Another one bites the dust!
Actually, it will be 3 that bite the dust! As we continue on our quest to visit as many National Parks as we can, we decided that we should visit the 3 parks in southern Florida as it is January and we live Michigan.
Day 18 Sunday – Woke up this morning to a feeling of being “home” as we looked outside and saw the parking lot covered in snow. That said, the roads were wonderfully dry and not to busy so our final day was an easy drive home. Along the way, we stopped at Nick & Rayla’s and picked up Orion as we will be dog sitting because they are flying to…. wait for it…. Miami! Ironic, eh? It was a great trip and it looks like we picked a great 18 days to be away from Michigan as when we returned, it looked just like when we left (though sunnier). See our street below.
Final tally: 4,219.5 miles!
Day 17 Saturday - Today was supposed to be a rather simple drive from DC to about the Maryland / Pennsylvania border and then a long drive tomorrow to home but Mother Nature had other plans. A winter storm was heading right at us. We spent a lot of time looking at forecasts and route choices and decided we would leave very early and take a longer route home to try and avoid what we could. There was a Ice Storm Warning right over the PA turnpike that was to start around 1 pm and one in DC area starting at 10 am today so by leaving early and driving south (avoiding the PA turnpike) we hoped we could get beyond our original reservation and find a motel on the road. Amazingly, it worked almost exactly as we hoped. We made it through the smokey mountains and decided to shoot for a hotel near Sandusky OH as another weather advisory was going into effect around 4:00 in northern Ohio. We were 20 miles from our new reservation and the snow and sleet started. It wasn’t coming down too bad, but it was not good either. It looked like rain but was really ice pellets which were coming down hard enough we had to turn up the radio to hear over the ice hitting the windshield. We grabbed some food before going into the hotel and now we are holed up in our room until tomorrow. Currently 23 F but feels like 13 F. The great news is that the forecast for tomorrow is good so hopefully it will be a smooth final day of driving.
The unexpected benefit of our different route is I-68 was nearly empty of any traffic which is fantastic compared to the PA turnpike and we drove US-40 (National Historic Road) for about 60 miles which was very scenic and gave us yet another unusual road sign – ‘DANGEROUS MOUNTAIN AHEAD” - one giant downward road, with 3 of those warning signs at the top and a run-a-way truck ramp about 1/2 way down. Last picture above is looking out of our hotel room showing the snowscape in the parking lot.
Day 16 Friday – Everyone knows we like to seek out strange places (like World’s Largest stuff). Today we were heading to Fredericksburg VA to Goolrick’s Pharmacy, the “"Oldest Continuously Operating Soda Fountain." 110 years and going. As luck would have it, on the same street as Goolrick’s were about 2 blocks of antique stores. We started with the antique stores and worked our way to Goolrick’s for a soda & lunch. Well, things don’t always work out and the “Oldest Continuously Operating Soda Fountain” is closed! ☹ They are remodeling the building and plan on reopening it eventually but that doesn’t do us a lot of good today. Of course, we try to turn disappointments into opportunities and this case, just a few blocks away we saw a very interesting mural and discovered “Sprelly”. Sprelly is a local peanut butter and jelly “boutique factory” They make it on site and we walked out with Pineapple Coconut Jam with Cinnamon French Toast Peanut Butter!
We headed into and around DC to get to Nate and Andrea. We went out to dinner at a very good Mexican restaurant in the nearby town of Takoma. As parking can be a challenge, they suggested we just take the bus. It was fun doing part of Nate’s commute as we took “his” bus. The food was great and after we walked about a mile to downtown Takoma to see its main street and the train station Nate uses to DC. We walked back and then took the bus home. I feel so city/urban now!
Back at their apartment we played cards and Nate showed us the e-bike he often uses to get to the train station. It was a very nice evening.
Day 15 Thursday – Rain! Well, if it had to rain, today was the perfect day for it. We heard hard rain and thunder overnight and had already planned on sleeping in as this was more of an “off” day so by the time we left our room at 10, the rain was down to a drizzle and by noon, gone. It was very overcast all day and the high was 52 (but the windchill was probably low 40’s).
We started off going to the Carytown section of Richmond. This is a “vibrant and stylish area in Richmond, VA, with locally owned businesses, historic theaters, and parks.” Much of it looked out of the 60’s and 70’s. If the weather was nicer, it would have been a great place to window shop and check out the food places.
After Carytown, we found a laundromat with a 4.7 review (didn’t know that was possible). It was a small place in a nice neighborhood and charged less than in Bellaire!
Next, we went to the state capital. It is a very impressive building but also extremely hard to get pictures with all the roads blocked as they are now for security.
As we drove around Richmond, we were reminded that this community also has many murals on the sides of buildings (like Wynwood Walls in Miami). We found the Canal Building Murals and canal walk but when we arrived, the walk was under construction so we could only see the murals from a rather short distance away, not up close. The murals around the town are excellent. Also, as we crisscrossed Richmond several times, we were impressed with the amount of beautiful classic homes some over 100+ years old to bungalows from the late 50’s and 60’s. Very nice neighborhoods and stylish streets.
Day 14 Wednesday – Ocean front room means waking up to watch the sunrise. Rising this morning we started listing songs with “sun” and it sure seems to us that there are way more songs about the rising sun.
Today, would be a driving day but we decided to check out the historic riverwalk in Wilmington. It was quite nice, the sun was out with no breeze, we both were surprised how warm it felt for 51 degrees. On the walk we saw the table that was used throughout the Dawson Creek series on TV. We saw their Venus Flytrap sculpture AND learned that the only place they grow naturally are within a 100 miles of Wilmington. Wilmington is a very nice city with lots to see. The Riverwalk is #1 but the historic homes are incredible as well.
As we drove north towards Virginia, it got colder. So much that we had to dig out our coats. A sad day indeed. We took some scenic roads to shake up the drive and finished our Mesa Verde mystery book and we were set to progress to the 4th book in the series but we got lucky and the book involving Dry Tortuga became available so that book will be bringing us home. We made it to Richmond, VA by 2:30 PM and headed right to the Museum of Fine Arts. We spent over 3 hours there and didn’t cover it all. We may be returning tomorrow. So many amazing pieces on display and they have the largest Faberge exhibit outside of Russia.
Mileage update: 3,312 miles
Day 13 Tuesday – We debated last night if we wanted to get up early to go to a highly recommended French bakery or watch the sunrise. We decided on the bakery which worked out well considering morning brought in fog so thick that it didn’t burn off until 2 hours later. In fact, we were 1.5 hours down the road, crossing what we were sure is a beautiful bridge outside of Jacksonville, FL but all we can tell you is that the bridge had long cables and two tall towers that we assume they were connected to but we couldn’t see anywhere near the top of the bridge, below the bridge or either side of the bridge. We decided that the view was whatever we say it was so it was the JAX skyline on one side and the ocean on the other. 😊
Even though we had dense fog for 2 hours, it seemed to be 20 or 30 feet off the ground mostly as we could see the road ahead well. Cars on our side of the road were behaving themselves but there were 2 traffic jams going the other way. We thought we were on a lucky streak, but it ended just outside Wilmington NC when a car crashed about ¼ mile ahead of us and we had to turn off our car and sit for about 30 minutes waiting for them to clear the road.
As we left St. Augustine, I did what I thought I could not do. I drove by a Buc-ee’s without stopping! Amazing, eh? We didn’t need gas and it was only about 30 minutes into our 7 hour drive so I manned up and drove on. Don’t worry, there was another Buc-ee’s 5 hours later! 😊
Getting back to that French bakery. OMG! Best chocolate éclair we’ve ever had.
Overall, the drive went well even if the first 2 hours were grey haze, at least it wasn’t pollution. That said, I-95 can only look so good. However, the last 90 minutes we drove cross country from northern SC into southern NC and that drive was very nice.
Our hotel today is a beach resort on Wrightsville Beach outside Wilmington. It was 77 when we arrived, and everything was gorgeous. Our ocean front room has a great balcony from which I am typing this update right now looking out at all the stars and listening to the waves! Before it was dark, we walked the beach and took our shoes off and walked in the waves. Frigid! Our feet got numb quickly so we were able to enjoy ourselves a bit longer. 
Day 12 Monday – With a high of only 65 and cloudy today we weren’t sure how our tour of St. Augustine might go. But as it turned out, those are prefect conditions to walk around the fort, Castillo de San Marcos National Monument, and the ancient city.
We took about an hour touring the 450-year-old fort which is the oldest masonry fort in the continental US. It was amazing reading the fort’s and St Augustine’s history as it went from Spanish to British and back and forth over the centuries.
After touring the fort, we headed into the city and as we walked the streets and exploring the shops. We realized that if it were any hotter or if the sun was out, it would be a very different stroll as we walked around for nearly 4 hours. Many of the buildings had plaques explaining their historic reference which truly gave an essence of the life lived. Most of the retail establishments were unknown to us, except for one. In the “it’s a small world” category, we both laughed when we saw the Petosky Michigan based Kilwin’s chocolate shop on St. George Street in St. Augustine. We did not laugh that there was a shop because we had already seen one in Key West. What made us laugh was there were two of these stores on this street. St. Augustine is a truly amazing city, and we would highly recommend visiting it.
As luck would have it we had the good fortune to tour the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Augustine. Our 3rd Basilica and it did not disappoint. On the walk back to the car along the river, we saw a cannonball jellyfish "swimming" along the break wall. So cool!
We then drove over to the Lightner Museum and the former Hotel Ponce De Leon. It is a museum of the Gilded age with a wide display of effulgence. The Museum is housed in what was the “sister” hotel to the Ponce De Leon and the history of those two hotels and how they came into existence is fascinating. For example, when the Ponce De Leon opened it was considered the most luxurious hotel in the world!
Day 11 Sunday – I did it, I woke up to watch the sunrise with Chris and then I went back to bed. It was nice though, to have a seaside room and hear the waves throughout the entire night. Prior to going to bed, we got to do some star gazing and watch the kids with flashlights scouring around the beach looking for crabs. We remembered doing that with our boys.
In the morning, we watched pelicans fly and flop catching fish and we meandered towards St. Augustine. We finished our 2nd book and have started the 3rd in the series which takes place in Mesa Verda, a NP we haven’t been to yet, but it is on our list. Along the way we took scenic roads and enjoyed the views. Learned a bit about the history of the area with Spanish forts (Fort Matanzas National Monument) and the untold history of Fort Mose, the first legally sanctioned free black settlement, and how slaves traveled the first underground railroad from British South Carolina to Spanish Florida to get free. The Spaniards gave them an opportunity to work for their freedom and they interned became apart of the community.
We visited Magnolia Lane, considered one of the most beautiful streets in the US, lined with 100-year oak trees draped in Spanish moss and the 150-year-old St. Augustine Lighthouse. The day finished at our motel, across the street from St. Augustine Beach and fishing pier, walking on sand so hard packed it felt like some type of "cushy" cement. Top temp was only 65 today and generally cloudy but Nick made us happy by texting it was 30 and snowing.
Flash back to earlier in the trip: We are on the ferry to Dry Tortugas watching pelicans flying just above the water parallel to our boat when I had a deep thought I shared with Chris: “If I were a pelican flying along the waterline and dipped my beak in the water to catch a fish, I would do a header and flip over into the water. Why don’t they?” Pretty deep eh? Well, on the way back from the island, we are standing on the boat watching a pelican racing along side us when suddenly it reached down for a fish and did a total header!!! Somehow, at that moment, the world seemed to make more sense to both us! 😊
Day 10 Saturday – Today we entered our more “relaxed” phase of our vacation. While the quickest time to Daytona Beach was about 2 hours, you now us, we wander! We first headed up the intercoastal highway to see what we could see. As it turned out, not much, other than the entrances to many nice housing and condo sites. We did add to our unusual road sign list, today we saw turtle and land crab crossing signs. As we moved to I-95 for a short time, we saw an exit for Cocoa Beach and Chris said, take that exit! Why you ask? Simple enough, it was the fictional home of “I dream of Jeanie” TV show. 😊 We drove to “I Dream of Jeanie Lane” and, of course, took a few pictures.
Next, we drove by Port Canaveral. We saw 3 cruise ships moored and later we could see the buildings used to assemble rockets at the Kennedy Space Center on the way to the Manatee Observation Deck which was in a National Wildlife Refuge which is part of the Kennedy complex. As it turns out, the highlight of the manatee viewing was waiting for the draw bridge to go up / down as a sailboat came down the channel. There weren’t any Manatees today. Leaving the area, there was a road that was “restricted” and google maps said it could be closed but Chris and I have a long history of “visiting” off limit bases and such so we plowed forward as it looked like the road would save us 20 to 30 minutes and was right through the refuge. Good news, we were not arrested AND were not told to stop or turn around, so we saved some time and had a pretty (and quiet!) drive.
We parked at the base of the Daytona Beach Pier and then walked the pier and a mile or so down the boardwalk. It was only 68 and very breezy but we toughed it out! We had a nice late lunch/early dinner at Bubba Gump’s and then went to our motel which is on the beach and our room is ocean front w/ balcony so we’re looking forward to hearing the ocean all night and then getting up tomorrow to watch the sunrise.
Day 9 Friday – Today we left the Keys with a longer drive and nothing special planned other than to make it well pass Miami! Yet another gorgeous day and as we left it was partly cloudy in the 70’s and by the afternoon, it was very sunny, low 80’s. Not bad at all. No rush leaving so we made a couple of stops along the Overseas Highway to enjoy the views and we saw turtle head dots. Yes, we got out our binoculars and both agreed there were several turtle heads. Sorry, no pictures, we don’t have that good of camera. We didn’t get a chance to see any of the Key deer, but Chris did see several iguanas sunny themselves along the road. They are heat seeking sunbathers who find the blacktop the place to be. Lucky for them FL has wide shoulders, no iguana roadkill. Our stop for the night is Fort Pierce. When we asked the motel manager for the sites to see in the area, he said the beach.
Finally, you will be glad to know we did try a piece of Key Lime pie before we left the Keys. We went to the place listed as “the best key lime pie in Key West” to get a slice and I was surprised, not too bad, well, for not having any chocolate. 😊
Day 8 Thursday – 37th National Park, Dry Tortugas! It was an early start as we were up at 6:00 am. Key West has figured out that they can charge, as a community, LOTS to park your car. We looked into using Lyft/Uber/etc but they seem to know how much parking costs as their rates were not any help. So, we used the public parking ramp and paid $48 for the day! There are only a couple of ways to get to the park, ferry, private boat, or sea plane. We opted for the ferry. There were 178 passengers and an 8 AM departure time. The dock’s iguana waved us off and some hermit crabs welcomed us ashore. The trip took about 2.5 hours each way (70 miles), which was long, but it was a beautiful, nearly cloudless day and the waves were only 1 to 2 feet (normal is 4 to 6) so the ride went great.
We heard yet another “Florida” statement several times today. The high temp was around 70, light breeze and very sunny. According to our guide as he stated throughout the day, it was nice for a “cold winter day”. All about perspective, eh??
Dry Tortugas NP is 99 square miles with only 1% is on land. The island is home to Fort Jefferson, started in 1824 and is the largest brick masonry structure in the America. Most of the NP protects some rare species, for example, a nearby (all sand) island is home to the largest successfully Green Sea Turtle breeding ground. Also, several rare bird rookeries are near by. We spent about 4 hours on the island exploring Fort Jefferson, the beaches and had lunch. Fort Jefferson is famous for the fact it held the people convicted as co-conspirators in the Lincoln assassination (Dr. Mudd and others). The ferry provided bagels in the morning and Jersey Mikes subs / potato chips / cookies and a drink for lunch. When you are hungry and probably a little dehydrated, that is a VERY GOOD lunch! 😊
The ride home we had about 30 minutes of big waves which were fun but then it calmed down so much most of the riders were dozing off when a F-18 startled everyone as it nearly broke the sound barrier and woke everyone up from the lull of ship. We were told in the morning that the Navy Air Training base is in Key West so F-18 stage dog fights and often have fun with the boats. By the time we heard the jet, it was already gone but Chris was able to spot it leaving and the pilot was having fun doing barrel rolls as he left us. Too funny.
After 4 straight days of early morning events, we decided to just get some food and eat dinner in the motel tonight. The motel is a classic 60’s style (sort Art Deco) with a nice roof patio and at a good location.
Day 7 Wednesday – The drive to the Key West was beautiful however the first long bridge we were on I kept waffling between it being the 7-mile bridge or not. If it was, we weren’t impressed. Thankfully, it was not – the 7-mile bridge the real one was all I had imagined. I told Chris she was free to drive whenever except over the bridge, the first time was all on me! Two strange sightings during the drive, a rental lot full (20+) of what looked like 1960's dune buggies and a classic VW Bus.
We made it to Key West in time allotted and found parking on the street. We ended up staying over 7 hours walking around and exploring. Lots of history in the Keys along with tourist shops galore. We walked until we needed a break. Grabbed lunch at famous Sloppy Joe’s and then jumped on the free bus and took it to the southernmost point and then got a ride back to the main area. As we waited in line to get a picture of the southernmost point, we saw an iguana, it was huge (3+ feet) The wildlife included pigeons, chickens, roosters, seagulls, and pelicans. Beautiful weather, sunny and 68 with a refreshing breeze. One of a must do in Key West is viewing a sunset on the pier. Venders miraculously appear from jugglers, tarot card readers, and street food and then everyone watches together and claps once the sun drops into the ocean.
Two car updates: 1) The washer fluid has finally thawed out as I tested them today and it worked! Hopefully now that my new, antifreeze included, fluid is through out the system, we won’t have any problems when we go back north. 2) As we arrived in Key West, our trip odometer passed 2,000 miles. 😊
Day 6 Tuesday – Today’s Quiz – Parry & Chris left hotel at 6:45 am for a 32-mile drive to downtown Miami, what time did they arrive? Guess higher! We arrived at 9:02, it took as long as it takes for us to drive to our cabin!!! Worse news, that is considered a normal amount of time in Miami! Google showed 1.5 to 2.5 hours. The good news is the 32 miles home only took 1 hour 40 minutes.
We did the Hop On / Hop Off double decker bus tour, all day. We road on the top (with no roof) which gave us incredible views of the skyline and everything else. The bus takes a route to many sites and the riders can get on / off whenever they want. We got off at the 2nd stop, South Beach. We walked on the beach and got our feet wet in the ocean, walked the famous park/beach and much of Ocean drive (famous Art Deco Road across from the park/beach). I love Art Deco! It was 72 without a cloud in the sky, gorgeous. By the end of the day, it reached 77 and still had no clouds.
From South Beach the bus took us through many other sites like Soundscape Park, more Art Deco buildings and then to Wynwood Walls. An incredible area where most buildings have had ‘tagging’ type art painted on all their sides and now they have a permanent exhibit space called Wynwood Walls. The style and skill of the paintings were amazing. Most were done with spray cans but by no means all of it.
We finished off our stops at Little Havana. It was everything we hoped it would be. We had lunch at a little Cuban restaurant where I had my first Cubano sandwich and Chris had a Cuban wrap and a Mojito. Everything was delicious.
Day 5 Monday -Everglades!!! Wow, Wow, Wow. While we saw many of the same animals and birds as yesterday, today we were on a National Park Service Tram about 15 miles round trip into the Everglades and we learned so much about the park and ecosystem. Sitting in the tram we saw so many alligators – most within 15 feet as they were sunning themselves next to tram path - don’t worry, while Chris is very brave and I try to keep up with her, neither one of us is stupid! We were sitting in the tram above the gators and while they were quite close, we were very safe. We were on the first tram of the day and the sun was shining so it was a perfect day for alligators. We didn’t count but there must have been over 50. We also so a very large crocodile (only place in the world where both coexist). Gators Below
Crocodile below...
After leaving Shark Valley (north entrance to the park) we drove around to the east entrance and down to the south entrance. At the east entrance we saw a COYOTE and a Roseate Spoonbill! No, the coyote was not hunting the roseate and, unfortunately both were too fast to get photos.
The park is made up of NINE (9) distinct ecosystems (no other place in the world like it) and by driving around as we did, we experienced 6 of them. The ONLY bad part was when we were in the southern part of the park and were at the shore of the Atlantic/Gulf. We started to walk to the beach when, about ½ there, we saw a woman coming back who was obviously a serious hiker with all the right clothing (long sleeve light shirt, light gloves, etc.), and she was “swatting” at the air like crazy. We looked at each other and with Chris’ ability to find any mosquito withing 100 yards of her, we quickly turned around and headed back to the car. We were too late! SWARMED! We now understand why there are some paths in the park that are closed to hiking during certain seasons because the mosquitoes are THAT BAD! Horrifying! The good news is that we didn’t see any during the entire time around the Tram or even at the eastern entrance.
We left the Everglades and headed to Biscayne Bay National Park. Along the way, our Tram guide told us of a local fruit market that made incredible fruit milk shakes. She was right. Chris had a Sapodilla, Coconut and Banana and I had a Banana / Chocolate (Yes, I think chocolate is a fruit!!)
From the Visitor Center on the Bay, we had a great view including the skyline of Miami / South Beach. We are heading to Miami tomorrow.
Oh yeah, yesterday was 74 and mostly sunny and today was 78 and even more sunny.
Day 4 Sunday - Today we drove to Naples, FL and since we did the extra driving yesterday, todays drive was only 4 ½ hours so we had time to add to our itinerary. The first stop was at a Manatee viewing center at a power station on Tampa Bay. Manatees like the warm water from the station. This is the right season to see them, but we weren’t sure how likely it would be. Turns out, with the recent cold spell, there were hundreds of Manatees! But better than just that, we saw 1 baby Manatee, sting rays jump completely out of the bay 3 different times and a 6-foot Tarpon.
Also, at the manatee viewing, we heard the most “Florida thing” so far on the trip. When a sting ray jumped completely out of the water only about 50 feet away from the viewing platform, a little boy about 5-year-old said to his dad, “Did you see that? He jumped just like a Monster Truck!” 😊4
Given how well the first stop went and we still had a little extra time we decided to go 40 miles beyond our hotel and enter the Big Cyprus National Preserve. They have 2 scenic drives, and we were planning on doing one tomorrow (probably still will) but we decided to do the other scenic drive today, before going to the hotel. GREAT DECISION! We drove a 20-mile dirt road and saw nearly every type of swamp bird there is: Great Egrets, Snowy Egret, Tricolor Heron, Great Blue Heron, little Blue Heron, White Ibis, Wood Stork, Cormorant, and even one great Heron with a very large “thing” in his beak but he flew away with it before we could get a picture. What else? A red belly turtle and alligators!! We saw lots of Alligators (safely from our car in the channels that run parallel to the dirt road). The biggest surprise of the day came on that extra drive where we saw many Caution Panther Crossing signs. Turns out there are likely 100+ panthers that live in and around the preserve.
Tomorrow, we enter the Everglades National Park and are excited to discover all that we can!
Day 3 Saturday - The sun seems to appear more often each day, and the warmth is heavenly. Today it was in the mid 50’s, not warm enough for shorts but it’s been great for short sleeves, at least for me. We started the day at Jimmy Carter’s Presidential Library. We’ve come to enjoy visiting these libraries and learning more about the man, his presidency, and for Carter his and Rosalynn's inspirational life afterwards.
Completing the library, we were ahead of schedule AND the expressway was not busy at all, so we moved our destination 3 hours. Tomorrow was going to be one of our longer drive days but not now as we landed in Lake City, FL.
We have already finished our first audio book and Chris found a great series. The author is Nevada Barr who wrote a series crime/mystery that all occur in National Parks (main character is a Park Ranger). Our first book was set in Guadalupe National Park (we visited last spring) and now the 2nd book we just started is at Isle Royal!
Day 2 Friday - While we woke up to about the same temperature as yesterday, the difference was ZERO snow on the roads, “ice falls”, and after a couple hours…. Sun and a high of 50!!! Nice uneventful drive to Marietta GA with 3 stops:
Buc-ee’s (of course), Little Debbie Park (YES, it is a park dedicated to Little Debbie Snacks!), and The Big Chicken! See pictures below.
After we arrived at our hotel, we found out that the #1 rated “diner” in GA (and #3 in the USA), as seen on the Food Channel, was just around the corner. Cool place with good food.
Day 1 Thursday - So, we left this morning, and it was 20 degrees – which was much better than yesterday when it was -1F, In a few days we are hoping for the mid to upper 70’s. Fingers crossed. We are taking our time driving the 1,500 miles to Key West as winter storms need to be considered. When we left home this morning there was a Winter Storm advisory between our house and Lake Michigan, so we changed our plan and drove east first to get away from the lake affect snow. In dry conditions we would expect today’s drive to be about 7.5 hours. We are happy to report that it only took us 8.5 today.
Today and tomorrow are just basically driving days, not many pictures are expected and probably not much to share. BUT, as it turns out, the “fun” started last night at the car rental pickup. We rented a mid-size SUV and were given a Toyota 4Runner Off Road special edition. OH MAN was it big! I had to use the running board just to get up into it. As I was driving it out of the lot, I just knew it wasn’t the right choice, so I went back to the counter and asked for something smaller. They said they had one left, so I walked back to the lot and checked it out. When I returned to the counter, they said they just got another one in, so I walked back and checked it out. I decided on the Honda CRV because Honda’s have such a great reputation. So today, as we are driving out of Michigan in slush and snow, we found out that the windshield washer is not working!! No problem, we stopped and bought fluid, filled up the reservoir and then found out that the lines were frozen!!! GEEZ! It didn’t end up being too annoying as we drove out of the snow after about 4 hours.
The funniest thing that happened today is we had to create a “turn off the car” check list. With the Tesla, there isn’t a “car key” and when you stop the car and open the door, the Tesla automatically puts the car in park, turns the car off, turns off the lights and locks the doors. At the first stop (to get windshield washer fluid), I forgot to take the key, to turn it off AND put it in park!!! (Chris was in car so not a big deal), but, clearly, we need a list until we get used to driving the car the “old way”.
Yes, we rented a car! Primarily to save miles on the Tesla but also to see what we might like to do for our anniversary trip in September.