We arrived in Ocala, Florida around 7:00 p.m. this evening. Long day of driving - but it wouldn't have been so long if we had not spent so much time looking for a car wash! The car is dirty and I just have to live with it.
We drove through the Smoky Mountain area on our way out of Tennessee. It was so beautiful - we really wanted to visit the park but decided to save it for another day. We discovered that Georgia is a very tall state - it took many hours to drive from top to bottom and the terrain changed dramatically during the journey. Kudos go out again to the Dept of Transportation for keeping such well-maintained roads. The north end of Georgia is very hilly, but that gave way to more gently rolling hills and then to farmland. We could tell it was farmland by the numerous signs about pecans!
Shortly after we crossed the state line into GA, we stopped at the visitor welcome center to pick up a map. They had a nice display about GA agriculture (this is Ag week in Georgia) and I noted that their top products are very percussive (Peaches, Peanuts, and Pecans). Yes, it is true that I am easily amused. Then as we drove along and I saw all of the "pecan" sightings, I began to wonder. Those familiar with Georgia (cousins?) might be able to satisfy my curiosity: Are shelled pecans cheaper in Georgia? I have to pay $12 per pound at Meijer. Are some of the peanut farmers picking up on the artisan food trend and producing specialty peanut butters? I love peanut butter and would definitely buy something special. Just wondering.
Traffic was very heavy on I-75 and the drive through Atlanta was hair raising for a couple of small town folks like us. We narrowly missed being in an accident - we were able to stop in time - in the middle of the city. Two cars crunched together in the middle lanes of a six-lane highway. Very messy, but it did not hold us up long because we were at the front end of the line of traffic. Rural Georgia was much nicer for driving.
When we crossed into Florida, traffic seemed to really pick up and there was lots of road work, too. When we reached our destination (a very full La Quinta in Ocala), Dennis logged on to facebook and found out about the tornado that touched down outside of Dexter! Yikes! A big shout out goes to our friends - we hope you are all OK. It is very disconcerting to see your home area on the Weather News feature when you are far away from home.
Tomorrow we will arrive in Key West though we expect to face a bunch of traffic on the way. We will post pictures for sure.
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