Mango Lucky (3 page)

"I'm worried you might be getting too attached to me. We both just got out of shaky relationships, and I'm not rushing back into another one with you or anyone else.

"I just want to be friends. That's all. And I want the freedom to do things without you. I hope you can understand."

I nodded, not knowing how to reply.

In my mind, I had built us up as a couple with a romantic future. And I'd done that rather quickly, taking it for granted that Sarah felt the same way.

But she was right.

Since arriving in Florida, I'd spent almost all my waking hours with her. She'd been the only person I knew when I arrived here, and I relied on her to be my guide to Florida life.

Instead of reaching out and making new friends, I had followed Sarah around like a little puppy. And now that she'd mentioned it, I realized how I might be smothering her.

So she was right. It would probably be good if we spent some time apart.

"Okay. You're right. I kind of bulldozed my way into your life. I shouldn't have done that.

"Is it time for me to find another place to park my motorhome? You want me to move out of your life?"

"No," she said. "Not yet. Maybe sometime. But not yet."

She continued, "I don't want you to be mad at me. It's just that I need more space. More time to think about what I'm doing, where I'm going."

I nodded, then said, "Okay. Starting tomorrow I'm going to give you more space.

"And for starters, I'm going to get a metal detector and reserve a camping spot on the Treasure Coast.

"But when I find pirate treasure, I'm not going to share it with you."

Sarah laughed, "Deal. If you find pirate treasure, you can keep it. But if you find a diamond ring like the one Ralph found today, I want it. That'll be my reward for getting you involved in your new hobby."

7

That night, back in the motorhome, I got on the internet and ordered the metal detector and sand scoop Ralph had recommended. I paid extra to have them shipped next-day-air so I'd get them before the weekend.

Then I visited the ReserveAmerica web site and booked a camping spot at Sebastian Inlet State Park for seven days, starting next Monday.

According to the web, Sebastian Inlet State Park wasn't near any grocery stores or restaurants, so it was recommended you bring all the food you needed or be prepared to drive fifty miles round trip to stock up.

The park was located across the road from the 1715 Spanish Fleet survivor's camp, and there were more than seventy miles of Treasure Coast beaches nearby to explore.

After confirming my campsite reservation, I searched Google for 'Treasure Coast' and found a map pin-pointing each of the known treasure ship wreck sites. Several were close to where I would be camping.

For future reference, I printed out one of the maps and bookmarked the web site. Later on, I planned to enter the names and coordinates of the most promising of these treasure beaches into my GPS.

The more research I did, the more it looked like the entire Treasure Coast was littered with wrecks that had spilled gold, silver, and precious cargo along the beaches.

Surely, with all that treasure buried just a few inches under the sand, I'd have no problem finding something valuable.

Especially if I was as lucky as Sarah thought I was.

8

The next morning, I shared my plans with Sarah. I'd bought a metal detector and would be leaving on Monday for a week long treasure hunting trip.

"So," she asked, "you're headed for Vero Beach on Monday are you? Did you check the weather forecast?"

I hadn't.

She smiled, "According to NOAA, there is a pretty good chance of a storm hitting the Treasure Coast on Tuesday. They're predicting forty to fifty mile per hour winds. And a lot of rain.

"Are you sure you still want to go? Being camped near the beach during a tropical storm might not be a good idea."

I shook my head. "Don't worry about me. I've been through some pretty strong storms and I came out okay.

"And actually, the storm is good news. Ralph said the best time to find treasure on the beaches was right after a tropical storm.

"So maybe it's me being lucky again. Going to the Treasure Coast just when a storm is supposed to hit."

Sarah touched my shoulder, "Walker, promise me you'll be careful. If it starts looking bad, get somewhere safe and forget about treasure hunting."

She was serious.

"Don't worry," I said. "'I'll keep a close eye on weather conditions. If things get bad, I'll find a safe place to ride out the storm."

After that brief discussion, Sarah and I went our separate ways for the rest of the day. She had business in town, and I needed to take the motorhome to get it fueled up and ready for the trip.

When I talk about my motorhome, most people envision one of those bus sized vehicles owned by the rich and famous. And while I'd like to have one of those, mine isn't quite up to that standard.

Mine is smaller. More along the lines of a UPS truck.

It's officially a Class C motorhome. This means the 'home' part is bolted onto a cut-away truck chassis. You've probably seen a lot of these going down the road.

Bigger than a van, smaller than a bus.

Inside, it's like a small house. It's got a real kitchen with a microwave oven, propane cook top, and a residential two door refrigerator/freezer. In the back there's a bathroom with toilet, and a shower I can stand up in without bumping my head.

Next to the bath, there's a private bedroom with a TV above the bed, a closet for my clothes and a hidden compartment under the bed to store important things.

Up front, it's got leather seats, a recliner, and a decent size flat screen TV. There's also a dinette table with room for six people. And should I have an overnight guest, the dinette folds out into a queen size bed.

So yes, it's pretty nice. And to me, it's home. Or at least has been for the past three months.

It was originally owned by the company I worked for. They bought it so company executives could use it for business travel.

At least that's the excuse the plant manager gave the corporate bean counters when he submitted the purchase order for the motorhome.

In reality, company executives who needed to travel for legitimate business reasons didn't want to drive a motorhome. They wanted to fly on the corporate jet.

So the motorhome mostly sat unused in the parking lot, except when the plant manager needed to get away for a secret rendezvous with his out of town lover. Without his wife finding out about it.

And that's how the motorhome came to be known as the 'Love Bus'.

When the company closed the plant, they discovered the Love Bus still on their books and still in the back parking lot.

They needed to get rid of it quickly, so they offered to sell it to me way below cost. And had I not been living in a tent at the time, I probably wouldn't have been interested.

But the price was right, and with me living in a tent, buying the Love Bus seemed like a good idea. It gave me a real roof over my head, and a way to travel without worrying about finding a place to sleep.

The only real problem with the Love Bus is it hasn't lived up to it's nickname. There's been no loving on the bus. At least for me.

Hopefully, that would change. Maybe after my treasure hunting adventure.

9

After Sarah left that morning, I decided it was a good time to take the Love Bus to the local Walmart Super Center. There I could fill it with gas and stock it up with food for my Treasure Coast trip.

At Walmart, I bought more than a week's worth of frozen foods, bottled water, snacks, and other necessities. Just because I was camping, there was no reason to go hungry. Might as well have plenty of food on board.

Leaving Walmart, I drove back to the boatyard and put away all the supplies I had purchased. Soon after, a UPS truck pulled up and the driver jumped out carrying three packages.

All were for me. One was the metal detector. The second was the sand scoop. And the third was the 'Metal Detecting Florida Beaches,' DVD I'd ordered from Amazon.

Like a kid on Christmas morning, I quickly unboxed and assembled the metal detector. It took only about ten minutes, and the hardest part was installing the eight AA batteries that powered it.

With the detector ready to go, I went outside, turned it on and started swinging it over the dirt surface of the boatyard.

Almost immediately, I started finding things. Bits of wire, washers, nuts, and my best find of the day, a broken pocket knife.

Even though this wasn't treasure, it did mean the detector was working properly. And that meant I was ready to find gold on the Treasure Coast.

Just before dark, Sarah got back from town. After unloading a few things into her apartment, she came over to see me in the Love Bus.

"Walker, you hungry?"

"Sure am," I replied. "What do you want to do for dinner?"

She suggested we walk over to the nearby Mango Bistro on Dearborn street.

I agreed. And after locking things up, we walked to dinner.

There wasn't much of a crowd when we got there, and we were seated right away.

I ordered the glazed salmon, and Sarah had the garlic shrimp. Our meal came promptly, and as always the case at the Mango Bistro, both the meal and service were excellent.

During dinner, we discussed my planned trip and the potential weather problems. No mention was made of Sarah needing time alone, nor whether I'd have to find another place to live when I got back.

After our meal, we walked back to her apartment, said good night, and went our separate ways.

10

The next morning, Saturday, I woke up early, thinking about my trip to the Treasure Coast. My big concern was the weather. If it turned bad, I might not be able to get there.

So the first thing I did after getting out of bed was to power up my computer and check the forecast.

It didn't look good.

A massive cold front was pushing down the east coast and was predicted to collide with a warm front pushing up from Cuba.

When the two fronts met, they would produce very high winds, dangerous lightning, torrential rains, and flooding in low lying areas.

The forecast put the worst part of the storm right over the Treasure Coast beaches, centered on top of the Sebastian Inlet State Park, where I would be camping.

So much for being lucky.

While the pending storm really didn't worry me, the high winds would make my drive across the state in the Love Bus pretty risky.

One of the down sides of owning a motorhome is they just don't handle well in high winds. The high profile and slab sides create a lot of area for the wind to push around. Strong, gusting winds, can make it hard to keep them on the road.

Especially if the roads are flooded.

The possibility of high winds meant if I waited until Monday to drive across the state, my trip might be a wash out.

A better option would be to leave before the winds picked up. This would give me time to get across the state, set up camp in good weather, and then ride out the storm at the park.

If I did that, I could hit the beach with my metal detector immediately after the storm passed. And according to the experts, that was the best time to find treasure.

In looking at the five day weather forecast, today and tomorrow were the best days for driving.

Since the motorhome was already stocked up and ready to go, there was no reason to wait until Monday to leave. In fact, there was no reason to wait until Sunday.

I could leave today, maybe in an hour or so, and be at the campground late this afternoon.

It was the logical thing to do. Leave today. Avoid the possibility of high winds while driving across the state.

With the decision made, I called the campground office and updated my reservation. They said, 'no problem, plenty of vacancies'.

After confirming my reservation, there were only four things I needed to do before I could hit the road.

1. Close the slide room

2. Lower the TV antenna

3. Unhook from shore power

4. Tell Sarah.

These things would only take a few minutes to accomplish. I was outside disconnecting from shore power when Sarah walked up.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Getting ready for my trip," I replied.

"I thought you weren't leaving until Monday."