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Ken's Journal On the Road - Osteen, Florida to Nashville, Tennessee - 06/27-06/28/2004 |
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Florida, 06/27, Day 1, Mostly Sunny, 78° at 6:30 AM, Regular Gasoline - $1.89 to $1.99. Five hundred miles today. My goal is to get north of Atlanta so I don't have to fight Monday morning rush hour through Atlanta tomorrow morning. Departure at 6:30 AM for a relatively easy drive. I wander west across Florida on secondary roads to Ocala where I take I75 north through the heart of Georgia. The weather is nice until Atlanta where the thunderstorms start. I get through Atlanta and to about 18 miles from my destination where traffic on I75 comes to a complete stop - three lanes of cars and trucks as far as the eye can see. According to the CB, there is an accident involving a couple cars and a couple jackknifed tractor trailers. All lanes are blocked. The accident is a couple miles ahead between me and the next exit. There's no chance of bypassing it so I settle in for a wait. We start moving about 1 1/2 hours later and are clear of the accident shortly thereafter. Into the campground and setup by 5:00 PM. The night before I leave Florida, instead of a fill up, I add just 20 gallons to my tank so I can make it to Georgia were I know the gas is cheaper. When I fill up in Georgia, I get the gas at $1.64, a 35¢ savings over what I last paid in Florida. I save $15.00 on a fill up. North Georgia, 06/27, Day 1, Mostly Cloudy w/Thunderstorms, 80° at 4:00 PM, Regular Gasoline - $1.64 to $1.74. North Georgia, 06/28, Day 2, Mostly Cloudy, 69° at 7:00 AM. Left at 8:30 AM for Nashville. I75 to Chattanooga and then I24 to Nashville. I24W climbs out of Chattanooga in a series of 40-45 MPH curves and 4% grades. Not normally much to talk about except much of this stretch was under construction AND a serious thunderstorm was in progress. I turned off the CD and gave full my attention to the road. After this stretch, the rest of the drive was easy until Nashville where four interstates wind their way through and around the city. Naturally, all of 'em are under construction. I check into a campground in the NE part of the city by 3:00 PM. My first plan was for Nashville to be a pass-through on the way from Florida to Council Bluffs IA. Just a one nighter without unhooking the Jeep. At the last minute I decided to spend two nights, see some of the local sights and try to get a ticket to the Grand Ole Opry. I'm right down the street from the Grand Ole Opry so the first order of business is to find out what shows are going on and to see if I can get a ticket. I wandered over to the ticket office at the Opry, checked out the shows and found the normal shows are on Tuesday, Friday and Saturday evening. Since tomorrow was Tuesday, I checked the seating and bought a ticket for a seat just a few rows from the stage ($42). The show is at 7:00 PM so that leaves me most of tomorrow to see some of the sights. Nashville Tennessee, 06/28, Day 2, Partly Sunny, 80° at 4:00 PM, Regular Gasoline - $1.79 to $1.89. |
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