Florida #1

Well, I am on vacation. We started the journey south on Friday after I had gotten done with work. I had to quick get things put together, and then throw it into the car, and then headed over to my mom’s house so that we could be on our merry way. After leaving the house, I wasn’t so sure that I had remembered everything. I find that often I feel this way any time I travel. But, I figure, so long as I have clean underwear, my contacts case, my glasses and my wallet (and my car keys…as I will need to pick up my car at the bus depot upon my return back home), I will be just fine.

Anyhow, my mom was the one that started the drive, and of course, noting that she was getting about 30 miles per gallon with a full load in her CR-V, she was quite pleased. We continued until it got dark, and then it would be my turn to drive. That was about in Effingham, Illinois. The name “Effingham” really cracks me up. I don’t know why, aside from the fact that I imagine myself being at a Thanksgiving or Easter gathering at one of my dad’s sibling’s houses (very much being in the past, I assure you). I then imagine being served with whatever mystery meat we would have (as I can remember on about 2 or 3 occasions it was supposed to be turkey or ham, but for some reason we didn’t know for certain since the meat would have a grey hue to it). I then imagine my brother asking me what it was, and wittily, I would respond, “It’s effing- HAM!).

Anyhow, we stopped at a Culver’s to at least eat something before we continued driving. We were suddenly startled by a younger man (I would say he was late teens or early twenties) who ran in front of us, and hid around a partition, and then looked in both directions. Both my mom and I looked around to see if he was hiding from some younger kids (like nieces or nephews or such), but not seeing anyone under the age of 20 in the restaurant, nor any men in uniform or lab coats donning a straight-jacket, we figured the guy was either part cat or autistic.
Anyhow, I continued driving towards Paducah, our final destination. Of course with my driving, my mom was quick to note how driving over 70 miles per hour causes the gas mileage to go down (yeah…to like 28.5 instead of 30). It was night time, and while we were driving, we were noting how the temperature would rise little by little. And I really didn’t care about the gas mileage at that point.

We got to Paducah at about 10:30 p.m. I have decided that Illinois is much better to drive through at night, when you cannot see how really flat and boring your scenery is for the 6 hours you drive through it.

When we got to the hotel, a college aged guy with really bad hair and dorky glasses was checking the reservation, and at first told my mom that they cancelled the reservation because the reservation required a 6 p.m. check-in time. I told him he had better check again. Well, upon further review, he then proceeded to over-apologize for his error. We did have a room after all. Thank god.

We got up the next morning, and checked out of the hotel and headed to the nearest Bob Evans we could find, which was right down the street. I love Bob Evans Restaurant. I had to have sausage gravy and biscuits, which (I would have to say) is my FAVORITE breakfast known to mankind. Our server was a woman by the name of Trey, who had quite a saucy attitude. So saucy was her attitude that the manager, upon checking how everything was with us, was a little shocked that she got a compliment. The food was great, and was a great way to start off the morning.

We continued our trek through Kentucky, getting to Nashville, then Brentwood (where we have stayed in the past). I would have to say that this was the first time I have ever been through Nashville where it hasn’t been a monsoon, a typhoon, a severe thunderstorm with hail, or the like. However, we were warned that all day that we would be experiencing severe thunderstorms all the way to our final stop of the day, Dothan, Alabama. We did notice, however, the mile upon mile of trees along the interstate that were snapped off at the tree trunk from a horrible ice storm that they had all along the route this past winter. Come to think of it as well, I don’t think I have ever been to or through Tennessee without the state having some extreme case of bad, extreme, or severe weather.

Well, it was sunny almost the whole way, with just a little bit of rain around Birmingham. We had planned to stop at Webb’s BBQ at mile marker 32, which was a little shack along the side of the highway right before getting to Dothan. This was a place where we were going to stop (upon the advice of a couple of friends of mine) last year but the timing was off. Well, they weren’t open. It didn’t look like they were in business either.

Well, we got to the Fairfield Inn in Dothan at about 5:30 p.m., and checked into the room. I would have to say that it was the cleanest hotel of any hotel I have been to anywhere in the U.S., and the lobby hostess and manager were probably the friendliest, most courteous people I have ever experienced. When we got to the room, it was also probably one of the cleanest, freshest smelling hotel rooms I have ever been in ANYWHERE. We were also told that had we arrived earlier, we would have gotten caught in one of the heaviest of rainstorms they have had in a LONG time. In some areas, as we saw on the news, they had up to 11 inches of rain. We were just thankful that we missed the storms altogether, and that there was no snow or ice to have to contend with.

We decided that we wanted steak for supper, so we went to the local Outback Steakhouse (yes, like Hong Kong, they had one in Dothan). Three things came out of that experience. First, I found that my favorite beer is now Yuengling Lager. Two, that my mom was very gullible in thinking that her water was her beer (and the server nervously twittered, and said “you’re joking, right?”….and NO, she wasn’t joking). And three, that we had two of the best steaks ever. I have decided that I like a bleu cheese crust on my steak, and surprise!...I like potatoes.
We went back to the hotel and were able to sleep in late. We got up, got everything ready for the final jaunt to the beach house, ate at the same Cracker Barrel we ate at before. I was able to get a really cool Alabama t-shirt (and no…NOT the country musical group….), and some cool things for the nieces for Easter. We then ventured off.

We got to the beach house at about 3 p.m. on Sunday afternoon, and were pleasantly surprised by the house. It’s newer, it’s got a HUGE kitchen, nice dining room, comfortable living room furniture, a really cool screened in porch, it is only about 50 yards to the water, and is really nice. I would have to say that it is my favorite house. The table in the dining room I haven’t been able to figure out. It’s very 70’s, and very low, with director’s style chairs on casters. I can’t tell if it’s supposed to be Ginza of Tokyo or the Regal Beagle.

We went into town, and had grouper, hush puppies, and fries at the Dockside Grill in Port St. Joe, and then were able to get up late the next morning. We spent the whole morning and part of the afternoon on the beach Monday. We then did some shopping at the local Piggly Wiggly, and then stopped at the Port St. Joe Shrimp Co, where we got shrimp for dinner. Mom made “beach shrimp” which was very similar to shrimp de jonghe, and the shrimp were fantastic. Of course, my duty was to devein the shrimp. I got to thinking that I should have been born in the middle ages, because I would have been a pro at disembowelment. Then, in thinking about it more, I found that thought to be very gross, and continued to devein the shrimp.

Today, we walked a long ways on the beach, ran into several different people with their dogs, a mature Irish Setter named “Mr. Bean” and a labrador puppy named “Buddy,” who was more inclined to grab hold of the leash and take his master for a walk instead. Had my greyhounds been here, they would have thought they landed on the moon and probably run back home before I knew what happened.

Anyhow, I have enjoyed my time so far at the beach. I actually get to watch television, wake up without an alarm, have multiple days in a row where my day isn’t programmed, and weather that has so far been cooperative and above 70 during the day.

What more could a guy wish for!