Once we got in the Tampa area, I checked out Craig's list for a pub table for our "dining room", I found exactly what we wanted and the guy even delivered it to us at the RV Park. Nice! Next, we also replaced the bed in the RV with the very comfy foam bed carried at Costco, the best night's sleep for me! We had two nice evenings with Emily and Steve, so fun to see the changes they'd made while we were gone and now they were almost moved it. Such a huge job, but worth it for the darling new home.
Before leaving the Tampa Bay area, we needed a new Townie bike for me; can't be in Florida without a bike. They have amazing bike trails and everything's so flat!! We shopped at Chainwheel Bicycle shop and I picked out a beautiful wintermint green, 21 speed, they just needed a day to put it tougher. Perfect, the plan now was to leave Thursday after picking up the bike and head on down to Bahia Honda State Park
All would have gone as planned if only I hadn't been the one to load the car onto the dolly that afternoon.
It was a new dolly with attached ramps, unlike the one we've used the last two years. So, I got it in position, stepped and the gas...and over the top I went!!!! Yep, not only up the ramps but the wheels were now hanging over the front of the dolly with no way to get the car off. Time for help from AAA Automotive!
My new bike sitting there waiting to be put on the back of the motorhome, but now we had the huge task of trying to get the car off the dolly.
Jacking up the car with wood planks didn't go quite as the AAA driver had planned. The car slipped off the jacks they'd rigged up and the car was in a worse position and now it had rumpled sides along the door and a small hole in something near the engine...oil leaking, not a good thing.
It took a second tow truck to pull the car up and off the dolly...
But it now meant it had to be repaired before we could leave. So, another two nights for us at the Clearwater RV Park while the car went to the SAAB Store repair shop in Tampa. Oh, such a disappointment!!!
With only the motorhome for wheels we were too limited for getting around, so I booked a rental car through Orbitz on line and we headed to the St. Petersburg Airport to pick it up. Only about a 15 mile drive over so not too bad. PK pulled the RV right up to the loading area of the airport and got some interesting looks, I went in and picked up a car for us.
Friday was spent checking on the repairs for the SAAB and trying to encourage the mechanic to get it done as quickly as possible, we didn't want to spend the weekend waiting for it. We knew we were really lucky to even find a trained SAAB mechanic so close, he had some extra parts and once we signed the estimate papers he got working on it. By 4:30 we were headed back to Tampa to pick it up. How fantastic!!!!
Friday night it was time to pack us all up so we could be out of the park and on the road by 7AM. And, we made it!!
We had a long day of driving ahead of us, but I was so excited to know we'd finally be in the Florida Keys by that evening. It was a 375 mi drive which is a lot in an RV but beautiful freeways helped us get there by 5:00. At last!
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