Driving to Disney Day Two

Usually the goal on the road is to rest up, wake early and hit the road to avoid driving in the dark. Today, I adjusted the goal to do a workout in the Hotel Fitness Center before breakfast. It has been two weeks since my ankle injury and other than getting sore during the day, it hasn't been a problem. So why not put it to the test several hundred miles from home?

As we headed down the highway and exited Pennsylvania, the thought struck us: we don't know how to access the house key when we arrive in Florida! We arrive on Sunday and I hope we can get in. Just in case, I emailed the home owner. It would really be bad if we had to sleep in the van parked in the driveway.

We planned today as our day that Linda and I would record ourselves lip syncing to "Love is an Open Door" from the Frozen movie. If anyone searches YouTube they would find dozens of these videos of families singing the song while driving and I want to contribute to the trend. After an hour practicing we decided we needed another hour. And then another hour. And then concluded we might have better luck tomorrow. This is a lot harder than it looks!

Throughout the day I have been snacking on my trail mix: dried unsweetened fruit and assortment of nuts. Then my throat felt itchy. And then my ear. And then it felt like my ear was swelling and closing... And I realized I was having an allergic reaction to something in the mix! So much for my attempt at eating a healthy snack.



I pulled off for gas at St Paul North Carolina, swiped my card at the pump and the pump said "See attendant". But I found the minimart door locked and a sign in the window that said "I will be back in 5 minutes". 5 minutes from when? And was it safe to just drive away? I hope so! I am sure I have nothing to worry about...

We then went the Burger King. Linda came out of the restroom and passed through some cloud of chemical cleaner that turned her stomach, made her feel ill the rest of the day, and gave her a sore throat. That's kinda the way I always feel after eating at Burger King.

When we checked the weather it said we would have a full day of driving under clear skies. It started raining as soon as we left StPaul making it difficult to travel beyond the limits of man's laws of velocity. Our plan had been to stay at the Holiday Inn in Santee South Carolina, like we did last year. But Linda called and the hotel was full because people were pulling off due to the rain storm. In fact, as she checked, every hotel she wanted to stay at was full all the way to Savannah Georgia! What were we going to do?

Last year I made reservations at the HoJo in Santee. Linda hated it and fired me from making any further reservations. This year we pulled off in Manning South Carolina and took a hotel that looked like a refurbished HoJo. Under the conditions we didn't have any choice. Everything was filling up! The room was OK... Except we needed to wear a seat belt to avoid falling off the toilet, I sank to the floor when I laid on the bed, and there are tons of bugs flying around the room.

So far, we have had a good trip and look forward to arriving in Florida tomorrow.