Spring Fling 2011 - Days 5 & 6

These two days represented the end of one phase and the start of the next.  On Monday morning Marissa went to the library and John played "househusband" and generally got things ready for the Tuesday departure.  We went to lunch at Tequila's Mexican restaurant and had a surprisingly good meal, stopping on the way back to fill up the van and get a bake-it-yourself pizza for the evening.  The pump snapped off at exactly $75, either a coincidental good sign or a maximum setting per card swiping, but the van was full.

The afternoon was lazy, mostly watching DVDs with a break to take Zoe for her first "outing" in several days, which she clearly enjoyed.  Marissa went back for the second part of her split shift and the evening thereafter was calm and pleasant.

I woke early Tuesday, to Marissa's displeasure as little "ears-like-a-bat" hears every minuscule sound, but the bottom line was that I was pulling out of her driveway at 7:00  AM (8:00 EST) with 292.1 miles on the odometer.  The morning was dull, but dry and not too cold.  "Portia" was confused by the changes to the Lloyd Expressway & had to "recalculate" to find the bridge without taking me along the waterfront.  The Ohio is in serious flood already, edge of water to edge of water being an immense distance, but not affecting bridge or roadway.  More road construction also had Portia confused later on but the situation was self-correcting, but I must remember to see if I can update the GPS when I get home.

At 10:30 (EST) I stopped for a stretch and a fancy McCoffee prior to weaving my way through the Nashville interstate system.  I slogged on until almost 1:00 when I fortuitously stumbled on a Love's with both a Subway for a sandwich and a McD's for a coffee, both of which were consumed in the back of the van, semi-recumbent, while I read and forced myself to take a decent break.  It started to sprinkle as I subsequently filled up with gas and no sooner had I returned to the highway than it rained at varying intensities, but mostly very hard, for all 90 miles remaining to Birmingham, where it stopped just before a mess of road construction was encountered.  Luckily it was not bad going south, but the northbound traffic looked to be in real trouble.  Subsequently the day improved both in temperature and in sunshine.

In Montgomery I switched from hot lattes to iced, but still McD's.  Thereafter it was just a steady slog on to Dothan, to my easily-found hotel and comfortable room.  My travel time, stops included, had been 9 hours and fifty minutes covering 561 miles.  The van has made longer trips, but always with two or more drivers.  This was the longest run it has made with a single, companion-less driver, kept alert by an eclectic mix of CD's all the way from grand operatic arias to Patsy Cline & everything (not modern) in between.

Dothan, apparently, has the highest per-capita rate of both motels and restaurants in the land, very largely catering to transients, such as myself.  Reluctant to enter the van again today I was pleased to find several restaurants within 150 yards, and chose Ruby Tuesday's to which to take my "date", Ms. Kindle.  I indulged in a leisurely fashion over a really excellent meal, blue cheese flavored cole slaw, tilapia topped with many large shrimp and covered with a spicy parmesan sauce and a baked potato, and a fruit and yogurt based parfait for desert.  I'm on holiday, I've driven a long way, and who was to stop me?

I kept wondering why "Portia" always seemed to be an hour off with her ETA until I entered the hotel and found that yea, verily, it is CST here - who knew?  Now all that remains is a nice soak in the hot-tub/whirlpool & some peaceful reading.  All in all a good day.