WEATHER--

Ridiculous to sublime

It was 4 degrees when we left Ohio January 2nd and headed south.  It was 74 degrees when we arrived in Vero Beach late the following afternoon.

That pretty much sums up the reason for the term "snow birding".

The highlight of our two day road trip was a visit to the Appalachian Trail for a geocaching stop.  That occurred in Virginia where the AT crosses I-77 near a town called Bland.  It was a short detour off the interstate and a quick climb to an elevation of 3,000 feet above sea level where we quickly found this delightful cache.

The cache is in Sue's right hand in the picture below.  Note the "miniature" semi truck passing by far below under her left arm.

This cache was appropriately named "Acrophobia at 3,000 feet" and contained a few small souvenirs for folks who like to trade such things.  We also signed the log; the all important evidence of our visit.

Note the sharp edge of the cliff behind Sue.  It was pretty much a vertical drop to that far below highway.  Some folks have described the look on her face as sheer terror.  I like to think she was simply in a hurry to get back to our warm car.

We scored caches in all five states we passed through on our journey to Florida; WV, VA, NC, SC and GA.

We told the ladies at the welcome center near Parkersburg what we had been doing in the far rear of their parking area.  They were relieved to learn about the geocache hidden back there.  Previous visitors had aroused their fearful suspicion.

A day or so after our arrival in FL we added that state to our growing list.   Now, we will enjoy the sub-tropical winter by working toward the milestone of finding our 1,000th cache.

We found the camper in fine shape and quickly had it operational except for a time consuming interior scrubbing to rid it of mold that resulted from the area's extraordinarily wet summer and fall.

Now begins the pleasurable task of rejoining our friends the Weeks' from Syracuse and the Shafer's from Bellville in pursuit of mutually enjoyable local activities and, no doubt, a continuing barrage of  blog stories.

Our publishing schedule may be relaxed to the point of being erratic.  Sorry.  Prolonged vacations where the surf is gentle and light winds dance through the palm trees will do that to retired writers.