Spent an hour Friday morning packing the car. Managed not to obstruct the driver’s view out the back, but just barely. CK would be mocking me mercilessly after he put four adults, four kids, and their shoebox of luggage for a week into his minivan with room to spare.
We hit the road around 11:00 after a stop at the bank for some cash and at Bruegger’s for a bagel filled send off. Maria took the first stint and the girls settled in with their DVDs. An hour (well, maybe less) we passed Benson and expressed our sympathy for Kent. He has to make that drive everyday.
Moments later we merged onto I95 and the long stretch had begun. We were immediatly hit with the visual overload of I95’s collection of billboards. It wasn’t long until I spotted the first of the legendary South of the Border series. My personal favorite: Weather forecast, chili today, hot tamale.
When we hit the state line, we had to stop. We did need gas, but more importantly the kids needed the experience. They’ll need material for future stories afterall. By the way, Maewyn was particularly excited about the display of the Great White Shark (third largest ever caught) in the Myrtle Beach gift shop. Also, I don’t recall ever encountering urinals in individual private stalls with doors.
Back to the road and I took over driving. This stint was uneventful and we stopped for lunch at Zaxby’s. The girls had never been there and were skeptical, but they actually admitted to liking it. Two items to note. First, they had a poster of the 1994 NASCAR pole winners on the wall. I have no explanation as there were no other race related items to be seen. Second, the Men’s room had better tile, trim, and fixtures than half the houses in the Parade of Homes. Again, no explanation.
As a side note, I want to be clear that I’m not obsessed with public restrooms.
On we go for another segment till we stopped for a snack. Nothing special other than some dispute about one of the gas pumps that didn’t interest me enough to eavesdrop. Back on the road till dinner near the Florida line.
We picked Sonny’s Bar-B-Que since we don’t have them in NC and because they’re an Indycar sponser. Food was okay, about a B- if I’m generous.
However on the way in I met a little boy who sent me back to about third grade. He was on a bench with his grandmother and he had both arms in casts. He had a fall on the playground and had broken his wrists. That was me in the summer of 1970. Details were similar and I had both arms in casts and slings. FYI, you can’t zip your pants when you’re 8 years old and both arms are in casts.
Back to the highway for as long as we can go. That put us in St. Augustine. Found a nice hotel, hauled in half the stuff from the car, and that was the end of day one.