up without his wife’s help Mike has been doing our hitching up by himself – I guess it does pay to bitch once in a while!
Thankfully the wind had dropped of by late yesterday afternoon so we had a fairly good run down into Florida today, and the drive was only about 2 ½ hours. The campground we are staying at here in Live Oak for the next few days is right on the Suwanee River. It’s not a bad campground and even though this is the start of the peak season here in Florida it’s not too busy. It’s one of the bigger places we’ve stayed at with around 400 sites but we have plenty of room and even though there are a few other people around us it’s really quiet. We got set up by early afternoon and then went to get lunch; we’ve discovered Hungry Howie’s pizza, which is a good thing and not such a good thing.

Mike: Can you hear me singing?

Way down upon the Suwannee River,
Far, far away,
There’s where my heart is turning ever,
There’s where the old folks stay.
All up and down the whole creation,
Sadly I roam,
Still longing for my childhood station,
And for the old folks at home.