Continuation of the Broken Down Home on Wheels!!

We last left you when we were in the middle of an intersection in Avon Park, Florida in the pouring rain.  Yes, our little home on wheels was not going to move.  The clutch had stopped working on the RV.

The drivers around us were having a hard time seeing the road in front of them, so we were fretful that someone was going to hit our new home before we reached our first destination!

Laurie jumped out of the motor home and bravely started to stand in the middle of the very busy intersection (hoping and praying that she wouldn’t get hit).  She started directing traffic around the RV.

In the meantime, Bill jumped out of the comfortable driver’s seat, and shot out the door to the back trunk to fetch some fluid to pour into the clutch.  He uncapped the fluid, poured it in, pumped the clutch, then yelled, “Laurie, get back in here, we’re ready to roll.”

And roll we did.  We rolled into a nearby parking lot.  The clutch seemed to be back in working order, so we called Laurie’s grandparents from the pay phone (those were the days when every major intersection, parking lot, and place of business had a pay phone – no one had cell phones back then) who promptly drove to Avon Park to lead us back to their home.

Upon arriving, we were tired, hot, and soaked!  After getting the RV parked on the side lawn of Laurie’s grandparents’ property, we decided to relax for a little bit, then go see some sights.  We still had a motorcycle that was operating, and we were beginning to wonder if it was going to be the only mode of transportation that we would be using for our cross country trip.

It didn’t cross either of our minds to turn back and return to New York.  We were California bound, and we were going to get there somehow, someway, some day (we hoped).

After getting our wits about us, we decided to take the motorcycle out for a ride.  We drove to the Highlands Hammock State Park in Sebring.  Highlands Hammock State Park is one of the oldest state parks in Florida.  It first opened to the public in 1931.  The park is known for its old-growth cypress swamp.  There’s a boardwalk that winds through the beautiful cypress forest.  The trees are hanging with Spanish moss from their mighty limbs.  Algae and lichens adhere to the great trunks so they mainly look greenish-gray in color.  When the sun shines at the most perfect angle, you can see the reflection of the trees in the murky swamp water.

We walked along the boardwalk that runs through the park, because mostly we wanted to see a real live alligator!  We had heard that they could be seen from the boardwalk.  We did see one!   It was a little baby alligator!  See!

Okay, maybe we need to point him out to you, because he’s so tiny!

Can you see him?  His little beady eyes were poking up out of the water!  That was the only gator that we saw in Florida!  Truth be told, it was the only one that Laurie wanted to see.  He was big enough.  But Bill has an adventurous streak in him, and he wanted to go find this little guy’s mama!

Upon driving out of the park, Bill saw a couple of deer.  Okay, he really did!  They were tucked back in a rather dark, shaded area; so you can’t really see them very well.  In fact, Bill  had to point them out, because they are hardly discernible. See!

Okay, okay, we’ll point them out to you, because really, we saw those deer, but now they aren’t so easily seen!

We think that’s the back end of those deer.  We aren’t too sure, but we think!

Our visit to Highlands Hammond Park was an enjoyable one, but it was cut short as it was getting to be dark, and the park closes at dusk.

Come back and visit soon, because our next post will be about our visit to this well-known park.