Southbound

Today I am heading south. I am leaving Orlando behind me, go through Clermont, Lakeland and Winter Haven and will end up in Bonita Springs for the night, before crossing the Everglades from west to east to Miami for the final days of my vacation. Vandaag ga ik naar het zuiden. Ik laat Orlando achter mij en ga door Clermont, Lakeland en Winter Haven en eindig in Bonita Springs voor de nacht, voordat ik de Everglades doorkruis van west naar oost naar Miami voor de laatste dagen van mijn vakantie.

I got up as usual in my hotel room. I repacked all my things yesterday to see if it would all fit in my suitcases and would stay withing the airline limits. So far so good, even with my purchases planned today I will remain within the limits. I check out at the hotel and walk to my rental car which will take me to Clermont for breakfast today.

Around 11 AM I arrive at the Citrus tower in Clermont again, this time for my breakfast at Uncle Kenny’s. Today I have the pleasure to meet Kenny and he shows me his renovated room, where he has displayed a couple of smokers. In here he will hold cooking classes and he will sell off smokers as well. He also has displayed many of his trophies he has won over the years. I also see the he has s nice display with not only his sauces and rubs, but also of fierce competitor bbq teams, like Hot Wachula’s and others. We talked a bit about the contests before my breakfast is served.

Today I have the pulled pork egg rolls for breakfast. These are delicious and you can live all day on a pair of these egg rolls. They are filled with pulled pork and cole slaw and are absolutely delicious. During my breakfast we talk a bit more about FBA and KCBS contests. I finish off my breakfast and get a refill on my sweet tea and am back on the road.

Next stop on my travel today is Lakeland. In Lakeland I will pay a short visit to Whiskey Bent. A store where you can buy smokers and cookers, accessoires and also sauces and rubs. I do not need anything, but end up buying a t-shirt and some 3eyz rub. This rub is marvellous on ribs. I briefly talk to the seller and pay for my things and off I go again.

On to the next stop, not too far from Lakeland, Winter Haven. I only have to pick up a bit of sauce there. Rub Bagby of Swamp Boys made his own sauce and Mac’s is selling it in the store. You can also find Byron Chism’s Butt Rub in the store as well as Everglades seasoning. Besides that the store is filled with meat, good meat, good prices. A genuine good meat and produce store run by locals.

I pick up two large pints of Original sauce and move on southbound to Bonita Springs. It’s a long drive south. I skipped the highway and took other roads to reach my destination. Before going to the hotel, I first go to the beach to watch the sun set. It takes just a couple of minutes to see the sun disappear in the distance. After the sun has set, I drive to the Holiday Inn Express and check in.

I take my luggage to my room and leave for dinner. Tonight no bbq as there are not many bbq restaurants in this area, and the one I found already closed, so today I visit a local restaurant called Daniela’s. Today something completely different. I take a gulasy soup as starter and take stuffed pepper as main dish. After I have finished both, I am full and have no room left for dessert. Both dishes were very good. They do both taste more european than american.

After that I head back to the hotel and go finish up for the day. Tomorrow another long day on the road.

Ik sta op zoals gebruikelijk in mijn hotel kamer. Ik heb gisteren alles herpakt in de koffers om te zoen of alles zou passen en binnen de limieten van de vliegtuigmaatschappij zou blijven. Zelfs met de aankopen die ik vandaag gepland heb, blijf ik binnen de limieten. Ik check uit in het hotel en loop naar mijn huurauto die mij naar Clermont zal brengen voor mijn ontbijt.

Rond 11:00 uur arriveer ik bij de Citrus tower in Clermont, deze keer voor mijn ontbijt bij Uncle Kenny’s. Vandaag heb ik het genoegen Kenny te ontmoeten en hij laat mij zijn gerenoveerde kamer zien, waar hij een aantal smokers heeft opgesteld. Hier zal hij kook lessen geven en smokers verkopen. Hij heeft er ook een flink aantal trofeeën tentoongesteld die hij in de loop der jaren gewonnen heeft. Ik zie dat hij ook een display heeft met niet alleen zijn sauzen en rubs, maar ook die van andere sterke bbq teams, waaronder Hot Wachula’s. We praten wat over de wedstrijden voordat mijn ontbijt wordt opgediend.

Vandaag heb ik pulled pork loempia’s als ontbijt. Deze zijn heerlijk en je kunt er de hele dag op leven op deze loempia’s. Ze zijn gevuld met pulled pork en coleslaw en zijn absoluut heerlijk. Tijdens mijn ontbijt praten we nog wat meer over de FBA en KCBS wedstrijden. Ik eet mijn ontbijt op en krijg nog een refill van mijn ice tea en ik ga de weg weer op.

Volgende stop op mijn reis is Lakeland. In Lakeland breng ik een kort bezoek aan Whiskey Bent. Een winkel waar je smokers en grills en accessoires kunt kopen en ook sauzen en rubs. Ik heb eigenlijk niets nodig, maar koop een t-shirt en wat 3eyz rubs. Deze rub is heerlijk op ribben. Ik praat nog kort met de verkoper en betaal mijn spullen en ga weer door.

Op naar de volgende stop, niet ver van Lakeland, Winter Haven. Ik hoef hier alleen wat saus op te halen. Rub Bagby van Swamp Boys maakt zijn eigen saus en die wordt hier verkocht. Je kunt hier ook Byron Chism’s Butt Rub kopen en ook Everglades seasoning. Naast dat is de winkel gevuld met vlees, goed vlees, goede prijzen. Een echt goede vlees en groente winkel, gerund door lokale mensen.

Ik haal twee grote potten saus en ga zuidwaarts naar Bonita Springs. Een lange rit. Ik vermijd de snelweg en neem andere wegen om mijn doel te bereiken. Voordat ik naar het hotel ga, ga ik eerst naar het strand om de zonsondergang te zien. Het duurt maar een paar minuten voordat om de zon onder te zien gaan in de verte. Als de zon onder is gegaan, ga ik naar Holiday Inn Express en check in.

Ik breng mijn bagage naar mijn kamer en vertrek voor avondeten. Vandaag geen bbq, omdat er niet veel bbq restaurants in de omgeving zijn en degene die ik gevonden had al gesloten is. Vandaag ga ik naar een lokaal restaurant, Daniela’s genaamd. Vandaag iets geheel anders. Ik neem een gulasy soep en een gevulde paprika. Nadat ik beide heb opgegeten is er geen ruimte meer voor een toetje. Beide gerechten waren erg goed. Ze smaken meer europees dan amerikaans.

Daarna ben ik weer terug gegaan naar het hotel om de dag af te sluiten. Morgen wederom een lange dag op de weg.

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Southbound

Going to the beach

Today we had a really slow starter. I had to wake up Xandrine after 10AM this morning. She was not ready to wake up by herself. Apparently she does need her beauty sleep.

After the slow start, we stayed in the hotel room for some time getting started and getting ready.

Our mission for today, the beach. We are going east for Melbourne beach, Florida. Not the most well known beach of Florida, and that also makes it a less crowd beach, which is good, since we do not like the big crowds.

Before going to the beach, we pick up some useful items at the WalMart. We tried to get some Frogg Toggs Chilly Pads, but unfortunately our WalMart did not have them on stock. We did manage to get a cooler fur less than $10 and some grapes and cherry’s. Also some cool drinks too. So we are set to go, except we forgot one important thing today, breakfast, brunch, lunch or whatever you want to name it. Since we had a very slow start, we skipped breakfast and brunch, so call it lunch.

We stopped on our way at a Firehouse Subs and picked up some subs to eat on our way. At least, Xandrine got to eat hers, I ate mine at the beach. Xandrine got a sub with meatballs, sauce and cheese and to my surprise she ate the whole sub, with sauce, without complaints. She even liked the sauce. I had a brisket sub with melted cheese, which I ate at the beach. Good food, we’ll remember that for a future visit.

The trip to Melbourne is about 1-1,5 hours and takes us over toll roads. Since I left my transponder in our previous rental car, during a previous trip to Florida, I took the cash lanes. This will cost a bit more, both in dollars and time. For the return trip, I stopped at CVS Pharmacy to pick up a new transponder.

At the beach, it was not very crowded. The weather was good, bit on the warm side, but in the water it was very pleasant. The water was warm and a bit rough. This part of the ocean is known to be good for surfing, although we did not see any surfers today. Xandrine had a lot of fun with her goggles and spent most of the time looking under water. Even though I tried to warn her several times, she managed to swallow a gulp of salted water. She did not like that very much.

After a couple of hours on the beach, the evening had set in and the water was becoming even rougher. Apparently it was time for high tide. I showed Xandrine a spot where she has to leave the beach untouched as it was marked being a turtle nesting place. I explained why they mark these spots and she completed me with her knowledge of turtle nesting and hatching. Good to know, she knows a bit of nature. Turtles come out at night and try to reach the ocean before being picked up by birds or crabs. In the water they face other enemies like sharks and jellyfish she mentioned.

Then it was time to leave the beach and travel back to Orlando, but this time not without having had some dinner. In Melbourne there was a Truck Food Bazar where we stopped. Around 15-20 trucks gathered on the parking lot near Kings Centre of Performing Arts. I saw this on the internet a while ago and looked like a funny way to get some food and enjoy it. When we arrived, it was already 7PM and some trucks already sold out most of their goods, which to them is of course a good sign.

There was still plenty of food left for us to buy, so we picked up some cup cakes at YumYum, some great ice cream at Ice Cream Social Club and some pulled chicken at Up In Smoke BBQ. This was enough for the two of us and the prices were very reasonable. We both ate from one platter of pulled chicken, which was more than enough for us both, and that for only $5. Xandrine loved her pulled chicken with sweet BBQ sauce and I enjoyed it with Spicey BBQ sauce. We also loved our ice creams, Xandrine had strawberry with blood orange, and I had blood orange.

After having eaten all that, we threw away our garbage and got into the car to drive back to the hotel in Orlando. On our way, Xandrine tried one of the cup cakes, but she did not like that very much, maybe one of the other three taste better, than the vanilla. She has three other choices to try tomorrow, an orange cream pecan, a key slime and a bacon whoopie. Tomorrow we also have to leave this hotel and head west to Tampa, where we will be staying until the 1st of July.

 

Going to the beach