Headed South....Slowly

I am now in Bradenton, as of 12:30 this afternoon, but it's been a slow road getting here.
Actually, part of it was planned. The early part of the trip was flawless.  I was on the road by about 5:15 AM.  The car performed perfectly, I had lots of entertainment, and I made good time.  It clouded up at Whitehaven, the KY welcome center, where I had stopped to eat my sandwich (and also found a geocache).  It stayed cloudy, but never did rain, with the exception of a very few little sprinkles.  I stopped for gas three times (Paducah, KY, Morrow, GA, and Alachua, FL (I was at a half tank that last stop, but it gave me enough to get the rest of the way here).

I had planned to stop in Atlanta to see two friends, Mike G and HJ, both of whom I met at Vaughantown in 2012.  At the last minute, HJ had car problems that prevented him coming up, so that was a little disappointing.  I found Mike's restaurant, Doc Greens, without a whole lot of trouble, though I think Mr TomTom was playing with me toward the end.  On the map, it looked like a simple exit and a right turn.  TomTom took me in a big circle for some reason, and I came up on the little strip from the other side, so I almost missed it (I had looked it up on Google Earth so it would look familiar).   Mike and I had a nice dinner at his restaurant and a fun conversation - I think we sat there close to two hours.

I got through Atlanta before the rain started, but before Macon it started to really pour.  I hate hard rain more than I hate hard snow, and since it was after dark by then, it was even worse.  I decided to stop at Tifton, GA to sleep in the Walmart parking lot, since my drive time was messed up by both the stop and the slower speeds required in the rain.  By the time I got to Tifton the rain had stopped, but it was killer humid.  I got the car really cold, then got in the back to try to sleep, but it was no use.  Opening the windows made it worse, (plus it was not as safe), and my new backseat has somewhat of a contour, so I couldn't get comfortable.  I decided to just bite the bullet and get a motel.

I drove on to Adel, just down the road, and found a really great Days Inn.  She asked if I had AAA, AARP, or was a senior (yes, yes, and uh, not even close), and I got a discount!  She never asked to see either of my cards, though.  The room was actually quite nice.  It was on the main floor and my car was right outside the window.  There was a fridge, a microwave, and coffee-making facilities, too!  By then it was almost midnight, and I didn't take anything into the room except my purse.  I just went in, took off my clothes, cranked the a/c up to high, and fell deeply asleep.  I intended to get up and continue at 5:00 AM, but when I woke up it was full-on thunderstorming, so I went back to sleep until 6:00 AM.  Same story, so back to sleep I went, until 7:00 AM, when it was no longer raining.

I justified the long stopover by figuring that if I had pushed through and come on down here, it was going to be close to 3:00 AM before I got here, then I would need to sleep, so I wouldn't be available to do anything until about noon, anyway.  Plus, it was safer not to be driving in the hard rain and lightning, right?  It rained a little during the morning, but it was never really bad.  And when I got here, I discovered that there was one more reason that it was good that I had stopped - the a/c isn't working here (the fan won't run).  It's currently 87 degrees in here, and I have now been waiting for the guy for three hours.  I did run quickly to the grocery store, but can't really go anywhere else for fear that they will show up while I'm gone.

One little benefit of being stuck here is that I figured out how to use the mobile hotspot on my phone, but I'm sure it's eating data, so I won't spend the evening on the computer.  Still, it's nice to have wifi here at the moment.

So - day #2 has been pretty much wasted.  I would like to get to Capalbo's (Fire & Stone) for dinner, but I'm not sure that will be possible.  When I talked to them an hour ago, they thought it might be another two hours before he got here.  Cathy is having a cold tomorrow, so we are going to run around - not sure what we will be doing.  I'm sure the Illinois tomatoes I have for her will make her feel much, much better.  :)