Month: January 2026

1/31/26

Hello from St. Petersburg, Florida! The weather outside is frightful, so I’m staying indoors, writing this post and doing some English tutoring on Cambly.

I’ll write more about my time here later, but I still need to catch you up on my last day of the eastern portion of the Florida Coast to Coast Trail.

It was the most beautiful day of the trail yet, and really fun because it included a lot of animals! I’m including some here, but I also saw a snake (who slithered of the trail too quickly for a pic) and many birds, as always here in Florida. And the weather was perfect, warm and sunny.

Jean, my host in New Smyrna Beach, had told me that there would be goats along the trail. She sent me off with an “approved” snack for them: a bag of asparagus! It was really fun to feed them and spend time with them.

Jean had also told me to expect a gray tabby trail kitty, and she gave me some cat treats to share as well. Sure enough, soon after the goats, I found the kitty waiting patiently on the trail. The kitty seemed more interested in affection than treats (though they did eat the treats!) so I thought that was really sweet.

Later, I passed a swampy area and saw a gator and (not pictured) a big black bird and several turtles.

Then shortly afterward I saw another trailside tortoise, which seems to be a Florida thing.

The plant and tree life was beautiful, too.

I took my time and moseyed along the trail, taking many “basking breaks” on the plentiful benches along the way.

Things did get a bit challenging towards the end of the day, though. I had planned to ride about 38 miles (61 km) which was to be the longest of my “trail days” on this journey. I was proud of myself to do so, even though this distance would be considered quite mild by the standards of many bike tourers, who easily travel 60-80 miles in a day.

But I started feeling uneasy about the Warmshowers host who had offered to host me for the night. Although several days earlier he had confirmed that he and his wife could host me—and gave me their address, which was conveniently less than two blocks off the trail—he had stopped replying to my texts two days earlier. I had written to confirm a few things, and my phone indicated that he had read the texts, but had not replied. I had started to feel a little nervous.

He had stopped replying after I had mentioned my vegan diet. I had sent a text indicating that while I didn’t necessarily expect hosts to feed me, some did offer, and so I thought I should mention my dietary restrictions.

I had thus started to spin a story in my head that this couple might be very politically conservative, and perhaps they thought my vegan diet was a sign that I was “not one of them.” I remembered, a few years ago, reading a Warmshowers review from a solo male traveler about staying with a solo male host. (I should mention that from all my personal experiences, as well as reviews I have read on the site, the following is an extremely rare situation. But for obvious reasons, it stood out to me.) Apparently, the host had asked the traveler about his political views. The traveler briefly responded, but requested that they not talk about politics. The host—whose views were opposed to the traveler’s—then “trapped” the guest in his living room for several hours while delivering an impassioned political rant, complete with yelling and pacing across the floor.

Was something like this about to happen to me?? Assuming the host was even still available?

But… I needed a place to stay. And I was now about half an hour away. Maybe I was just imagining things?

I sat down at a rest area and considered my options.

I really didn’t want to pay for a hotel for the night, nor did I want to ride however much farther I would need in order to get to one. But to assess my options, I did search on Google Maps to see where the closest hotels were. I found one four additional miles away, and the pricing was not outrageous. I figured this could be my backup plan.

Then I thought I would look up the host’s Warmshowers profile again, to get more of a feel for him. I had recalled that his profile was quite sparse, and he had only a few very short (but positive) reviews. For this reason, I had been a bit hesitant to even request a night with him in the first place, but his location was perfect for my needs, so I had taken the risk.

But I was shocked to discover that now, when I went to review his profile, Warmshowers indicated that his listing had been deleted!

What??

Wow.

Now there would be no potential accountability of a bad review if he/they were to do anything inappropriate.

Now what?

I knew I had a backup plan, but I still wondered if I were just being paranoid.

I decided to try texting him one more time:

“Hey there, I think I should be arriving in about half an hour. Does this still work for you? (I just checked your WS account, and it looks like it’s deleted?)”

Then I got back on the trail. My stomach felt tight, and my mind alternated between “It’s probably totally fine!” and “I really need to be careful and protect myself.”

A few minutes later, he replied:

“OK! I am home.”

And he dropped a pin on the map showing his location, which matched the address I had.

What the….??? No mention or explanation of his two days of radio silence, nor his Warmshowers account status?

I made the decision to press on.

However, having now resigned myself to paying for a hotel anyway, I thought of a silver lining:

Initially, I had hoped to take the Sun Rail commuter rail from near this host’s house the following morning, to get back into Orlando without having to bike another 30ish miles (48 km) about half of which would have been in nasty Orlando-metro traffic. But I wasn’t going to be able to do that, because the Sun Rail only runs on weekdays, and it was now Friday afternoon.

I now realized, though, that if I were willing to bike even farther, I could take the Sun Rail this evening, and get a hotel in Orlando.

This seemed like the best option. The adrenaline from my confusion and fear fueled me on for the next several miles, as I pedaled toward the Sanford station, about ten miles away.

Amazingly, though, I stopped at one point to check that I was on the correct route, and realized that the DeBary station was about 100 yards away from my current location!

The train only ran about once an hour at this time of day… and I happened to see one pulling in right then. Doh!! I was going to have to wait another hour. But it still seemed worth it to rest for an hour at the station, while finding a new Orlando hotel and booking a reservation.

I made my way over, and got scolded by a platform attendant to walk my bike on the platform, not ride. I hopped off… and then found out from a train attendant that the train was having a 6-minute layover there!

What a miracle!

That attendant helped me to buy a ticket at the machine, and waited patiently while I disassembled the rig to get it onto the train. He showed me a bike space to store it… and I got seated just in time for the train to depart.

From my seat, I hurriedly looked up hotels, and booked one just outside of Winter Park, just northeast of Orlando. Then I texted my would-be host to let him know I would not be coming. (This was already about an hour after our earlier exchange):

“On second thought, I realized I wasn’t feeling entirely comfortable with all this, so I decided to press on and just get a hotel for the night. Thanks for your offer, though, and all the best to you!”

I held my breath a bit, fearing some sort of tirade like the one I received from a fellow Amtrak passenger back in April.

To my relief, instead his reply was, “Okay, no problem. We’re still here if you change your mind. Have a safe ride.”

Whew! My secondary guess about his behavior had been that he simply had very bad interpersonal/communication skills. As I had been debating simply staying there anyway, my gut told me the odds were about 50-50 of this. However, I didn’t like those odds. So, despite the extra cost and stress, I’m glad I prioritized my safety. But I still felt a little better about the world, receiving his reply.

(Oh, and weirdly, a day or two later I looked up his profile again from my laptop, not my phone, and it was there, not deleted! Could that have been simply a particularly poorly timed technical glitch??)

The bummer was that the hotel room was not non-smoking, so all my clothes and belongings ended up soaking in the smell of stale cigarette smoke, which took several days to dissipate.

Still, I was proud of myself for 1) having prioritized my safety; 2) having enjoyed the Sun Rail after all, rather than having a nasty 30-mile bike ride the following day; and 3) having biked 48.5 miles in one day (77 km)… a full ten miles more than what I thought had been my ambitious plan!

And, on the way to the hotel, I got to see this beautiful sunset.

The following day, I biked over to the Orlando Warmshowers hosts I would be staying with for the next two nights, before my trip to St. Petersburg.

This week of bike touring was challenging and rewarding. More to come on the Gulf Coast!

—

Want to support my vision financially? You can make a one-time or monthly contribution, or even become a Fairy Godfunder! (Heartfelt thanks to my patrons, contributors, and godfunders!)

Want to be notified of future blog posts? Use the green “sign up” button to subscribe!

1/25/26

Hello from Orlando! I’ll have to catch you up in the next post about my journey here from New Smyrna Beach (and by that time I’ll be in St. Petersburg, where I’m heading tomorrow via a bike-train-bus combo) but for now, I’m going to cover two days of travel on my just-wrapped eastern Florida bike tour.

When I left off in the last post, I was taking a day of rest in Longwood with my Warmshowers hosts Lee and Sharon.

The following morning, I set out along the bike path (this segment was the Seminole Wekiva Trail) for points north—specifically, Lake Helen and my new Warmshowers hosts, Gary and Sharon.

I enjoyed the infrastructure of the trail: as you can see, there were tunnels, overpasses, and beautiful wooded areas, as well as local artwork depicting wildlife, mostly local.

Much of the early half of the trail was rather unremarkable—basically a wide sidewalk next to very busy roads. But the second half got very pretty.

At one point, I took a turn around a bend and found myself in an unexpected, otherworldly environment—a cypress swamp with a long boardwalk bridge/trail. In the next few days I was to encounter many more cypress swamps—they are common in Florida—but this one really hit me unexpectedly, and I took a few minutes to sit on a trail bench there and just drink in the magical environment, surrounded by tree canopy.

I didn’t get a pic, but a beautiful gray heron suddenly took flight from the swamp during that time. I really love those birds.

After that, it was several miles of thick, lush jungle-like riding, on a smooth, curving trail. It felt so magical, and the air was cooling off to a perfect late-afternoon temperature.

The last several miles of the day, I had to leave the trail and get back on roadways, which was a bit of a letdown, but that’s just a part of touring. By the end of the day, I had covered about 32 miles (51.5 km) which felt like a good achievement.

I arrived to Gary and Sharon’s house, where they fed me a dinner of grilled veggie dogs and vegetables, and then showed me to their guest quarters, which is a small but modern and fully equipped travel van outside their house. It was fun to feel like I was “camping” for the evening, and Gary had gone above and beyond stocking me up with vegan snacks: bananas, Clif bars, potato chips, and a few other items.

In the morning, I did a quick load of laundry, then got back on the road, this time to New Smyrna Beach, on the Atlantic coast.

Unfortunately, getting back on the bike trail would have meant very significant extra mileage, so I took roads the whole way. I expected to ride only about 21 miles (34 km) but it ended up being closer to 25 mi/40 km.

It started out kind of pleasant, but went sideways pretty quickly.

First, Google Maps sent me on a road that turned out to be private. It was funny, because Gary and Lee (and even Tom, the previous night) had all been extolling the virtues of Ride With GPS, as opposed to Google Maps, because they all complained of Google sending them on wild goose chases too many times. I had only experienced that once or twice, in quite a lot of riding, so I wasn’t too concerned. However, it did happen to me that next day!

I started down a pleasant, country road—seemingly a nice alternative to the higher-speed paved road with a minimal shoulder—but it soon became sandier and more rustic, and then it suddenly turned into a private driveway, with multiple signs indicating private property, 24-hour video surveillance, etc (no pic, for obvious reasons) so I turned back for a lumpy, bumpy two miles or so.

Soon after that, I ended up on the even wider, higher-speed Hwy 44. Luckily it had a pretty good bike lane. But then Google Maps routed me onto a “quieter” road, but it had no bike lane, and a minimal shoulder, and it was a pretty narrow road undergoing construction. I briefly considered turning around and taking my chances on Hwy 44 instead, but decided to press on. Eventually, it routed me back to Hwy 44 anyway… only now, the bike lane was horrendous—narrow, with a rumble strip on the left and grass overgrowth on the right. I also had to navigate a highway on-ramp under these conditions.

1/10. Would not recommend.

Finally, though, I made it to the welcoming home of my Host a Sister host, Jean (who turned out to be a Warmshowers host, too!)

I had a nice afternoon and evening spending time with her and her rescued Bengal cat, Mufasa.

And then the next and final day was to be the nicest day of the tour yet! Post to come soon.

—

Do you have your own dream or project, and would like some support or collaborative brainstorming about it? Use the green “contact” button above to schedule a free, no-strings one-hour phone or video call with me!

Want to be notified of future blog posts? Use the green “sign up” button to subscribe!

Want to support my vision financially? I am in a continual process of manifesting $50,000 per year in lieu of a “salary” for the unconventional work I do in the world. You can make a one-time or monthly contribution, or even become a Fairy Godfunder! (Heartfelt thanks to all my patrons, contributors, and godfunders!)

1/22/26

Hello from New Smyrna Beach—I’ve made it all the way to the Atlantic coast, woohoo!

There would be too many photos to post if I were to try to catch you up on all of it, though, so instead I’ll just focus now on the ride the day after the one from my last post. I biked along the path (specifically, the South Lake Trail, then the West Orange Trail) from my Warmshowers host Tom’s house to my new Warmshowers hosts Lee and Sharon.

For some bizarre reason, I awoke at 5:30 am, and couldn’t get back to sleep, although I didn’t actually arise until about 7:30. I lay in bed and checked the weather. Oof—34 degrees?? (1C) This is not what I thought bike touring in Florida was going to be.

I decided to wait until the temp hit 40 before I departed, and the timing worked well, since that happened around 10 am when I had planned to get on the road.

I backtracked along the same pretty trail I had come from Winter Garden.

Then, just on the other side of Winter Garden, I found a lovely park with beautiful light, foliage, and a few blossoms. I rested on one of the many benches for about half an hour, just soaking in the beauty and practicing gratitude for so many aspects of this journey and my life.

Then I got back on the trail.

All in all, I biked about 35 miles (56 km) and felt ready to rest when I arrived at Lee and Sharon’s place. They welcomed me warmly, and Lee even took me out to dinner at a new pan-Asian place in town, where I enjoyed some delicious eggplant and tofu (with enough leftovers for dinner the following night!)

I stayed two nights with these two, spending the middle day just resting and soaking up the sunshine at the nearby Wekiwa Springs State Park, just about a 20-minute bike ride away. I actually spent four hours simply basking in the sun at a secluded picnic table, watching a couple of beautiful butterflies flit about. (That is one thing I’ve noticed about the southeastern US, starting in Charleston and continuing throughout Florida—there are butterflies everywhere! Definitely more than I see in Oregon. It is delightful.)

Before I left the park, I did take a peek at the namesake spring pond. These are to be found all throughout the state of Florida, and they are really beautiful. I’ve been surprised to see people swimming in them, in barely warm outdoor temperatures, but I’ve been told that in the summer, these places are absolutely swarming with swimmers.

This bike tour so far has been challenging, at times trying, and at times lovely. Traveling this way is always an adventure.

Next up: Longwood to Lake Helen, then New Smyrna Beach!

—

Do you have your own dream or project, and would like some support or collaborative brainstorming about it? Use the green “contact” button above to schedule a free, no-strings one-hour phone or video call with me!

Want to be notified of future blog posts? Use the green “sign up” button to subscribe!

Want to support my vision financially? I am in a continual process of manifesting $50,000 per year in lieu of a “salary” for the unconventional work I do in the world. You can make a one-time or monthly contribution, or even become a Fairy Godfunder! (Heartfelt thanks to all my patrons, contributors, and godfunders!)

1/20/26

Hello from Longwood, Florida! I’m back in “touring mode” (haven’t been in this mode since 2022!) so I’m adjusting to days of cycling followed by evenings with hosts. That doesn’t leave me much time to write posts (how did I do this almost every night for a year back then?? I am out of practice!) so I’ll make this pretty short, but I wanted to share all these photos to take you all “on the road” with me.

I had left my cat sit in Lake Nona on the 17th, biking a total of about 20 miles (32 km) combined with two long city bus rides, to get to a hotel near where I was to join the trail in Winter Garden the following day.

The next morning, I set out and biked a few miles to the trail, then headed west all the way to the end of the trail, in Groveland. Then I backtracked several miles to my Warmshowers host Tom’s house in Minneola. I had a healthy dinner and some nice conversation, followed by a good night’s sleep, and then set out yesterday morning to rejoin the trail heading north and east, to reach the home of my current hosts, Lee and Sharon, here in Longwood. I’ll post about yesterday and today soon, but for now, here are the photos from the 18th. My total distance in the saddle was about 29 miles (46 km).

The trail was beautiful and smooth, so I really enjoyed the journey. The challenge was the weather. Florida is having a cold snap. The day started a bit chilly, but sunny and pleasant.

But then, a storm started brewing:

At one point, you can see in the photos that the weather “felt like” 35F/1.7C. At that point, it was also raining steadily, and windy enough to knock my “standing” bike over (I wasn’t on it) while it was attached to the trailer.

I waited out this “weather experience” in a small, wall-less shelter in a park for about an hour and a half.

I was not at my happiest, though I did get to have a phone conversation with Johnny during that time: we had pre-arranged the time, so in that way, the weather was well placed.

And the rain and wind did eventually relent–and the temperature increased slightly–so I set out again. The sun even peeked out again a few times.

One cool surprise: a sighting of a pair of endangered sandhill cranes in a front yard along the trail! Then, just a few minutes later, I saw a mural depicting a pair of them!

As I was getting close to the end of my day, the mercury started dipping again, so I was very glad to get inside and warm up.

It feels very different to be on the road, vs. cat sitting. It’s nice to be able to have the mix. I will continue to have a mix for the rest of my two and a half months here in Florida.

—

Do you have your own dream or project, and would like some support or collaborative brainstorming about it? Use the green “contact” button above to schedule a free, no-strings one-hour phone or video call with me!

Want to be notified of future blog posts? Use the green “sign up” button to subscribe!

Want to support my vision financially? I am in a continual process of manifesting $50,000 per year in lieu of a “salary” for the unconventional work I do in the world. You can make a one-time or monthly contribution, or even become a Fairy Godfunder! (Heartfelt thanks to all my patrons, contributors, and godfunders!)

1/16/26

Hello again from the Orlando suburb of Lake Nona. I have spent a very quiet indoor week here with this wonderfully snuggly kitty Lucy.

There isn’t much nature near where I’m staying, and bike-friendly infrastructure is scarce, so I only made one nature excursion this week. I’ll share the pics at the bottom of the post—Split Oak Forest was a beautiful and quite varied nature preserve.

First, though, a few pics from my arrival here from Sarasota. As I mentioned in my last post, I took a combination of bike, bus, train, and carpool to arrive here. The bus took us across Tampa Bay, which was predictably gorgeous.

And here at this apartment complex, I did take a nice evening stroll one night along the path next to Lake Whippoorwill. I liked the “exotic” trees, and the pink sunset light on the lake.

Even at an upscale apartment complex, though, this is still Florida: there were several of these reptile-warning signs along the path.

The main excitement I’d like to share with you now, though, is my upcoming bike tour, which will begin tomorrow! I plan to spend the next week bicycling as much as I can—about 25%—of the Florida Coast to Coast Trail.

I will be staying with Warmshowers hosts along the way. The weather looks to be pretty favorable—highs between 57 & 73F (14-22C) with varying sun, clouds, and maybe occasional rain. The trail itself is car free, though there will be times each day when I will need to travel on roads to reach my hosts. I’m not sure what to expect in terms of scenery, shade, etc. I’ll post as many pics as I can along the way.

It will be a bit of an athletic stretch for me—I don’t believe I have ever cycled a full week before, with daily mileage ranging from about 24 to 42, I think (39-68 km) depending on where I can confirm hosting. Some days I will combine the riding with transit. I do have one “rest day” built in, during which I hope to hike in a nearby nature park.

I’m excited for the challenge and a new adventure!

Meanwhile, I’m dreaming up the next month and a half or so of my Florida time:

After the bike week, I plan to take the train to Tampa and continue on a bus to St. Petersburg (or possibly bike across that endless bridge, as I did four years ago—but back then I didn’t know about the bus!) and possibly stay with a local host for a few days or up to a week. Then I want to bike another good chunk of the western half of the Coast to Coast Trail—maybe another 25%—up to Spring Hill, then take a Greyhound to Tallahassee.

I plan to stay with a Servas host couple there for two nights, then make a brief stop in Quincy, where my paternal grandmother grew up, and then continue by bike to Florida Caverns State Park! I’m excited to see the caverns. I will meet there with a woman who lives in Graceville, who will then host me in her home for a night, and then drop me off the next day after we explore another nature park to the south, Econfina Creek Water Management Area. Then I’ll do some combination of cycling and transit to work my way through Panama City, and maybe Destin or Navarre, to Pensacola, where I’ll stay with a host for a couple of nights.

Then I plan to return to Tallahassee for another couple days, then ideally Gainesville for about a week, then Jacksonville, St. Augustine, and then possibly Miami in early March. After that… who knows? I expect I’ll slowly work my way back north until I reach Virginia in mid-April. I may stop again in Tampa/St. Pete, Orlando, Jacksonville, Savannah, Richmond, and possibly even Norfolk and/or Newport News.

Whew! I’m excited to think about all this. If you know of any magical connections in any of these places—or for that matter, anywhere else in Florida—please let me know!

I’ll leave you with the pics from the Split Oak Forest Wildlife and Environmental Area.

—

Do you have your own dream or project, and would like some support or collaborative brainstorming about it? Use the green “contact” button above to schedule a free, no-strings one-hour phone or video call with me!

Want to be notified of future blog posts? Use the green “sign up” button to subscribe!

Want to support my vision financially? I am in a continual process of manifesting $50,000 per year in lieu of a “salary” for the unconventional work I do in the world. You can make a one-time or monthly contribution, or even become a Fairy Godfunder! (Heartfelt thanks to all my patrons, contributors, and godfunders!)

1/13/26

Hello from Lake Nona, Orlando! This is primarily a week of rest for me, with not much nature nearby, and infrastructure not conducive to cycling nor transit. So I am going to use this time to catch you up on the rest of the incredible natural beauty I experienced in Sarasota.

My cat sit was situated near a lovely little local nature park called Red Bug Slough Preserve. I spent several peaceful visits sitting on benches under trees or next to the water there. On the final such visit, I met a really cool woman named Barb (Barb, I hope you’re reading this!) and we chatted about life and travels for quite some time.

The place was also just about a five-minute bike ride away from the Legacy Trail, the 20-mile (32 km) paved car-free path that runs from downtown Sarasota in the north to the Historic Venice Train Depot in the south. I made ample use of this trail in both directions, covering every mile at least once. Once I even saw a tortoise next to the trail!

On two occasions, I visited Oscar Scherer State Park, right along the trail to the south of town, and soaked up some classic Florida nature scenes.

Another day, I met up with a local woman who took me to Myakka River State Park, east of town. We saw some egrets and gators, and even got to walk a suspension bridge and climb a lookout tower—necessary in that flat area if you want to see any sort of view!

Toward the end of my stay, I took the Legacy Trail all the way to its origin point at the Historic Venice Train Depot. After that, another car free path continued a few more miles south to another nature park. Then on the way back, I biked through Venice, Florida, and enjoyed the pretty car-free path through the park blocks along Venice Blvd, some of which contained beautiful banyan trees.

On another of my last days, another local woman—a Servas day host, Dori—took me out to the beach at Siesta Key. Considered one of the most beautiful beaches in the country, its sand was white and silky, and it never gets too hot because it is made of quartz. I enjoyed watching the sun descend in the sky over 70-degree (21 C) temperatures.

My journey here to Orlando from Sarasota was a long one. First, I bicycled about an hour to the gas station that serves as an Amtrak bus stop. (Along the way, I passed a beautiful cloud reflection on a small creek. Florida is chock-full of waterways!)

Then I took that bus for more than two hours, through St. Petersburg, to Tampa. At the Amtrak station, I waited an hour, then boarded the train to Orlando. After about an hour and a half on the train, my cat-sitting hosts picked me up and drove me the remaining half hour to their home here in Lake Nona, southeast of the airport.

I was rewarded with the affections of this beautiful, snuggly kitty named Lucy.

In the next post, I’ll cover my brief time here in Lake Nona, and share my ever-evolving itinerary for the rest of my winter travels here in Florida.

—

Do you have your own dream or project, and would like some support or collaborative brainstorming about it? Use the green “contact” button above to schedule a free, no-strings one-hour phone or video call with me!

Want to be notified of future blog posts? Use the green “sign up” button to subscribe!

Want to support my vision financially? I am in a continual process of manifesting $50,000 per year in lieu of a “salary” for the unconventional work I do in the world. You can make a one-time or monthly contribution, or even become a Fairy Godfunder! (Heartfelt thanks to all my patrons, contributors, and godfunders!)

1/7/26

Well… our nation continues its descent into hell, with our government wreaking unspeakable havoc both domestically and internationally. It is hard to even find words to write about it at this point, but in the midst of my fun travelogues, I want to at least briefly acknowledge this deeply dark point in history. When I was learning about civics in high school in the 1980s, I could never have imagined the things that are unfolding in the White House and Congress today. I am hoping that this new year will bring some transformative changes politically and socially/culturally. I am holding a vision that we will collectively reach some sort of tipping point, where we soundly denounce racism, xenophobia, warmongering, sexism, homo- and transphobia, Islamophobia, antisemitism, destruction of the earth, and the wanton and crass dismantling of the many institutions, public and private, that have provided economic, social, and cultural support to millions of people, domestically and abroad. (I am probably forgetting some things in this list—there are too many to enumerate, but I trust you get my intent.) I am holding a vision that we are on the cusp of a new chapter of humanity, where people respect and care for each other, for animals, and for the earth and its ecosystems.

May it be so.

With that… here is another chapter in my travelogue, with some pretty pics to share of Sarasota so far.

I’ve been here for about three weeks, and I have just a few more days before I take a bike/bus/train/carpool combo to reach my next weeklong cat sitting destination in the Lake Nona area of Orlando.

I’ve got too many photos of beautiful places here in the Sarasota area to share in one post, so I’ll add another soon.

I always make a point to try to connect with locals wherever I stay, using a variety of methods. In this case, I have met up with at least five different local folks to see various sights.

One of these people, a woman named Judy whom I met in the local vegan Facebook group, took me to two beautiful destinations, which I’ll share here: the Marie Selby Botanical Garden and the Ringling Museum and Beach House. I have been loving all the banyan trees in this area—so magical!

And, of course, the reason for my stay here is the care of these two sweet kitties, the elder statesman Cat King Cole and his young compatriot Pinecone.

More Sarasota beauty to come soon.

—

Do you have your own dream or project, and would like some support or collaborative brainstorming about it? Use the green “contact” button above to schedule a free, no-strings one-hour phone or video call with me!

Want to be notified of future blog posts? Use the green “sign up” button to subscribe!

Want to support my vision financially? I am in a continual process of manifesting $50,000 per year in lieu of a “salary” for the unconventional work I do in the world. You can make a one-time or monthly contribution, or even become a Fairy Godfunder! (Heartfelt thanks to all my patrons, contributors, and godfunders!)