Southeast US Day #1:To Montgomery, Alabama- July 21, 2019

Three days. That's how long I've had between trips. That was basically enough time to unpack from the ten-day trip, do laundry, go through mail, and pack for this trip. I haven't had so little time between trips in years!
This trip is not just for pleasure. Well, it is for me, but not for my husband K. The purpose for him is to attend the Clarinetfest, which is in Knoxville, Tennessee. We've tacked some things on to the beginning and end that will be vacation for him. The whole thing is vacation for me, which is what Clarinetfest has been for me for almost 30 years. When our daughters were young, they would run around with me sightseeing, while their dad was all clarinet all day. Once they grew up and moved out, they chose to only come along, when the conference was held overseas. I go all the time and go sightseeing all over the area, no matter where it is.
We went to Mass last night, so that we could leave at 9:24 this morning. My car gets to go on this trip, because it gets better mileage than my husband's. I need to do needlework on the table gifts for our younger daughter's wedding. So, when he's in the car, he'll drive, so that I can sew. The odometer read 55,549, when we left. Let's see how the ending mileage compares the the 2447 miles I put on the rental car out west.
We went first to the Shell station six minutes away. There, diesel was $2.809 per gallon with the 5 cent savings on my Fuel Rewards card and it took only 5.472 gallons to top it off.
We were on the road at 9:35 and had to stop at UCF (55,556) ten minutes later for my husband to pick up something he needed for the conference. We were on the road for real at 9:55.
We took the 417 to the 408 to get to the Turnpike (aka Florida's Turnpike). At 10:53, we made our usual stop at the Okahumpka Rest Area. It's a good place to stop and stretch the legs, before getting on I-75 northbound. We were on the road soon thereafter and arrived at my brother-in-law's house in Gainesville at 12:08 (55,689).
We were there to celebrate my father-in-law's 91st birthday, which is tomorrow. He and my mother-in-law live in an assisted living facility up there. We had a nice meal and my father-in-law seemed to enjoy the gathering and his cake.
At 2:35, we followed my brother-in-law and his girlfriend to go look at their new house that was being built. It was just nine minutes away (55,693) and we got a good tour of the place.
We set off again at 3:01. At 4:05 (55,760), we got off at Exit 283 to go to a Marathon station. Such a huge number of cars! The car took 5.373 gallons @$3.179. The place had a huge store, which had really nice, fancy restrooms.
It was 4:30, when we set off again. In five minutes, there was a light rain and it was 83 degrees, which is much lower than we've had at home lately.  The rain stopped after 5 minutes and then it came back heavier at 4:46. Around 5, the sun was back and by 5:30 it was 96 degrees. The rain was back for a while at 5:42. Good grief.
At 6:20, we saw trees snapped and bent, as well as a twisted sign, all due to Hurricane Michael last fall. (Fun fact: while the phone still shows Eastern Daylight Savings Time, the time stamp on the photos is showing Central. Evidently, the time line goes through here weirdly.)

At 6:45 EDT, we stopped at Exit 130 on I-10 to go to McDonald's for dinner. It was a bit different- it seemed to be a hangout for an older crowd. They seemed to be old farmers and such. I ordered the Tomato Mozzarella Grilled Chicken Meal ($8.99), that I'd enjoyed on the previous trip. K got that sandwich for $6.09 and shared my fries and drink. I wanted him to try the Stroopwafel McFlurry ($3.19), since we'd been to Amsterdam last year. It was a little sweet for him. The bill came to $19.65, by the way.
We were back on the road at 7:37. At 7:43, we officially crossed into the Central Time Zone, based on the sign we passed.  So, we gained an hour for travel. I've lost track of how many times and how many time zones I've crossed since the middle of June.
At 9:17 CDT (56,057), we pulled into the small drive in front of the Hampton Inn in downtown Montgomery, our GPS "Sarah" having succeeded again. K checked us in and then brought out a trolley to collect all of our luggage. Unfortunately, he couldn't leave the car there to get the luggage upstairs to room 804, as he had to take the car to a nearby garage. It was cheaper than letting them move it. So, I hauled the trolley into the fancy lobby, which used to be a bank, and to the elevator to go upstairs. I emptied it, too, and took it back down, because it was dumb to wait for K to do it. I was just careful of my back and my bad shoulder.

The room was really rather nice. I particularly liked the corner chair. I could have made good use of it, if we were staying more than one night. The view was better than many city views that I've had from hotels.

We've gone 508 miles today and I didn't drive any of it. Hurrah!