With more than 140 nights on the road since leaving home in Oct of last year, we have stayed at
a lot of locations... All of them have been interesting, although I don't know that I would describe any of them as "unusual" ;)
However, there was one night when we had an unplanned stay in a parking lot in a sketchy Miami neighborhood. Here's the whole story;
In mid-January of this year, my 73 year old mother flew from California to meet up with us in the Florida Keys for a week. On the 3rd night of her visit she took a little spill off of our TC's scissor-steps :o and bumped her head. The paramedics who responded to our 911 call suggested, due to her age and the fact that she may have had a concussion (or worse), that she be taken to the trauma center in Miami. So they loaded her onto a helicopter and off she went... disoriented, all-alone, and with nothing but her ID card in her hand.
We very quickly packed up the camper, but by the time we got on the road it was nearly midnight and the drive from
Bahia Honda to Miami was more than 2.5 hours... Despite the late hour and the distance, it had to be done. Now, describing he area around Jackson Memorial Hospital as
unsavory and
inhospitable to RV's (of any type) would be a gross understatement, and our 2:30am arrival time didn't make things any better. I drove for some time in the areas surrounding the hospital, looking for any place that was large enough for our TC and safe enough to leave my wife and two young children alone while I went inside to check on Mom, but I wasn't having any luck. Finally my wife spotted an uncovered parking lot at the corner of
NW 17th & Bob Hope Dr. The lot had a closed gate but she thought I might be able to somehow pry it open (we were exhausted and feeling desperate), and she suggested that I get out to give it a try. When I approached the gate I was met by an armed security guard who firmly stated "sorry sir, we're closed". I calmly explained our story to her, pointing out that kids were sitting (now staring at us) in the back seat the truck. To my amazement this
angel said to me "OK I'll open the gate for you... come on in... I'm on duty until 7am... Your family will be safe in here."
I quickly parked, tossed the kids in the TC, told my wife not to open the door for anybody but me, and dashed into the ER. Fortunately, when I got to mom she was fine... the only injuries were a few minor bumps and bruises. So I went back out to the TC, set my alarm clock, and I went to sleep. I went out to meet with the security guard just before 7:00 and I thanked her profusely, offered a small tip as an expression of our gratitude, and then I thanked her again.
The hospital released Mom around 10am and then we did what any family of happy campers would do.... We drove back down to the keys to resume our adventure.
Cheers,
-Mark
