El Numero Uno Dia (2-14-11)

I hope not to bore with trivial details, but considering all I did today was drive for 13 hours, that’s mostly what I have. The Mobile station at 90^th and Rt. 60 is closed, and the pumps at the Citgo across the street suck. Learned those the hard way. The first half of the drive was quite pleasant. I saw an amazing amount of wildlife, including a bald eagle, hawks, and ospreys, all before I had even left the County. There was no traffic and the weather was perfect, until I got near Gainesville. I just drove past the McIntosh exit when all traffic came to a standstill. It took me 30 minutes to go ½ mile at which point I utilized one of those “official use only” breaks in the guardrail to go back south to the McIntosh exit and jumped on 441. That was a smart move. What was not smart was turning on to Williston Rd to get back onto I-75, as every other person on the interstate was attempting to do that. It turns out some large truck hit the base of the Williston underpass an hour before I got there and the powers that be decided to close the entire North Bound I-75 and reroute everyone through Micinopy (maybe Café Risqué got some good business) onto 441. All three lanes of I-75 were backed up 8 miles. So that cost me an hour and a half. 

I am staying the night in Covington Louisiana. Despite the mishap around Gainesville, I made it a pretty good distance. Mark was right, I could have gone to New Orleans, if I had the desire to spend the money and the energy needed to have a good time. Maybe next time. 

Some observations, Russ lemon style:

The people in the Panhandle are both bossy and helpful. I passed one billboard that said “America, Love it or Leave”.  The very next billboard, however, advised me not to go to Hell, because it was very hot. They must know what they are talking about though, because it looks like the economy is in much better shape. I passed numerous manufactured homes being transported on the interstate up there. 

I passed a billboard for a spine institute at www.gulfcoastspine.net.  The billboard advertised “minimal intrusion into the spine”, and I thought to myself, if any group is going to touch my spine, it better be someone who has a  .com address.  .net addresses just always sound so shady. 

I was informed this morning that I used “think” rather than “thank” in my first blog post. You guys should know that I am an awful speler. 

Now excuse me while I go hit on the girl working the front desk.