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September 7th:
Woke up and showered. Said my goodbyes which was hard because I don't get to see my brother and his family very often, and headed for the highway. It was 8:45 am Being out on the highway could only mean one thing... Yes, it rained again. Actually between Augusta and Atlanta it rained pretty heavily. This really seems to be a pattern for me. Vacation, driving, and rain. It goes way back for me. lol..... Other than the rain, it was a pretty uneventful drive.
I know it is pretty common knowledge that Alabama is one of the poorest states in the country, so I don't know if I was just expecting it or what, but I could really sense when I was leaving Georgia and entering Alabama. It just really had a "poor" feeling to it. I was kind of taking the back way into Pensacola, Fl. Plus it added another state to my map. lol... I stopped and had lunch at Burger King, my home away from home when I am on the road. :p From there I left the main highway and started taking a little two lane road. I tried to be really good about my driving because of the stories you here about hick town sheriffs and speed traps. Again, forgive me for the stereotyping. For being out in the middle of basically no where, I couldn't believe some of the nice homes I saw along the way. Usually they were followed by a little shack for the next house.
I made it to Milton, Fl., the home of my friend, Mary, right around 3 pm. I made pretty decent time I guess. I quick hunted up my directions to Mary's place and headed there. My original intentions for this trip were to just stop in and surprise Mary that I was in town. Derek talked me out of that, and so I told her I was planning to come see her. So I did the next best thing. Thinking I was going straight to Pensacola, I surprised her by pulling up in front of her place, called her on the phone and when she asked where I was, I said, I believe I am outside your place. She came outside and there was my online friend in person. I got out of my car and went over and hugged her. It was so nice to finally meet her in person. We went inside and sat down and chatted. Her one daughter, Karen, was home, and shortly her other daughter, Suzanne, came home from school. Suzanne was a little shy around me. A little later we ran downtown and picked up one of her sons, Donald, from work. Her other son, Daniel was working too. I am so sorry, I didn't take the time to stay and meet him, but I thought I should head down to Pensacola and find my hotel. So I headed out.
It wasn't to hard finding the hotel despite all the road construction. I stayed at a Days Inn. Nothing special, but nice. Except for the elevator. It was small and reeked of oil. I called Mary to let her know I made it okay and to give her the room number so she could find me tomorrow.
I decided to go out and walk around a little and explore the city. It was getting "late" so it was pretty quiet, at least in the area I was in. I found the Irish pub, McGuires, that we were planning on eating at the next day in honor of our friend Derek. I also found the gay bar, Emerald City. I didn't stop in though. It looked very quiet. I guess it was a little early for the bar scene after all. I headed back to the hotel and ordered a pizza for delivery and watched the football game. How's that for a wild vacation night? lol...
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