The pitter patter sound of rain drops wakes me at 4:30 am and so I jump up to get the packing done before the deluge. It is no fun packing up a wet tent. Turns out it was a bit of a teaser as the sky is just overcast, no real rain yet. Still, I am up and within 45 minutes I’ve had coffee, breakfast, packed up the site and am ready to roll.

Drive in the dark for an hour, stop at the Big Bend Jai Alai building by my old camp to take the pictures I uploaded the other day, then on again. Stop again for gas and coffee but that’s it until Orlando – 7 hour drive.

No sign of Christy or sister Joy at the hotel so I decide to go for a long hard swim to detoxify. The weather is decidedly warmer here, shorts weather and the pool is heated so it feels great. Totally different crowd here now – instead of 2000 conference attendees it’s 3000 families and kids. Some kind of Christmas gig going on and it’s fun to see the kids all excited. A bit more challenging to do 1300 m dodging kids but not bad.

Christy, her friend Liz and I go for a burger and a drink, then back to the hotel where everyone is quite happy to watch a couple movies and hit the hay.