Traveling

We have driven to Florida countless times and every time, it seems to be a bit different.  This trip could be summed up by two words: CONSTRUCTION and HEAT.  Illinois is always a joy - takes like 7 hours to go from one end to the other - but this time we got the extra fun of almost constant Road Construction.  And they don't mess around when they start ripping up the roads.  Signs like "Road Construction Next 46 Miles" where common.  Hell, not common, but constant.  46 miles, 52 miles, 38 miles.  Luckily, the longest delay we had in Illinois was maybe 45 minutes.  Now in Georgia, we had one that lasted almost and hour and a half, but there weren't as many.

Now lets talk heat.  The second day - Kentucky, Tennessee and Georgia - the temp the car was showing was 99 degrees!  It would fluctuate down a few degrees at times, but stayed at 99 most of the time.  We stopped about half way through Georgia for lunch at a McDonalds.  We always park in back so we can let Max stretch his legs before we go through the drive-thru.  We got out of the car and the heat hit like a hammer.  I thought Max was going to drop dead and the tires on the car explode.  But we pushed on!

We stayed over night in Cordele, GA and the heat didn't let up.  On the road again on Sunday, when we crossed the border into Florida it started to rain hard and the temp dropped 22 degrees, from 98 to 76, in a little over 2 minutes.  The rain didn't last, but neither did the cool temps.  It was back up to 92 within the hour.  But we made it!  Got to the house early afternoon on Sunday and it was great to stop and relax.  Max did really well on the trip but he too was glad to find a 'not moving' spot to relax on.  He hit the couch and stayed there most of the rest of the day.  After a trip to the store for supplies, we all enjoyed a good night's rest after the long drive.