Monday, December 12, 2011

Not a Good Start to Our Day

Zephyrhills, Florida

The plan yesterday, was to leave Fort Myers by 9:00 am in order to get home in plenty of time for Al to watch the Bucs play at 1:00 pm. 

While I was running the engine to air up the airbags, Baxter decided to sit on the steering wheel, which is one of his favorite places.  Of course with the engine running, the horn was working and he managed to toot the horn a few times before I could get to him.  I moved the wheel to the drive position, but he got right back up there, and blared the horn again!  Wake up Fort Myers!

We had gotten most everything done the day before so we were right on schedule……until….

Al was disconnecting the sewer hose and raised up and hit his head on the slide out.  He got a 3/4 inch long cut on his head and it bled a good bit.  That darn slide out is dangerous.  We decided he would live, so we got back to work. 

We pulled out and parked on the road right outside the campground to hook up the toad and discovered a problem with the locking mechanism for the bike rack.  We needed to remove the lock.  Long story, short, it took a while but we got the lock off, then discovered we couldn’t get the bar back into the hole that secures the bike rack.  We fought with it a while before deciding a trip to Depot would be in order.

But during our struggles trying to get the lock undone, I heard Al say (in a very serious voice), “Karen, don’t move.”  Of course I knew that meant frog alert, and I moved!   I came face to face with a small tree frog, which sent me screaming like a girl, and running away.

Al caught the frog very  quickly, and took it into the woods to release it.  When he went into the woods, he must have frightened a small bunny, and that bunny headed out right towards me.  I was still in fright mode from the frog and the cute little bunny scared me for a moment until I realized what it was.  Off  I went screaming again! 

We finally got on the road about 11:30 and had a short and uneventful trip back to our winter home base near Tampa. 

We were a bit worried about getting the rig back into the campsite.   When we got there a month ago, we were able to pull in forward by going through the site behind us.  Fortunately, the site behind us was still vacant and we pulled right in again.  If that site had been occupied, we would have had to back down the street and back into the site, which has a fence to our right side.  It will be a little tricky and I’m sure that is what we’ll have to do next month, when we get back from the Keys. 

So, we’re settled back in for two weeks until we’re off to the Keys.  Al got to watch end end of the Bucs game, and they lost! 

When we go to the Keys after Christmas, we’re  going to split the trip up and stay a night a little over half way down.  Can anybody recommend a campground in south Florida on either Highway 41, or I-75  (alligator alley)?  There are a few that don’t allow reservations.  We prefer to have a reservation so that we know we’ll have a place to stay.  Once you hit Key Largo, the driving gets a little slow and we want to be fresh when driving through the Keys.   Plus, it’s so pretty traveling on the “overseas highway”, that we want to be able to enjoy the view.  There aren’t too many campgrounds that far south, so any suggestions will be appreciated.

 

the Overseas Highway

kw_highway.JPG  387×259

Overseas Highway  Florida Keys   All American Road  Scenic Highway   Flagler s Railroad

We haven’t been to the Keys for years and we’re really looking forward to the drive.  We’ve should have a really good view from the motor home.

14 comments:

  1. Oh Al, so sorry about your head. I did that in New York but I needed to have it glued shut. And head sounds bleed so much. Glad you were able to pull through when you got back to the park. That makes it so much less stressful.

    ReplyDelete
  2. at least after the rough start you were able to pull thru your site for an easy parking job...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Those slide outs can do some damage to the poor heads... some people put beach noodles on them to keep from hitting so hard. Sorry I can't think of a single campground... we don't travel south too much and when we did the day was longer so no problem... Hope you have a better day today!
    Have fun & Travel safe
    Donna

    ReplyDelete
  4. We stayed at Markum Park on our way to the Keys. It is a county park and a little expensive ($40), however, it was very convenient.

    So sorry that Al's top knot took a big hit. Ouch!

    We are looking forward to reading about your trip to the Keys. Enjoy!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I know there are three or four state park campgrounds right along 41. They are no frills but when we have been in the area they always seemed to have room. One is just east of the Big Cypress preserve visitors center.

    If you go 41, the shortcut to 1 is 997. If you get as far as Miami, you can stop at Larry and Penney's campground (very nice-if they have room) just south of the Zoo. Not as bad as it looks on the map. Just hang a left off of 997 on S184th and then left into the park. We have stayed there several times.

    ReplyDelete
  6. After hitting my head a few times on the bedroom slideout, I've installed the swimming noodles on them and its already saved me a few knocks on the noggin'.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Ouchie on the head injury..we carry the noodles also..baxter was just saying bye to everyone :)...nice to see you were able to pull thru when you arrived...have a great week :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. This post was beginning to sound like the keystone cops until I got to poor Al and then it wasn't funny. But Baxter was funny. We have the noodles too after one of those noggin bangs.

    Wish I could help you on the campground thing. I get most of my Florida camping advice from YOU! :-)

    Sherry
    www.directionofourdreams.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  9. Ouch, hurts we say don't do that again but it will happen. And a few other issues, the uncertainty of Rving make life interesting. Glad all is better now.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Things cant always go smoothly... can they? We've had some days like that. I shakes up our dream life a bit.
    Enjoy your travels!

    ReplyDelete
  11. those slide outs have hit more than one head in blogville!..hope Al's head is okay!!..and no stitches are necessary!

    ReplyDelete
  12. I told Craig he should pull the slide in before he connects the hose and water, but so far he hasn't hit his head.

    The TV in the bedroom has been a hazard for me.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Sure hope Al's head is feeling OK. Aother good reason why we don't have slideouts (one less thing for Kevin to hit his head on)!

    Kevin and Ruth
    www.travelwithkevinandruth.com

    ReplyDelete
  14. Karen, there is a casino close to Miami you can stay at, be sure to register w/security. I have also stayed at Florida City CG for an overnighter b4 heading down the keys. It was okay but probably would return since I'm a single traveler. Good luck and have fun. Good thing Al has a hard head, or at least that's what I've been told. LOL

    ReplyDelete

Please feel free to leave comments. We love to read them! To contact me directly you can send e-mail to rvtravels2@yahoo.com