Finally have the Active Thunder home!
Here's a brief recap of our fun trip to Florida to bring the new baby home!
Well...we made it back home yesterday with our Active Thunder, after 2700 miles of driving and 6 days on the boat in south Florida. I don't want to see the inside of my truck again for a LONG time!
Spring break traffic SUCKS...next time I see a Michigan plate on a minivan I am going to run it off the road...I-75 was awful almost all the way through Georgia...probably spent 2+ hours in traffic on the way down and an hour+ on the way back.
We stayed at Sands Harbor in Pompano, and I highly recommend it. Everything is there...hotel, restaurant, pool, marina, and a 2 block walk to the beach. Went straight to the marina there on Saturday (after 16+ hours in the truck Friday), tied up, and went over to the pool and got lunch and drunk. Lol. Houston's was right across the ICW, so we walked over for an awesome dinner.
Sunday, we idled down the Intercoastal all the way down to Ft. Lauderdale, encountering the DNR along the way (no numbers on the boat as Illinois hasn't sent me my sticker yet). Almost blew into a wall while they were checking the paperwork, they let us go on our way without issue. Saw Haggin's pad on the ICW...nice joint! Got the life jackets out and the lanyard on and ran the Atlantic down to Miami Beach in 3-5s....the AT is GREAT in the rough stuff. After we slipped in, the party boy at the end of the dock with a 100-footer invited us aboard for a drink, then invited us to a party at his friend the billionaire's pad. We politely declined on the auspicies of finding ourselves in a situation similar to "The Hangover." The marina was rockin and rollin with the wind and tides, so after a cocktail (or two) at Monty's, we decided to grab a hotel room in Miami Beach. My wife Michelle found one for $85, so we jumped on our road bikes (had them strapped in behind the bolsters!) with a backpack full of a change of clothes and rum and Coke, went to the hotel and got cleaned up, then walked Lincoln Ave at night. Way cool.
Monday morning we rode back to the harbor and checked on the boat, then rode back into the Deco district for breakfast. Saw Keri Walsh (Olympic gold medalist) practicing some beach volleyball with her new partner, and spent some time on the beach. Then, it was back to the boat, where we cast off and went over to Coconut Grove. Pulled into Grove Harbor just as a huge rainstorm started, so I tied off on the gas dock, put the cover on, and went below. Nice that the AT has a big cockpit and cabin, as we hung out in there and had a couple beers for the next 2 hours while the rain fell. When it cleared, we grabbed a slip at the Municipal marina next door, ate dinner at Scotty's, and enjoyed a beautiful post-rainstorm evening.
Tuesday, we got up and biked about 20 miles on some HORRIBLE bike paths, then loaded up with the intention of running down to Gilberts. Well...the GPS on the boat didn't work (the screen backlight went out, and we couldn't read it), so, after making it to, and through, the Featherbeds and not being able to visually sight the next channel marker, we decided not to risk blindly boating around in unfamiliar waters, and turned around. Ran back up to Key Biscayne and pulled into Crandonton Park Marina, where we enjoyed meeting Mr. Manitee the next slip over, and had cocktails on the beach for the afternoon. We then rode our bikes over to Virginia Key and ate dinner overlooking the Miami skyline at the Rusty Pelican while the sun went down.
Wednesday, we biked down to the Lighthouse on Key Biscayne and checked it out, then went to Virginia Key again, and up and over the big bridge to the mainland just for the heck of it. Back at the boat, we put a little fuel in, and ran the Ocean all the way back up to Hillsboro Inlet in Pompano, ending up back at Sands Harbor. We then did a repeat of Saturday afternoon, with some cocktails in the pool. In the early evening, we jumped in the boat and idled up to Two Georges in Deerfield Beach for dinner, then back down to our slip as the sun was setting.
Pulled the boat early Thursday morning to get it over to Active Thunder and set it down on the new Manning trailer I had towed down (thanks to Pat and his gantry...I didn't even have to dip the new wheels in salt!). We had one more night in FL, so we grabbed a room at the Sands, and met up with a high school friend of ours we hadn't seen in 20 years down in Ft. Lauderdale By the Sea.
Friday morning, we were on the road heading north by 9 am, and three 7-8 hour days of driving later, we were back in Chicago...with temps in the 40s!
My wife kept saying how great it would be to do this trip again...but that rhetoric stopped about halfway through day 2 of the drive home! Lol. Maybe someday....
As of now, I'm just happty to be home, and finally have my new ride here with me!
