Finsation: Day 8 - Marathon, FL

August 7, 2014

Around 8 AM, I got up and got a key to the restroom from one of the KOA staff. I then went to the local Publix grocery store to get some groceries for my dad and I. When I returned to the campground, I threw my dirty clothes in the two washers. The clothes were so ripe that they stunk up my whole truck and required two wash cycles to clean them. While waiting for my clothes to be cleaned, I sat in the laundry room and began typing my blog. In fact, that is where I made my first post. Succumbing to utter laziness, I accompanied my blog with a breakfast of stale Doritos instead of preparing a real meal.

Finally, my clothes were finished and I left the campground. Before leaving Fort Pierce, I visited the U.S. Navy SEAL Museum. The museum was awesome. There were many SEAL water vessels outside and videos, pictures, literature, and small items inside. The museum even had the life-raft that Captain Phillips was saved from when Navy SEALs made three simultaneous shots to kill Phillips' captors. The raft was much larger than it appeared in the movie. It was a little eerie to observe it.

As I left the museum, I walked over to one of the two ships I had not yet seen. This particular ship was the largest of all the ones displayed. I walked up a long ramp to reach the ship deck. Rain began to fall. I went into the cabin of the boat. I estimate that the boat carried 20 - 30 people in the cabin; I don't know if more crew members were transported in the hull of the ship. The seats rode so high that there was no way your feet could touch the ground. As I sat in the captain's seat, it felt like I was sitting in a hanging roller coaster seat. Nonetheless, there was no humor in the power and fierceness of the ship. The behemoth of metal and firepower left no doubts that it could travel at breakneck speeds through the roughest seas and take down nearly anything in its path, not to mention the lethality of the men it carried. I savored the brief moment I had to spend in the vessel.

As I exited, the bottom dropped out of the clouds and I was drenched by the time I reached my truck. I began the several hour drive to the Miami Airport. After I arrived, I took a nap in a cellphone lot as I waited for my dad. Finally, I got the call that he had landed and I drove to pick him up. He was easy to spot, being the only adult with a backpack instead of a rolling suitcase. I stopped just long enough for him to throw his bag in the back seat, and then we were off.

We tried to get out of Miami as quickly as possible; we wanted to get to the Keys. Finally, we were successful and on the narrow highway that spans the entire island chain. We ate dinner at Ballyhoo's Historic Seafood Grille and I shared stories about my trip thus far. After dinner, we finished the rest of our drive to reach our Holiday Inn Express hotel in Marathon. We moved our stuff into the room as quickly as possible and got to bed soon afterward as the following morning was fast approaching.

Odometer - 2210 mi