Simple America

So she and I lay down at 5:30 and told the kids to wake us up at 7:00. Best hour of sleep in the longest time. Charged the mental batteries for the long drive ahead. I packed the truck, while the missus cooked some hot wings. We had some salad and left over sushi filling to complete the meal. (Yes she made home made sushi). After we ate and the truck is full of our luggage I went around the house and made sure all of the power cords were disconnected. Don’t want anyone jacking my internet while we are gone or risk a fire. Finally we were backing out the drive. One last look and I saw a parcel on our front door. All ahead stop. Checked out the parcel and it was an IBM backpack the missus ordered for the lad. I threw it in the house. Peeked at the clocks on the stove and microwave and they both displayed 8:52. Turned on the alarm and locked the back door take two and drive away into the night.

And then we were heading east. We got on I-10 as soon as we could and did not look back. In two hours we crossed the Sabine River and entered Louisiana. We kept going until we reached Lafayette at midnight. There I stopped to make sure everyone went to the toilet. I must admit that I am a little intimidated by the Atchafalaya River Bridge. I thought it was a lot longer than 30 miles and there are no places to stop. Of course it could be that I got my first speeding ticket on that bridge too. Do not want to repeat the experience. But there was no need to speed since we had plenty of time.

The missus took over driving at that point. She drove over the Mississippi River at 1:10. We reached the state of Mississippi at 2:45. We stopped after Biloxi at 3:20. We had covered 420 miles (700 km) by then.

At that point I took the wheel and we entered Alabama at 4:15. We drove through Mobile at 4:36. One of these days I want to explore this city. The Battleship Alabama looked beautiful under the lights. At 5:15 we entered the state of Florida.  We drove 544 miles when I gave the wheel back to the missus. We stopped 7:55 to eat some breakfast. We had tea eggs and I devoured a banana too. At this point we had not reached Tallahassee.

From there I drove through Tallahassee and almost to I-95. I stopped two miles from the junction for a quick nose powdering session. The time was 10:24 and we had traveled over 800 miles (1,400 km).  The missus was not ready to take the wheel so I drove us south on I-95. We stopped about 30 miles north of the Florida turnpike to gas up. The time was 11:50 when we stopped there. While I pumped gas the missus got us hooked up with some cheap tickets for Universal Studio. All we have to do is tour a vacation property. So that makes two tours on this trip so far.

The missus took the wheel and drove us on to downtown Orlando and the Orlando Marriott Downtown. The driving complete we had made 982 miles (1,600 km)by 1:36. Oh wait, that would be 2:36 since we are now on the east coast. Time zone changes ya know. I kind of laugh when I think that if I had gone I-10 west the same distance, I would still be in Texas.

Inside the hotel had cookies and egg nog at the front desk. Really hit the spot. Across the street there was a center with the Nutcracker performed by the local ballet company. Down the road is Amway Arena where the Orlando Magic plays basketball. We got the bags up into the room and just chilled the rest of the day. A shower made me feel like a million bucks. Then we chowed down on the sushi the missus prepared. The missus and I visited the bar where I had a Corona and she enjoyed a glass of Chardonnay. We called it an early night as we are so tired. Tomorrow we go to Epcot Center.

Oh, we have free internet in this hotel. Woo hoo!