2013 Trip To Florida

Every fall for the last 14 years I've left my northern home for the warm and sunny climes of Florida for the winter.  Early Saturday morning, Gary drove Faye down to my apartment so that she could accompany me on the trip.  Of course, I was so happy to have her along because we always have a good time together.

Day 1 Saturday) started out dark and rainy so it wasn't easy for me to drive but it was much nicer by the time we crossed the border...little rain and light enough for me to see.  The first real glitch came when I got caught in the wrong lanes at the wrong times and we ended up lost in downtown Pittsburgh, PA.  Not quite frantic, but unable to pull over to ask directions, we kept driving in the direction we thought would get us out.  We stopped for gas and the gas station attendant gave us excellent directions so we were soon out of Pittsburgh and on our way south.

Glitch 2 came when we stopped at a Walmart for wine and then got stopped for speeding when we started back on the highway.  A young boy about 12, dressed in a cop's uniform and driving a K9 vehicle, pulled us over and informed me I'd been doing 71 MPH in a 50 MPH zone.  Crap!  I couldn't believe it when he let us go with a warning.  I must have reminded him of his Gramma.

Our first night's motel was in Beckley, WV and it was quite nice.  I slept from 9 PM until 6:30 AM without even a middle of the night pee so I must have been very tired.

Day 2 started out well, excellent driving conditions and fun was had by all...until we stopped for the night just a few miles north of the Florida border.  Faye found us a "lovely" motel in one of the Georgia flyers that had a convention center and an attached restaurant with Happy Hour.  Sounded nice, right?  Wrong!

Our room was on the first floor and way at the end of a long line of empty rooms.  Just as we got inside, the door handle fell off and we couldn't open the door.  I suggested we call the front desk and tell them to help us but, darn, there was no phone in the room.  I know our kids are screaming at us right now to carry cell phones.

Trapped in the room with no-one near, and to top it off, I'd left the car running.  We tried all kinds of things to turn a greasy lever on the door but just didn't seem to have enough strength to turn it.  I really was in a panic but Faye remained calm and was finally able to push her tweezers through the hole in the lever and get it turned enough to open the door.  She said she would have thrown the chair or microwave through the window if we couldn't have gotten the door open.  I think she was just as scared as I was but kept a calm exterior so we both didn't go bananas.

Off we went to the front desk and told them our story, asking for a room WITH a telephone.  We were given another room that did have a telephone but it wasn't even attached to the wall so we returned to the office and asked for our money back.  We drove about a block up the road and found probably the last room in another motel and it had a working phone.

Still traumatized, I allowed Faye to convince me it was safe for us (carrying about $1,000 cash between us) to walk back along a dark path to the aforementioned restaurant.  We wanted our Happy Hour.  We needed our Happy Hour.  We ended up with 2 gin and tonics and cheesecake each.  It was comfort food and drink.

Day 3 was the easiest of all.  We had a light breakfast and drove until lunchtime at the Crackerbarrel.  Just before reaching the trailer, we stopped for a few groceries...and wine.

Pulling into the park, it was nice to see the ponds full but the park was still pretty empty at this time of the year.  We passed and talked to Charlotte and Dee and then spotted Shelley and John behind them.  What a nice surprise!  They helped us unload the car and then Faye took all the sheets I'd used to cover furniture to the laundryroom.  Shelley and John couldn't stay long but we made plans to see them this weekend.  It took a few more hours of organizing to make the trailer habitable and then we settled down with wine and T.V. until about 10 P.M.

Oh, I forgot.  Virginia dropped in and invited us to come to her place next Tuesday for coffee.  She used to stay in my park but has since moved to another.  Then Dee dropped in and visited for a while.  We made plans to go to the casino with her tonight.

Life is good!