Mom and I left Fort Myers at 10:20am en route to meet our cruise ship in Miami. This allowed us 5 hours and 40 minutes to make the 2 hour and 20 minute drive to the Port of Miami.
We could get on the boat as early as noon, but HAD to be on the boat by 3.
This was going to allow us plenty of time for me to drop off mom and the bags, then go park the car. And then leisurely go thru processing and security. Ultimately spending the afternoon poolside!
I was driving and had a terrible migraine. Shocking, yes.
We decided to stop at the rest stop on Alligator Alley so I could get a Coke. Which turned into an ordeal because the Coke machines were being serviced. Nothing is ever easy!
Approximately halfway across Alligator Alley (I-75), (the Interstate and main corridor connecting the East and West coasts of Florida), a semi truck caught fire. The east bound traffic was closed for several hours.
If we hadn’t made that stop – we would have been on the other side of the accident.
I don’t know why, but I didn’t take photos of the fire. We could see the smoke billowing in the air. And we also heard several explosions.
This is the only photo I took – which was several hours into the incident.
We only knew that it was a truck fire because Uncle Hugh was able to find news stories about it on the internet.
I called NCL several times updated them on our situation. At this point, there still was a chance of making it to the Port of Miami. Mom and I laughed because the lady on the other end of the phone didn’t understand why we didn’t just make a u-turn in the median. I explained to her that we were in the Everglades and alligators and moccasins lived in the medians and along side the roads.
Because there is only 1 gas station on the Alley and we had no idea how long we would be sitting there, we had to shut off the car. We would get out and walk around and talk to other motorists. Then get back in the car, turn it on, cool down and then repeat the process.
Once the eastbound traffic was diverted, we had to go back to the west side of the state, to SR 29 South and then connect with US 41 East along with thousands of other vehicles.
Traffic was heavy on the 2 lane roads, however, there was still hope. After several more calls to NCL, they agreed to allow us to board up until 4:30pm. Linda, my GPS had us arriving at 4:10pm. Okay, we can do this!
Just as we got on US 41, there was a rest area. We both had to go really bad, so we ran.
Back in the car in 5 minutes and on the road again.
People were driving like maniacs though and it was pretty scary. This road was not ever intended for this amount of traffic and people were passing when they shouldn’t be. Mom and I said several times, someone is going to cause a head-on collision.
And then the traffic on US 41 came to a stop.
So mom got out and tried to find out what was going on, while I called NCL again.
Mom ran into one of the guys we had been talking to on the Alley. A few people who had walked on ahead came back with the report… a head-on collision. Fatalities.
Shit! We are never going to get out of here!
And once again, stopping at the rest area screwed us!
Plus, now we were on a 2 lane road in the heart of the Everglades. No where to go, very limited cel signal.
Mom and I knew that a “signal 7” (accident with fatalities) meant we were not making the cruise. My dad is a retired Florida Highway Patrol Lieutenant – over the years he worked his fair share of 7s on the Alley. It takes about 30-45 mins for FHP to arrive, then an hour for homicide, another hour for the coroner… this would easily be a 4-5 hour wait.
So it was time to admit defeat and cancel our trip with NCL. While on hold, I took time to enjoy the sites… here is a Florida Cracker…
Barefoot, shirtless, talking on his Nextel with this dog in tow.
Brenda, who worked at NCL in the Port of Miami, explained to me that we would not be getting our money back. All we would get was a refund of about $180 – the government taxes and fees.
So I called Berkely Care, the company I had purchased a travel insurance policy with thru NCL.
That is when I learned that there was not a provision in the insurance policy for traffic accidents – unless you are directly involved in the accident.
I was furious!
But the guy I spoke to said to go ahead and file a claim with as much documentation as possible – our case would go before a “board” and they would decide whether or not we would receive a voucher. The most the voucher would be for was 75% of what we paid, to be used towards a future cruise.
Our gas tank was down to ¼. And the skeeters and no-see-ums were eating me alive.
Mom and I decided to turn around and head to the gas station which was about 20 miles back. Then decide what to do.
While driving back thru the miles of cars, we randomly would stop and tell people what had happened up ahead.
We had decided we still wanted to take a few days and relax. We were thinking Marco Island or the Keys. However, I needed internet to research what was available – which probably wasn’t much since it was Spring Break.
If we went home, that was a wasted hour+ in the wrong destination. So mom said there were a couple hotels in Everglades City and Chockoloskee which were near the gas station we were going to.
We got to the gas station and it looked like it does when there is a hurricane. Over 50 cars lined up! No way were we getting in that mess!
So we headed to Everglades City.
And then Chockoloskee – the “drinking town with a fishing problem”.
Chockoloskee, settled in the 1870s became the trade center for those scattered among the Ten Thousand Islands region. Until the causeway was built in 1956, the only way there was by boat.
Mom gave me a little tour of the town. Mainly all that is there is Ted Smallwood’s store which opened in 1906.
It served as the general store and post office; for many years it was the only store between Key West and Fort Myers. It is steeped in ‘old’ Florida history. Including the site of the murder of Mr. Edgar Watson who was on the run from killings in Key West in 1910.
Ted Smallwood retired in 1941, however the store remained opened until 1982 when the doors shut. It is now a museum and the artifacts from the day it closed are still there today.
In the 1980s when the net fishing ban went into effect, the fishermen resorted to running bales of “square grouper” from the marijuana ships out in the open waters into places like Chokoloskee since the area was so remote. No one else knew the ins and outs of the Ten Thousand Islands like those fishermen.
Back to present day…
We stopped to gas up and asked the lady at the counter about hotels with internet. She told us of a few and I also called a few that Linda had suggested. However, finding one with internet was proving to be a challenge.
We stopped at a few with vacancy and found that they had jacked up their rates since we had called. They were learning about all the stranded people 30 miles away.
Believe me, I don’t blink at spending $100+ on a hotel. But not a single one of these places were worth it!
Eventually, we settled on the Captains Table Hotel.
They had a room, a restaurant next door and internet.
Well sorta…
They had internet in the lobby.
But the lobby closed at 8pm.
However, they had a screen room outside the lobby and the lady said I could sit on the patio and still get internet.
So mom and I checked in and I lugged our luggage up the steps. No elevator or first level rooms.
The room was primitive, but it would work.
(photo taken Tuesday morning)
We changed and went to dinner.
Afterwards, I headed down to the screen room for internet.
Initially the lady at Hilton had told me there was no hotels rooms from Miami to Key West. But after a little pressure and reminding her that I was a Hilton Diamond VIP, she magically came up with rooms.
It took me over an hour but I got us a 2 nights in Key West (Tues/Wed) and then 1 night in Key Largo (Thurs). It had proven to be very difficult to find anything being that it was Spring Break.
Time for bed – what an exhausting day!
