A full day of driving today. Kelly started off and before we knew it, we were through Jacksonville and leaving Florida. We went through Georige and South Carolina and before we knew it, we were grabbing a campsite in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Not much to inform you on today, besides the fact that we had some awesome burgers for dinner, swam in a clean pool, and I ended up burning my hand on some hot greese that was dripping from the burgers as they cooked. We had some quick internet time and then headed off to bed where I got to listen to Chris and Kelly go at their pinching, something they’ve been doing a lot of lately.

Something I’m sure you’ve all been wondering so far is, how much have we spent? Well, while sitting in the back seat, I took the time to add up some numbers so far. They are approximates, but will give you a general idea of how much we have spent up to this point. Also, all of the Vegas buffets and a few other things we forgot to add have not been added to these totals.

• Gas = appx. $1,200.00
• Food = appx. $400.00
• Camping = appx. $800.00
• Total Spent = appx. $2,400.00(US)

Congratulations to Italy, the 2006 World Cup Champions of soccer.

As I had predicted, Italy took the World Cup. I never saw the match, but I found out the news on the front page of the paper this morning. Today, it’s off to Daytona Beach. We got up at 8:30am and headed out after breakfast.

All there is to say is, all that you have heard about Daytona Beach being a party beach is 100% true. A really long beach, Daytona Beach is cool in that you can drive on it, so everyone drives onto the beach and finds their own little space. But be careful. We parked next to a Jeep with two attractive girls hanging out and before we knew it, guys were flocking, creating a much louder spot on the beach. I can’t even imagine what this place is like during Spring Break. Pure mayhem I would imagine. No shell hunting here either. The waves were much too large mixing up the water with the sand.

We spent a couple of hours at Daytona Beach, but soon we had to head out to find a new campground to spend the night at. Today, we ended up at St. Augustine and grabbed a campsite at the local KOA situated at St. Augustine Beach. We were flabbergasted at the $8 they charged us for a third person, but we were happy to be able to rest after the driving. We had our dinner, swam in a very dirty pool (we found more than one band-aid), and played our usual Yahtzee. A special night tonight. I got my first Yahtzee since we started playing… and still lost to Chris.

Not a bad morning today. Off to another beach, Miami Beach. Before we got there, we stopped at a very large memorial. The Haulocaust Memorial.

I won’t get into too much detail, but I’m sure you’ve all heard of it. It’s a black marble wall with hundreds of thousands of names listed on it, names of Jewish families sent to death by Hitler many years ago. Besides the light sound of a childrens choir repeating on speakers throughout the memorial and some car horns in the distant Miami rush of traffic, the memorial was silent. The statues presented at the memorial were striking. Many people couldn’t stand to look at them. I had a hard time myself. Powerful images of people suffering. I took a few photos of the giant hand that reaches to the sky, but that was all. Something to check out if you are ever in Miami.

After the memorial, it was off to the beach. The main strip down the Miami Beach coast is littered with huge hotels and condos. If I had to describe Miami in two words, they would easily be “Condominium” and “Construction”. Buildings were going up left and right. Soon we found a beach and spent a few hours swimming and of course, shell hunting. This beach was a gold mine for beautiful shells.

We had lunch, then it was back on the road, heading to Orlando. We wanted to get as close as possible as we had plans to hit Universal Studios and wanted to be able to get to the gates for opening. The first campground we had picked out was in Kimmissee. We got there at 5:40… CLOSED! We quickly picked out another and headed there, only to find out it was way too much money. It was another 20 miles to the next KOA, but we had no choice. In the end, it turned out great. We got a campsite for two nights and they gave us the second night for free. Excellent. Tomorrow, we hit the land of FUN. Because we had no firewood and we are on our last propane canister, we decided to hit up a Bob Evans down the street for dinner. Funny enough, that’s one of my uncles’ names.

Oh yeah. We played Yahtzee again. And again, Chris won and I lost. Go figure.

Beach day in the Keys. After our horrible night of rain and bug bites, we awoke and headed off (into the rain) to find our first beach. The first one we hit was Anne’s Beach. A nice little sandy area with some great snorkelling to be done. We did this, of course, and after I found a nice large shell (as we are constantly shell hunting), we were suddenly bombarded by crabs. There was a lot of grassy areas in the water of which you couldn’t venture into to snorkel. Just as I decided to head back in, I saw a crab. A huge blue one, staring right at me. I stared back at him as I head my name being called. I looked up briefly to see Chris fending one off himself. Apparently it had snuck up on him and pinched his foot, scaring him. Soon there were crabs everywhere. Like they knew people were present and decided to venture out of the grass to see what was going on. I managed to fend a couple off on my way back into shore without getting pinched, thank goodness.

After Anne’s Beach, it was off to another further down the islands. Just on the other side of the Seven Mile Bridge, we found the second one. I don’t recall the name, but that doesn’t matter. It was small and pretty dirty. Not a good one, thats for sure. We had lunch and were outta there pretty quick. The best beaches were apparently down at Key West, but we didn’t want to drive all the way down there knowing we had to backtrack anyway, so we passed as we most definitely did not want to spend another night there.

We left the Keys and headed up to our second Hollywood. Yep… Hollywood, Florida. Just north of Miami. The park we stayed at was called T.Y. Park. The full name was too hard to pronounce, so I never ended up writing it down. Regardless, it welcomes us with some more rain. There were also a few guys there from Alberta amazingly. Firist Alberta plate we’ve seen in a long time. In Florida, none-the-less. We had our dinner under a large pavillion, played some Yahzee, then went to sleep.

Now, before I end this post, let me share something with you. Yahzee, if you’ve never played, involves rolling dice. Five of them, to be specific. In the time we have had the game, I am yet to roll a Yahtzee (all five dice the same number). Chris, on the other hand… rolled a Yahtzee the very first time he picked up the dice. I was not impressed. And especially not impressed when he rolled another the very next game we played. Chris, I might tell you, has rolled a Yahtzee almost every game we have played. Me? NONE! Not one. Even Kelly has pulled one out. But none for Ian. I’m starting to hate that game because rolling a Yahtzee gives you 50 points and you can score bonus points for rolling more than one in a single game (which Chris has also done). So it pretty much solidifies his win every time. We’ll see how much longer I can stand losing.

Today is a special day. It’s the official start of week number four for Chris and myself. Kelly, leaving from Toronto a few days before to get to Calgary, is well into her fourth week away from home. Worried about her cats, she’s been awaiting confirmation that they are all okay.

We had an early rise again this morning and we were on the road by 8:15am. As we got going, we noticed that we had all broken one of the key rules of the trip. “Never let the gas get to the 1/4 mark”. Because we never knew how far it was until the next stop, letting the gas get that low was risky. Unfortunately, we had, so set out on the highway with less than a quarter of a tank. After I prepared myself for a nice jog in the desert, a gas sign appeared and we were saved… this time.

At 10:15am we arrived in Senora, Texas, home of the Caverns Of Senora. Finding out about this in one of the brochures we had picked up, we decided to check it out. If you have never seen active caverns before, we highly recommend checking this tour out. It’s almost 2 hours long, and there is some up and down-hill hiking, but it’s all way down below the surface of the earth. You get to see active Stalagtites, Stalagmites, Columns, ponds/lakes, and “Cave Bacon”. Our guide was a husky lad with a thick Louisiana accent, as that is where he said he was from. Here is a little tid-bit of info for you that we learned. Did you know that if you were to stay in total darkness (which we got to experience in the caverns) that you will go blind in 7-8 days. Did you also know that you cannot get electricuted in pure water? Yep, you can screw in a lightbuld underwater, with the power on, and you will not get electricuted. A note to add to that is, you must be wearing gloves, or the salt from your hands will be enough mineral for the electricity to flow.

After the cavern tour and after seeing our first wild scorpoion (which was found at the exit of the cavern tour) we had lunch at the local Sonic. I’ve never been to a restaurant where they bring the food out to your car before.

Tonight we camped in New Brunfels where gas was a cheap $2.49. The pool was cloudy and there were lots of ants here. We got the campsite for two nights as we have some touring of San Antonio tomorrow, along with one of the most populat waterparks in America.