Day 61

We had a slow morning but met up with the mechanic and put the alternator back in. It was working =]!! So today we were off to a good start…until they made me do hw =[ lmao.
For the past couple of days Grama and I had been saying that we really should go to the grocery store but to get to the grocery store you need to go down the Interstate…in the golf cart. Until now we had put it off but we’re planning on heading out early tomorrow so we needed to go.
We got our things and got it the cart. Propane was high on our list and we were told there was a gas station on our way where we could get it filled. Well we were a little nervous but we headed down the road to the grocery store. Basically you go down the main road in town…the only one with any traffic and go about 2.5 miles and then you turn onto the highway for about 2.5 miles. Another thing about the golf cart that we didn’t realize before papa started driving is that the steering is horrible! For the sailors reading the blog they’ll understand when I say it’s like having weather helm! You steer dramatically one way and then the other just to stay in a straight line! The whole time with cars honking just before they pass you…which really just scares the crap out of you >_> lol. Well we passed on gas station thinking that can’t be the place to get propane because it really looked like it shouldn’t even be open… then we came to another gas station and pulled in and parked. Papa quickly got out…and when I was talking about the golf cart in a previous post I mentioned that there are no breaks…well we parked on a slight incline so as papa exited the cart we started to roll backwards into the gas pumps! We pretty much had to do a Barney Rubble stop, all feet out trying to push it until papa could get back in and move it. Meanwhile some locals have stopped to watch, and looked extremely amused. Well this wasn’t the place with the propane so we headed off to the grocery store. When we parked I kinda laughed because there are no keys, no locks, no doors even, so there is no way to stop anyone from going anywhere with it….not that they could get very far haha.
Well after shopping we loaded the cart and went to find the propane place. I didn’t think the cart could go slower then what it was previously, but it did… by a lot! We inched along the highway again with cars honking and scaring the crap out of us! We went to another gas station but they didn’t have propane either. So we headed back past the rickety gas station we saw on the way to the grocery store but decided that couldn’t be the one because we couldn’t see propane. Finally we saw a propane place and after waiting forever to cross the street and pull in papa went in to talk to the service desk. Of course there was no one there to help us at this time but we could come back in 3h and get it filled then! Which Grama and I said was out of the question! But there was a gas station just up the street we had passed and they filled propane bottles…she said it’s kinda rickety and you can’t miss it…
So we headed back up the highway to the rickety gas station we had now passed twice and sure enough they did do propane. She told papa to take the tank around back and she’d send the guy out in a few minutes to fill it for us. So we waited out back, and waited, and made a few phone calls, and waited...until finally papa went in to see what had taken so long because it was getting cold and it had been over 1/2h. According to papa the girl looked horrified when he walked in because she had completely forgotten about us and didn’t tell the guy we were there! Needless to say the guy came out immediately and filled our tank and we headed back down the highway back to the boat.
…we decided to take another road instead of the main street on the way back since we were starting to get familiar with the area and needed to get off the busy street! And we ran into Diane and Tony…really I love them but I just wanted to get out of the cart and sit on the boat haha. And then we ran into Dick and Ruth lmao apparently they all migrated to Nice Butt and were disgusted to find no one there to entertain them :P. I don’t think I mentioned it yesterday but Tony had arranged to get us a bushel of crabs tonight but the guy was a no show =[ and the marina we’re at was the place for us to meet at 5… so naturally everyone shows up early and has a pre-dinner happy hour haha.
But tonight we just had to cook our own meals and a quiet night. And we have an early start in the morn =[ we’re heading to Oriental.

Niki