We pulled out before the sun came up and headed down the road with our first stop for breakfast at the Jubilee Cafe just outside of Peoria. Good food. Reasonable prices and that down home vibe that you can only get in a small town diner.
Back on I-74 and around Peoria crossing the Illinois River over the bridge that we anchored below just a few months ago. We had a good view of the Peoria Lock as we crossed over and noticed a towboat just pulling out heading south. The Illinois stays open to navigation year round in spite of the cold winters.
Once at Champaign we turned south on I-57 travelling through some of the most fertile land in North America. Fields so flat and wide that you wonder how they plowed so much land with only a horse drawn plow back in the day.
Along our travels from top to bottom in Illinois we noticed several wind farms dotting the horizon.
Before long we were approaching the bridge over the Ohio River crossing from Illinois into Kentucky.
The Ohio was running so high that Lock 52 upstream from the bridge was completely under water allowing the river traffic to pass over the dam.
Across Kentucky passing over the Tennessee River and the Cumberland on our way towards Nashville.
We buzzed through Nashville. Over Monteagle and back down to the Tennessee valley crossing the Nickajack Reservoir upstream from a spot that we anchored in this past fall. A beautiful area but now too dark for pictures. We slipped through Chattanooga and into Dalton, Georgia for our overnight. An easy day of some 800 miles with no butt blisters!
Our second day of travel found us again on the road before daybreak. Our biggest hurdle today would be getting through Atlanta before rush hour. We cruised into the North side on I-75 and picked up the HOV lane and cruised right through downtown without a hitch. Whew! Atlanta can be a bear if you hit it at the wrong time. We continued on to Macon where we stopped at the Must Stop restaurant when travelling in the South. Waffle House! No less than 3 employees said "Good Morning" to us as we entered the door. My breakfast choice? Waffles of course!
Once we left Macon it seemed like no time until we entered Florida. Only 330 miles to Ft. Myers. I put the car on auto helm, took a nap and before we knew it we were coming across the Caloosahatchie looking at Legacy Harbour, our winter home.
No rest for the wicked. One day after arriving at Legacy we joined a small armada and headed down to the mooring field at Ft. Myers Beach for the week-end. We spent a couple of nights hanging on the mooring balls socializing and checking out some of the local establishments.
Full to the bursting point we came back to Legacy riding lower in the water than when we left. Once secured at the dock I had to pack a bag in preparation for my flight back to Illinois the next morning.
My flight took me from RSW(Regional Southwest) to ORD(O'Hare) to MLI(Moliine). I arrived in Moline at 12:30pm, walked off the plane. Hit the head and walked into the lobby where I was greeted by my parents who were waiting for me, their chauffeur, to get behind the wheel of their car and drive them to Florida. That's right. I enjoyed our drive down so much that I volunteered to drive them down also! Two days later and we were back in Ft. Myers escaping the blast of cold and snow that hit home the next day.
I think I need a nap!
P.S. We arrived in Ft. Myers on my moms birthday. Happy Birthday Flower!
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