Day 6

We all woke up together at 7 am and packed our things out of our hotel room and started walking straight from the hotel since that is where we ended our walk yesterday. We stopped in McDonalds nearby for breakfast and then set out for a short day of walking due to logistics as we deal with our car situation. We only needed to get 11 miles in today.

We had a great stroll. Most of it was on a bike path so we didn’t have to worry about traffic. We spoke to a few people along the way, all of whom have been affected by addiction. We discussed our mission and offered options that may help their situations.

It was a lovely day weather-wise and the views of the ocean were incredible at times. We passed by a lot of iguanas basking in the sun. We were looking for snakes as Abhay likes to catch them and play with them. I want to try to get one since I have never done it before and have the opportunity to have someone guide me to do it. Why not right?

We came up to a restaurant that we had been looking forward to reaching. My dad stopped at the S.S. Wreck on Grassy Key and told the staff that we would be coming by. They told him that they would refill our waters and give us some key lime pie. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a name of anyone to ask for so when we walked in everyone gave us that “who the heck are these bums” look.

They used domino as an excuse to come up to me and try to get us to leave. I got an unwanted feeling so I just walked away. I’ve experienced this a lot in my past travels and don’t feel the need to get upset about it, nor have the energy to try to convince them that I’m actually a nice human being. I just keep on doing my thing. The rest of the team filled their waters up but the staff said they knew nothing about the pie. Fair enough. We walked on. We’ll go buy some pie from somewhere else lol.

We reached our destination and I called a taxi. It was only $10 to take 5 people and a dog 11 miles back to our car. I gave a few extra bucks for a tip and it worked out great for us.

We went to the American Legion post that our trailer was parked at and asked a member if they could tow the trailer 5 minutes ahead to our new campsite. The first person we asked said yes. Meghan also received $50 in donations and split it up between us all. Unreal. It’s so astonishing how much good you see in people when you are on a mission serving something bigger than yourself. I often break into tears when I think about it. In a good way.

Anyways, we get our trailer and our car parked next to each other and we have a beautiful beachside campsite for free. There is a mobile-home park that had 35 lots on it but only 5 trailers survived the storm. Now the lots are empty and covered in sand. We got permission from one of the people who are still here. They said we could stay for 5 days or so if we needed to as long as we clean up after ourselves. Again, amazing.

We set up our tents and Stick and I headed to a nearby gym to grab a shower for $2 each. Meghan, Allison, and Abhay went to hang out and explore the area. The shower was great and I went back to the campsite and made a satisfying dinner and now I’m here sitting with Stick on our own little private beach on a lovely evening in Marathon, Florida.

My dad is working hard for us on finding a car replacement. We have some options and should have the car issue solved within a week. In the meantime, we are still making miles and learning more about each other. I’m proud of all of us for fighting through the hard start and I’m grateful for all of the support that we had that was necessary to keep us going. Great day and a great night. Finally! 🙂