Monday, February 29, 2016

Miami, FL

Monday, Day 53

I watched too many episodes of Making a Murderer last night on Netflix.  But I still got up around 7am and decided to head to the beach for a morning run.



The sun was just coming up through the clouds, and it made for a beautiful background.


South Beach:



The sand was so soft.  I mean, I guess all sand is pretty soft.  It's so tough to run in!


... sooooo I moved it to the sidewalk after less than half a mile.  The sidewalk still runs right along the beach in some spots, so the view was still great.  Just with less burn on the legs. 


Sand or no sand, it still sucked.  I can't believe how fast I got out of shape!  I guess two months of not working out will do that to you!  2 miles used to be nothing.  And it was about all I could do this morning!


I went back to the hotel and spent a good chunk of the morning trying to figure out if I was or was not going to have an RV today.  I had been dealing with a couple of companies, and one was particularly confusing.  I got a confirmation email, then a cancellation, then they said to come get it at noon today, and finally said no, they didn't think they had one.  What the... come on!  

Just about the time I had given up hope and decided I would just rent a car and find somewhere cheap to stay on airbnb or couch surfing, I got a call back from El Monte RV Rentals.  They had a cancellation and they had one more RV available!  It was much bigger than I really needed, but I had been talking them down on price since Friday, and it finally was paying off!  $100/night was cheaper than a car/hotel!  

It all worked out.  Barely.  I mean, I had to be out of the hotel room by 11am and have a plan, and this was at like 10:30.  So relieved!  So I showered and packed up ... and went to Starbucks to use the free wifi to finish an episode of Making a Murderer.  Seriously.  Addicted.

Crazy-hair-don't-care.  (At least it's clean!)


I spent like $20 on a smoothie and some snacks while there.  Pretty standard for my Starbucks breakfast. ;)  

I didn't do a good job of taking pics, but I went to get my eyebrows waxed from some sketchy body waxing place a couple of blocks away at 1.  And as soon as that was over, I decided to try (again) to save some money and take the bus/train down south to the RV rental place.  I had to be there by 4 to get the RV, and Google said it would take almost 3 hours to get there via public transportation.  Yikes!

Just finding the right bus was a challenge enough, but then I had to have exact change or a bus pass, neither of which I had.  Such an ordeal!  I had to back track a few blocks to find a pharmacy that sold bus passes, and then head back to the stop I wanted. 


The bus from South Beach to downtown Miami stopped approximately 14 times...and took 45 minutes.  That was enough for me, haha!  I didn't have time (or patience) to deal with that.  But Uber had surge pricing in downtown, so I had to walk a few blocks to get out of the area to get a regular Uber.  And then there was traffic.  Like, awful traffic.  It took another 90 minutes to get from downtown to Miami to South Miami Heights.  Part of that was because my Cuban Uber driver (who didn't speak English) also didn't know how to drive or navigate traffic.  I was about to scream I was so anxious to get there!

I was only 5 minutes late to El Monte -- so yeah, it still took 3 hours to get there, even with an Uber.  But being annoyed with all of that quickly faded when I saw this beauty waiting on me!


I've never stayed in an RV before.  Heck, I don't remember the last time I was even in one like this.  And really, this probably isn't even considered a "nice" one.  But in my world, it was Aaaahhh-mazing.

Showers (with hot water), toilet, sink, stove, oven, microwave, fridge, freezer, ac...two beds and another convertible one, a table, stereo.  And all on wheels! I mean seriously.  What else could you need!?



This is my nervous face, but let me tell you, I was SO excited to pull out of that driveway in the RV.  I definitely haven't ever driven something that big before.  Plus I did a LOT of work to get this thing.  Phone calls and emails for days.  And it all worked out.  I think I did a little fist pump and clapped/giggled when I got in the driver seat. 


And the was the last picture I took for the day. ^^

It was a mad dash after that.  I was scrambling around trying to get everything the van needed for the week and still make it to the airport in time to pick up Scott -- because it's totally normal to do a 5 day road trip with your ex-boyfriend, right? ... No??

I really wish I would have taken pictures though.  Or recorded me trying to drive that thing in Miami.  What an experience...  

I made it to Wal-Mart, literally ran through the store and spent $100 on groceries and little stuff for the RV...and then hit a curb on the way out of the parking lot and shattered two plates and two bowls that fell out of the cabinet.  It was so loud.  I thought I wrecked the RV.  There was glass everywhere, and I couldn't just stop in the middle of the street.  I was too scared to try to turn again for fear of hitting another curb and something else falling out and breaking.  No time to go back to Wal-Mart for a broom or anything.  Heck, no time to clean it up at all.  I had to get to the airport.  I hate being late for airport pickups.  So I just left the mess and got there.  But I couldn't drive up anywhere close to the airport because the RV is like 13.5 feet high...and all of the signs said 9 foot clearance.  Uuuhhh, yeah.  That's not going to work.  So I had to park a ways away and walk in to meet him.  

We managed to make it out of Miami a little ways (without any more curb checks) and over to Key Biscayne for the night.  Had dinner at a little restaurant, and found a quiet street to park the giant RV on.  Too cheap to pay for an actual camping spot with hookups, so in front of a street of apartments worked just fine. 

(I forgot I did take a short video of me driving through Miami, but the sound and quality is so awful, I don't even think I'll upload it.  I did grab this screen shot though -- one of the few seconds it was semi-light enough to see anything!)

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