And I'm home! What an adventure it's been, but home sure does feel good. The car is unloaded (but I'm definitely not unpacked) and I've done enough to crash tonight without remorse for not doing x-y-z.
I had forgotten that the panhandle part of Florida is hilly. Not high, mind you! The highest spot in Florida is only 500 feet. But hilly just the same. All green, lush, hot & humid - that's Florida! It was 85 degrees when I got home :-) (Yea, we cut the grass here all year round.)
The drive across Florida starts in Pensacola, home of the Blue Angels. Some of the overpasses had Blue Angel planes in formation on the supports - it was way cool! You cross over beautiful Escambia Bay (where I dove for scallops when I was but a wee one). Drive some more then get to the state capitol, Tallahassee, which is home to Florida State and Florida A & M Universities. Drive a little more through the Osceola National Forest, then just a little bit further and you're at the east coast :-).
So now I have made the trip from the right coast to the left and back to the right. I've driven I-40, a tiny bit of Route 66, and the length of I-10. I drove a total of 5707 miles. Trusty Steed handled the drive beautifully & will be rewarded with a nice long bath and oil change tomorrow. Leroy the Decoy slept the whole way but did his duty. Lawrence the ever-annoyed navi system did a good job in spite of the couple of times he was totally confused. And I must say - having the nav system gave me the confidence to wander around California without fear of getting lost.
Would I do it again? You bet! And I probably will. I'll go in the warm months so I can go the northern route, see Yellowstone, Glacier, Mount Rushmore etc, without worrying about weather. I'll visit California again, too. I enjoyed it so very much!! I'd like to spend a few weeks just wandering around, seeing more.
Turns out taking the southern route was a good choice. Flagstaff got lots more snow than was forecast, the Grand Canyon got snow, roads were closed in northern Texas because of the fires, and northern Mississippi & Alabama had tornadoes. The southern route was indeed the best option! So now I'll unpack from this trip & pack up for 2 weeks on the beach doing not much of anything. Ah, retirement! Thanks so much for taking the trip with me! It was nice to know you were following along!!!!! And ....
Thanks for stopping by!!!
Wow, congratulations on your long journey! Glad you had your two "fellas" to keep you company!
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