Day Fifteen: Warm Springs to St. Petersburg, FL (500 mi)

We are making up for taking a day off from traveling, while in Beech Mtn, with the miles we have logged yesterday and today!  This morning we broke camp and made it to the state historic site of this presidential retreat for FDR by the time they opened at 9 a.m.  As has happened on several other occasions on this significant trip, our group was the only one in the museum's orientation film at the time of showing.  This site is not a presidential library, rather a favorite vacation spot for FDR during his entire presidency, so much so that he purchased over 1,000 acres and built a cabin for his personal use.  FDR first came to Warm Springs three years after contracting polio in order to avail himself of the healing, warm natural spring waters in the area.  He enjoyed so much relief from the waters that he purposed to return as often as possible during his stressful years as President.  This cottage was where he was on the day of April 12, 1945 when he suffered a cerebral hemorrhage that took his life.  He was actually posing for a watercolor portrait when the episode struck.  The state has controlled the site almost from the moment of his death and preserved it as a memorial to their adopted favorite son.

We concluded our tour of the museum, cottage, and grounds just before noon and set our compass on a southerly heading, with an ultimate goal of reaching Key West, FL.  When it became obvious we were not going to be able to get close enough (we were not going to repeat the previous day's experience of setting up in the dark) to reach that goal by the end of Sunday's drive we opted for changing our course once again.  This time I called my mom, who lives on the Gulf Coast side of Florida, in St. Petersburg, and informed her that we were going to invade her domicile for a quick one night stopover.  This enabled us to drive longer than we could have otherwise done, and put us a good hundred or so miles closer to Key West than would have otherwise been possible.

Our next blog entry may be after the completion of this next phase of the trip, as the current plan is to stay in state parks which typically do not have Internet access.  Unless we are able to find a McDonald's and borrow their access you may have to wait an extra day to hear about our visits to Key West and the Everglades N.P.

Incidentally, the temps here in Florida are in the mid-80s.  Skies are clear and the weather is splendid.  Tonight's sunset over the Gulf Coast was a dazzling red.  If the old sailor's adage is correct tomorrow should be another gorgeous day:  "Red sky at night, sailor's delight."

Enjoying perfect weather, this is Veritas -- discovering our world, making a difference!