Checking items off my to-do list before we leave for Florida Saturday morning.
Fill propane tanks - check
Made out beds and put sheets on them-check
Bought new shiny hitch ball to replace rusted one-check
Oil change in tow vehicle (230,000 miles and ticking)-check
I think I will take off a half-day vacation Friday afternoon to pack the stuff in the back of the Suburban (EZ up awning, folding chairs, etc.) and load my personal gear. Have the electrical cooler pre-cooled and loaded in the kitchen by Friday night so I can just carry it out and plug it in the back of the Suburban Saturday morning. That way loading will be less stressful.
This is a repeat drive of several trips in the past. Not the destination but the timing. We have often traveled on the weekend when we turn the clocks forward. Plus we go from Central to Eastern time zone. So we will gain an hour on the drive from home to St. Augustine (Anastasia SP) on Saturday and then overnight into Sunday we will gain another hour. I think we will make sure we get enough rest and NOT leave Anastasia until the official check-out time of 1pm (I've learned the hard way that Captain Daddy can't push his crew too hard on the morning they lose 2 hours). It's a short drive into town proper for church and lunch though. No crack-of-dawn pulling out kind of thing. It's only two hours to Jetty Park Campground (Cape Canaveral is the listed city there at the Port; next town south is Cocoa Beach). Thus I'd like to get away first thing Saturday from Alabama which is 5-6am and drive the 10 hours via Montgomery-Dothan-Tallahassee-Jacksonville-St.Augustine-Cape Canaveral. It's I10 and I95 in Florida. I could come down I75 through Orlando and head over but I know every crack in the pavement that route from the Fort trips so I am looking forward to the different route (only drove it once this past New Years).
So here is our rough daily schedule:
Saturday-drive home to St. Augustine (Anastasia SP)
Sunday-arrive at Cape Canaveral (Jetty Park Campground). Dinner at FishLips?
Monday-spring training baseball game at Disney (Atlanta Braves & Pittsburgh Pirates) with dinner at Disney Springs (The Edison).
Tuesday-Magic Kingdom day 9am rope drop till after 11pm close. Lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern and Dinner at The Plaza.
Wednesday-down day to rest and recover but we have some neat plans.
Thursday-spring training baseball in Lakeland (Detroit Tigers & Boston Red Sox).
Friday-spring training baseball in Port St. Lucie (New York Mets & Washington Nationals).
Hope to see some cruise ships arrive and depart (I have the schedule), hopefully a rocket launch from the Kennedy Space Center, and enjoy some nice temps and weather.
DD and I were over at the Fort around New Years so that's not on the list this trip (unless I can sneak away from MK on Tuesday on the boat and see the stakes/new resort markings around Pioneer Hall).
Tick tock. More to do still.
Bama Ed
PS - stay tuned for my Dog-n-Suds Reports....
PPS - plus hoping to get the Mickey's Kitchen Sink Sundae at the Plaza Ice Cream Parlor in MK for the souvenir bowl to add to my collection. It's expensive but I'm going to do it.
I think the take-out side of Beaches-n-Cream had a similar takeout Mickey sundae.