Well, exhausted from the final day of packing and clearing out the apartment, I took a little extra time leaving chez Clamp in the morning after the family had left for work, leaving just me and the pooch (Sasha). Finally rolled out of Land O’Lakes sometime around 10:30 I think it was, stopping by Great Britain Tile one final time and saying farewell to Steve’s brother and father as I headed north.
I started off with a little jaunt on the 52 West to hop on the 589 expressway (toll) to join up with the 19, which would take me all the way up to the 10. On a national scale, the 10 runs from Jacksonville on the east coast to LA on the west, so it would be my main route for most of the trek once I got into northern Florida.
Unfortunately, about halfway to Tallahassee I hit the first of numerous heavy – and I mean heavy – rain storms on the day. It proved to be probably the lightest. I lost count after about seven or eight and it may have been about a dozen total – could have all been part of one big system that went through the area that I caught multiple times as I rounded the Gulf of Mexico, but I have no interest in exploring that at this point.
The great thing is that the speeds down here are a lot more liberal than back home (at least when I left 11 years ago anyway) so I was hitting anywhere from 70-80 most of the way, excluding reduced zones for cites, etc. Even in the rain, which was very low visibility and forced some drivers to the side of the road I charged through doing about 60 or so, keeping up a good rate of miles covered. Unfortunately, one downpour wiped out my impromptu targeted lunch stop somewhere in the Tallahassee vicinity as it was practically impossible to focus on the road and pick an exit, let alone one for food, so I plugged on waiting for a break in the storm. For an approximation of what its like to drive in a heavy Florida rain storm, watch a few of these videos here: H1 Hydroplane Racing [+] I didn't actually hydroplane much in my weighed down car, but the tunnel vision definitely is like being caught between two rooster tails.
My first stop came in Marianna, which is probably about a half hour to an hour outside of Tallahassee – can’t be sure because of the storms. Gassed the Mustang back full and grabbed a couple burgers at McD’s to give my legs a big of break.
I then powered on to Alabama, where I hit another real nasty storm that probably took up a third of my trek through the foot of the state. Came out of it and made my way across Mobile Bay, which was kind of dull. The city, at least what I saw of the downtown area from the 10, was also rather unassuming. Before I knew it I was in Mississippi. Although its nowhere near as big as Mobile (at least on the map), Pascagoula must be a pretty important city on the gulf because there was probably more signage for that as I was going through Mobile and continued to the state border than for Mobile itself.
The 10, though convenient, does not run along the coastline much, so for the most part the terrain is rather routine – and actually looks fairly similar to that in the northwest. In fact, back in the drive up Florida there is quite a logging industry that exists where you can see big swaths of harvested forest right from the road. One small town I went through actually had some kind of Forest King Museum place – or some name like that, which made me chuckle.
I blasted through Mississippi much like Alabama, making a brief stop just outside Gulfport for another fill up and a spicy chicken sandwich from Wendy’s
Just after crossing into Louisiana I carried onto the 12, skipping the trek southerly through New Orleans the 10 takes you on, and continued on a primarily straight path westward north of Lake Pontchartrain, which you can’t see from the 12, which reconnects with the 10 in Baton Rouge. From that point, the roadways went from fantastic to absolute crap. At that point I kind of figured I would probably would call it a night in Lafayette, which is where I take the jump northward via the 49 toward the 20 in Shreveport. The 20 nationally runs from South Carolina somewhat parallel to the 10 through the south until the two meet up in West Texas.
More importantly, the 20 takes me to the greater Dallas metropolis, where I will be spending a few days with a number of friends. From what I figure, it is about a five to six hour drive to Frisco, TX tomorrow from where I am hold up tonight… Breaux Bridge, LA – just east of Lafayette.
Land O’Lakes, FL to Breaux Bridge, LA… Drive time: about 12 hours (actual road time)… Miles: Will have to check in the morning – I forgot to (went from 3955 to 4646). Of note, probably about 2-3 hours of driving in the rain cumulatively.
-
No comments:
Post a Comment