So, This post starts the series for my fall vacation in Tampa, Fl., in late 2012.
Interestingly, I started out the day, at the car rental place at the airport at 6:05 AM. I know, get up at 6:00 on a vacation day? Crazy, but I did it.
Bubba took me to the airport, and because I had received a text from the rental company, I knew where the car was. Getting to it, I realized that it was a minivan kind of car. Looking around, I knew there were other more car-like vehicles, so, off tot he office I go. The agent was preoccupied with some kind of tech problem, and so, I explained i need a car, not a minivan, and she tapped a few minutes, and then paper shot out of the printer, and voila', I had a white Altima.
Meeting Bubba outside the rental place, I transferred my stuff from his car, and with a hug, and a have fun fro him I was on the road.
The GPS system on my tablet said 987 miles to my destination. ETA for arrival, 11:11 PM. I started out the day, and decided I was just going to drive the speed limit, and have fun, and not stress about nearly 1000 miles, after all, I was the one tat decided that I wasn't going to fly to Florida.
So, I got away from Houston before the traffic got bad, and then, I was on I-10, I knew that this was where I was going to spend the majority of my trip, 790+ miles. I found the dance music channel, and turned it up loud, and rolled the window down, and, well to quote Forrest Gump, I went. Speaking of Forrest, I saw the sign for the exit to Bayou Le Batrie, and grinned. I still say, one day I am going down there, and ask to see the Jenny!
I got McDonald's breakfast before I left east Houston, and just let the white Altima chew the road up. I set the cruise to 70 (at least, the car said 70, the GPS on the tablet and phone both said I was doing 72, so, who are you going to believe?), and just moved down the road. I was bored, so, I figured out how to use the voice dictation feature of my cell phone to tweet, and was always on the hunt for a clear "dance music" channel. Then, I started listening to the words to the songs. Like I said, I was bored.
The weather was great, not a single cloud in the sky, and the temp was in the high 70's, low 80's the entire trip. At 500 miles, I was a little excited, because I was half way to the goal, and it was on like 4:30 in the afternoon. Remember, at this point, it was still not my goal to drive the entire way. I was going to stop "someplace" when I got tired. 8:00 PM arrived, and it was dark, but the odometer said I was 247 miles from Tampa. At this point, I stopped, got some nuggets, and a Mocha Frappe from McDonald's. Maybe it was the coffee, maybe it was the 20 minute break, but, I was energized, and so, I decided screw it, let's go to Tampa. I wasn't sure about the hotel situation, but, worse case, I paid full price for my room for one night. After all, it had been my intention to stop for the night anyway.
It began to rain the last 1.5 hours, but, the traffic allowed me to keep up my speed as I headed south on I-75, right down the middle of Florida.
Arriving in Tampa, I drove straight to the hotel, and discovered that it is the hotel where I ate lunch every day I was here in March! Pulling in, I explained to the lady that I was a day early, and that I needed a room, and what-not, and she gave me a room at the same rate that I am paying for rest of the week, so, score one for me.
Getting into the room, and I find it is pretty nice, and has great hot water in the shower, with lots of pressure. After showering, I plugged all the gadgets in, and checked a few emails, and caught up on a few tweets. I thought about writing this blog, but decided that sleep was more likely, and drifted off to sleep.
The only bad news of the trip? The speaker on my phone no longer makes any noise. But, I will deal with the next week. It still vibrates, so, hopefully, I won't miss any calls. Not that I actually get any calls. But, the new Windows Phone is coming out soon, and I want one..... So, perhaps, this is the wheel of fate.
So, anyway, as I wind down this, because I am running out of stuff to say, I will summerize by saying that I was shocked I could drive all the way like I did. I know that if I had tried it on the bike, I would have been done after 12-13 hours. It is very demanding to ride that far. Everything begins to hurt, then the pain begins to burn, then, you have to get off for a while.
I am picking up the other fan of Prinzzess at the airport at 3. I am unsure how interacting with her will be. I find that I am not a good people person at all. I love to watch them, but the pushy ones grate on me. And this one grates on me, virtually, so, my fear is that she will grate in person as well.
We will see.
Shalom
Namaste, My Friends.
See You On The Other Side (First two rounds on me) (Starbursts and Jaegar Bombs are 5.00 for the next two songs!)
Deo Non Fortuna
P.S. Oh yes, I am here to See Prinzzess, and a few other friends this week, and I will be doing adult beverage night every night. I will try to blog.....