We've arrived in the sunshine state. For the record, when traveling to Marathon from the Ft Lauderdale airport, TAKE THE TOLL ROAD. Don't let Tom-Tom fool you into thinking that you can make it in a few more minutes while saving several dollars. It's a lie. The stoplights are the problem.

Our destination was 'The Purple Bus' in Marathon, Fl. In case you missed the bus info, check it out here (it's the second one on the page). Major benefits of this bus? Sleeping capacity, water storage, engine size, trailer hitch, color (imagine the EP Bobcat parties!). OK, not really the color.

When we landed at the airport, Kelly looked at me and remarked that it was kind of funny that we were in Florida, and didn't have a plan. She thought wrong! We went directly to the Enterprise car rental counter and claimed our saucy Chevy Malibu, black in color, and then at THAT point we didn't have a plan. Silly wife, she totally jumped the gun. My plan went all the way to the point where we were sitting in the car and ready to head in a direction. I just didn't have a clear direction. A sloppy U-Turn across 4 lanes in downtown Hollywood Florida reminded me to take it easier on tourists driving when I return home.

Now, the background: we're here to look at buses. When I booked tickets a few weeks ago, there were a few buses in Arcadia to look at, that have since moved or been sold. The purple bus is still in Marathon, but that's all I had. Because I didn't know which direction we'd be headed first during our quick 2 day trip, I waited to arrange hotels or a driving plan for both days. So now, we're driving South in FL looking for a good spot to lay our heads. Worst case scenario: the seats recline almost all the way flat in the car.

I love that Kelly is embracing the adventure on this chapter in our lives even more that she usually does.

Arriving in Marathon, we did a quick search on Tripadvisor (traveler reviews), and moved in to the Sea Dell Motel. It's perfect. The weather? Perfect. We did get kicked off of the public beach for being there after dark, but we'll be back in the morning.

When we arrived in Marathon, there was no way to NOT drive by the bus location. Check out the video of that event:

Purple Bus Recon

Steve was working on it in the carport next to his house, all the doors open, lights on, etc etc. He knows we've traveled a long way for this look- hopefully he's motivated to sell it and it looks as clean in person as the photos look. When we drove by we pretended we weren't the couple from Colorado that was looking for our bus, but the screeching brakes and quick U turn in the cul-de-sac 100 feet from his driveway might have given us away. We played it cool, he probably didn't even notice us.

We're headed over there at 9am and we'll probably know within a few minutes if this is not the one.