Mango Lucky (4 page)

"That was the original plan. But I've decided to leave today."

"You trying to get out before the storm?"

"Yep. I figured I'd leave today while the weather was still nice. Get there before the storm."

Sarah nodded, "That's probably a good idea.

"So how soon you leaving?"

"Pretty soon. Within the hour".

"That fast? You know there's no reason for you to rush off. It won't hurt if you stay here until tomorrow."

I shook my head, "No, there's no reason not to go today.

Then I said, "Of course, you're welcome to join me if you like."

Sarah frowned, "I can't leave. I've got things I've got to take care of next week.

"But you could do me a big favor. You could take Mango Bob with you."

11

"You want me to take Mango Bob? Why would you want me to do that?"

Sarah hesitated, then said, "After you told me you'd be gone next week, I made plans. And Bob might get in the way of those plans.

"So I was hoping maybe you could take him with you."

Mango Bob was Sarah's cat. He and I had spent four days and twelve hundred miles together traveling in the Love Bus on our way to Florida from Sarah's sister's home up north.

As far as cats go, Mango Bob wasn't bad. A 16-pound orange tabby with a two-inch long tail, he was a good listener, knew where his litter box was, and was very good about using it.

He had been no problem on the previous trip and I didn't expect problems from him on this one.

"Sure, I'll be happy to take Bob. But I'm leaving within the hour, so you'll need to get his gear over here pronto so I can get on the road."

Sarah smiled, "Thank you, thank you, thank you. I really appreciate this."

She gave me a hug, then went back to her apartment to get Bob's things.

A few moments later she returned with his litter box and food. I took both inside to the bathroom where Bob expected to find them, placing the litter box in the shower stall, and his food and water bowls in front of the sink.

Outside, I could hear Sarah walking up with Bob cradled in her arms. He didn't seem too happy to have been woken from his morning nap.

Sarah brought Bob up into the Love Bus, and I quickly closed the door behind her. Bob's not normally a runner, but I didn't want to take any chances this close to leaving.

As soon as she set him on the floor, Bob headed to his favorite spot in the Love Bus. My bed.

With Bob settled in, Sarah said her goodbyes and headed out the door.

I did a quick walk around to make sure everything inside was securely stowed. Then I started the motorhome and left the boatyard and Sarah behind.

It was good to be back on the road again.

12

We saw our first alligator thirty minutes into the trip. By 'we', I mean Bob and me.

At first, Bob stayed in the back as I navigated the very busy I-75, but shortly after exiting onto county road 72, Bob strolled up front and hopped up onto the passenger seat. He's tall enough he can see out the side window while sitting up.

Soon after, I spotted the first gator. A six footer that from a distance looked like a rubber retread thrown off a truck tire.

As we got closer, I could see that this retread had four stubby legs, a long tail and lots of teeth. Sunning itself on the side of the road, it was not the least bit bothered by our passing.

I pointed it out to Bob.

"Bob, there's a gator."

He didn't seem to care.

Over the next thirty miles we saw more gators. Mostly smaller ones in the water filled ditches along the road. Also a few larger ones in the creek beds and under the bridges.

I pointed each of these out to Bob.

"Bob, see that gator down there?"

"Bob, there's another one. See it over there?"

"Bob, look at that one, it must be at least ten feet long!"

By this time, Bob was curled up on the seat, purring softly as the sun warmed his body. Occasionally, he would blink a few times at me, but mostly, he just purred.

Nevertheless, I continued to alert Bob of gator sightings.

"Bob, there's a big one down there."

"Look Bob, another one."

After a while I gave up pointing out the gators to Bob. He just didn't care.

Finally, I said, "Bob, I sure wouldn't want to hitch hike along this road, especially at night."

This time Bob answered. "Muuurrff."

I'm not sure whether he was agreeing with me, or asking me to keep quiet so he could sleep.

Fortunately for him, we soon left the alligator area around the Myakka river, and followed county road 72 into Arcadia. From there we got onto county road 70, which took us by the two large state prisons in Desoto County.

No alligators on this part of the trip, but every few miles we'd see a large black animal carcass on the side of the road - a wild hogs that had encountered a car or one of the large trucks carrying oranges from the numerous groves we passed.

Three hours into the trip, we drove through the small town of Lake Placid and continued on around the northern tip of Lake Okeechobee. This part of the state was mostly rural, cattle ranches and grass farms, separated by tropical forests.

It was a pleasant drive. Not much traffic, and a lot of interesting scenery.

Four hours into the trip, we reached Fort Pierce on the east coast of Florida, the first major city we'd encountered since leaving Sarasota on the west coast.

At Fort Pierce, we crossed under I-95 and followed Kings Highway north to US 1, until we reached the small city of Vero Beach. In Vero, we got onto US 60, which would take us to Hutchinson Island - the long barrier island that is the Treasure Coast.

According to my GPS, we were about two miles from the Merrill Barber bridge that would take us off the mainland and onto Hutchinson Island, when we saw a large flashing road sign warning of possible bridge closings due to high winds.

I mentioned this to Bob, who was still sleeping in the passenger seat. "Bob, they say the bridge might close when the storm hits.

"If that happens, we could get stuck on the island with no way off for a few days. Think I should stop and get you some extra food?"

Bob said, "Muuurrph!"

Apparently, he thought stopping was a good idea.

Even though I had plenty of food in the Love Bus, stopping one more time before we left the mainland would give me a chance to stretch my legs, while picking up a few 'just in case' supplies.

As luck would have it, on my right at the next stop light there was a shopping center with a large Publix grocery store, so I pulled in and parked.

"Bob, you're in charge until I get back. Make sure no one gets in."

He yawned, showing all his teeth, and replied, "Murrrph." He had everything under control.

The weather in Florida this time of the year was cool with almost no humidity. And even with the windows closed, the inside of the motorhome would stay well within Bob's comfort zone.

Inside Publix, I picked up a bag of roasted chicken kitty food, Bob's favorite. And for me, I got a few more frozen dinners, another dozen eggs, some bacon, another quart of orange juice, and another case of bottled water.

I didn't need any of this, but there was no reason not to stock up. I had plenty of room and knew from experience that having too much food was always better than running out.

After returning to the Love Bus and securely stowing the extra supplies, we got back onto US 1, and crossed over the bridge onto Hutchinson Island.

Being a barrier island, with the vast Atlantic Ocean to the east and the Indian river to the west, island residents were very aware of the potential damage from even minor storms.

Strong winds could knock out power, tropical rains could quickly produce flooding, and high waves could inundate the streets.

Coming off the bridge, it was clear the locals were taking the coming storm seriously. Retailers were stacking sandbags in front of their stores, others were bolting hurricane panels over plate glass windows.

City maintenance crews were clearing culverts and removing vegetation from storm drains. Dump trucks and backhoes were parked at strategic locations, ready to be used to clean debris after the storm.

It was interesting to see these precautions being taken, even if it seemed like a bit of over-kill.

Sure, a storm was in the forecast, but it wasn't like it was going to be hurricane. Just a day of rain, wind, maybe some thunder and lightning.

Of course, I'd never been on this coast during a winter storm. So maybe the locals knew more than I did about what to expect and how to prepare.

As it turned out, they did.

13

After arriving on Hutchinson Island, I followed the A1A highway toward Sebastian Inlet State Park.

Traffic going north toward the park was light. But south bound traffic coming away from the park heading toward the bridge and off the island was heavy. A steady stream of motorhomes, camping trailers, and trucks pulling boats.

After twenty minutes on A1A, I reached the park, and pulled up to the ranger check-in station. A sign on the window read, "Due to the potential for inclement weather, park services may be curtailed."

Walking inside, a ranger greeted me, "Welcome to to the park. Checking in, or checking out?"

"Checking in. Got reservations for tonight through next Saturday. Name is Walker."

The ranger typed on his computer, "Here you are. You've got a mangrove site in the back. But today is your lucky day.

"There's been a number of cancellations and if you want, we can put you on a river-front site for the entire week."

I nodded, "Sounds good. But is there any risk to being so close to the river? With the storm coming?"

The ranger shook his head, "Not really. If we get a lot of rain, the river will rise a bit. But your campsite is at least eight feet above it.

"And we always keep and eye on things, so if an evacuation becomes necessary we'll let you know."

"Evacuation? You think it'll get that bad?"

"You never know. The weather forecast says lots of wind, heavy rain. Higher than normal tides. Probably some beach erosion. Definitely bad weather for boating."

I nodded, "How about metal detecting? I want to find treasure on the beach."

The ranger laughed. "Yeah, we'd all like to find treasure on the beach.

"Seriously though, you don't want to be on the beach when the storm moves through. But the day after, that's when your chances of finding treasure go up.

"The rules say you can detect from the low water mark to the heel of the dunes. Just don't disturb the sea oats or any vegetation."

After the ranger handed me a camper's check-in package along with a bright yellow card to hang on my rear view mirror, he said, "If the wind really gets going, we might lose power here in the campground.

"It probably won't come to that, but if you see a big storm, you might want to unplug from shore power to avoid electrical spikes."

I thanked him and headed back to the Love Bus.

It was time to set up camp.

14

Driving through the campground, it was easy to see why the rangers had been able to move me to a prime camping spot.

Not many campsites were occupied, and the few that were had people packing up and getting ready to leave.

I shook my head, thinking, "All these people who are leaving are going to miss out on easy pickings on the treasure beaches after the storm."

Finding my assigned camp site, I backed the Love Bus in, and went through the steps of setting up camp.

After extending the slide room, I went outside and connected to shore power and campground water. This would give me all the comforts of home. Free electricity and plenty of water pressure.

Back inside, I opened the coach windows and made sure all the screens were in position. The screens would keep Bob in and the bugs out.

As expected, as soon as the windows were opened, Bob found his favorite perch on top of the couch. From there he could lay against the window screen and feel like he was outdoors.

Our campsite was surrounded by small trees, and the birds that fluttered in and out of the branches captured Bob's attention right away.

He looked up at me, purred a bit, then said, "Murrrph." He was a happy camper.

Since it was late in the afternoon, with only another hour of daylight left, I decided that instead of hitting the beach with my metal detector, I'd just take a walk around the park and get familiar with the layout.