Merry Christmas 2010, One and All! While each of you were nestled all snug in your beds with visions of sugar plums dancing in your heads, H and I were tossing and turning and wondering if it was time to get on the road again!! Alas! It took 2 (count them – 2!) false starts before the “Mobile Motel” reached that long ribbon of road that reaches all the way from Michigan to Florida. First there was the almost dead, too dead to start, battery in the Jeep. Then, once that problem was recharged and we pulled out of the driveway, we were half way to the expressway when H remembered that he forgot to attach the stabilizer bar that was still at home in the garage!! We were finally out of Michigan about 8am.
Now, here are some interesting data on some great reasons to travel on Christmas Day - - Between the Ohio/Michigan border and the Ohio River there were a TOTAL of 47 semi trucks. 15 of those were north of Dayton! Only 3 of the 47 were going south and passed us. Only 1 other camper was seen north of Cincinnati. One boat and one motorcycle (dirt bike!) on a trailer!
Snow was on the ground all the way down to Atlanta Georgia but we did not drive thru any until southern Kentucky and it changed to rain as we climbed Jellico Mountain and on down the other side to Clinton Tennessee. During the night it changed back to snow and Sunday morning was as pretty as a Christmas card picture taken in Northern Michigan! The main roads were treated and clear, so Steve and Melissa had no trouble meeting us for breakfast at my favorite breakfast spot- Golden Girls. We were the first, and for a while, the only customers so we were seated in the perfect spot – right next to the beautifully decorated ORANGE Christmas tree!! After all, we were in Tennessee Volunteer Football territory! Since the side roads were slicker than snot on a doorknob, neither Kayla nor Jessie was able to join us I missed them but gave Melissa plenty of hugs to share with them!!
The shiny, wet road that stretched out in front of us was clear of snow but, unlike the day before, was now full of cars, trucks and semis all in a BIG hurry to get someplace It was not surprising that a big number of vehicles had Ohio and Michigan license plates - all heading to Florida, along with all those Floridians that passed us also! There was snow down into Georgia but by Atlanta it was dry. Getting to the center of busy Atlanta on I75 was no problem but getting out the other end was! It was not even a weekday! There should not have been 7 lanes of 5 mph traffic but it was the Sunday after Christmas!
We parked overnight just west of Macon Georgia at Tobesofkee Recreation Area Since it was getting dark and getting colder and even more windy – we really didn’t know what the campground looked like but what we saw of the lake as we arrived looked very pretty. And a side note here – the “facilities” looked new and clean but are the MOST wasted use of space and heat energy that I have ever seen.
