September 25, 2013
New Smyrna Beach, Florida
We continued our trip south and had a great (and somewhat
overdue) visit with our friends Dave and Sandy at their place in New Smyrna
Beach. Or “NSB” for those “in the know”.
Things got off to a good start and then we hit our first
“speed bump” before we even got there. As always, we have to be prepared for
times when “life happens” (or “stuff” happens). In this case, it was a medical
emergency of the canine kind, and of the first order.
We had an uneventful trip for most of the day, retracing our
route back US-278 from Hilton Head Island to I-95, traversing Georgia with a
stop right before entering Florida for (cheaper) fuel. We made our lunch stop
at the Florida Welcome Center and continued south, making a rest stop about an
hour north of NSB.
As the pups were getting back in the coach, Merlin started
to get sick, and within minutes had made a mess (“both ends”, if you know what
I mean) from the front of the coach to the back. I was able to find him under
the bed almost unconscious. He couldn’t hold his head up, his eyes were
rolling, his tongue was lolling, and his breathing was very erratic. At two
points, we thought we lost him right then and there.
While Geri wrapped him in towels and held him on a pillow, I
started a search for veterinary help. Not seeing anything close to where we
were, I called Dave, which turned out to be the smartest decision I could have
made. They were lifesavers. He and Sandy sprung into action, contacting their
vet, assessing options, and arranging for us to get in right before closing. We
met them at their vet’s office in a local shopping plaza (fortunately, there
was enough room for us to park) and we were whisked right in.
After some quick blood tests and x-rays, Dr. Cox was able to
report our first good news: it was pretty clear that Merlin was in the throes
of a bout of pancreatitis. Why and how? We’ll never know. But, the path forward
was clear: they took Maya Lynn while we parked the RV at our selected
campground (it was close to the vet) and transferred Merlin to the best animal
hospital in Daytona Beach for medication and IV fluids overnight.
It was after 8:00 PM by the time we got back to Dave and
Sandy’s, and they had dinner waiting for us. Not exactly the way we wanted to
start our visit, but at least we had a cautiously optimistic outlook.
We’d planned to stay at their house during our visit to ease
logistics, but decided to spend the first night at the coach since we needed to
be up at oh-dark-thirty to pick Merlin up around 7:00 AM. Friday morning, we
accomplished that, brought him back to Dr. Cox for more IV fluids and observation
during the day, and were back at the campground right after the office opened
to pay up and officially check in. We had arrived after hours, so our site
information was taped to the door.
We headed over to Dave and Sandy’s, and were finally able to
catch our breath. We managed to shoot back to the coach, do some cleaning,
eradicate a small ant infestation we’d picked up in the jungles of Hilton Head,
pack a couple of bags, and pick Merlin up around 3:00 PM. He was still quite
wobbly but definitely on the mend. We put him on a bland diet and monitored him
closely, and he got stronger each day. By the end of our visit, he was back to
70-80% of his normal self.
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Whew. By Saturday, things started to settle down. We were
able to relax a bit. Dave and Sandy have moved since we last visited them in
Florida, with their “new” house being on the western side of the Intracoastal
Waterway (“ICW), right on the water. It’s a great location, close to the Yacht
Club (for some reason, Dave is not “Commodore” yet), and positioned for great
sunrises (for the early risers) and moonrises when the weather cooperates. And nice flowers!
In the afternoon, we headed over to the Flagler Avenue
shopping district (the kind of place I’d call artsy-fartsy) for lunch and some
poking around, followed by a Daytona-area tradition: a drive on the beach.
We decided on Sunday that Merlin was feeling well enough,
and the weather seemed good enough, for a boat ride. Dave called the marina to
ready the boat, and off we went. After venturing out into the ocean for quite a
ways, heading north toward Daytona, we returned to the calmer ICW. We had lunch
at Inlet Harbor, a dockside restaurant and made a stop at the “Disappearing
Island”, which I incorrectly called “disappearing beach” on Facebook. Yikes!
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| We are all actually happier than we seem to be in this shot... |
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| Ready to explore the "Disappearing Island" |
We headed back as we started to see some storm clouds on the
horizon, typical for Florida I suppose. Much of the ICW in this area is a
“Manatee Zone” which requires slow speeds, but we made it back to the marina
before the rains. Dave has his boat stored inside, which you might think is a
complicated process. Not when they have an 80-ton forklift on premises! The
operator dropped the forks into the water, Dave pulled the boat back over them,
and the extraction was done in less than two minutes. After a quick wash, it
was ready to be stored on inside racks about 35 feet in the air. Always use the
right tool for the job, I say!
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| "Power tools; Yeah"! |
And, speaking of tools, we got to use a few over the next
few days. They are having substantial renovations done to the main living areas
of the house starting next week (new kitchen cabinets and island, new tile
throughout, new stairway to the second floor), so I was able to help Dave with
some of the preparation that was better done with two people. We removed some
of the backsplash on the existing counters, placed some of the heavy furniture
in its temporary location out of the way, and dismantled the fireplace façade.
(Get it? Dis-“mantled”?) This last one was interesting to say the least, and
the whole brick face just slid out into the room and we were able to break it
up brick by brick.
Tonight (Wednesday), we all went out to dinner at the
Riverview Grille, having a great meal and a nice wine while watching a
beautiful sunset. It was a fitting way to close out our visit! After dinner, we
headed back to the coach and completed what little travel prep was required. We’ll
be heading out in the morning.
As always, we had a great time visiting good friends. We don’t
get to do it but every few years, so it’s a special treat for us!
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