30 October 2022
I hauled out of bed around 6:15 this morning and was out the door and on my way by 9:30. I made a quick stop at my local Subway and ordered a foot long BMT for the trip. Then it was left turn on Davie Blvd. to I95 all the way to Jacksonvillebefore my turnoff to Waycross, GA.
I stopped around noon at an I95 rest stop and had half my BMT and a bathroom break and was back on the road until 4:30 this afternoon until I pulled into Waycross. I passed the Laura Walker State Park where I spent one night on my last trip back from Smithgall Woods.
Strangely, I95 was a pretty easy drive. Somewhere around Coconut Creek in Broward County I got on the Express Lane until Boca Raton. Even more amazing, I95 through West Palm Beach was free moving traffic.
If you can believe it, I only saw two HP on the way to Jacksonville and everyone was pretty polite and safe in their driving with one or two exceptions. At least no one flipped me the bird for driving the speed limit!
It was either in Hillard or Callahan, Georgia that I pulled into a K-Mart for coffee and, I hate to admit it, powdered sugar donuts. I used to always eat those things on trips and haven’t in years. It only takes one pack of those that are stale to put you off them for a long, long time. These were squeeze-ably fresh. What was great about the K-Mart was the employee ringing everyone up. He was very talkative and had a great attitude and was willing to banter with you. He asked if I was going to some wild party and was stoking up my sugar levels. I said, sadly no, just a long drive trip. As I walked away after paying he shouted “Safe trip!” It was kinda nice to have someone so friendly at a service desk.
I’m staying at the Hampton Inn for one night. The place is pretty basic with a sometimes desk person. I think that’s because the Hilton app lets you check in the day before and you have the option for a digital room key so there’s no need to stop by the front desk. Either that or they run some illicit operation in the back of the front desk.
After getting to the room, I decided to get an early dinner and headed back out to check out the Waycross food scene. Although there are some independent restaurants in the area, I opted for Popeyes. Big mistake. I ordered a 2 piece white meat with Cole slaw and a coke.
Popeyes was asking people to pull up and wait and someone would bring your order out. I knew I was in trouble when a person came out and asked what I was doing. After explaining, she said the order would be right out. It wasn’t.
After about a 10 minute wait, the order came out, I thanked her and drove back to the Hampton Inn for dinner. Instead of white meat, I had 2 pieces of dark meat and instead of a coke, I had unsweetened tea (I think). At least they got the Cole slaw correct. As I drove away from Popeyes, I noticed the sign said “Help Wanted.” If I had seen that before pulling in, I would not have stopped. It’s got to be hard to run a fast food restaurant with recent hires.
Tomorrow is another 6 hour drive to Smithgall Woods. I have the option of a few back roads that lead around Athens or two options, both of which take me around Atlanta. My inclination is to take the longer, more back roads route but the last few times I did that with my GPS system in the jeep, I ended up on dirt roads and in one case, deeply rutted, swampy dirt roads. I may opt for the Atlanta route which is all of 25 minutes faster.
It’s hard to say what type of breakfast Hamilton Inn will offer tomorrow. Since the pandemic, all the places I’ve stayed (with exception of Wakulla Springs Lodge and one B&B) have pre-wrapped breakfast selections, all of which are pretty bad.
In any case, I should pull into Smithgall Woods sometime around 4:30 pm tomorrow depending on pit stops. Stay tuned!