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Summer Road Trip 2016-Day One

As always, my day started with the usual mental masturbation I experience before a road trip. Missing my Wingman on this trip and that has generated some anxiety. I keep my goal in mind - hitting those three western states- hug my Fur Babies and fire Bessie up at 6am to head out. It's barely daylight, my favorite time of morning to leave.

I'm always amazed that it takes hours to leave the state of Florida from where I live. I road 19N and with the exception of the Spring Hill area (Weeki Wachi Tourist Trap), Bessie and I had the road pretty much to ourselves. The highway is dotted with small towns that amount to nothing more than an intersection warranting a caution light. The route is littered with broken down Mom and Pop motels. Remnants from a era long gone. And era of slower, leisurely travel, robbed by the Interstate. Weather was perfect, sure it's hot but it's the South...where we WEAR the weather! I stopped in Perry for a spectacularly plain breakfast at a Huddle House🙀 I left a generous tip however in the hopes that my waitress would stop whining about life in general. 

I love rural Florida and sorry that my ride today would not take we west from Perry. I will miss Sopchoppy and the Worm Grunting Festival. I reluctantly jumped on I-10 long enough to bypass Tallahassee then SR231 north into Alabama. I'm in the land of Tupelo Honey, Moonshine Jelly, and Gator Jerky....and don't forget the 'Slap yer Mama' products.  The ride to Montgomery on Backroads is gentle and fairly rolling. Not much to see, so Bessie and I just ride anticipating a soft pillow top matress at the end of the day.

Finding a hotel was a little tougher than I would have anticipated. But that is the risk of back roads; the Mom and Pop places are either left to decay or turned unwillingly into No-Tell-Motels for crack whores in order to survive. I passed up the Relax Inn for $37.99; not sure if that was hourly or nightly. I actually had to head over to I-65 and go 50 miles back south to find a Hampton Inn.

A hot shower for me, the bugs cleaned off Bessie and a salad....that's about all I could manage. Tomorrow is a sightseeing day. 

Comments

  1. UnknownJune 22, 2016 at 6:30 PM

    Safe travels my friend. I will be praying to Saint Christopher for you. Can't wait to hear all about your travel hijinks.

    ReplyDelete

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