Tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch. Grilled parmesan-crusted mahi-mahi with grilled Vidalia onions and baked potatoes for dinner, followed by caramel praline ice cream drizzled with chocolate sauce. A chance to work on our projects all afternoon in a quiet air-conditioned room, with access to a second computer. A real bed to sleep in for the night and a private bathroom. That’s just part of what Lori, from Knight’s Key Landing, did for us yesterday.
Taking mercy on us after our tough night the night before (the Cuban families finished their party at 8 a.m.) and seeing us pelted with rain during the storm that finally hit, she took mercy on us and invited us over to her trailer for the afternoon. During a lull in the storm we started packing up to leave our site, but didn’t quite make it before the rain hit again. Lori found us hiding in the tent, and brought her truck over, helping us load the trailers and everything we could grab, and brought us over to her place.
We made great progress on our projects with such a great situation, and felt absolutely wonderful with Lori. We don’t have time tonight to write more (the sun is going down fast and we are low on battery for our headlamp), but I’ll be talking more about her. We spent the night in air-conditioned comfort (what a relief!), and laughed until we cried. Lori took us out hunting for yellow-crowned night herons, and hermit land crabs, and we almost went to the 7-Mile Bridge to see the night view. We didn’t get back from our adventures until 1 a.m.!
When we left this morning, it felt like leaving family. Lori was down on hands and knees helping Chelsea get her reflector fixed on the trailer, was offering last minute water, food, and anything else we might need…
Needless to say, Lori wins our Hero of the Day for June 16th!
Signing off from Long Key…