Day Two - June 28th

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<strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Second Day – June 28



After a good night’s rest we joined Sharon, who graciously shared her house with us, for some morning refreshments and congenial conversation before heading out to meet our friend Jeremy for breakfast. Today’s plan was to drive from Atlanta to Pensacola. The trip covers roughly 350 miles.

We met Jeremy in Norcross, GA (a northern suburb of Atlanta) at a local chain restaurant called the Flying Biscuit. They offered a unique breakfast menu and Jeremy, Jill, and I enjoyed our breakfast. Chatting with Jeremy for an hour or so we caught each other up on what was going on in our lives and vowed that we would try to get together again sooner rather than later. Before saying our final good byes, we enlisted Jeremy’s help for finding a nearby Geocache – which he did.

The day’s mid-point was a stop at the Talladega International Speedway and the Motorsports Hall of Fame. We first took a tour of the two and two thirds mile super-speedway tri-oval. It is NASCAR’s longest and fastest race track. The turns are banked at 33 degrees (compared to Daytona Speedway’s 31 degrees) and allow the cars to go go around the turns as fast as possible. Our “Good Ole Boy” guide/bus driver was quite knowledgeable about the track; although his southern drawl made it hard for this northern boy to understand at times.

We spent more time than planned strolling through the museum in the hall of fame. We browsed many old race cars of all types and talked about many of the drivers that had been inducted into the hall of fame since the first inductees were installed in 1990.

We then headed to our next destination, Pensacola Beach, Florida. We traversed through the center of Nowhere, Alabama. The two lane road was in good condition and virtually barren of all traffic. I have to say, even during the daylight hours, being in the middle nothing in Alabama is still a bit creepy. I was very thankful the Caravan kept ticking smoothly. We passed through three or small towns, only a couple of which had a traffic light. Gas prices in the back woods of the Deep South were still low. We paid $3.19 to top off the tank before we hit real civilization once again. For the most part, gas prices in populated areas run from $3.39 to $3.54.

We rolled into the parking lot of Peg Leg Pete’s in Pensacola Beach about 7:30. We immediately found Denise and her friend Andrew in the parking lot. Denise had her shiny pink Harley out for its inaugural ride after a rather extensive overhaul. The ’78 Hog never looked so good!

It was great fun catching up with Denise, learning what she had been up to, and relating some of our travel adventures to she and Andrew. After a wonderful meal (I had char-grilled Mahi-Mahi – I highly recommend it) and swapping a few more stories, we said good bye and headed to our night’s lodging.

All I will say about our hotel tonight is . . . it was cheap, which is exactly what I keep reminding myself as I sit here and write by a very dimly lit wall sconce and the smell of somebody’s stale cigarette smoke (Sorry sir, we have no more no smoking room.”).

Looking forward to tomorrow’s better accommodations at a B&B in New Orleans.

Thanks for reading,

Don and Jill

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Comments

[Jay Z.]

Nascar and stale cigarettes
Don and Jill, At least the personal company you visited was good. Did your southern boy bus driver let you get out and try to stand on the 33 degree banking?? Sounds like a track built for my Moped!! Your mileage may actually improve as the Caravan gets more miles on it, especially the way you drive!! Speaking of driving, I was diving into the blind exit ramp from 222 North after it passes the Berkshire Mall onto 422 East at about 55 MPH and there on the apex suddenly appears a Lexus sedan in reverse!! I had just enough time to slow and move left to miss him and eventually hit the horn to harmonize with my expletives. I used to like that turn. Grilled mahi mahi almost sounds better that the Charcoal Pit. We miss you too and thought of you when Pat and I took Chloe and Evan to a drive in movie of Monsters University. But that is another story. Love, Jay and Pat.