Destination: Florida

[Bergovoy]

Ok, I am in the final final stages of my move... I would like to start this thread to find people that would like to meet up with me on my drive across the country. If you are along the southern route, (the 10 fwy), between Los Angeles, and Florida, let me know in this thread...

Post your interest and city, and then send me a PM with contact information. (a mapquest or google maps link would be helpful). If you have a boat, and or are knda near a marina let me know, and I will try to figure out if i can find a hotel/motel in the area so i can spend the night and not be in a rush.

I love food, and would be interested in unique/local foods...

I can also bring stuff and drop off stuff along the route, so if you are shipping someting, i can bring it instead...

I am also trying to find and figure out how to track my journey and let folks track it form thier computers... I have seen it for marine stuff, but cant recall the name or if it will work for land navigation...

[witchcraft]

Certain blog sites will allow tracking to take place, by putting a little marker on a map. You of course will have to log in and enter the place you are. Spot devices will allow tracking as well, there are other whose names escape me right now.
Have Fun

[Doodles]

Take a look at Google Latitude for tracking, but you're going to need something with a GPS tracking device like a smart phone.

And SpotWalla ...its free I think. http://spotwalla.com/index.php

[JanetGroene]

If it's OK to plug another site here, the FloridaDirectory.com site is finally up. It's loaded with Florida-specific features including a list of BoatUS marinas that offer that group's privileges such as a fuel discount.

[Mark1977]

Way to go Berg!!! I am not along your rout thats for sure, but keep us updated on your progress..Hope you find the boat thats right for you.

[boatman61]

Hey Berg.... may you find your 'Harbour'.... here's some driving music...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENPkLAeMJ5E

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6A0U7jakUY8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DP0HFOUqFG8

[Bergovoy]

yea, getting close.... I will check out latitudes and that other link... thanks

I been running around, getting the Blazer ready... changed the oil motor and tranny... thinking about fixing up the front end. but that will be at least $700 it needs upper control arm tie rod, idler arm, and a few other things...

Im bummed... not really wanting to spend money on it but dont want to get stuck... I do have AAA and dont think these parts will 'break', only get worst and cause tire damage... which i can deal with later...


I picked up a harness for the cat, and she is not liking it...she stood still in the middle of the room for 15 minutes...and now is walking around and moaning... oh well. she is stupid cat and she will figure it out... hehehehe


i just want her to be collered and leashed and grabble if i need to grab her...

i fear she will run off or get lost during this move... she has never been outside, 'cept twice to go to the vet for check ups...

anyways, i am just sitting and waiting at this point.. tic toc tic toc... hurry up tuesday...

[svHyLyte]

I made that trip in 1992 after we had moved our boat to Florida. I flew back to SoCal, closed a deal and then drove our car from Santa Monica to Plantation (just outside Ft. Lauderdale)--2,753 mind/butt numbing miles. Santa Monica to Phoenix; Phoenix to San Antonio; San Antonio to just north of Pensacola; and, Pensacola to Plantation. From 11:00 Tuesday morning to 18:30 Friday evening. The desert was the worst. B-o-r-i-n-g, and easy to speed and get drowsy. At one point I was zipping along near Deming NM and noticed a "fast mover" closing on me from behind. Suspecting it was a Highway Patrol, I looked down and saw I was doing over 100. I slowed down to 75-80 just as a (very dusty) Red Ferrari 308 GTB literally blew past me. It took only about 15 seconds for it to disappear in a fading cloud of dust ahead of me. Never did see him/her/it again 'tho' I did see many accidents in the desert where people had fallen asleep and run out into the bush or drowsed for a moment, hooked a wheel over the pavement edge, suddenly over corrected and flipped themselves over. Terrible wreckage.

The desert at night is like being at sea. Stars from horizon-to-horizon. The desert also has a particlar sent--like a cross between tarweed and honeysuckel. I did stop a few times to have a walk-about and get my circulation going and I found it very interesting.

The area I disliked the most was Louisiana. I had a portable Citizen's Band radio at the time and listened to the Truckers. Evidently there were a couple of "Bears" routinely stopping out-of-state cars on Highway 12 between Baton Rouge and Slidell so I elected to take the round-about route south of the Lake and through New Orleans, It was hot as hell and it rained blue-blazes so that the windshield was thoroughly fogged up if I wanted any A/C. Miserable conditions.

It's a tough trip. I don't envy you unless you're able to take your time and make it a "land cruise." You can track yourself with a "SPOT" messenger very inexpensively and a SPOT Adventure Page (free) will allow others to follow your progress.

Good Luck.

[flysci]

Did a similar drive - from San Francisco to Jacksonville - when I moved aboard my boat.

I recommend books on tape. Helps the miles fly by, much better than music CDs which can actually aid sleep!

Margo

[Bergovoy]

i downloaded a few books from some site.. i havent quite figured out how to get them to work on my smartphone yet...

i will get on that today, now..


as for tracking... i got something... hopefully it will work for everyone


so, for anyone who cares...

you can follow my every move on www.instamapper.com

logon under my name BERGOVOY and the password is TRAVEL



if you have another tracking software or method, let me know.. but for now.. i think this will work...

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by flysci

Did a similar drive - from San Francisco to Jacksonville - when I moved aboard my boat.

I recommend books on tape. Helps the miles fly by, much better than music CDs which can actually aid sleep!

2 slimming tablets (amphetamine based) dissolved in a shot of brandy or your spirit of choice will have you boogieing for 24hrs a shot...

Margo

Med's permitting....

[Don1500]

[QUOTE=Bergovoy;621347]Ok, I am in the final final stages of my move... I would like to start this thread to find people that would like to meet up with me on my drive across the country. QUOTE]

OK, Bergovoy, I put my house up for sale yesterday (Feb 17) I start selling stuff on Saturday, what isn't gone by closing goes in the dumpster, I don't need it.

I will also be heading for Florida, from LA, ASAP. But I expect to find a boat in Texas (Galveston area). Stay there for a while getting the boat in shape, then sail the coast the rest of the way.

Don't have an exact date but the realtor says two months should do it.

(Anyone want to buy a 1600CC Nomad motorcycle, a Miata? They are priced very good.)

WAIT!! Just read that you have a .......CAT! See you in Florida. My dog loves cats, taste like chicken!

[Bergovoy]

see you there.

[bljones]

Enjoy the journey, Berg. Coast to coast across the USA is the kind of adventure that Ozzies and Yurpies pay serious cash money to do, and you make it sound like a chore.
Come on, Berg! This is the beginning of the best damn adventure of your life because it IS your life! Okay, so you're travelling with a cat- big deal. It could be worse- you could be doing the trip in an old convertible with Dustin Hoffman.

And now for the obligatory big-meany-insensitive -*******-rude-newbie-who-is-ruining-the-nonconfrontational-tone-of-the-site advice:

Fersuckfakes, are you making this trip in a Blazer or a Whaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhmbulance?
Lemmesee if I got this straight- you are travelling from California to Florida in time for March Break to spend a few weeks walking on docks and shopping for boats until you finally find the one that you are going to live on, and so far all you have been able to do is bitch about how tough the process is, and how much work and how much anxiety and...
allow me to put down my snow shovel and take off my mitts so I can flip you the bird with BOTH hands.
Don't worry about the tie-rods or the idler arm or the cat escaping or the distance or whether anybody cares- the passive-aggressive pity party act is starting to get real old, real quick. Make like Nike: just do it.

This epic roadtrip is your warm-up, your shakedown cruise before your shakedown cruise. You've got 3000 miles to learn to adapt, adopt, assimilate, estimate, expectorate, obfuscate, opinionate, appreciate, overwhelm, overcome, and overperform.
You're twice as strong, twice as tough and twice as smart as you think you are, and that's only half the truth. HOWEVER, the longer you play the woe-is-me card, the more likely WE, and more importantly YOU, are gonna start believing your own ********. It becomes self-fulfilling.
So, enough. Starting now, plan your work, work your plan, fill your car with baggage not your head and repeat after me:
I am LIVING!

[zeehag]

if you head to western fla, i know folks there with docks and i know free dockages and free places to anchor for longer than 3 days in sequence, good holding. friend in naples who loves to help folks..... let me know, don and berg-- where you go--if western fla-- many many boats, good places to stash em. galveston--i have friends there and in kemah, also---- many many boats there and dockage is inexpensive, per my friends there.
i am still sailing there, not driving.
will see you guys in a coupla few years. have good land trips to your destinations... berg-- keep cat leashed in car when ye go to store or restaurant-- they are great escape artists--i keep bubba's leash affixed to the underside of his harness by keeping the figure 8 harness backwards-- cat doesnt lie down that way-- they hate things on their backs.
bubba says goggies taste like duck....