Our Adventures

Traveling wherever we want any time we want.

Van Purchase Day!

Monday, July 6, 2020 

After a two hour wait in the Wells Fargo drive through to get a cashier's check for the down payment, and lots and lots and lots of traffic (who knew Orlando had so much traffic?!), we made our way to Rush Truck Center to meet David, our salesperson (he's in our small photo gallery, above).

​Surprisingly, my pre-purchase jitters were gone and I was all business.  I had sent them everything in advance, so the paperwork was ready to go when we go there. I asked a few questions, signed papers, and then we were on our way. 

We returned the car to the rental company.  David came to pick us up and bring us back to our van. (Thanks, David!!)

Backing up for the first time was intimidating. Even though we have a back up camera, I'm not used to using one, nor am I used to looking over my right shoulder to find a metal wall instead of a window with a view of what I might hit.  

It was a struggle (I ended up with a small, unimpressed audience), but we eventually made it out of the dealership without any damage.   We drove straight to Clearwater Beach and parked in the public parking lot.  Within minutes, the parking lot patrol told us the beach was closing in 10 minutes and we couldn't park there.

Disappointed, we drove away. It didn't take long before we were lost.  I hadn't had a chance to find a new beach name or address to put in my GPS, so we just drove.  We ended up at St. Petersburg.  We grabbed a room at a local hotel. 

The woman at the front desk was super nice and printed out some maps for us to help us find a beach and to help us on our journey toward Oklahoma.   We went outside to look at the large fountain then went up to get settled in to our room.

Then.... at 12:45 am, after a long, emotionally draining day, Kate discovered a giant cockroach!!! In our room!!!  Eeeek!!!

We called the front desk.  A nice man came, captured it, and took it away.  It took a bit of time to shake off the heebie jeebies and fall asleep.

At check out in the morning, we told the staff how creepy of an experience it was.  They said with a shrug, "It's Florida.  That's normal."  

Ummmmm... no.  Bugs should not be the size of birds.

Now, where's the beach? 

Next: Did we ever make it to the beach?
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Kate & Mel