April...Flowers?

Welcome to another edition of We Trot About...Slowly.

For more frequent updates let me suggest Andy's and LuAnn's instagrams!

     Well, let's see. What have we been up to? We went to the #ArtWalk in DownTown Jax #DTJax AKA #Spark Walk  since they were hosting the #OneSpark inventors' showcase there.  There I got arrested by stormtroopers but moments later I used the force to escape. Harrowing!

They replaced the shark sculpture there with a 600-lb orange chicken made of recycled traffic cones.  I say it's a much better use for them!

     We went to the Orlando airport to pick up our son Austen who is visiting from Austin. Yes, you read that right. While we were there we went to the Leu Gardens, a wonderful 50-acre park full of David Rogers' giant bug sculptures. It was a great experience that we highly recommend!

     We spent a bunch of the past week showing him around our new town on bicycles. The weather has been spectacular and biking over the bridges above the Saint Johns River afforded some great views of Jacksonville Landing.

     We hit a bunch of the beaches and had lunch at Joe's Crab Shack, another must have experience here. All in all a rocking few weeks. As always we are working our art stuff, I had some gigs and continue working with the new Andy Toomey Trio and LuAnn is painting. Tune in next time for more #Florida #Fun!

Spring @ #WeTrotAbout

Spring!

     Once again I must mention our slow pace here at #WeTrotAbout so, for those wanting more frequent news of your hosts, I direct you to InstagramAndy and Instagram LuAnn. Meanwhile...

     In recent weeks we trotted about! First to Palm Coast for the Washington Oaks State Park & Garden on the Matanzas River, which was absolutely gorgeous and wonderful! We also saw the cool Coquina Rocks there, which are sedimentary rocks made from seashells. They were quite extensive and beautiful!

     Another travel adventure took us to Boca Raton to see Cirque De La Symphonie, featuring a live symphony orchestra plays behind acrobats, magicians, jugglers, strong men & aerialists from Cirque Du Soleil. It was a really entertaining program! Also, since our friend Jan works for one of the sponsors, we got in with her for free, including free food and drink. Hey, you can't beat that!

     More traveling! We explored the beautiful Ringhaver Park nature trails, saw some amazing birds, fish and snakes, plus met some nice folks too!

     We also did some biking along the riverfront and saw the Mystic, a 100-year-old three masted schooner tied up there. Alas, she's for sale & no tours. Sad face.

     In non-travel news we're getting ready for LuAnn's next art show at the Cool Moose Cafe in April. She's been doing some more painting lately, which you can see at www.LuAnnDunkinson.com

     I played at the opening of The Yarn Cow, a local yarn business owned by a friend. Met lots of cool local musicians and I found a sympatico bassist and drummer quite by accident who inexplicably enjoy playing my compositions, so that's really fun.

     I've been writing & recording songs since I was 16 or so. Going through the archives I discovered that I have recorded more than 170 original songs. That's pretty crazy, no? Even if most are just OK that's still an impressive accomplishment in my view. Yay! See you in April!

Traveling lower and slower

Hello!

     We seem to have moved to a more leisurely schedule here, so let me direct you to our more frequently updating Facebook, Instagram Andy and Instagram LuAnn if you are hungry for news. Whilst we are reloading the kitty for our further adventures we are still doing some traveling but, especially with LuAnn still on the mend, we are moving a bit lower and slower in our pace. Now that LuAnn has gotten her cast removed though, we are hoping that we can start to "trot about" again!

     So. Some things that have been happening: I took part in the RPM Challenge this month, which is "Ten songs, or 35 minutes of original music, created during the month of February. I did a bit better than that. As of today I have 17 new songs up on MY SOUNDCLOUD, some 50 odd minutes of music. 50 minutes of odd music? Whatever. I just discovered there is also FAWM, February Album Writing Month so I did that too. Man, people really want to help kickstart my creativity!

     I'm pretty happy with that result. I wasn't nearly as productive on the road as I would have liked, music-wise. I did write some stuff that I ended up using, but considering I dragged the whole recording apparatus around the world, well... let's just say that I spent more time sightseeing than working in any capacity and leave it at that. Anyway, I hope you get to listen and enjoy it! 

     In other music news I've done a bunch of gigs with Back Alley Cadillac and that's been going well. LuAnn has been invited back to show her watercolors again at The Cool Moose in April. She was delighted to have sold a piece there last month. She's been painting a bunch and doing her regular day job thing so that's all fine & dandy. I haven't managed to land a straight job yet so that's a bit disappointing but these things take time.

     In travel news our recent long weekend trip was to Cocoa Beach Florida where we stayed at the lovely Inn at Cocoa Beach which we highly recommend. Reasonably priced, well located with a wonderful ocean view and heated outdoor pool it was, to use my favorite phrase, delightful!

     While everyone told us to eat at the Florida Seafood Bar & Grill, even with call ahead reservations, you couldn't even get up to the hostess it was so crowded. Unbelievable. It must be great but we'll never know. We almost gave up eating out that evening, but we walked to the river to see the view and ended up going in the Sunset Waterfront Grill instead. They get pretty mixed reviews on the food & service but I don't see why. The wait staff was great, the food was tasty & reasonably priced and the view was amazing, especially when you are watching a gorgeous sunset sitting on an open deck in February. Thank you, Florida. 

     For Valentine's Day we went to Millikens Reef in Cape Canaveral. It was sort of weirdly situated on the waterfront, but it was sort of industrial waterfront. They have live music outside but we sat inside. It was a big place and fairly crowded but no wait. The food was decent and again fairly reasonable considering the hotel tried to sell us on Valentine's dinner for $95 per person.

     Our last day there we decided to spend the day at the Kennedy Space Center, and we were so glad we did. It was fun as hell. The pavilions are really quite well done. There is an IMAX theater where we saw the story of the Hubble telescope, with its dazzling images.  Another pavilion housed the  space shuttle Atlantis, and after that a bus trip out to the launch pads and the Atlas V rocket they sent to the moon. We also  learned a whole bunch about what NASA and SpaceX are up to now, and hope to return to see an actual launch. It was well worth the $50 per person. 

     Coming up, we hope to explore what spring holds for us locally, like the Okefenokee and Everglades. We've been noticing the azaleas blooming, which make garden people like us happy. We have another weekend trip to South Florida planned mid-month. And somehow whenever the weekends roll around, even if we have nothing planned, somehow we stay busy! Happy exploring! 

So many choices!

What to do, what to do?

Choosing a direction on the road, or in life, can be one of the toughest things you do.

This road or that one? This country, city, apartment...or that one?

I thought that traveling for a year would give me a clearer direction in life but that doesn't seem true.

                                    (photo: Abel-Tasman on New Zealand's South Island)

Here are some current possibilities, in no particular order.

Future travel short term:

Definitely going to Cocoa Beach for the long weekend in February.
Definitely going back to Boca for a long weekend in March for the art show.
Definitely going to Austin Texas and Los Angeles California to visit the kids in May or July.
Definitely going to New Orleans again because NEW ORLEANS!
Definitely going to Key West again because KEY WEST!
Driving a Harley down through the Florida Keys is one of my favorite things ever.
Usually I am not one for repeating trips but in those two cases...nuff said.

Future travel long term:
This is trickier because it means time off work for LuAnn, at least some of which depends on my job situation as well and our income generation efforts going forward.

Nevertheless, some places on the list we want to see soon are: National Parks USA, including
Everglades, Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Yosemite, Death Valley, Joshua Tree, Mt Rushmore, Shenandoah, & Zion. We are hoping to see the California ones while visiting the kids (maybe).

Central and South America are on the list. We've been to Brazil & Costa Rica, but I hear good things about Belize & Panama. Still want to visit Ecuador but preferably near the coast.

I still really want to tour Scandinavia and see St Petersburg Russia.
Germany is a big place with lots to see also, especially the Rhine river.
There is some amazing stuff to see in Canada but all those Northern latitudes are summer trips.

One thing travel did not cure me of is my aversion to cold weather. I like it hot.
Another thing travel didn't cure me of is my aversion to high elevations. I like sea level.
I realize this is severely limiting but f*ck it. I'm not going to be miserable just so I can satisfy someone else's idea of a cool itinerary.

Speaking of decisions, we have been pondering whether to buy a house again or continue to rent?

While we're at it, do we want a house or a condo? There are some great condos with boat slips here that are very affordable, and someone else does the yard work. On the other hand I'm not much for neighbors right on top of me. I'm not crazy about buying at all, but if we can get a place we can rent out and get some income from that would help fund more traveling for sure.

Meanwhile I have been having some success with music here in florida playing bass with blues and soul with Back Alley Cadillac, doing my solo thing and starting up another guitar trio so that's good.

LuAnn is having some success selling her paintings at The Cool Moose, the local coffee shop.

Jacksonville Hot Rods has been put on the back burner until I can raise some more capital to work with. Mostly it's a collection of photos of all the cool cars I see around here!

So as you can see the travel aspect of We Trot About has been hindered by LuAnn's broken leg but we are thriving pretty well here in Jax for the time being. Thank you all for following along. Be sure to follow on Instagram for up to the minute pix of Andy & LuAnn's adventures :-)

Full Time Travel VS Gap Year Part 2 of 3

     In today’s blog, full time nomads Chuck and Lori of www.chuckandlori.com interview us about our travels and we talk a bit about how it all came about. We hope the conversation helps shed some light on the full time versus sabbatical decision. 

Q. First off Andy and LuAnn, tell us a little about yourselves, and tell our readers how we met you guys.

LuAnn is an interior designer and watercolorist at www.LuAnnDunkinson.com, and Andy is a software quality assurance guru, plus a photographer and musician at www.AndyToomey.com. Most people are a something-slash-something else nowadays, aren’t they?

TO READ THE REST CLICK HERE

Full Time Travel VS Gap Year Pt 1 of 3 with Chuck and Lori!

Today we're featuring (and being featured by) our pals, fellow travelers Chuck and Lori.

Here is a link to the article on blog, the first in a 3 part series where we talk about Full Time Travel VS taking a Gap Year.

Quoting Chuck:
Wanderlust is a serious affliction. It can incite otherwise sane, mature people to sell everything they own and hit the road or to tell their employers they’re taking a year off so they can travel the world. If you have an acute case of wanderlust, you might be asking yourself some life-changing questions. Can I just run away and travel the world for rest of my life? What if I just take a year or so off and do a round-the-world trip?

We hope you follow along! 

Cheers!

Andy & LuAnn

A Few Lessons Learned From 'Round The World Travel

     Lessons learned? Always get the conch fritters.

     Also, walk very carefully, wherever you may be:

     Despite the fact that this post is about lessons learned from traveling, the pics are all from our more recent adventures in North Florida. We're still trying to draw some conclusions about our whole travel experience. Was it worth it? You bet! Would we do it again? For sure! Will we? I hope so! I think we might do a few things differently next time though, and of course we'd probably go to places we haven't been yet.

     I dunno how many people get to take a year off and just travel the world but it can't be a big percentage of humanity. I think we saw more Chinese tourists than any other type, followed by Germans.  We saw quite a few Canadians everywhere, but did not run into many Americans until we were well into Europe.

     So what was the return on that investment? Memories that will last a lifetime? Yes. Pictures to prove it? Yes, sir. The chance to see so many things I've always wanted to with the partner of a lifetime? That's right. For example, colonial Mexico, unspoiled New Zealand, the Temples of Thailand, the gardens of Japan, the islands of Indonesia, the streets of Singapore, the mosques of Istanbul, the monasteries of Meteora, Ancient Greece, Lake Como, the canals of Amsterdam, the hills of Lisbon and the English countryside, just to name a few highlights.

     One pretty valuable thing I got was the affirmation that we are all basically the same. People want to improve their lives and the lives of their children. That despite the occasional jerk most people are basically decent all over the world. When you see the news on TV you might think that wasn't true, but we found it to be so by and large.

     Another interesting tidbit is that people around the world don't hate Americans the way the press like to portray. A lot of people asked questions about things they couldn't understand or believe, especially racism, police brutality and the easy availability of guns here. I got asked about those everywhere I went, often in the local language. I also had lengthy discussions about politics in Spanish, French, and halting English.

     I also learned that in places where politics is dangerous, like Thailand, people do NOT want to talk about it. I tried pretty hard to find out what people there thought was going on in their country and they were clearly scared to talk about it. LuAnn finally convinced me to shut up about it because people were so obviously freaked out by questions, as if the secret police might come drag them away no matter what they said. It reminded me that, whatever the problems in my own country, we still have it pretty damned good.

     A lot of people asked me why we work so hard with so little vacation, and why we tolerate a lot of the crap that we do. Many Europeans seemed to think we weren't nearly active enough in our own government and I could only agree. They tended to say things like "For a country with so much wealth you don't seem to spend nearly enough on education or the well being of your people, especially the needy, and where you do it's completely ineffective!" Again, nothing to do but say "Yep."

     I will say that type of thing wasn't nearly as common as you might imagine. People didn't just offer opinions, or pick me out as an American and jump on me. It had to come up in conversation. Most people don't think about us nearly as much as we think. I will say we Americans stand out. The accent is always a dead giveaway. Most English speakers abroad tend to sound British. Also, we are LOUD. Only Italians and maybe Russians are as bad.

     What few regrets I have mostly pertain to what we didn't do or places we didn't go and the fact that we had to stop so soon. In retrospect perhaps we should have made a better effort at generating a revenue stream while we were traveling, such as renting our house or such.

     On the other hand we always said we would probably eventually come back and settle in Florida and I have to say we have been pretty happy here in Jacksonville so far. Other than LuAnn breaking her leg while visiting California it's gone pretty well.  How crazy is that? We travel 40,000 miles around the world and don't get a scratch. Come back to the states, go away for a long weekend and she breaks her leg? Still we're pretty grateful that didn't happen while we were traveling. Besides the obvious fact it would have brought us to a complete halt the medical facilities I saw were sub-optimal. I wouldn't have wanted to go to the hospital in many places we visited outside the "West".

     So what now? We keep exploring the American SouthEast and blogging our travels, within the limits of LuAnn's leg and her job. I'll keep looking for work. I've started doing some local gigs and finding some music students and I hope www.JacksonvilleHotRods.com will take off. We'll see! Adventure! Speaking of adventure, most of the pix in the post are from our explorations including Thanksgiving in Boca Raton, Deerfield and DelRay Beach. Florida! Yay! Some highlights were Selwyn Birchwood at the Funky Biscuit and lunch and the Old Key Lime House!