Back on the highway we began to keep an eye out for a motel.

The farther south we got the warmer the weather and it was lovely. “Boy, oh boy!” I exclaimed, “I”m going to have a drink with dinner, Ciss!” That sounds like a good idea responded Ciss. We spotted a motel with quite a number of cars already pulled in for the evening and decided we would do the same. We found the office, reserved a room and got the keys. We headed for the restaurant. I smiled up at the waitress and asked “could I please have a glass of wine with my dinner, thank you!” “Oh, I am so sorry Ma’am!” she replied, “but we don’t serve liquor on Sundays.” “Oh boy, there goes our celebration” I muttered. Oh well, maybe tomorrow.

We had a good night’s sleep. Early in the morning we set out right after breakfast. Having learned from experience as 4 o’clock drew near we began to look out for a motel once again. “There’s one coming up Ciss” I sang out cheerfully, “it’s time to pull in.”

Once again we pulled in to a Motel Office and booked a room. We went to the restaurant for our meal; sitting down we scanned the menu, and when the waitress appeared I asked, “Could I have a glass of wine with my dinner, please!” The waitress gave me a glaring look and announced, “Ma’am this is a dry state and we do not serve liquor!” Oh dear, I’m never going to get my glass of wine! I thought to myself. Well, never mind tomorrow we will be in Clearwater and have made it safely so far. Let’s thank our lucky stars go get some sleep, morning comes early.

Sure enough, the weather became even warmer so we stopped at a Rest Stop where I changed into a cooler outfit of brief shorts and top. Well, I still had nice legs anyway and soon as we get there I’ll go for a swim I thought to myself.

We finally arrived at the location in Clearwater where Ciss had her trailer. We unpacked some of the contents into the trailer. At Ciss’ request we hopped back into the car and picked up Peggy; we proceeded to the local bank. We no sooner got into the traffic than we heard a police siren! “Oh, dear!” muttered Ciss from the back seat. Peggy leaned over and said “I think that means us, so you better pull over.” I pulled over rather puzzled as I wasn’t aware of having done anything wrong. However, I saw the police car behind us and dutifully stopped.

“Where y’all from?” asked the officer having strolled up to the car. “Toronto, Canada”, I replied. “Got your owner’s license?” he asked. I explained that Ciss in the back seat owned the car and she would show it to him. He then asked for my driver’s license which I showed him. In the meantime the heat was rising from the sidewalk in waves, and the poor man was melting with sweat pouring all over his face.

“Ciss, where’s the license?” I asked. Poor Ciss was trembling and quivering with fear. “Calm down Ciss,” I soothed, “where’s the license?” “Oh Eva,” she replied “I left it in the trailer in case I lost it.”

“Oh, wow, never mind,” I said getting out of the car, “the officers gone back to his car and I’ll go tell him.” With that I got out and in my best Marilyn Monroe sashay I moseyed my way to the police car and leaned down to the window in my short shorts and brief top explaining our predicament to the poor sweltering officer

“Okay, okay, he sputtered at me, “since you just got here I’ll let you go this time, just don’t do it again!” “Oh, good,” I replied still not knowing what I had done wrong. I got back in our car and Peggy said “that could have been a $100.00 fine, you were very lucky!” At which remark I just chuckled!

Fortunately we had a perfect three weeks of perfect weather and bless Florida to this day!