Once the boat journey was over, I called Hertz and they sent a man over to pick me up at the Ft. Pierce marina. The man had been a underbelly gunner on a B-17 in WW2. He told me the story of his life while we drove back to the Hertz rental car office. I thanked him for defending our country.
I took the Ford Taurus on a two hour drive south to Fort Lauderdale, the boating capital of the planet. I arrived after dark in quite a storm with winds coming from the ocean. I went to Skyline Chili for dinner, and then to a Holiday Inn Express for the night. I took a bath and a shower.
The next morning I took another shower and then went to a variety of neat boating related stores, including this navigation store, Bluewater Books & Charts. I also found at a nearby store a pair of Sperry Topsiders in navy blue, something I have been looking for for about 5 years!
I took a drive to the Hall of Fame Marina where we had kept our boat back in Feburary 2001. Things had changed: the parrots in the trees were gone, and the Coconuts restaurant had closed.
The A1A main drive was bopping as usual.
The beach had quite a few people for such a windy day, still with a strong east wind.
This is a coconut that has fallen onto the sandy beach. How tropical!
I went to the Borders bookstore and asked around and found someone who could
recommend a good Cuban sandwich
store, and they finally found someone in the know who sent me to the
Tropical Cafe
where I got a great authentic Cuban sandwich...
Roast pork, ham, swiss cheese, pickles, and mustard, all pressed together. Yummy!
I took this photo, ate my sandwich, returned my rental car at the Fort Lauderdale airport,
flew to Chicago, changed planes, and flew home to Seattle, arriving at midnight.
The trip
was over. I hope you enjoyed it!
Last updated: 2003.11.21.
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