Today is travel day – and for the first time in a while – it is a car travel day. We are heading to Florida to board the NCL Epic tomorrow for a trans-Atlantic crossing to Barcelona. The day starts well, with clear skies and smooth traffic. Even though we’ve not driven to FL in a while, it is still a route we know well – especially since we are driving right past the Hilton Head exit on I-95. We are pleasantly surprised at the lack of traffic going South, especially because it is a Friday morning during Spring Break. Northbound lanes are much more crowded, which we guess makes sense. We’re making great time until we hit a massive wreck that has all 3 lanes closed somewhere in Georgia. Darn it! And everything was going so well. Trying desperately to get reports, all we can figure is that the wreck happened about 20 minutes before we arrived, emergency services has all 3 lanes blocked and we’ve missed the only exit that could take us around the dely. Pooh.
After about half an hour of sitting still, we finally start inching along, until the clog breaks free – they obviously worked hard to get the road opened, and when we pass the accident scene, all 3 cars are up on flat beds ready for transport. Very impressive, from a traffic standpoint, and we can only hope there weren’t significant injuries to any of the vehicle passengers. The ironic part of all this is that while the Southbound lanes of 95 are now moving freely, the Northbound lanes are backed up for miles due to rubber neckers! Honestly – their lanes weren’t even affected at all. Sometimes driving can be such a pain.
Fortunately the only thing we lose is time, and since we’ve got nothing to do when we get to the hotel except go to dinner, it is only an annoyance being in the car for an extra hour or so. We’re staying in Palm Coast, which, even with the delay, helps keep the drive a little bit more manageable, leaving the last hour plus to Orlando for the morning. And, because we’ve already checked into the hotel – the new Hilton app is great – we even pre-selected our room – there is no delay when we arrive, all we need to do is grab the key from the desk clerk and take the elevator up to our chosen abode. Pretty sweet.
After stretching our legs in the gym, we make our way over to Flagler Beach, passing by their jam packed First Friday celebration, to a lovely dinner on the upstairs open air terrace of the Oceanside Grill. It’s a beautiful evening, with a nice breeze keeping us cool as we enjoy an excellent meal of crab cake stuffed avocado (for me) and fish and chips (for Ed). We passed the time chatting with the very friendly bartenders and watching the wedding rehearsal dinner party run up the tab at the open bar – whew, that bill’s going to be a whopper! The whole place, beach, restaurant, people, had the vibe of the old Kitty Hawk we used to know and love, turning it into a rather pleasant, nostalgic evening.
Back at the hotel we set the alarm in preparation of our early morning drive down to Orlando.
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