We’re on the move!

Well, the day finally arrived, time to head south and get acquainted with Moorahme!

After a pretty much sleepless night, we hit the International Bridge to the U.S. at 4:30 a.m. No rest for the wicked! The CBP official was a great guy, actually smiled once, short interrogation, and we were off like a herd of turtles. Pay the $5 U.S. to complete the crossing, and we got the hell out of there in case someone changed their mind.

About 6 or 7 miles down I-75….oh oh. Brake lights….lots, and lots of brake lights. The highway is closed, major incident involving 3 vehicles and it is now time for a tour of the River Rouge area of Detroit. How nice…..surprising how many people are out and about walking the streets before 5 a.m. Roll through the stop signs, slooooow down for the red lights…..let’s just keep moving. Finally back onto I-75 after taking a “short cut” via I-94 which really did work out well for us, and we only lost about 30 minutes or so….Dearborn never looked so good as it did in the rear view mirror of the car. And speaking about the car……we currently have leased a 2011 Infiniti G37x four door sedan…nice car. No room for gypsies on the move….the back seat, back floor and some of the back window chocker block full….the trunk…well….too small for today’s boating family of two. Talk about a low rider in motion…..this stiff suspensioned car<at least it was> now floats down the highway like a 1965 Cadillac Sedan de Ville. Awesome! When we stopped for breakfast, I swear I heard the car sigh in relief when I locked the doors after we got out.

So, on down I-75, good time being made, thank goodness for cruise control….and we make the south turn at Louisville, Kentucky. Yup, and a few miles down 65….brake lights…gee, all kinds of brake lights…deja vu….crap! A tractor trailer had gone off on the right side of the road, rolled over…and you guessed it, they were now loading his load onto another tractor trailer. Rubber neckers and gawkers galore…and all driving in the same single lane of traffic that we were in. C’mon folks, the excitement is over, get your head out of your..ummm., window, and get moving. Stop and go, stop and go…geeesh! You’d think we were in Toronto traffic at 3 p.m. on Friday of a long weekend.

We gassed up somewhere in Kentucky…..I know it was Kentucky because as soon as I shut the car off I could hear banjo music…..while Beth went in to use the facilities, I gassed up our car and made sure that I was backed up against something solid and inert all the time while doing so. Gas was not especially cheap at $3.34, I had seen it advertised in some places at $3.03. Off to the races we go again…and did I mention yet that dirty word “construction”? Oh yeah…roadies, graders, dump trucks, guys with hard hats and safety vests leaning on shovels, leaning on equipment, sitting on tailgates…all hard at work, suffering immeasurably. Poor souls! There is more construction in Ohio, Kentucky and Alabama than I care to think about…funny…none in Michigan that we encountered….I wonder why?

So, here we are in Montgomery, Alabama, Bear Bryant country, the crimson tide…..fully fed and yet unrested. A free meal at the Hampton Inn…..lasagna and an awesome salad, on the house! What a great guy the manager is…..he even tossed the salad…..hopefully not his cookies……and warmed up the lasagna. But, they do get ya…they really do. There is beer in the little convenience booth cooler…at $4.50 each…so…2 beer x $4.50, aw heck, forget it, the meal was wonderful! And they are even going to throw in a breakfast in the morning. Hmm, breakfast…I wonder what time beer:30 is here in Alabama<grin>

Hope to be out of here by 8 a.m., which will be 7 a.m. our time, and in 2.5 hours exactly, 150 minutes exactly from the time we leave…we should be in Pensacola. That is according to the young lady at the front desk and her booklet, and google. So, how can we possibly go wrong? I’ll prove them wrong…I’ll gas up on the way and screw the timing right up!

We’re excited, tomorrow is a big day, have a quick look at Moorahme, get her splashed and start unloading the car onto the boat, our soon to be new home away from home, Yes!!

Oh, I forgot to mention…at the welcome/rest stop area as you come into Alabama, there is a huge rocket ship located there. Not sure what vintage, we were tied up in too much traffic to stop, but Beth did get some pics. We also passed the George C. Patton museum, and the Corvette museum on the way here….and 1123 cows, one bull….I’m pretty sure he was a bull, he was on top of a cow…1 hawk, 7 turkey vultures, and 1 mutant boy somewhere off in the distance playing the banjo…..life is good! Alabama.

Randy