Uh-Oh-Big Problem and no RV Supplies Nearby

 

 Cudjoe Key, Florida (high 82, low 75)

Time is passing quickly. 

We picked the boat up from it’s storage lot on Big Pine Key.  Al is doing some annual maintenance on it, a little at a time. and he’s already managed to hurt hit shoulder in the process. 

It’s been pretty breezy and the seas are pretty choppy, which is pretty typical for March.  Our days are very warm with day time temps usually at 82.  Luckily, our site is close enough to the ocean that we almost always have a wonderful sea breeze.  By about mid afternoon, we’re needing a jacket when we sit outside.   The sea breezes are nice, except for boating. 

We’ve about decided not to put the boat into a high and dry marina.  We’re hoping some of our many neighbors on canal lots will offer us a place to dock the boat….but we’re still waiting.  :)

Fellow blogger friends Rick and Kathy recently arrived and are staying at a nearby KOA.  We met them at Mangrove Mama’s for happy hour,  and again at the Square Grouper for lunch. I neglected to get a picture both times, but I’m sure we’ll meet again, and I’ll remember to get a picture.

We got a rather unpleasant surprise last Friday, right before we were heading out to meet  Rick and Kathy for lunch. It made it a little difficult to enjoy our lunch date, as we had other things on our minds.

You may remember that we had our Thetford Aria Deluxe toilet replaced about a year ago.  It was the push button electric model and it gave us problems from day one.  It was brand new when we bought the motor home.  We found it’s little sister, the Aria Classic which has the regular foot pedal flush and nothing electronic.  The Aria models are the only ones we could find that have the porcelain base and bowl.

The new toilet, often had problems with the pedal flush mechanism sticking.   I intended to buy some replacement parts, but I never did.  Big mistake, because Friday afternoon, all the way down here in the Keys, with very few Rv parts options,  the darn flush pedal  broke!   The beautiful solid porcelain toilet has PLASTIC parts and one of those parts broke off.   There are a few things you can live with out, but a toilet is not one of them!

I have to tell you, we were both in a state of panic.  Yes, we have bath houses here, but none of them are real close.  I also have been dealing with a UTI, which means I’m needing to go more often.  :) 

There are not a lot of options here in the Keys for RV parts.  The nearest Camping World is 280 miles away! We are actually closer to Cuba than Camping World, or even Walmart.

We decided we needed to get something ordered that afternoon, since it was a Friday, we hoped at least it would get shipped before the week-end.

I checked with PPL Motorhomes in Texas. They have a great parts department and knowledgeable people.  We’ve ordered rv related items from them several other times. They didn’t have the parts in stock for our toilet, and as it turns out neither did other parts places we checked.  We decided to go with the recommendation from PPL and we ordered a Thetford Aqua Magic Style Plus toilet.   It has a porcelain bowl, but plastic base.  This is not exactly what I wanted, but at this point, I didn’t care if it had a plastic base or not.

Unfortunately, according to PPL’s website this is that we found: 

NOTE: Due to Fedex and UPS hazmat regulations, expedited shipping is not available for toilets. Standard ground transportation will be used for all toilets.

The Hazmat rules are due to the small amount of toilet chemicals packed inside all rv toilets.

It turns out that since porcelain toilets have to be specially trucked in because UPS and FED EX can’t ship them without breaking them.   The shipping cost was $120.  Yikes.  The price you pay for being in paradise, huh?   The new toilet is scheduled to arrive Friday (the 13th)   Uh oh……   They tell you that you have to open the box and confirm there is no damage before you can accept the package.  Once you accept it, it’s yours.   Yep…it’s arriving on Friday, the 13th.  :)

In the meantime, we have discovered a way to manually flush the toilet with a screwdriver.  It’s not ideal, but at least we can flush.

We love the Florida Keys, but it is one of the worst places to be if you have any problems.  We don’t even have a Walmart within 100 miles.

Still….we are very happy here in the Florida Keys.

Tourists Covered in Oil

 

Cudjoe Key, Florida (high 82, low 75)

 

I’m sure glad we’re not at our place in north Georgia.  They just got 10 inches of snow on top of the 2 inches they already had.  They are having a lot of snow this winter. We’re sure glad we’re not there. 

No snow here thankfully, but we wouldn’t mind if it was a little cooler. I don’t see that happening, but at least it is warming up the ocean water temperature.

We started the day with a $3.50 pancake breakfast here at Venture Out.  You got freshly made pancakes, sausage, blueberries and orange juice for the price.   Not my favorite breakfast (no grits) but you can’t really beat the price.

 

We decided to run down to Key West again.  We went a different direction and along a different part of the pier.  We stumbled on quite the party place.  Most of the people in the Keys are older retirees, like Al and I.   The young people here are generally the locals that work here.  I don’t think many younger people can afford it here.  It’s not a popular spring break destination, thank goodness.   However, this place was quite the happening place for the younger generation.

How about his pool?  It was more of a shallow “wet bar” than a pool.  We wondered how clean that water was.  There were all kinds of people there, doing all kinds of things.  You’ll have to use your imagination.  I wanted to take some pictures, but I felt like a stalker.  We didn't see any nudity, but there was one guy with dreadlocks sashaying around with his pants a little too low and we saw way more crack than we would have liked.   :(

 

 

I did do a little stalking, and managed to catch this little dog with a Go Pro Camera attached to his collar. 

Can you imagine this video?  

We walked past the bar over to the pier.  There were a lot of beautiful boats there.

The Key West Ferry leaves from Fort Myers, if you ever want a day trip to Key West.

This was a beautiful wooden tall ship.  I couldn’t quite get it all in the picture.

There was a museum about the Dry Tortugas, and nearby was one of the boats that will take you  there.  If you ever get to the Keys, a day trip to the Tortugas is amazing.

There were a lot of huge tarpon swimming near the dock.  These pelicans were keeping an eye on them.

 

 

 

Here is a parasailing boat coming back in.

I hope they didn’t forget anybody.  :)

We walked over to Mallory Square, trying to stay on the shady side of the streets.  Man, was it warm.

We hadn’t seen a Disney cruise ship before.  It was a beauty.

Just like Paul and Marti said.  Everything was spotless.

We walked in town and this lady reminded me of the old Jimmy Buffet song about “tourists covered in oil.”  I’ll bet she was sore today because her skin was a nice shade of hot pink.

 

Most every bar had a musician playing and it’s fun to walk down the street and hear a different sound every few minutes.  Some were really good, but we didn’t stop because I was on a mission for a frozen margarita.

These guys set up shop right on the street.  I don’t know if they have to get a permit, or how that works, but they were pretty good.  Notice the tip jar?

As we got down to Mallory Square, the street performers, portable bars and vendors were starting to set up shop. They decide who gets a space on Mallory Square by a lottery system.  I guess that’s why you see different people each night.

 

We found the Flying Monkey bar we were looking for and sat down at the outside bar to cool off and have some refreshments. They have a row of swirling machines, each holding a different “frozen concoction” (another Jimmy Buffet song).  I thought about trying a Banana Breeze or a Chocoholic, but ended up with a margarita.  It was hot out and  it tasted really really good,.  They have mist machines and fans blowing the mist around.  It did help to cool you off but the mist did wonders for my hair!  

We went back to the shop that sold  the OOFOS Sandals.  Al has been having trouble with his feet hurting and he decided he might like to get a pair.  He wasn’t sure about the thong style and the sliders are kind of ugly, so he’s still thinking about them. 

We only stayed in Key West a couple hours.  Our nice shady and breezy rv spot was calling our name, so we headed back to the bus stop and on home.

This is a popular bar/restaurant we passed on the way back to the bus stop.  It looks a little iffy, but it’s always crowded and the food smells wonderful.   I’ll think we’ll pass.

Today, we’re going up to Big Pine Key to the flea market.  The locally grown produce from Homestead is sold there.  It’s always fresh and good and the price is right. 

I think we’ll stay home the rest of the day and maybe even make it to the pool.