Florida: Day Two

We arrived at our hotel just around 12:30 AM. April checked us in, I lugged our suitcases out of the van, and we were in our room. Not suprisingly, both girls were awake - we had to get The Sweet up so she could walk to the room, and The Cute is a very light sleeper (just like her mother). The room was very nice and clean - aspects that are always great no matter where you stay. There were two queen-sized beds in our room - The Cute slept in bed with her mom, and The Sweet was with me.

We woke up around 9:00 - it would have been nice to sleep a little longer, but kids don't always let that happen. The Sweet wanted desperately to swim in the pool, so we had to tell her, "Just wait - we'll go swimming in Florida. Maybe tonight." We ate Pop-tarts and granola bars for breakfast. We left soon after waking and traveled on I-24, seeing many billboards for this American classic.

We stopped for lunch at a rest area just north of Chattanooga. It was nice to eat our sandwiches and chips by the Tennessee River. When we stopped, all the tables were taken except for one table with a covering and a sign that said it was for the handicapped. We had no choice but to take the "handicapped table." Several people left while we were eating. A family with a woman in a wheelchair arrived and took a table that was further away from the parking away - and therefore was not "handicapped." They said nothing to The Wife when she saw that their license plate was from Indiana and commented about it. I don't know if they were upset or not that we had taken a "handicapped table," but what were we to do?

Once we were through Chattanooga, we turned onto I-75 and into Georgia. We had hoped to be through Atlanta before rush hour hit, but we had no such luck. We were in the middle of downtown Atlanta at 4:00 PM, and we were in trouble. The road had been fairly smooth until just south of downtown and then we hit it - Bumper-to-Bumper Land. Our speed averaged around 12 mph, I think. We saw several accidents, including a car that appeared to be incinerated and a boat that had rammed into the back of the SUV pulling it. There are apparently some drivers in Georgia that need to return to driving school.

We finally entered Florida around 9:00 PM. The welcome station was closed, so we could not get a drink of the famous Florida orange juice. We stopped at some forgettable fast-food joint and continued on our way. Shortly before midnight we were still not at our destination. The Wife called the hotel to tell them we'd be in very late.