Fun in the Rain

Eventful day. That’s not always true. And that’s probably a good thing. So here we are in South Florida. We stayed in Homestead, Florida for two weeks. It was lovely. Great weather. And oh, the Mango Milkshakes with key lime or passion fruit! Toured Key West and Everglades National Park. And I worked.

Last night I made Jim pancakes for Valentine's Day dinner. Batter was ready. I tried to light the stove. Nothing happened. Out of propane. We’d packed up the barbecue, getting ready to pull out. It was dark. Jim got the BBQ out and I cooked pancakes and eggs on the griddle, on the portable barbecue - in the rain.

Fast forward to this morning. Ready to go. Hooked up the Jeep to the back of the motor home. Drove to a U-Haul Store that carries propane. No luck. Our propane tank is permanently attached, so they couldn’t fill it. Reconnect Jeep. Drive to next U-haul Store. Disconnect Jeep to back into lot. Got propane, then reconnected Jeep. Now it’s POURING rain as we take the toll road around Miami. A lady passes us and waves and points. Something is wrong. Oops. A door is open on a cubby under the motor home. Pulled off toll road and found a side road to stop and shut the cubby door. Then Jim made a U-turn and we pulled up to a stoplight. All of a sudden, we are stuck behind a dead Penske truck and we’re blocked. And we can’t pull around him. No room. Jim tries to turn on our flashers. The handle comes off in his hand.

Ever try to back up with a tow vehicle behind you? You can’t steer it. And there was a car right behind us and a big semi trying to get behind and around us all. I jumped out of the motor home, in the rain, ran back and waved the car around us. The truck started coming at me. I stuck out my hand and motioned for him to stop, then I start waving for Jim to back up, while I’m holding my hand up for the truck to stop. He’s gesturing at me, but he stopped when he saw this motor home with a Jeep coming back at him. Then I run up and jump into the motor home and away we go. It’s funny now. I’m thinking that trucker was calculating how many points I was worth and decided against running me down. He’s looking at this lady, probably old enough to be his mother, standing in the middle of the road, waving her hands around like a crazy woman. I wish I had a picture. But unfortunately, I broke Jim's camera, and it happened too fast to get out my iPhone. I think he would have run me down if I'd done that.

Things got better after that. The park we’re in is lovely. http://sunnshade.com/photos-of-the-park/ The sun came out and we took a walk before I fixed spaghetti with meat sauce and salad for dinner.

Finished one deadline for my next book – Coast to Coast, for Guideposts series, Miracles of Marble Cove. Revisions are in. Yay! Now I’m working on the expanded outline for my next book, All Sewn Up, from a brand new Guideposts cozy mystery series, Secrets of Blue Hill Library. And I’m making great progress.

Now it’s time to get back to work.