It still doesn’t feel like we were in the Keys for (almost) 6 months. The last few days were really stressful with all of the packing needed and with Ty’s medical issues. Ty had his final checkup at the Marathon Veterinary Hospital on Monday morning as we were on our way out of the Keys. The Vet said all of his blood work looked good and he was over the 72 hour window where he was still in danger from the poison. They were so good to us there. They squeezed us in when they didn’t have an open appointment for Monday morning and saw us as soon as we walked in the door. It still added a couple of hours to the first day of our trip home, but it was a relief to know that Ty would be OK.
We did not have any traffic issues on the first day, except for a minor delay in Islamorada. There was a police helicopter hovering over the roadway that caused traffic to slow down considerably. I never could find out who or what they were looking for. Somehow we made it through Miami without hitting any backups or too much traffic. Because of the later start we only made it to Daytona Beach for our first night. The International RV Park & Campground had a wonderful extra-large parking pad that accommodated both the RV and my Jeep; even with both of us towing. It was a great place to stop.
We hit lots of traffic on the second day which caused me lots of anxiety. I don’t love driving and towing the trailer is never going to be my favorite thing, even if it is not that difficult. Going over the bridge on the bypass around Jacksonville gave me white knuckles. I just hate heights and bridges with steep inclines. I admit to being a total wuss. Traffic delays added several hours to our trip. At one point we had been stopped on 95 for quite a long time when we finally got up to an exit ramp to take a detour. This detour took us into the outskirts of Savannah and onto a couple of small side streets before dumping us back on an expressway. And another tall bridge. I was really glad when we finally stopped at South of the Border for the night. It’s not a great place, but its cheap and an easy stop. There was even more traffic on our third day so we didn’t make it to Ryan’s until rush hour. I was relieved to let him drive the Jeep to his shop. Traffic by him is always crazy, but even worse at rush hour! While visiting Ryan, we enjoyed a couple of dinners out as well as Ryan’s delicious prime rib. We even went to see the movie, The Avenger’s. It was great to stay with Ryan for a few days before we finally made it home. The rain made it a miserable drive for the last couple of hours. Randy was not happy having to put real shoes and a raincoat on. Already looking forward to next winter in the Keys!
