Wednesday January 10 - We've left Homosassa, somewhat sadly, but time for a change. Weather tends to dictate where we go, so after much research, we decided to go a little south for awhile...not far, but just enough to enjoy generally good temps for a few days. So here we are outside of New Port Richey, which is north of the Tampa urban sprawl.

Before leaving, we had a nice day on Monday doing a final ride around the backroads after a bowl of chowder at The Freezer (almost as good as the chowder at Tony's in Cedar Key, but not quite). We rambled around for about 20 kms, up and down the network of roads that are labelled 'no exit', 'dead end' and 'no outlet'. We never did figure out the difference, as all roads thus signed meant that when you got to the end, you had to turn around. Because there's a series of canals and irregular coastline in this area, the roads ramble, as they track along the waterways. Nice for the homeowners, as most can put a dock on the back of their property. Peaceful too, as there's only local traffic on these roads. Needless to say, we finished up with our last beer at The Shed, watching the pelicans wheel about.

Yesterday we packed up and stopped at the Print Museum/Cafe to say goodbye to Jim Anderson. He was busy touring a group through the museum, so we had Cuban toast, prepared by the woman who works there for Jim. We had a long chat with her, as we were the only ones there. Long story short, her daughter has terminal cancer, and is not far from the end. She has 5 kids, aged 2 to 11. Her husband is nowhere in the picture, as he tried to kill them all some time ago. So when daughter passes away, her mother will have to take the kids on.

Her husband was in the cafe, and seemed like a decent guy, very much affected as the story unwound. They will take this huge load on, and because she has a very deep faith, she can somehow put all of this in a positive light. There were tears, several times during the telling, but somehow she feels she was blessed for the time she has had with her daughter, and will somehow manage. She and her husband have had some hard times financially, but she has faith that they'll find a way to get by.

We left with pretty heavy hearts after big hugs were exchanged. We did manage to speak to Jim as well, and will keep in touch with him, as he said he'd be willing to do some printing of photos for me, if I ever get around to doing a selection from my vast collection. Going down the road, we were pretty quiet, thinking about this poor woman, wondering how she'll be able to cope. Wish we could do something for her.

Anyway, it brings our little day-to-day concerns into perspective. Our biggest problem at the moment is deciding when to go to New Orleans.

The park we are in now is very nice, on a lake with lots of birds, including two friendly sandhill cranes. The people in the park are also very friendly, stopping to chat, telling us how much they enjoy being here. The largest groups are from Ontario and Michigan, here for the winter. There is a large range of activities for them, so they are able to keep themselves amused and busy. We'll stay a few days before heading to the Panhandle. Cloudy but warm, and brightening, with tomorrow promising sunshine. We'll probably go over to Tarpon Springs, maybe do some biking on the Pinella Trail, which starts there.

That's it for now. Sorry for the sad story. More happier stuff later. Stay tuned.