We always take 3 days to travel the 1700 miles from Minnesota to Florida.  We have 2 long days and 1 short day.  Some people we talk to beat feet and make it in 2 days, others to it in one.  We figure, what the heck, we’re retired, lets not kill ourselves.

So the first day, our short day, all was pretty uneventful.

On the second day we left the hotel at 6:30 in the morning.  Everything was smooth sailing until the little battery light came on.  Crap!  That means things aren’t charging.  So we quickly turn off everything except the Garmin.  Gary was driving so I Googled the nearest Dodge dealer.  I called them to see if they could help us.  They told us that if  we could get there, they probably could help us.  If huh?  Hopefully we’ll make it.  The place turned out to be 20 miles behind us in Bloomington, Il.  So we turn around, which was no mean feat.  You know how many exits there are on the highways when you’re in the middle of no where.  So after another 5 miles, we found an exit we could turn around on.

We pulled into Sam Leman Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Mazda dealership by about 9:00 and were greeted by Charles Ridgeway.  He was the same person I talked to on the phone.  As he was asking us questions, I told him there was a cat in the car.  He said that was fine, the cat would be OK in the car.  He walked over and looked under the hood, then he got in the car and inserted one of those little hockey pucks under the steering wheel.  When he was done, he put the window down, stepped out of the car, left the door open and proceeded to tell Gary what was wrong with the car.  Hello!  Remember the cat running loose?  As he was telling us what was wrong, I stepped over to the car, closed the window and closed the door.  “I don’t want the cat to get out”, I remind him.  “Oh, I forgot” he says.  Great, I am thinking, if they can fix the car, some guys is going to leave the door open and the cat is going to get loose in their garage.  Poor Smokie!

Luckily it is the alternator, and they have one in stock.  He thinks they should have us on the road by noon.  As we go to the waiting room, I stop to use the head.  Look!  Paper towels!  I grab one and write “CAT LOOSE IN CAR, PLEASE KEEP DOOR CLOSED!”  I take the paper and go back to the car and put the window down and then roll it back up with the paper sitting where everyone can see.  Hopefully that will keep the cat in the car.

Good to their word, they actually had us out of there by 11:30.  So not too bad of a delay.  Back on the road again.  I am amazed that as we are traveling down the road at 70 MPH, we can ask our phone for the nearest car dealership and then use the phone to direct us where to go.  Modern technology.  Ain’t it wonderful????

As we continue on our way, we ran into what appeared to be road work, as they were running us down to one lane.  Turns out there was an accident with two semi’s by a bridge.  Both trailers were tipped over, one was cut in half, and their stuff was strewn all over the side of the road.  The cabs were gone already, I hope the drivers came out ok.  You could tell this was just the clean up portion.

Well between the accident slow down and the alternator slow down and the sheets of rain that slowed us down some, we ended up in Nashville at 8:00 at night.  It was bumper to bumper traffic.  What the heck?  You people should all be home by now.  What’s going on?  We were at a section in the highway where there was a fork in the road and our side was creeping along and the left side was moving faster. We had a BMW in front of us and he kept letting people from the fast lane cut into our lane.  I was getting pissed, Hey guy!  I’d like to get to my destination before midnight!  Gary was driving.  I told him to honk at the guy.  But Gary being the cool Captain, he just drove on.  Finally after the BMW let in his 12th car, I reached over and honked at him.  He of course flips us the bird.  So I of course flip him back and yell at him, which he can’t hear but it made me feel better.

We finally arrive at our hotel at 10:30.  Smokie was not appreciative of the long day in the car.  We jumped into bed for a quick night sleep so we could start the last leg of our journey.

The next morning, the Smokie DID NOT want to go in his cage.  We had to stuff him in while he meowed at us loudly.  He wouldn’t have been happy if we left him behind.  At least the last day was better.  We made to Atlanta and although it was rush hour, there wasn’t much traffic.  We figured most of the people had the day off.  Even the cops were going 80 MPH in the 55 MPH city.

Once we crossed over the Florida state line, look out!  There were tons of snow birds!  I think there are more out of state plates than Florida plates.  I suppose, tis the season :).

Well we made it home safe and sound.  No one had robbed us blind and Smokie’s dishes were still there.  All is well on the Cape.