#111 2022 December 3-9. Nomad Diary. Coming Back to the US Since Leaving in May. Ft. Lauderdale Weekend. Crystal River, FL Stop-over. Drive to Hartselle, Alabama.

 

Video call with toothy grinning Owen in Athens, Alabama!

Video call with sweet Quinn in Portland, Maine.

Saturday. 3.

We arrived yesterday morning on Friday into the port of Fort Lauderdale after crossing the Atlantic Ocean on the Regal Princess. Today we woke up in our nice one bedroom apartment where we are staying until we leave on Monday morning. With our groceries, Darrell and I cook breakfast after our morning exercise routine. We spend a few hours in the morning reading and working. Darrell works on his weekly blog knowyourbible.org where he keeps up with people’s questions from Kenya who are studying along with him. Once we are ready we drive a couple of miles over to visit our friend, Janice and her grandson. She knew my mother since they were kids in this city! We visit and go to lunch together. We will see them again tomorrow at church. For dinner we mix up a fresh salad to enjoy. Today we decided on our drive to Alabama and found a stay for Monday night and one for Tuesday night and booked these using Booking.com. Our plan is to our Hartselle, Alabama airbnb beginning our 6 week stay on Wednesday.

Patio at our nice and roomy airbnb. Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

Sunday. 4.

Today we begin with our exercise routine and we have our yoga mats that we store in the back end of our truck. We make breakfast and dinner at the apartment. Our big event today is going to church where Darrell is preaching today. There are about 10 members who I have known since I was a little girl visiting my grandparents in this city. There are several other members that cover at least 4 countries (the Caribbean, Vietnam, Peru, and Columbia)! We are getting to know these newer members now that we have visited Fort Lauderdale often for the cruise port.

After morning worship we all went out to lunch together and enjoyed visiting and learning about each other more. 

Darrell found a very nice boutique hotel next to this park. Crystal River, Florida.

Out looking for Manatees! We saw one. Crystal River, FL

Bird hiding in the trees. Crystal River, FL

The back decorative feathers of the black bird in the tree. Crystal River, FL

My manatee picture! Crystal River, FL.

Nice walkable town. Moon by the water tower in Crystal River, FL.

Manatee sculpture and christmas decorations in Crystal River, FL

A tree and the moon at our Crystal River hotel: Retreat at Crystal Manatee. Florida.

Monday. 5.

As we leave Ft. Lauderdale, we decide to take the non-highway route on our drive up to Alabama. Our first stop is in Crystal River, Florida about 5 hours of driving through sugar cane farm fields. The drive is so much less stressful than driving on in interstate highway or the turnpike. There are very few towns to drive through, but we do find a fair mexican restaurant to eat lunch at. A couple of the Florida towns we drive through are run down looking. The properties are aged and many are falling down with fewer people living there now. Once we get to Crystal River I am pleasantly surprised that this town has a lot of renovation and tourist type appeal. We check into our hotel, The Retreat at Crystal Manatee. It has several rooms that have been renovated and some still closed as the owners get to the whole complex over time. The rooms are unique and very comfortable and quiet. We are a block from the water where we walk to look for manatees. That’s what you do in this town. Go find a manatee. You can even swim with them or go kayaking with them. We aren’t doing either of those things today. We enjoy walking to a local restaurant and then relaxing in our spa-like room.  

Morning goodbye to our sweet Retreat at Crystal Manatee in Crystal River, FL. 

Tuesday. 6.

Today we drive to Dothan, Alabama along non-highway roads. These roadways are really nice as some have coastal views. There are small towns and some rural and vacation homes we drive by. Traveling on backroads was never an option for us while we were working and getting from one place to another as quickly as a major highway could take us. We have a phone call from a renewed friendship from 30 years ago in Kansas City. A retired couple we knew back then heard that we were nomads now and they have asked us a lot of questions! We talk on the phone for over an hour enjoying each other’s stories and expectations of this traveling way of living. In the early evening we arrive at our one night airbnb near Dothan. It is a small house next to a large farmhouse. We let ourselves in and are pleasantly surprised by the value of this nice small home. We enjoy a quiet evening and good night’s sleep. 

Our first meeting with Owen since March. He took Darrell a book and claimed his privilege of having grandpa available now! Athens, AL

Wednesday. 7.

Today we drove on to Eric and Erin’s house near Athens, Alabama. Owen took right to Darrell after he went through a few minutes of integrating us as real after seeing us on regular video calls. He was obviously seeing us in person and figuring out that we were not on a phone screen! He took to Darrell quickly. It’s so sweet to his affection for Darrell. After leaving Eric’s place we went grocery shopping on our way to our airbnb. We made dinner at our rented house and then found a local church to attend mid-week Bible study. We are in Hartselle, Alabama just off of Highway 65, but a full 30 minutes drive to Athens. Our house here is larger than we normally rent. It’s nice to spread out in this 3 bedroom/2 bath house with an attached carport. Because it is winter and we are about 40 minutes from the biggest city of Huntsville to the north and at least that far to Birmingham going south, we get a lower rental rate and we easily got a bigger property on our budget. There are over 150 people at the Hartselle Westview church and many kindly welcomed us, and know people we know in Athens and Madison just up the road.

Darrell cooking pancakes at our cabin airbnb.

Our airbnb living room in Hartselle, Alabama

Thursday. 8.

We bring all of our stuff into the house that includes all of our crates in the back of our truck. We are going to use some of it while living here. We will also go through all of our things and repack it and cull anything that we no longer use or want.  We each have a trunk of winter and extra clothes. These things will come in handy now as winter is coming. We set up our computers and begin getting organized to get through the holidays and everything else we do on them: shopping, budgeting, taxes, blogs, emails, travel planning, music, etc. Of course we go see Owen asap!

Having pancakes whenever we want because Darrell cooks them really well! Served with fresh berries and real maple syrup! Sometimes with walnuts or black walnuts! I like cinnamon. Always with strong black coffee.

Friday. 9. 

I have a dental appointment today. I used my insurance HSA card for the first time and it worked easily! That’s a win! We decide to increase our morning workouts slightly by doing 3 more difficult days of routines in a row then the easiest routine every 4th day. 

Nomad Notes.

Letter to Christine and Richard continued:

We visited with several lifelong friends in town and Darrell preached at a small church on Sunday. (December 4th)  

Monday we left for Alabama and took the non-highway through the farms going towards the west coast of Florida. It was so much more enjoyable than I-95 or the turnpike with that traffic. We had our sites on Crystal River as a stopping place for our first night. It's a nicer town than I expected. It is the home of the Manatee. We saw one floating up and down near where we stayed at a cute boutique hotel. The weather was still good. This town is clean and nice for tourists. I would love to go back and we enjoyed the unique hotel room and property.

On Tuesday we drove up to Dothan, Alabama using the scenic coastal route.  The road wasn't always hugging the coast, but when it did, it was even more enjoyable!  Once we were into Alabama, the weather was more overcast and for the last week we've had loads of rainy days. We did get in an afternoon to Wheeler Wildlife Refuge in Decatur, AL to see the wintering cranes. It's less than 10 miles from where we are staying in an airbnb rental house until mid-January. 

We have been to see our grandson Owen (15 months old) almost every day. He is enamored with Darrell! It's cute and Darrell is accepting that he's very special to this little boy. 

We have been seeing a lot of friends and family during our week here, and also meeting new friends at church meetings where we go for Bible study and worship.

There's also been several dental and doctor appointments for us to complete. 

Today the sun is shining with the temperature 40-50 degrees. We are well and looking forward to spending some time outside walking in between spending time at our computers! lol! 

Sherry Hamilton