Tuesday morning we reluctantly left New Orleans and headed east to Florida. We had an awesome time in NOLA, thanks to Christiana and Rachel, and were sad to leave it in our rear view mirror. But it was on to the next stop, which promised just as much fun for us.
The drive from NOLA to O-town would be the longest leg of the trip, clocking in at just about 10 hours. We were on I-10 east for 542 miles, driving through Louisiana, Mississippi, Alab
ama, and finally into Florida. Driving across the panhandle of Florida was boring and long to say the least and about the bulk of the drive. I learned that Tallahassee is an extremely boring city to drive through—the most exciting thing to look at was the water tower. Even Jackson, MS was cuter to drive through and stop in than Florida’s state capital.By the time we hit I-75 south, we were ready for a change in direction (and also some dinner). As the driver, I made the excellent decision to pull off the highway and into a Texas Roadhouse parking lot. I’m on vacation, so I ordered a steak and probably ate 1,400 calories in sweet rolls alone. Take that diet.
After a delicious dinner and a few more hours in the car, we drove through Gainesville and hit our first speed bump of the road trip. The directions we had (which took us ways to avoid tolls) instructed us to drive down US-27, a strip of road with stoplights every few hundred feet and speed limits that ranged anywhere between 35-50 m.p.h. For nearly 60 miles. I about had it, knowing it would add about two hours extra to our trip when I knew taking the Florida Turnpike would get us there in half the time.
Long story short, Ally and I disagreed on the way to go. While she was correct in stating that part of the fun in a road trip is exploring the US highways and observing all of the sketchy charms (and there were a few), I was not amused or up for an extended stay in the car after an entire day of driving. The road reminded me of Route 9 in Massachusetts, and I know all too well that it can take well over an hour to drive 30 miles to Boston. The stop and go of the red lights wasn't something I had patience or energy for either (and we all know it's definitely not a virtue of mine to begin with).
An hour later, we found a way on to the Turnpike and about 20 miles later pulled off to ask the good people at 7 Eleven how to get to Renata’s house. The tension in the car was so thick you could cut it with a knife, but the 7 Eleven cashier and the delivery guy dropping off cases of soda helped ease the pain as they went back and forth with each other as to how to best direct us on our journey.
About 12 hours after we left New Orleans (including stops but not counting the hour we lost crossing time zones), we reached Orlando and Renata’s welcoming arms. Thankfully with us in one piece and our friendship still intact.
Needless to say we went straight to bed once we got settled in. We needed our beauty sleep and all of our energy for the busy day we ha
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