Putting A Wrap On My Road Trip Recount: Days 3 - 6

Having fallen behind in the telling of my FL road trip, I almost hesitate to continue as it is now old news. However, for posterity and my writing pleasure, I will see this recount through to the end! :) 

DAY 3: July 15

Breakfast the morning of our decampment. 

Late the next morning (click here to read previous day's recap), the weather started to become sketchy with the wind kicking up and gray clouds scuttling across the sky. As my weather radio barked out storm warnings for much of NC, I made an executive decision: Our safety would be best served out from under the towering trees of MoMo. So, around 2 p.m. that day, we pulled up stakes and out of the state park with a destination of Florence, SC – an easy 3-hour drive along scenic back roads.

Our route took us through Cheraw, SC, home of jazz great Dizzy Gillespie. The homes were something straight out of Southern Living magazine with big white columns, wrap-around verandas, and lawns landscaped with towering oak trees festooned with Spanish moss.

DAY 4: July 16

Poor sick girl, not even a squirrel running
across the bed could have gotten her excited.

We left Florence at 9 o’clock that morning bound for Lake City, FL, about a five or six hour drive. Rained like crazy on us most of the way, but it was an easy drive down I-95 from which we connected with I-10 west, and finally I-75 south. The worst part of that trip was my golden girl not feeling very well. Three times Sedona got sick in the vehicle (politely throwing up in her water dish each time), and twice more after we stopped at our hotel. My worry was that she’d gotten into something poisonous at the campground, but there was no way to tell. She was one uggie-feeling pup, had no spark and no appetite. 

On the road somewhere between Lake City and FMB.

DAY 5: July 17

This started the final leg of our journey to my parent’s home in Fort Myers Beach – about a five-hour drive. The good news for that morning was that even though Sedona remained sluggish, she was no longer throwing up. However, I was still worried and made an appointment for Friday with a veterinarian referred to me by my mom’s friend. 

At 1:30 pm, with the windows rolled down and a John Philip Sousa CD triumphantly blasting, we arrived at my parent’s house. Now, seeing my mom and dad certainly perked up Miss Sedona!

DAY 6: July 18 

At Indian Creek Vet Hospital.
Sedona is so paw-some!

I’ll wrap up this long recall with the visit to the veterinarian, etc. The short of the problem, as near as our new friends at Indian Creek Veterinary Hospital could figure, was that the stress of the trip (being so out of her routine) caused Sedona's body to release histamine, which resulted in the upset stomach and lethargy -- contributing to that condition was a urinary track infection. Fortunately, antibiotics had Miss Sedona right-as-rain in a few days. The heat is not something she particularly enjoys and that’s kept us from walking regularly. Of course, it hasn’t stopped Sedona from her daily bake in the sun!

Two initial take-a-ways from my sojourn: 1) I am blessed to be able to be here with my parents and, 2) I will never be a fulltime Florida resident – too darn hot, the vegetation is sooooo different (I’ll elaborate on that point another time), and it is buggy!