Like so many of our "early" morning plans, our attempt to be out of the hotel and on the road by 9:00 AM was thwarted by a s-l-o-o-o-w waitress at the restaurant and a forgotten purchase at CVS before we left. We hit the road around 9:40 AM, heading north on Florida 19.
I was a little apprehensive about taking 19 for such a long way (over 150 miles, I think) because in New Port Richey and for at least a half-hour north, it's non-stop traffic and traffic lights. Sort of like Sunrise Highway on Long Island, or Lawrence Expressway in the Bay Area. Happily, about 45 minutes north, it turned into an open highway with a smattering of towns along the way, tall trees lining the road for most of the ride.
We did find a cool thing at one of the rest stops - they had a windshield washer. You would drive down a lane that triggered a huge splooosh of water onto your windshield! Twice through and most of the bugs were gone!
We followed 19 until it merged into I-20 West, and let Maggie, our Magellan GPS, guide us (somewhat circuitously) to the Pensacola Naval Air Station, where we were to stay our first night after about 8 hours on the road. As a retired Army Master Sergeant, Kelly is able to stay at any military installation that has lodging facilities available. At Pensacola NAS, we stayed at the Navy Lodge, a 1950's era hotel facility right on Pensacola Bay. Our room looked out onto a kid's jungle gym with the bay beyond.
For dinner, we took a drive to Perdido Key, an island that is the latest up-and-coming place for vacationers in the Pensacola/Mobile area. The key is now home to lots and lots and LOTS of tall skyscraper condo and hotel units. I shudder to think of what it will look like when the first real hurricane comes through. Anyway, there were a lot of seafood restaurants (go figure), and we picked the Shrimp Basket. Very tasty; try the deep-fried dill pickles if you're there (don't knock 'em 'til you've tried 'em!).
Back to the Lodge, and an hour or so to do a load of laundry. This was probably the most practical thing we did on the whole trip. Rather than trying to pack for 13 days, we packed for 4 or 5, and planned to do laundry along the way, which worked out fine.
On to Day 2 - Pensacola, FL, to Vicksburg, MS!
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