Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Trip from Ozark to Kissimmee then Home

We said goodbye to Mike and Gayle this morning and thanked them for their hospitality. Gayle felt a little better this morning after her surgery yesterday, but was still moving a little slower than usual. We left Mike & Gayle's this morning about 8:15 and drove south on US-231 to Dothan.

We decided to stop at the Burger King in Dothan to have breakfast before heading south to I-10. We stopped for gas at the Pilot in Midway a little after 12:00 (Eastern Time) and paid $3.599 for gas in the truck.

We continued east on I-10 to I-75 and then drove south on I-75 to Wildwood. We stopped at the Pilot in Wildwood to get gas in the truck before getting onto the Florida Turnpike. We drove south on the Florida Turnpike to I-4 and then south on I-4 to US-192 in Kissimmee. We paid
$11.25 in tolls for the truck and car on the turnpike.

We stopped at the Abundant Harvest Church building on South Poinciana to pick up a few things we had left in the building. We had left the spare tires for the RV and Saturn and a couple of outdoor patio rugs in the building. My brother is also giving us the Craftsman riding lawn mower he used to mow the church property (he now has someone mow the grass for him) and the large tool cabinet he kept there.

The Budget rental truck does have a ramp, but it isn't wide enough to drive the lawn mower up on to get it in to the truck. Mike nailed some 2X4's together to use on each side of the truck ramp so it is wide enough for the lawn mower. We backed the truck up to the porch at the front door of the church and extended the truck's ramp straight out from the truck to the porch and laid the 2X4's on either side of the ramp. Mike rode the lawn mower up the wheelchair ramp (we had previously measured it to make sure the lawn mower would fit) to the porch. After maneuvering the lawn mower back and forth on the porch, we had it lined up with the truck's ramp and Mike rode the lawn mower straight into the truck. Whew! We were both glad when that was done.

After getting the lawn mower into the truck, loading everything else was easy. By the time we had everything loaded, it was 7:30 and getting dark. Our next stop was at my brother's house in Kissimmee to pick up his Shopsmith which he is giving to Mike. My brother's garage door opener isn't working, so we said we would pick up the Shopsmith another time.

We visited with Cyril & Elaine for about an hour before leaving to go home. Since Mike & I hadn't had dinner yet, we decided to stop at the Dairy Queen in Kissimmee to get something to eat - a couple of Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Blizzards.

We drove east on US-192 to I-95 and then south to the Sebastian exit. We arrived home a little before 11:00. I don't know who was happier to see the house - Mike & I or Tinker. We drove a total of 980 miles for the trip up to Dothan and Kissimmee.

It would have been nice if we had had more time to see more friends in Dothan and to go to the Mexican Connection (they are closed on Sunday & Monday) to see our friends there.

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