New Orleans/FL Trip (Day 25) - Marathon, FL - Ft. Lauderdale, FL

Well last night was pretty exciting. After we returned to the RV park from Key West, the wind really started blowing and it was raining pretty hard. The waves also started getting higher, splashing over the seawall against the back of the RV. We were able to move the RV forward in our parking spot about 6 ft. This helped, but the wind kept blowing the waves up all night long. The cold front had moved through by morning and it was clear and cold and the wind had subsided somewhat, but not much. One causalty of the storm was a fairly large sailboat tied up at the RV park dock. Despite being secured pretty good it was swamped. As we were leaving, the boat owner was trying to figure what to do next and spectators were beginning to gather.





Since we had a relatively short drive today, we decided to not hook-up the VW until we could reach dry land and find a spot where it wasn't too windy. The drive north was a two-hands-on-the-wheel drive and we never did hook-up the RV. It took about 3 ½ hours to get to the La Quinta Inn in Ft. Lauderdale.

We arrived at the Inn about noon, parked the RV on the motel grounds, and checked in when our room was available. We were able to park the RV and the VW there during the cruise because we spent the night before the cruise at the hotel. About 20 of the 31 members of the 82nd reunion group spent the night there also.

We had lunch in the RV, sorted out and packed what we are taking on the cruise, and did one more load of laundry in the hotel. We also met some of the 82nd group in the hotel as they were checking-in, then went to dinner at TGI Friday's.

We will take the hotel shuttle to the cruise ship about noon tomorrow and will depart on the cruise at 5:00 pm.