Some final thoughts from this trip

December 23, 2013--It's a long, hard drive from the Florida Keys to Jacksonville. Round trip, we put 973 miles on Junior. Aside from the miles, the traffic is horrendous in south Florida. For those reasons, we decided to overnight in Jonathan Dickinson State Park in Hobe Sound, just north of West Palm Beach. That park is where we always stay when we head south.

The state part is where I had another "first"--a shower in the campground bath house.

On our final night in the Keys, after a day of fishing and being out in the sun, we discovered that we had no hot water. In a motorhome you have two choices for heating water: electric or gas. Jim turned the burner from electric to gas, but still we had no hot water.

I took a very quick cold shower. Jim researched the problem, which he deduced is probably a faulty thermostat. We bought a new part at an RV place in Key Largo, on our way home Saturday. When we arrived at Jonathan Dickinson, Jim tried to put it in. He wasn't successful. Replacing the part is not difficult, but the part (despite the correct number) does not match what he took out.

That's when I took my first campground shower.

The hot water heater will be fixed before we take our next trip.

Another word about the cats.

They were both excellent travelers until the last day, when Xena decided she didn't like the litter box. (I think it did not have enough litter in it for her taste.) That was the only time she was naughty.

When we arrived home, Jim and I carried each of the cats into the house and placed them on the porch, where they like to spend most of their time. We then proceeded to unpack the RV. Suddenly, we saw Charlie in the front yard watching us. Charlie almost never goes in the front yard.

Then Charlie went up to the RV and sat on its steps. He wanted to go back in.

Because we needed to take Junior back down to our storage area. I picked Charlie up and put him in the house. But as soon as I released him, he ran back out the front door to the RV. He wanted to go with us!

So, Charlie the Traveling Cat made another trip in the RV, and then in the car (where we was equally good). I think he is confused; maybe he has a little dementia (he is almost 16 years old), but hopefully the memory of where he lives will come back quickly.

Until next time,

Your Reluctant RoVer

Linda