Today, our last day in Sarasota, we had many false starts, as we did heading this way on Thursday. We met up with Stella and family, then we headed to the one art/museum/cultural bit of tourism we've done on this trip -- the Ringling grounds. We left Tima with Stella. After Ringling, we got Tima and planned on Meeting Ken's friend, Shannon, back at the Pastry Art coffeehouse. However, her new infant was figiting too much, so she had to leave before we were able to get there. We said our goodbyes to Stella, and headed to the coffeehouse. Then we had to go back to Stella's, because we forgot Tima's leash. After finally saying our goodbyes for real, we headed to the barrier keys to explore and enjoy the beach.
A nice afternoon thunderstorm rolled in and I talked to a family of Scots on the beach because they saw me trying to teach Tima how to swim. Actually, Tima knows how to swim as all dogs naturally do, it is just getting her to take to the water and enjoy it without thinking she is somehow being punished. We then started slowly meandering north. As we did so, the nice afternoon thundershower turned into an evening of drenching rain for our drive through Tampa.
Suyen enjoyed the beach so much she decided that we should beach hop our way north instead of doing something touristy like Orlando.
However, our plans sort of hit a rough spot as there aren't many good beaches north of Tampa and south of the panhandle. We took 19 north to hug the coast as best we can, and had somebody in a white Dodge extra cab truck want to drag race us. I guess he saw that we had the cummins diesel and he wanted to try it out with his souped up hemi. We didn't oblige. We've ended up in the Port Hotel and Marina in Crystal River, where there are Manatees. This hotels claim to fame is that Elvis stayed here in 1960, and, of course, the manatees.
We met up with Suyen's friend from the Philippines at her house in Sarasota. Our friend, Ken, also got us in contact with a friend of his, who now lives in Sarasota -- Shannon. We are still wiped out from last night, so the first part of the day was spent getting up and around, and going over to the house and getting re-aquainted. I took a nap which wiped out my grogginess. I had to spend the early morning hours fighting with the computer as an update from Apple screwed some things up that I was trying to do. Suyen, Stella, her mother, Tima and I met up with Shannon at a nice coffeehouse downtown. I haven't been to southern Florida since I was little in 1973. I went to the panhandle of Florida in 1995, when I was in the Air Force Reserves doing Silver Flag training at Tyndal Air Force base. We got visited by a nice hurricane then called Erin.
We left the Com"fart" Inn after having brekkus at afflehouse. Suyen and I got in too late for the free continental breakfast. Most of those are barely worth the walk to the lobby anyway. The afflehouse was more local color anyway. Suyen was noticing the accent, which is really thick in this part of Tennessee. We headed south and I looked at the clock on the dash... 11:11. We got to the Smoky Mountains, and I thought about the Civil War, and how depressing that was. A major battle took place in these mountains. Like the Battle of Lookout mountain, many people pass this way every day as the gateway to Georgia and Atlanta.
Driving up the steep grades west of Chattanooga Tennessee...
Going down the steep 6 percent grade in the Smoky Mountains West of Chattanooga Tennessee...
Not much to see of Chattanooga Tennessee from the highway...
We headed south with haste hoping to beat rush hour in Atlanta, barely giving Chattanooga a glance, as it could scarcely be seen from the highway, anyway. We did penetrate Atlanta's traffic barely an hour before the evening rush, and even at that, it was bad. We had to pee really bad, but we waited until we had cleared most of Atlanta.
Driving past downtown Atlanta Georgia just before rush hour traffic on the interstate...
We stopped at a Quicktrip, which was surprising, because I didn't realize they had them this far south. Quicktrip has become my favorite convenience chain because of their clean bathrooms and decent food. We had thought we had ditched the traffic, but the worst was before us on I-75, just southeast of Atlanta -- road construction. Afterward, we made a poor choice of getting diesel at a Pilot. It turned out to be poor because there were only 4 pumps available for regular cars that carried diesel. All four were filled, and people seemed to be not in a hurry to fuel up their vehicles and make the pumps available for others to use. Most egregious was a baptist church group in a bus who were camped out at one of the pumps. I parked behind them because I thought they were going to be done first. Boy, was I wrong. They finished fueling, alright, but then the driver looked up at me waiting and slooowly turned away and fiddled around flirting with his young teen female bus riders. Suyen, who went in the store to go to the restroom said it was worse in there, as the kids had gathered around the register at once and took for ever to get checked out, thereby forcing other drivers at the pumps to wait. A pump finally opened up. I fueled up, then parked the truck so I could go in and use the bathroom and take Tima for her potty break. When we left, the bus was still camped out at the pump, and kids were treating the parking lot as a playground, playing frisby and running around and gabbing with each other in large clumps, not paying any mind to anybody else tring to get in and out. We headed south in the forever part of the trip. We crossed the state line into Florida way past dusk. We stopped for some KFC at 10, mainly for a break. Around Tampa, the drivers got angry and impatient. It was close to midnight and there were still a lot of cars on the road. If you dared venture into the left lane to try to pass, someone would get right up on you and flash their lights impatiently. The result of all this was that we ended up being delayed by a fatal wreck involving a van and an 18 wheeler. The biggest offenders I could remember were a woman in a silver jeep who raced, zig zagged, flashed and tailgated her way south, an 18 wheeler who almost clipped us as he passed us, and a Florida Movers van who was blaring music and dancing in the drivers seat, then yelling threats at us when he wanted to cut in front of us at the ass ident scene. Later, he was racing and zig zagging through a construction zone. We arrived in Sarasota about 01:30, and found a nice Best Western with Mid-Century modern design.
After a few false starts, starting out late and eating at our favorite restaurant (Vietnam Cafe) we headed out on this hot summer day. The weather up north is frightful as there was something of a tornado outbreak in Minnesota, but on our trek we had clear skies. It has been raining hard everywhere we went, so the rivers are up. Crossing Missouri seemed longer than I remember on I-70. I got the stream going and was able to record downtown St. Louis as we passed through. I had it uploaded by the time we passed out of the worst town in the U.S. (East St. Louis).
There is not much to see in St. Louis from the highways and the sites you do see are quite grim. The highways are ugly and tricky to navigate. St. Louis is best to be avoided unless you are planning a visit there. Illinois is quite boring to cross. I kept cussing every time we hit a big bump on the highway and I muttered something about how Chicago is to blame.
By the time we crossed into Kentucky, it was dark. We pooped out at about Nashville and took a motel east of the city.
