Getting Out by staying in…

Post 20

There are only a few places in this country where the weather is significantly nicer during the winter months as opposed to the summer. In my opinion Florida is one such place. The oppressive humidity, heat and Earth shattering thunder storms accompanied by torrential rainfall make the Floridian summer unbearable. But again this is just my opinion, Florida is the third most populous state in the nation so I guess millions of people not only find it bearable but enjoyable enough to some degree to live here. 

We have a stop in Jacksonville before heading as far south as our journey will take us this summer to a suburb north of Orlando. Wanting no part of the suffocating humidity and forecasted coming storms on the horizon, Becky and I opt to stay in a hotel instead of camping. For us to stay in a hotel is something that is sacrilegious in the eyes of most of the outfitters we visit. Occasionally folks at the stores will ask us where we are camping for the night and if it happens to be a night that we are not camping I will respond that we are actually staying at a hotel up the road. Where then they will judgingly look at us with skeptical stares as if we clearly don’t fit the Get Out More blue print. I always hold my tongue, but my initial reaction or reflex is to defend myself. We are living on the road for seven months, getting a hotel every now and then is not a crime. Also the majority of our shows are in metropolitan areas and it is unrealistic to drive an hour outside the city to camp. So yes we do indulge by overnighting in a hotel one to two nights a week!

This particular stay over in a hotel also had a dual purpose. The current Subaru Outback we were in had been on the road for a full year hauling two other Get Out More tours around along with our current tour. Logging a staggering 40,000 miles in a single year the Outback that we had affectionately named Rupert was being retired. Our hotel room would act as a staging area where we could store all of our gear before receiving our brand new Outback. In the process of three days we said goodbye and swapped out Rupert after having the car wrap taken off. Our new Outback also had to be wrapped in our fancy logo. 

Each night during our time in Florida we were thankful for the roof over our head as we watched from the window of our hotel as the thunder boomed overhead and the lightning lit up the sky. Over the four nights that we stayed in the Orlando area over four inches of rain fell! I’m ready to head North.