Weekend Trip to Margate, Florida

(Wauchula, FL) and (Margate, FL) Hi 81 Lo 57 -- We got up early to do our morning routine and a bigger breakfast than usual.  We said goodbye to our neighbors as they're leaving for Ohio.  They have family problems and need to get home.  I also found out our neighbors behind us are leaving today.  They're saying the price of fuel is going up and they want to get home before it raises too high. That seems to be the feeling of everyone in the park, so we may find a lot more gone by the time we get back on Sunday.

The other day we were going to leave and my car wouldn't start, but the doors locked so I tried it again and it started.  The same thing happened today, and Jim found the battery cable was loose.  He fixed it and we were on our way by 11:30 to Margate, Florida.  Margate is in Broward County just north of Ft. Lauderdale.  Jim grew up there, and we dated and got married in West Palm Beach, just north of there, back in 1970.  Jim has several friends he grew up with that we're visiting this weekend.  It took four hours to get there, about an hour more than it should have. For several reasons:

First, as we're headed out of Wauchula about three miles down the road there were fire trucks, police and an ambulance at the intersection.  It was an accident between a motorcycle and strawberry truck.  There were strawberries everywhere in plastic boxes. It was a real mess. We don't know what or how many injuries there were, but we hope the best for those involved.  

Second, when we entered the Florida Turnpike there was no toll booth to get a ticket, just Sunshine Pass cameras. We found out at the next toll booth that if you don't have a ticket you have to pay the maximum toll, which is almost $14.00.  Ouch! 

Third, when you want to ditch the Turnpike and take I-95 the rest of the way (to avoid further tolls), traffic slows you down a lot!

Here's some views of the inland portion of South Florida. The terrain changes the further south you get. (Click on photos to make them larger.)

We finally got to Karel's house in Margate and started our wonderful visit.  Karel is a dear friend of Jim's family and they lived a few houses from each other in Margate when Jim was growing up. They took us to dinner at a great Italian restaurant and I had the best red snapper in white lemon sauce you could ever eat. It's served over pasta and with it you get salad, soup, dessert and coffee. What a great meal! Thank you so much Karel and Jim for a great dinner. 

Karel and Jim.

Here's some strawberries that Karel bought today. They're huge!  It's strawberry picking time here in Florida, but I've never seen any this big.

We'll be here till Sunday afternoon.  We visited, worked on computers, and my Jim taught Karel's Jim about Droid phones.  We played till late in the night, or should I say early morning. Tomorrow should be fun. Stay tuned!

32 days till we go North.