April 14-16, 2016 : The Miami RUM Renaissance Festival

Miami - Opulence and Rum ... Jaw Dropping luxury and a Fun Festival

Hitting Miami was one of the highlights ... and one of the key events during the trip was most certainly the Miami RUM Renaissance Festival held annually and improving over the eight years it has run.   Their www site says "

"Rum producers from all over the world come to introduce new products, meet with importers and distributers, buyers  and retailers, as well as consultants on the distillation, packaging and marketing of rum worldwide.

For consumers, the Miami Rum Renaissance Festival is one of the world's premier international rum events, presenting a unique and exciting range of great rums to be sampled. For professionals, this is the world's largest and most important trade exposition for rum."

The Miami Everglades RV Resort is where I stayed before and after the Festival.   During the show, I stayed in the convention parking lot - The Doubletree by Hilton Miami Airport Convention Center ... a great deal at $40 for 3 nights !    The RV site was about $60 per night ... with full services mind you.

The Country Coach in Everglades RV

Miami Everglades RV park

Exploring Miami  ... 

Upon arriving in Miami, I had a chance to explore South Beach before the festival started and, after the festival, even tried to get to Palm Beach, where the World Championships were being played.   Unfortunately, entering the on-ramp to a freeway in Miami, heading north, the throttle cable broke on the Scooter !!   Yuck.   At least it happened at the END of the Miami visit !

Thanks to CAA, I was being towed back to the RV site on a flatbed within an hour ... so much for that day.   And to fix it, I ended up setting up an appointment at a Scooter shop in Key West.  Oh well.... nuts ... next on the trip.

To Miami Beach- Cruise ship Galore

Downtown Miami - Heat and Concrete

South Beach strip ... bars, bars, bars & Scooters

Beach, Beach, Beach ..... Miami Beach .... South Beach in fact.

Miami Rum Renaissance Festival

When I got to Miami, a friend, Alan B. who was also attending, texted to say their flight was delayed ... "could I sit in on being a Judge" ...   Why "yes I could" :-)  ... and so there were 19 rums to test and judge.   I believe I did fairly well, as my #1 and #2 rums were eventual award winners... !  Some plenty good rums there.... 

Try to imagine a 40,000 sq. ft. conventional hall, complete with hundreds of booths, and each of them crooning ... "Come here ... try some of THIS ! " ... ooooo eeee ... pace oneself for sure.  Ha.

Hmmm.  Three pics may be too many.

Rum Consumer Jury - Tasting & Judging

A Favourite - Diplomatico

Blind Tasting/Judging : 1 to 10

Blind Tasting/Judging : 9 to 17

Blind Tasting/Judging :  to 22

Sponsored Party after Rum Jury	Good Friends - Smiles all Around	At The Show
More booths at the Show	Miami TV Hostess putting a new meaning to the words "Bottoms Up"	Spoils and acquisitions.  Day 1.

As a dessert menu, I am off to see the Florida Keys ... wanted to do that for some time now ... 


Check the trip routing here ... on Google Maps ...  

check out the "Likely Stops Along the Way"

and Tag along ... Next Stop 

Fiesta Key RV , Florida


Cheers
sd

Highway Life - Sleeping in the Slow Lane and Praise for Truck Washes

Driving While Blind

When one drives a lot, you see some strange things  ... Like the Clampetts moving or testing the aerodynamics of mattresses.   I have to think that the person driving the car might be sleeping near the highway tonight, or at least, searching for a bed near the asphalt at some point during the day ...   

Dirty Scooter ... flying mud

Motorhome Wash 

Further down the road, I finally found a truck wash ... operated by Blue Beacon.  Here is a list of their locations.   These are great huge facilities and a real plus to keep things clean after a nasty shower and gritty road conditions !

The scooter had taken a beating with the back wash and winds swirling up behind the coach... a great opportunity for a bath.  The wash costs about $40 US ... so it isn't cheap, but try that on quarters sometime ... if you could even find a place to get the rig into !

Notice the roof mounted spray bars above the coach.  Three or four gentlemen scrub the coach down and you are back on the road in about 20 minutes.   Nicely done guys !

Cheers
sd

Day One and Two ... Rolling from Prince Edward Island to New Brunswick, Through Maine

Travels on March 31, 2016 start date ... about a month late !   The best laid plans ... can go awry.   They can, they will.  But that is o.k.  Driving without a deadline and a curiosity for what lies around a corner, should allow one the advantage of change.  Change in direction, change in outcome, change in destination - Go with the flow.

I have not explored New Brunswick a great deal, so opted to take the less travelled route to the border ... not a backwoods journey, mind you, but along the coast.

Getting close to the border, i noticed a diversion through St. Andrews which looked to be promising.  Algonquin Lodge is located there .. perhaps worth a visit.   It is an impressive hotel!   Consistently rated 4 to 5 out of 5 stars and has a sister golf course rated in the top 100 for Canada, #1 in New Brunswick, and top 10 oceanfront courses in North America !  The course was originally constructed in 1893 and boasts Canada's oldest clubhouse.   The Algonquin was built in 1889, making Saint Andrews Canada's first seaside resort community. The hotel burned down in 1914 and was rebuilt one year later.

the Algonquin Resort Hotel. St. Andrews, New Brunswick, Canada

St. Andrews, the town, has quite a number of large and magnificent homes - stately mansions.  In 2014, this one to the right was for sale - " the mansion, which has 25 rooms and sits on 2.4 hectares of land, is up for sale for $1,345,000."    

Travelling further through the town, there is a wonderful campground located right on the water in St. Andrews - or as the tourism marketing materials say "St. Andrews By-the-Sea", named in honour of St Andrews, Scotland.



I exited for a stroll to stretch the legs and noticed the scooter was taking quite a hit from the road dirt and dust.   In the rain, there is a significant back-flow behind the motorhome !

St. Andrews Campground and Waterfront

Dirty Dirty scooter

Carrying on southward, I reach the border and the US town of Calais.... nicely lit at night.   Running for a few hours more, the coach glides in just north of Portland, Maine, for a rest overnight.

Thanks for following ... 

Cheers

sd

Transportation Options when the RV is Parked

Last year, I just ran with the motorhome.... it was a marathon, with few real stops and not a lot of inhaling of the sweetness of roses and sea air.   This year, not so.   But I will need some transport once stopped ... <* he thought to himself *>.   Then a pass through kijiji brought about an idea ... a scooter.

Scooters in 2016 are not what I recall many, many years ago.  They have come a long way !  At any rate, evaluating options, it boiled down to weight and the ability to carry the scooter without breaking the bank.  The Suzuki Burgman 400 and 650 seemed like good options ... motorcycles really .. but they are heavy at 500 and 600 pounds each !   The carrier for that would need to be hefty and expensive.  

So then I spy these little Italian Aprilia 200s ... nice shiny red, low km, at the local motorcycle shop. They are 340 pounds .. not light, per se, but manageable with a hitch mounted carrier.   "Someone Trade-in the pair ?", I asked.   "yup ... it was a divorce."   Two of em.  Ah.  Perfect.  From one to another ... a new life.   "What sort of deal for both of them ?"  ....

Thinking this could be fun around Stanley Bridge for any visitors or family to use !   So, a deal was struck, and buyers remorse was only slight, since the costs were quite reasonable, at least from my searching history on the net.  I had researched carriers and decided the Boss Truck Accessories unit was good ... and distributed from Ontario !

I call Paul Nicolaou on the telephone ... I needed this carrier quick - he had it on courier that afternoon.   Two days later, I pick it up at the purolator office as I was in town.   Wow ... Awesome service ... Perfect.   Now ... to mount that bad boy!  It is solid ... very impressed with the unit.   This should work great.   I'll have transportation where I go and no hit to fuel like dragging a car with me ... Happy Guy.  (notice the icicles hanging off the motorhome !!  I need a warmer climate .. Ha !)

This is all good ... On the road shortly !

Cheers, sd