On the Road Again!

So that's it.  Twenty-three days to go.  The car-hire fully paid up now after a few hiccups with the automatic (or not!) collection from Rentalcars. What's next?  I have a love hate relationship with Walmart.  But, they do have decent Fruit of the Loom underwear that we can't get over here in the UK. And other stuff by Wrangler that is also unobtanium here. So packing?  We always over pack.  Maybe this year take less and bring less home unused.

Second full day in Orlando. Up around 8am and set about breakfast. Healthy fruit and Greek yogurt followed by less healthy peanut butter on bagels. We were in no hurry to get out. It has rained again overnight but had almost dried out. Today's run was up to a Hooters in Sanford where there was a car meeting. The TomTom had been annoying when we arrived as it took us on toll roads despite the planning on Tyre being set to "no tolls". It did it again today. So we can expect a bill from National at some stage. Once at Hooters we had a coffee, then some shrimp. Then it seemed rude not to have some cheesecake. Not having been to a Hooters before but having read about them I was surprised that there was none of the reported rudity. The food was okay too. We started off around the cars and then it began to rain.  A few of the owners decided to go home. It didn't rain too long though. Photos on Flickr. A few here too. We packed up too. Taking the roadworks affected I4 back. T...

Woken up at 0730 by a very loud radio alarm coming from the Bose  radio in the living room!  That got Paul up and my breakfast of bagels and coffee was prepared for me. We decided to visit old Scottsdale today.  It was full of shops selling Indian and cowboy  memorabilia. I particularly liked the turquoise stone jewellery. I tried some bracelets on and almost succombed as the sales assistant reduced the price by half each time I hesitated and said I would think about it!  There was also a farmers market taking place but there was little of interest to me apart from the stalls of honey which had I been at home I might have purchased! After a visit to Pauls favourite supermarket  (Walmart) we went in search of lunch which turned out to be Mexican.  Not really understanding much of the menu we picked wisely and enjoyed our tacos and wraps. Back to the apartment for some relaxation, Paul fell asleep for 4 hours.  I think the heat affected his conditio...

A little lay in and then out looking for breakfast. Our 4th floor neighbour: With my pills I need to have food with them in the morning, especially the aspirin that can cause ulcers, so we decided to take a drive out. I set TomTom for the Walmart on US19.  Why Walmart? I don't actually like the ideally of funding Mrs Kroenke's lifestyle but the store does have everything you could ever want and even never need. I wanted Fruit of the Loom underpants. I have a pack I bought last year when my case went AWOL and they are so comfortable. Plus, they don't sell them at home. With that done along with some drinks and biscuits another $18 went into the register, and we set off for the hotel. I took a pic of the car. It looks okay from the outside. Inside. Stained and badly cleaned seating. Then we spotted Wendy's. I've not had a Wendy's burger since 1991. I only had one then as my friend at Burger King in Miami had previously worked for Dave at Wendy's HQ before mo...

A quiet day today. We came to have some relaxation time, and so far we have had the stress of the second level interview with the US Border officials on top of the errant suitcase. My new "just in case it is lost for good" clothes from Walmart have actually been very good value for such a little outlay. I hope the workers in factories in Honduras, El Salvador and of course, China, have been paid for their services to cheap t-shirts and shorts for Americans, and of course English tourists. And the person that made my $4.49 aqua shoe did a great job. We had a drive into Punta Gorda itself. The plan was to find the post office to buy stamps for some postcards. Despite the nap we ended up parking and doing something it appears is rare; walking. Once that was done we decided it was time for our morning coffee, so we encared (means got in the car, if entrain means get on a train, then encar is okay) and set off for the "historic district". We never actually saw it, the si...

Up really early (for a holiday) about 7.30am and out for a walk to the wifi spot. The resort has free wifi but neither of the iPhones or Claire's Nexus can connect. After a healthy breakfast, we had a walk to the office. No bag came last night for me and none today. Called the number at 9.18 and left a message. No one has been arsed to call back. Called again after lunch. Same machine. We decided to have a run to Sanibel and Captiva Islands. TomTom once again hand held decided that I75 was preferable to US41. In the end it was just over an hour to handing over the $6 toll for the bridges, Causeway, and onto the island.  I remember nothing of it from my last visited but that was in 1991!! We had a coffee at Bailey's after a drive around the west of the island. Then Captiva.  The 25mph speed limits are a pain with the 20mph school zones at stall speed. We had lunch at the Mucky Duck right near the top of the island. Very nice sandwich. Very packed in though. Very popular as the ...

Walmart turns 50 this week, but is it a "happy" birthday? The mega-corporation known around the globe as Asda, Walmex, Seiyu but most of all -- Walmart -- has over two million employees and $447 billion a year in revenue, making it the largest private employer and retailer on the planet.[1] But Walmart's expansion has come at a real cost, and communities around the globe are paying for it.   From the single mother whose sales associate wages are too low to afford health insurance for her sick child, to the debt-enslaved worker in Thailand who had his passport seized and can't return to his family. Help commemorate Walmart's 50th birthday by sharing this infographic of somber facts about the retail giant The sheer size and power of Walmart means it has an enormous impact on everything it does, from wiping out local jobs and guzzling more energy than 57 nations in the world combined, to making its founders, the Waltons, one of the wealthiest families ...