Going Home

All good things must come to an end, and my week in Sanibel is no exception. Everything brought up had to be removed from room 156 and packed into one of the vehicles. I will not see the room again for 358 days. That works out to 21,480 hours. Seems like a long time, but the time will pass and I will be back.

I had to leave today for two reasons. First off, checkout time is 10 AM Friday, so it is not like you can do anything on the resort that day. I usually leave Thursday, in the evening, to avoid having to wake up before noon the next day. Second, the airport called me for another interview for a job. I have to be at the county office on the 4th floor of concourse E at 10:00 AM Friday.

Even still, it always sucks to have to leave this last look behind.

If you look closely at the above photo, you will notice something. See that fine haze in the background? REALLY far in the background? You know what that is? Florida people will spot it in a second!

Just a couple of miles on the road and I was in this. I got this photo while still driving, and while still on the island. I had not even hit the main road on Sanibel yet. I drive in rain all the time, but not always while pulling a ton of boat behind me. The good part is that the vehicle is less likely to overheat, the AC work great, and the boat and trailer got a good washdown. The bad thing is poor visibility and the increased likelyhood of hydroplaining. If you hit the brakes too hard while pulling something, you can send the vehicle into a skid and jack-knife the trailer, causing the object on the trailer to get thrown off and/or the tow vehicle to roll. And you can see how well I could see! The wipers were on high.

The trip home was ok. The rain let up, I only hit patches of rain here and there. When I hit Dade County, I was greeted by an impressive electrical storm. Lightning was striking all around my truck. It was cool. I even saw a tree get hit. It was smoking like Cheech and Chong after getting an ounce each. I got this photo before I hit the heart of the thunderstorm. Driving in heavy traffic while lightning is striking all around you is not exactly a good time to be messing with a camera.

The rain storm took aobut 30 minutes or so to drive through. The distance was only 20 or so miles, but traffic speed was reduced to a crawl. Here is what the traffic looks like on a normal day when there is not any rain. Notice the brake lights. This is on a highway where there are no traffic lights.

It is good to be back home. With the traffic and the other drivers who pretend to not see your turn signals, making changing lanes while towing a boat a whole lot of fun.

Only 358 more days to go.