(Sorry for the delay in these entries. I had some issues with my blog provider and it took some time to get it resolved.)
August 23, 2023 We got up and did some more packing and cleaning. We hooked up the Jeep and were on the road by 9:30 for our 109-mile, 2-hour drive home. It was sunny–84 degrees and very muggy. I guess we need to get used to it! It was an easy drive back on I-95 south. The drive was familiar and uneventful. North of Tampa, traffic really picked up. We saw a sign on the back of a trailer being towed and got a laugh out of it. It said, “We go where we are towed to go”. We arrived in Palmetto at 11:30 and drove down our street to Tropic Isles. We parked in our Auditorium parking lot where we would unhook the Jeep and unload the bus.
We had pre-packed a lot of stuff into the few bags we had with us and put them into the Jeep before leaving this morning, so we only had our clothes, refrigerator/freezer foods, and bedding to take off. We took the Jeep home first to unload what was inside. Auggie was in that first trip and he was so anxious to get outside to check out his backyard for geckos. The first thing he did was run over to the palm tree where his gecko friends like to hang out. It wasn’t long before he got hot and was ready to come in for a drink and a rest. Before we could make a second trip with the Jeep, it started to rain again, so we hung out in the bus and waited for the rain to end. We can’t complain about the rain because we need it badly! After the rain ended, we made the second trip back to the house. It started to rain again, so we waited. It gave us a chance to catch our breath. In between running back and forth to the bus, I started to do the wash of all the articles that would return to the bus, so we could reload them tomorrow. Once everything was unloaded and at the house, I began to put things away. Bob worked on opening the shed and taking out all the large items that were stored in there (recycle and garbage cans, grill, etc.) He also removed a few items that were stored in the lower compartments in the bus that needed to come home. Tomorrow we will take off the bikes and the bike rack, reload the bus, and clean the refrigerator. (Everything else I cleaned before we left the campground.) The yard and my plants need a little tuning up, but there’s no rush on that. The lanai needs to be power washed before we can put the furniture outside, which I will do tomorrow. Auggie followed us around while we worked. I don’t know what was going through his mind with that. He took to his old routine right away by remembering where his food and water bowl are kept, taking our evening walk as usual, and sleeping in his other bed in our bedroom. I think he was happy to be home. When we finally sat down to dinner and then watch some TV, we could say that we were glad to be home too! (Final post will be tomorrow.)