We left Peace River and headed back to Bees in Clermont this morning, and I can’t say I’m sorry to leave. The drive should have taken us about 2 hours but ended up taking closer to 5 as we made a number of stops along the way; it was a good job we got an early start. We did get some things accomplished though, we got a new battery for the computer, and we got the oil changed in Serena at Walmart. That was not a fun stop as we had to unhitch the trailer in the Walmart car park and then rehitch it when the oil change was done; plus it took them forever to do the actual oil change. Nevermind, it’s out of the way and Mike didn’t have to go back out to get it done this afternoon. We got to Bees and got the last available space on the park; it’s quite a nice space and long enough to fit the trailer and truck so we didn’t have to unhitch again. We didn’t do an awful lot this afternoon besides clean a little and defrost the fridge and freezer. We had to throw some food away but we did pretty good about eating what we had in the trailer.
We took a walk around the park this evening and discovered that the British folks who had given us some info about shipping Tal-y are staying here so we stopped to chat with them for a while. Then we had an early night as we have a busy day ahead of us tomorrow.

Mike: I ate things I didn't know we had!

We have a list of things to do as long as my arm before we leave on Thursday so we got to work on some of them today. Mike got under the trailer and filled any and all cracks, holes, and other orifices where little furry animals might think about trying to get in; expanding foam works wonders for such a job. Then he got on the roof and did the same there as well as fixing the loose screws on the sky vent; hopefully this will prevent too much water getting in while the trailer is in storage. Then this afternoon I cleaned the outside rug since it was totally dry and packed it away in the truck, and we put away the awning and the outside stuff incase it is wet tomorrow when we leave. We pretty much did all we can for now, and have to wait till the morning we put the trailer into storage to do everything else.

Mike: Wow! Time is getting short! I hope we can get it all done.

Well we woke up this morning not to the sound of the coffee maker going off. Turns out the breaker at our site blew sometime in the night so when we woke up we had no electricity. Mike went to the office to tell them and to see when they could fix it and came back mad. It appears that we are on a site where they can’t just fix one breaker. I don’t really understand what they mean, but the bottom line ended up being that we had to pack everything up and move to a different site; neither one of us was really impressed with that I can tell you but we did what we had to if for no other reason than it was the only way to get a cup of coffee! It didn’t take us too long to pack everything up since it didn’t have to be put away for a long trip. We drove around the park and found a site on the opposite edge overlooking a pond with very little water. We got reset up and had coffee and everything turned out just fine.
We drove into Wachula this afternoon and had a not great lunch at a mexican dive and then tried to find a place where we could get a new battery for our computer. There was nowhere around Wachula so we headed back to the park and spent the afternoon watching the comings and goings. This place is really busy especially since people keep moving sites as spaces with sewer become available. While Mike went up to the lodge to get online I washed our rugs at the laundry; getting things ready for us to leave in less than a week has officially started.

Mike: This is a better spot anyway! They still pissed me off!

We moved parks today for the last but one time; we headed south to Wachula. The drive only took us a little under two hours and we took the 17 so that we got a change from driving down highway 27. The drive wasn’t too bad although there had been some changes to the road layouts and Nell got a little confused; we ended up driving in circles for a little bit but nothing too major. When we got to Peace River the place was crazy; it was really busy. We got checked in and came to find out that we could pick any spot but only within the area of the park that had no sewer, and that the only wifi was at the lodge and not at any of the sites. I wasn’t real happy, especially since we had just left a lovely park with full hook ups. We drove around a little and found a spot backing onto the woods; we didn’t discover until we were on the space that it was really wet and muddy. Mike had to put Serena in four wheel drive to get the trailer into the space and we now have big ruts all over the space where we backed in and out to get straight. We got unhitched with no problem but this hasn’t been one of my better days so far, and I really don’t like this park. Mike went to ask for some sand to fill in the muddy holes we have but of course they don’t have any; hopefully the sun will continue to shine and it will dry out over the next few days.
After we got set up and I calmed down a little we spent a while watching the birds in the woods. There are some amazing birds here, especially the huge woodpeckers with bright red heads. When it cooled down a little we took a walk along the Peace River but we didn’t see Stumpy the resident gator or any other scary monsters even though there are plenty of signs warning of gators and snakes. The place really is beautiful and probably wouldn’t be a bad place to stay for a while if we had sewer. We can apparently put our names down for a sewer space and move when one becomes available, but since we are only here for four days we’ll just deal with it and have the honey wagon come pump us on Monday.

Mike:Nice park except for the wi-fi.

Got woken by my phone early this morning with a text that read I’ve got her, she stinks. Tal-y made it across the pond and is now getting settled in with mam and dad and Rosie Posie. She did good on the flight, and we seemed to have gotten all the paperwork in order as they had no problems getting her from the animal reception centre. I’m glad that part of our trip is out of the way and that she made it home safely, no Mike and I can concentrate on getting everything sorted for our trip next week.
We spent the day running errands, returning the crate we didn’t use, shopping for birthday presents, and returning the rental car before getting an early night so we can get on the road at a decent hour in the morning.

Mike: Now maybe I can get relief from Becc's worrying about paper work all the time!

I got up to take Tal-y for our last walk together this morning for a few months and she actually wanted to walk today. We wandered around the park for a while and then headed back so she could have a nice breakfast of scrambled eggs before our long journey started. The drive to Miami airport was not too bad, it took us about 5 hours in total with a few stops along the way for potty and food breaks. Nell got us to the airport well ahead of the time we were supposed to be there so we went into the cargo place to find out what we had to do. The Virgin staff there were great, and even though we were way early they had us complete all the paperwork then so we could take Tal-y and not have to put her in her crate so soon. The paperwork took about an hour to do. There were loads of forms to sign, the crate to check and weigh, and of course we had to pay. It turned out we had bought the right size crate but the plastic things that locked the bottom to the top were not acceptable. Mike had already thought about that in advance though and had bought steel bolts to put through the plastic; the shipping guys were then more than happy with the crate. When it came time to pay, the fare was cheaper than we had been quoted by $100. I don’t think that the people in cargo could measure as the dimensions I gave when I booked the ticket were stamped on the crate; but according to them the crate measured less than I had said. I’m not complaining, a hundred bucks is a hundred bucks.
After everything was filled out and signed we still had about 2 hours before Tal-y had to go in the crate so we went and sat in the car in the car park since there was really no place to go from the airport in the time we had. Mike and I took it in turns walking Tal-y so she could take care of business before her long journey, and then spent the rest of the time cwtching her. By the time we had to check her in it had gotten dark and I took her for one last pee along the road. The stupid bloody puppy found something really gross and smelly to roll in as we were walking; something that smelled suspiciously like goose poop. I tried my best to get it off her but there’s only so much I could do with paper towels and cold water. After spending 12 hours in a plastic box with herself she’s going to be very sorry she ever went near the poop. We finally had to say goodbye and put her in the crate. She looked so sad and all forlorn but the Virgin guy promised to stay with her until she was put on the plane. I only cried a little bit at the airport, but there were more tears on the drive home; three months without my girl is going to be a long time.
We headed back to Clermont around 7ish; we had intended to spend the night in a hotel on the way home, but since we didn’t have to stay with Tal-y till the plane departed we headed for our own bed and made it home just before midnight. Now I just have to wait for that text from mam and dad in the morning, although once they smell her they might leave her at Heathrow.

Mike: Instead of the ordeal it might have been, everything went really smooth! Yippie!

I spent most of this morning doing laundry since I haven’t done any in a few days and Mike sat around doing nothing as usual! Then this afternoon we took Tal-y to the vet to get her final check up and shots ready for her big adventure tomorrow. She had to be vaccinated against tapeworm and treated for ticks, and she was very brave for the whole ordeal. It appears that we now have all her paperwork in order and we shouldn’t have any trouble getting her on the plane tomorrow evening. What am I going to do without her?
After the vet visit we had to go pick up the rental car from Hertz and of course the car wasn’t there when we arrived. We had to wait a good while for them to bring a car from a different location but we finally got one; at least the drive to Miami airport tomorrow won’t cost us as much in gas with this car as it would if we took Serena. We loaded the rental up with both Tal-ys crates and all the bits and pieces we need for tomorrow, now I just have to not let Tal-y see me cry or she’ll wonder what the heck is going on! Actually I think she knows something is happening as she got on Mike’s lap this afternoon and wouldn’t get off.

Mike: We're going to miss Tal-y!