The Long Road Home

We decided to take a different route home and go along the Gulf coast. We cut across on Alligator Alley and made a stop in Captiva, where we used to have a condo.

There's nothing like the beach in Captiva! We ate lunch at one of our old favorite haunts, The Mucky Duck. From there we drove up to Tampa and spent the night downtown on the waterfront. That made up for our budget-trip down.

The next morning we drove the rest of the way home from Tampa. It seemed like it took FOREVER. We cut across Florida and got back on I-95 in Jacksonville. When we got onto I-26 traffic was backed up and it was stop and go all the way to Columbia, SC. Once we got through that we hit a huge hail storm in Spartanburg. The hail was the size of marbles. We got off the expressway and took refuge under cover at a gas station, along with everyone else. It looked like it had snowed. When the hail let up we took off and the tornado sirens were going off. I kept one eye on the sky. As soon as we got into North Carolina we got off I-26 and took back roads the rest of the way. It was a relief to get home.