Fred and Robin go to Florida

Imagine Willie Nelson singing...On the road again...doot doot doot doot doot... the road again....

That's right folks, Robin and Fred are rolling down Interstate 10 this time looking for adventures on our way to Florida. And once again things did not go as planned.

“The Plan,” was to host a QRZ users meeting at Quartzfest 2011 in Quartzsite Arizona the last week of January. It did not happen. Prior to that, “The Plan” was to move the QRZ software from our own equipment to equipment owned by other people. Other people being Amazon.com. Such operations are commonly referred to as running in the cloud, which means that you don't know where the hardware is and you don't care. It just automagically works. That did happen, however, the ascent into the cloud wasn't as divine as Fred anticipated. In fact, that cloud rained on his parade for weeks on end and it is still drizzling. Every lunch stop on the road so far involves a quick check of the website and minor adjustments. Every night requires at least two hours of programing and email. Fred keeps insisting that it is getting better. Of course, when everything is finally running smooth, it will be time for new improvements and additions to this website that keeps fuel in this bus and keeps us rolling down the highway to new ham radio adventures.

The mirrors, ah the mirrors. They are not as hard to keep clean this time since the entire bathroom cabinet mirror came off in my hand. I had little experience with standing in a pool of shattered glass with which to draw on so I just waited for Fred to come save me. And he did. One less mirror to clean.

Since I have so little to report, adventure wise, I'll update you on the current roadkill count. 1 coyote, 1 mouse, innumerable skunks (are they dumb, slow, or just can't resist a dare from their friends) 1 javalina, 8 deer, 1 raccoon, 1 armadillo, 3 dogs, 1 cat, 1 fox and 10 certified UFOs (unidentified furry objects). We just saw a live deer next to the road so Fred figures he still has a chance to bag one before the season's over. What a sportsman!

As we fast approach our destination of the Orlando Hamcation I would like to note that we drove so far around Fredricksburg, TX and New Orleans, LA that I have no clue what they even look like. Last year when I was disappointed at missing these places, Fred assured me that we were coming their way again in February and would explore them then. Well it is February and we blew past them once again with similar assurances that we could return on the way back. Fred must hope I'm as dumb as 10 skunks.