Day #1 – Florida Bound

Friday, October 7, 2022

We were up at 6:00 a.m. to prepare for our road trip to the beach. Weather looked perfect for travel – partly sunny with no rain.

We took a risk and let Pumpkin back outside after his breakfast. I had calculated how late we could leave if he took a while to show back up. Luckily, he came back in at 7:15 to finish up his breakfast. Time to stay in.

When he noticed the suitcases, he went under the couch to sulk. We were able to leave at 8:15.

We immediately ran into construction on I-59 which has been going on for months. We were down to one lane for miles.

We stopped for lunch at Chick-fil-a and gas at North Prattville, Alabama and changed drivers. The Chick-fil-a was busy, but the service was friendly and efficient. The restaurant was very clean.

The GPS routed us off the Interstate soon after getting through Montgomery. The travel was going well until we had to start following a detour because the route that we were on was closed at one point. Once the detour was over, the GPS picked up the route again.

However, soon after we were back on the route, the GPS tried to take us down what looked like a dirt road – Nope, No thank you – I kept going a mile or so and was able to turn onto a well-traveled state road. We did see the other end of the dirt road come out on this road so I guess it was a legitimate short-cut, but it looked too sketchy for me. I could have picked up a nail or worse.

Once we reached the beach area, the traffic became bumper-to-bumper. We finally got to our condo resort at 3:30 central time – Ariel Dunes of SeaScape, Miramar Beach – 8 1/2 hours on the road.

The room wasn’t ready, but we were able to park the car in the lot and went to the on-property bar and grill for a cold beverage. Fifteen minutes later, we got a text that the condo was ready, and we were sent the access code.

As we were unloading our car, we saw Kevin, Nikki, Kyler, and Beverley unloading their cars. They had been in town since 10:00 that morning but had spent the day exploring Destin.

The one-bedroom condo’s cute with a nice view of the beach and on the 10th floor. In addition to the bedroom with a King bed, it has two bunk beds built into the hallway way, one full bathroom, one half bathroom, a full kitchen, a living area, washer and dryer area, and a balcony. Description said that the couch was also a pull-out bed, but we didn’t try it. Perfect for a couple or a small family.