Getting off the ship was a lot easier than getting on. Maybe a bit too easy. We were assigned to the first group after the elite Yacht Club folks to disembark. We were told to be in the theater by 8am. We got there at 7:45 and then I went out, hoping to get a final itemized bill (which they said would be delivered to me by 8pm the previous night, but which never appeared). So I was at the other end of the long shopping mall when our group was called and I had to hustle back to find Jett, fighting against the flow all the way. She was a bit miffed when I got there, feeling abandoned, I guess. But all was well. We were escorted to the front of the line (thanks, wheelchair!) and were through customs and in a taxi by 8:30 and at the truck before 9am.
The hardest part of the trip back was finding fuel. I probably had enough to make it, but running out of fuel in Alligator Alley (50 miles without a gas station) was something to be avoided, so I wanted to fill up. The first place I tried had diesel at a reasonable price, but accepted cash only. The second place was a RaceTrak advertised before an exit on I-75, but I couldn’t find it. The third place turned out to be nearly 3 miles from the exit, so I got back on and kept going. The fourth try was the charm, sort of. But I pulled in behind two utility trucks who proceeded to occupy the only 2 diesel pumps in the place. I was cursing a blue streak by that point and it must have worked because one of the trucks pulled out without refueling. I pulled in and loaded up with 22 gallons. That meant that there were 8 gallons left in the tank, which would have gotten me to Naples, but I would have been gnawing on my fingernails.
The rest of the trip was uneventful.
Jett went in for a nap (she felt a cold coming on) while I went out and bought $82 of groceries. I came back, unloaded and then went to meet our new neighbors, Joshua and Gary, a gay couple who were enjoying their new tiki hut which was constructed while we were away. I enjoyed meeting them. Nice guys.
That evening I started getting the “coming down with a cold” feeling. That led into a stretch of 3 days in which I was as sick as I have been in many years. Running nose, cough and profuse sweating. 3 miserable days. Jett was pretty sick, too, but she got on Tamiflu on Monday and that seems to have helped a bit. But because she was ill her infusion was delayed for a week.
Anyway, it is now Thursday and while I can’t claim to be fully recovered, I have concluded that I am going to survive.
Hell of a way to end a vacation.
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