Well, we drove through the action center of town, locale of Ron Jon's Surf Shop, advertized all over the east coast ("world's most famous surf shop"), and several motels, but no La Quinta, contrary to my expectations. Drove another mile or two south and there it was, dark and lonely. I went in to confirm our arrangements. Driving back toward mid-town, I notice silence from Susie's side of the car. Finally, she says: I think we should switch motels. We don't want everybody, 16 people, to be trapped out here all Thursday afternoon and Friday morning and we can't very well relay them back and forth in the Explorer. I resisted -- I didn't know the cancelation policy, but thought for a group it wouldn't be pretty. What's wrong with hanging out at La Quinta? They've got TV. Susie said, let me check the Comfort Inn, which is just a block from Ron Jon's, right in the middle of the action. She went in and negotiated a price that was quite reasonable (I grudgingly admitted), given the enhancements and convenience. Didn't finalize the deal, though, until we looked into canceling the LQ.
Heading home from the CI I espied a storefront labeled Old Fish House. Couldn't turn that down. Excellent, reasonably priced meal improved our (my) outlook on our arrangements.
Tuesday am I canceled the La Quinta, not too much damage, and we reserved rooms at the Comfort Inn. All is well. Susie scheduled a Friday morning family breakfast at the C Inn and a little later she suggested, I think we should get a room there Christmas night, so we'd all be together for breakfast, then go to the ship in early afternoon. Avoid the hassle of driving back and forth to Tuzigoot. She was truly worried about how much driving I was going to have to do.
So, we went to the CI at CB after lunch today and set that up. We also got to thinking: ship gets into port 6am on Monday. Most of the kids are not flying out until mid to late Monday pm. What do they and their luggage do in the meantime? The solution: rent a room at the CI for Monday morning. So, we did that. Very pleasant, helpful sales agent at the Comfort Inn.
Next logistics issue: I had naively thought I could ferry everyone from the airport to Cocoa Beach in the Explorer, but if you do the math, it wasn't working out. Sixteen people coming with luggage. Explorer could hold four passengers and luggage, at the max, I think. RT airport trip is probably 2.5 hrs. There are five people in Matt's family. Arrival times are not neatly spaced. Hate to leave someone(s) sitting at the airport for a long time. So, we've reserved a van service to do part of the driving. Got that figured out (though just now it occurred to me: I could have rented a UHaul trailer for the luggage! Second thought: just another logistical hassle, probably). Got room assignments at the CI figured out. We're ready! Good thing that we got here a day earlier than originally planned. Jeff and Valerie Hinkle are arriving tomorrow, Wednesday, from Aberdeen, SD. Hoping they won't be snowed in is our main worry now. Also hoping everybody remembers to bring their passports.
This process stuff may not be very interesting, but I know our mental states are of interest to many of you.
Oh, I almost forgot. We've got more Tuzigoot problems. Sunday, Susie said (right after escaping from the Flying J, I think), The power footrest on my chair is not working right (when you're roughing it, it's always one thing or another). The toggle switch doesn't feel right. Monday, on the way to Cocoa, it quit working, with the footrest extended so that it almost blocks the way in and out of Tuzi. That afternoon I tried to figure out if there's a way I can lower the footrest. There was power to the chair, so it can be moved back and forth, up and down, to get it partly out of the way. Also, you can rotate the chair. But I can't, at this writing, see a mechanical way to lower the footrest. Some time during all this, I noticed that the chair no longer had power. Also, the driver's chair (the Captain's) and the dashboard no longer had 12V power. Now what? Toggle switch must have shorted out. I changed a couple of fuses, but still no power. At this point I've got RV repairman coming next Tuesday morning to take a look. We shall see.
Day's highlight was finding an Amish deli for lunch. Good sandwiches. We also bought cookies, apple butter, a bagel, and Amish Root Beer (who knew?) to bring back with us. Weather, which was still chilly yesterday, was very nice today: sunny, low 70s.
Now, about the RV park. It's a nice park, though located very close to (noisy) I-95. Haven't heard a train. Our parking slot is at the corner of Isaac and Noah. Susie found out that this park is used by a lot of young people training to go out on missions. Owner/manager has been very helpful, providing fax service to CI and identifying RV repair outfit.
What I think is interesting is that here, in addition to the usual ten commandments, there are some other ones, posted:
11. Please clean up after your dog.
12. Please limit use of paper. Too much will clog the toilet.
Don't you think Please is friendlier than Thou Shalt?
Then there's this one:
13. Please do not use baby oil in the shower. It makes a mess! !
Must be a story behind this.
You can tell an RV park's attitude from its signs. The Starke KOA has some good humor: Speed limit 7 1/2. Say No to speed bumps. A nice way to threaten: If you speed, we will install speed bumps.
Getting pretty trivial now. Time to quit.
Merry Christmas to all, from our house to yours.
Blessings,
Susie and Rob
1 comment:
Sounds great Dad. Can't wait to get there! Mike
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