First Stop - Easterlin Park

Our first stop shouldn't be called a "stop" since we actually never slept there.  We used Easterlin Park in Fort Lauderdale as our set-up station.  This allowed us to turn on the fridge and wait the 8 hours for it to cool before starting to bring the food to the RV.  We were also able to open the slides, unpack and organize clothes and supplies, and to do some light cleaning like vacuuming at this stage.  All in preparation for Our New Trek!  Departing this year seems more challenging to us because we are trying to rent out the condo as well.  So instead of being able to leave belongings in the condo "as-is", we've had to pack up the house and make it presentable (furnished) to potential renters.  Believe me, it was more work than we were anticipating.

Our original goal was to leave on April 1st, but that proved too difficult to reach.  Then on the 31st when we went to the storage yard to deliver a load, we realized we had a flat tire.  Andy filled it up, but immediately heard the air come pouring out again.  The rubber valve stem had torn.  Although we purchased new tires in January, Andy thinks this was caused because the 180 valve stem extender got caught behind the tire rim putting undue pressure on the valve stem.  Good thing for emergency road service.  They arrived in about 40 minutes, and another 40 minutes later he had us fixed.  He put on a metal valve stem this time.  We thought he was going to put on the spare and then we'd have to spend hours in Ford the next day getting this fixed.  What a relief that he was able to fix it himself.

Easterlin Park is a very pretty park.  Beautiful, natural Florida plant life with tall pines and cypress trees and the understory makes it a peaceful setting.  Until you realize that (although you can't see it), the train tracks are right behind some of the those trees.  Warnings in the park office and in the campground state that the trains run all day long, and all night long.  They also blow their horns all day long, and all night long. Good thing we weren't planning on sleeping here.  We did think about it until the first train blew past us.