Sprint for the middle

The first part of the trip consisted of a fast tour down the west coast of Florida. For the next part we will be visiting Jean's son Sandy and his family in Palm City, on the east coast. But first we have to get there.

After a quiet night in the very crowded, but amazingly quiet, campground in Hollywood, the morning's work included filling the fresh water tank --- which ran out after breakfast --- and dumping the holding tanks. So hooking up the fresh water gear was the first task.  I had walked to the (closed) office and got some information about the site. In it I found out that there are two water taps, one with clean water and one with non-potable water. So I was able to hook up to the correct one and take on 30 gallons. I used the other water to flush the black-water tank when the time came and found it was a filthy, brown color. It was also the most obvious water tap, so had I not gotten the information, that's what would have gone into the tank!

We had to turn the rig around to dump the holding tanks, since the sewer pipe was on the wrong side of the site. That required a lot of backing and filling in the narrow space, but our neighbor helpfully moved his car which made it a little easier.

With all those (and other) tasks done, we headed out to find the Walmart we had been told about. It was a lot farther than we expected along a wide, crowded street. To look around this part of Florida, you wonder if there are any people left in the rest of the country --- or have they all moved here. We finally found it, but other than restrooms, it didn't have any of what we were looking for.

So time to launch ourselves back into the rushing river of steel and head for Palm City. Drivers here are crazy. We saw a woman driving a black pickup talking on the phone as she passed an ambulance with its red lights flashing. Traffic gradually thinned out as we made our way up I-95 the 60 or so miles to Palm City. City traffic up here was still busy, but not quite as heavy. After making only one wrong turn we arrived at Sandy's about 3:40.

Here we faced another problem. His neighbor across the street is never home and his driveway lines up with Sandy's. We usually just pull into his driveway, which allows us to back right in to Sandy's beside their cars. When we got there the neighbor's driveway was full of cars, due to a party next door. The street is too narrow to easily maneuver a 22-foot vehicle into position. So once more it was back and forth in tight spaces, but we managed it. As soon as we had the Roadtrek leveled up on blocks, the party broke up and everyone drove away.

After a lot of visiting, we all went down to the beach for an hour or so. I took a couple of pictures, just so the blog won't be all naked text. Not too exciting, but better than just heavy traffic which was the only other option.

So much for Sunday. What adventures await us in Palm City?