Manatees!

A busy day down in Melbourne Beach. I started the morning disassembling the roof vents and cleaning up the mildew and dirt that had been collecting behind the screen. The switch on the fart fan in the bathroom had given up the ghost back in Jacksonville so I clipped the wire and removed it to get a replacement. But before we could go to the RV store for parts, Cali had an appointment at the vet out front to get her toenails cut. I took her in and the groomer made quick work of it. Cali yipped a few times when the clipper got a little close to the quick but she came out okay with stylishly manicured paws.

We hit the RV store and I got my switch and a few other small items for the camper. Since we were already out and about, I plugged the Crane Creek Promenade into the iPhone and we made our way over to the manatee observation area. We weren’t disappointed. We climbed the bank on the side of the road and walked out on the busy urban overpass to get a bird’s eye view and soon manatees started slowly floating by in groups of two or three. Homeless dudes on bicycles kept crossing the bridge on the narrow sidewalk while Cali stood cluelessly lost in her own little mental world blocking the road. It was awesome seeing manatees. I had never seen the mellow mammals before. A bearded bro fishing with his two young boys alerted us to the best place to view them and pointed out the first ones coming so we knew what to look for. We lingered about half an hour and saw probably a dozen of the sea cows.

We drove back to camp only to find that the switch they sold me at Quality RV didn’t work. It wouldn’t click on to stay engaged. Bummed. The store closed at noon so there was no going back. I drove down to the Ace Hardware and they had a little switch that was compatible just brass rather than the original black plastic. On the way home, I stopped at the local beach market to pick up a few needed items for the larder then I returned to my project. Meanwhile, PJ had emptied everything out of the cabover area because we had discovered some mildew on the ukulele cases, our little day packs and other random spots.

I got the new switch installed and everything is in good working order. Feels good to get things accomplished that I’ve been procrastinating on. I helped PJ clean all of the affected belongings with bleach and water to eliminate the mildew. She took anything that could be laundered to the laundry machines and washed it up. As the sun set, we took a little break to catch an amazing sunset over the Indian River. A large crowd of oldies gathered at the pool to sip their beverages and watch the bright orange ball melt into the far shore. A large pod of dolphins added their act to the evening entertainment and the audience was very appreciative.

It was close to seven by the time we finally finished our work and were able to catch our breath. We got all of our things settled then walked across the street to the bath house and took long, hot showers. A light dinner of hummus and cheese filled the void. It was a beautiful night, warm and calm.