2/28/2017
We rose early (for us) and collected the things we would
need for the rest of the day on the all-day drive from Marathon to Vero Beach,
Florida. To move our car forward along our route, we drive two cars to a future
boat destination and one car back to the boat. We left Faro Blanco marina just
before 8:30 and arrived at Vero Beach City Marina with no traffic issues around
1:30. After parking the cars, we used the restrooms, transferred everything
into the rental car Clark had driven, got in the rental car, and started our
long drive back to Marathon.
Clark did stop long enough to take one picture before we
headed on our way.
 |
| Tree-root Alligator |
We started out with Clark driving the two of us back.
However, since Clark wanted to do trip planning, it made more sense for me to
be the one driving rather than me fighting with his iPad while he drove. I
suggested that I drive for a couple of hours until the next rest stop and then
he could take it from there. He found a
place to pull over so we could switch drivers. Then, as I drove, he did his
navigation research and made his calls to marinas, so that worked out well. The
only “fly in the ointment” as it turned out was that we never stopped for a
rest stop all the way back to Marathon!
By the time we reached the gas station in Marathon to fuel
up before turning in the car, I had some aching joints and a numb bum! I flew
out of the car after pulling up to the pumps, ran into the restroom, and then
jumped into the passenger side of the car before he could finish filling up!
Ten straight hours of driving and I was done. No way was I driving any further even though
the rental car drop off was no more than a mile or so down the road.
Before we set out on our day-long drive, Jo Ann from Namaste asked me if we would be able to
have a farewell dinner with them when we got back at the end of the day. With a
tentative yes, we gave her periodic updates on our progress since the drive
time to Vero Beach depended on traffic around Miami and through the upper and
middle Keys. Going to Vero Beach, we made good time at just five hours. Since
we would be passing Miami close to rush hour, we had no way to estimate the
length of the return trip.
On the way back to Marathon, we hit some traffic as
anticipated, but it could have been a lot worse. With time on his hands in the
unusual role of passenger, Clark guided me through the traffic-congested area
with a blow-by-blow readout of the traffic per the Google Maps display. “The
road bends to the left and then the right and then there is a yellow section.
You are entering the yellow section. You are in the yellow section. Around the
next bend is a red section. You are half-way through the yellow section. Now
there is a blue section. You are near the red section. Now you are in a new
yellow section …”
The time to travel around Miami could not pass quickly
enough for me. I particularly found it
“interesting” to get the continuous readout when Google Maps said we traveled in
yellow sections, and I had the car moving at 65 mph. Since the speed limit was
70, I guess we did experience a slowdown of sorts. Then later, when we were not
moving at all in bumper-to-bumper traffic, Clark announced that we had hit a
“yellow” section per Google Maps. Sooooo informative! I asked Clark if this
level of detail is what he would prefer when I am the passenger and he is
driving, and he replied, “I like to know how long a slowdown will last.” I will
take that as a yes and will have to try to remember to accommodate him next
time we move cars.
Once we got past Miami and onto Route 1 heading through the
Keys, we had no more traffic to discuss. Thank goodness! Clark turned his focus
to the setting sun, and he pulled out his camera to get some pictures.
He wanted a picture of the unique “Welcome to Marathon”
signpost. Unfortunately, the lighting with the sun behind the sign rendered the
picture unusable for the blog.
Through text negotiations, we had set 8:00 as our target
dinner with the folks from Namaste and
Daybreak. As we approached the final
leg of our journey, however, it became clear that we would get to the car
rental place at 7:00. Since we were returning the car after business hours, we
had our folding bicycles with us to facilitate our return to the marina.
We
would pass the restaurant where we planned to eat on our way back to Faro
Blanco. That being the case, the group decided to meet at the restaurant,
instead of the marina, and move the meeting time to 7:15. We biked east and
they walked west. We beat them to the restaurant by a whole two minutes! When seating, the couples scrambled themselves. Guys at one end; Girls at the other. No husband sat next to his own wife. Totally random seating and unplanned.
 |
| Clark, Jim, Jeanne, Evelyn, Jo Ann, and Kenny |
 |
| Restaurant Art |
 |
| Outside the restaurant after dinner Jo Ann, Jeanne, Ev, Clark and Kenny (Jim took the picture) |
Pretty soon though, the rain started coming a little bit
faster and harder. Clark and I decided we should take off to try to protect the
bikes from getting wet. We took off down the bike trail as the walkers headed
over to stand under a nearby awning to wait for the rain to stop. A failure on
Clark’s and my part to outrun the storm resulted in us also taking shelter under
an awning further down the road. Unfortunately, it was a little like closing
the barn door after the horse escaped. As I pulled my bike up under the leaky awning,
I already had a soaked shirt. Standing there watching the rain come down, I
felt chilled by the cold breeze blowing around the corner of the building.
I told Clark my plight, and he moved over so I could get out
of the wind. Then we just stood and watched the rain come down in torrents. At
one point the rains slowed almost to a stop, and I thought we could leave, but
Clark said we should stay put a while longer. I am glad I did not argue as
shortly thereafter we had yet another downpour. After that we finally had a
break in the weather, per the Rainy Days
app, long enough to allow us to get back
to the marina.
I have trouble seeing in the dark, so biking at night is not
on my Top Ten list of things to do especially since my headlight is one of the
items that did not get packed in the rush to drive down to collect our new
boat. The creation of miniature lakes on bike path due to the passing storm
certainly did not add to my enjoyment of the situation. I biked slower than I
do in the daytime from the rental car place to the restaurant and traveled
about half that slow speed on the final leg of the bike ride from the
restaurant to the marina. Clark said he lifted his feet as the bike went
through the miniature lakes to keep them dry. Had I done that my shoes and
socks might not have been soggy messes at the end of the trip.
The fun did not end when we got back on board our boat.
First, Clark found the day’s wind-blown newspaper soaked through, spread all
around, and spilling black ink all over the wooden deck of our cockpit. He collected
the pages and placed them in a neat stack. He wasted his time though because I
just grabbed the stack, much to his dismay, and dumped the lot in the garbage
can on the dock. That mess was not coming on the boat with us!
Finding the wet newspaper pages triggered Clark’s memory
that we had left windows open on board. I came inside and found a section of the
sofa in the salon drenched. Moving on to the galley, I found everything on the
stove wet. Checking the guest stateroom, I found the bed there had received a
good dousing of water as had the floor nearby. Lastly, in the master stateroom,
both the top of the closet and the floor showed signs of rainwater. Thankfully,
our bed itself was dry.
As I went through the boat, I dried what I could with an old
towel and pulled things like seat cushions out to get air to finish the drying
job. Once done, I found it hard to find a place to sit and had no desire
whatsoever to work on my blog. We left everything torn up overnight to be put
away, hopefully dry, in the morning. What
a day!
No comments:
Post a Comment