On the way to Key West … - part 1

Even though we had had such a late night we are up by 8am. 

And after taking showers we had 

some coffee, some sandwiches to use up our groceries and a 

Mickey Brownie from the Boardwalk Bakery that I had bought earlier. Unfortunately the Brownie was not very good and most of it went in the bin. 

We packed up the rest of our stuff and around 9.30 we called bell services to help with luggage. And while our luggage was loaded onto the cart Tom went ahead to fetch the car. I walked down with the bell man and we waited for Tom to arrive with the car and everything but the Owner’s Locker Box which went back into storage with all the stuff we didn’t need in Key West, was loaded in. And by 10am we were on our way. 

We hit the freeway and kept driving. 

Traffic was not bad at all and we made good progress, 

but after two hours of this boring drive we needed to stretch our legs and use a restroom. We stopped at one of the rest areas and Tom explained that there was a geocache hidden somewhere and if we had time he would look for the clues. 

But before we were hunting for clues we made a restroom stop and then picked up some drinks. We were looking at what was there to have and a 

Strawberry Lemonade caught my eye. This was what I picked for my drink and Tom went for some 

Minute Maid Pink Lemonade. We tried both and while being nice, they both were very sweet and we would have better just shared one bottle. 

So the left over drinks went into the cupholder and the coconut patties we had picked up went into our cooler when we returned from our search for clues for his cache. 

Clues noted we got back in the car and off onto the freeway again. 

About an hour into that second part of our drive we were now feeling a bit hungry and decided to leave the freeway once we saw a place to eat that we would like. Didn’t take long and we saw that at the next exit there would be a Steak’n’Shake. Perfect! So we left the freeway and parked outside the restaurant, walked inside and it was half empty and we were seated immediately. 

We both ordered some 

Diet Cokes, which were really nice and cold after our drive so far. We both looked at the menu and ordered and then sat back and waited for our food to arrive. And then it did arrive and it was well received. Tom loved the 

Bacon 'n Cheese Double Steakburger 'n Fries, Bacon, American cheese, lettuce, pickles, tomato, onion, mayo, and ketchup and I enjoyed my 

Jalapeño Crunch Steakburger 'n Fries, topped with pepper jack cheese, chipotle mayo, fresh salsa, jalapeños, and fried onions. We were very happy with our lunch choice, even more so, when we saw the bill that was quite different to what we had been used to on Disney property. 

After our nice late lunch break we headed back to the car, got in and off we went towards Miami. 

On the way we passed that Hard Rock Hotel building site. 

Traffic got a bit heavier the closer we got to Miami 

but we made it through without any traffic jams and soon we arrived at Florida City where we went right past our hotel, the Best Western. We turned around at the next traffic lights, parked at the front desk, checked in and soon had keys in hand for our room.