It was nice to have a camp to myself this morning, I took my time having a thorough shower before breakfast. I drove back to the coast, pretty much the way I’d come and was keen to spend a day in the office, sorting out my website and finishing Dad’s spreadsheet. As I neared Palm Beach, the libraries were fancy and so wouldn’t let me in for free. I even stopped at one that had no available parking!
The mansions that I’d awed about yesterday soon disgusted me. There were rows upon rows of them and most of them had gardeners out working hard. That amount of wealth to me is repulsive. It only got worse as I drove into Palm Beach when mansions turned to high rises. I’m sure the beaches here are lovely, but I can’t tell you for sure because you could not possibly stop your car anywhere without paying. It is obscene. There was one beach walkway that I had to stop and look at and yes, it was pretty, but I only stayed five minutes.
It was actually getting too hot to be in the car, so I would have loved a swim on the beach (or ideally a surf, but still no waves) but that was not an option because of the parking. I have to outline here, that no only do you have to pay, but you have to download an app on your phone to do so which is just ridiculous. After having tried about four libraries on my drive south, I opted to try for one more. The branch at Pompano Beach was the winner! They gave me a whole hour for free! But that would be my only session they warned.
I enjoyed the mild air conditioning as I finished everything I wanted to, using their Wifi to do the website stuff. The spreadsheet took less time than I expected so I was happy with that. I stayed for about two hours, then it was time to venture out again and start thinking about a camp. When I walked out of the building to feel that outside was warmer than inside, a huge smile came across my face, this is one of my favourite feelings in the world and I hadn’t felt it in a long time.
When I came to Lauderdale-By-The-Sea, I had to stop. I risked it and parked at the visitor’s centre. I wandered down to the beach (no waves, but pretty), then along to the main drag where the atmosphere had “holiday” written all over it. You could tell that everyone sitting out having pre-dinner drinks and early dinners were in holiday mode. There were couples, groups of retired folks and some families and it was gorgeous. I even saw a guy with a huge parrot on his shoulder, I’m sure he was the only local there. If I’d had company, it would have been nice to sit at one of those alfresco tables and enjoy a cold one, but I moved on.
When I got back to the car, something told me I should look at Trailforks (a mountain bike trail app) and when I did, I found that the Markham trail network was just inland of where I was. This is a place that was recommended to me by Houli back in Ocala NF so I was stoked I’d found it at the right time. I drove towards it and stopped at the first Walmart I came to. I was stunned to find the police had a lookout tower parked right in the middle of the carpark! It was an office pod atop a huge scissor lift, like nothing I’d even seen before. On top of that, the sherrif’s car was parked out the front of the shop.
I did a grocery shop, then made dinner and ate inside the van. I knew I was likely to get kicked out, but bugger it, I wanted to test it out. I’d picked a spot in the shadows and out of sight of the lookout tower, I didn’t turn on my light and kept my curtains shut. Basically full incognito mode. We shall see.