Third Day of Driving...and We Arrive in Naples!

We got up early and ate breakfast at the Huddle House.  We drove for about two hours and got to Bushnell, Florida.  We went to the National Cemetery and saw the resting place of Mom and Dad Whittaker (the last time we were there was for the memorial ceremony for Dad Whittaker).

Each gravestone was given a beautiful wreath for the Christmas season.  It was quite impressive.

 


Then, we were back on the road!  There was construction by Tampa, but otherwise the journey was quite easy...MUCH less traffic than the other two days!

This is a view of the river which goes past Shell Point - a retirement community in Fort Myers
where my Aunt Billie and Uncle Homer lived.

We got to our home in Naples for the next three months.  The area is lovely!  I will post photos here in a few days.  We met the man who lives in the condo above us.  Hopefully, we will meet his wife soon as she was out shopping.  He told us that this is a wonderful place to live.  They are from New Jersey; they live here half the year.

Unpacking begins!

Our condo is amazing.  It was everything as described.  The master suite is huge!  (Again, photos will come later.)  After spending much time unpacking and organizing, we took off to explore northern Naples.  We spent quite a while at the beach (Dellnor-Wiggins State Park) and watched the sun go down.  I was surprised how cool the water was!  However, with time it felt terrific (I only went in up to my knees).

Russ gave me a tour of the Naples Park - where his parents built a house back in the mid 1970s.  We then found a Publix grocery store and bought enough to get us through the next twenty-four hours.

It will definitely be early to bed for us tonight.  The trip here was exhausting!

Day 2 of Travel to Florida

Today was another long day of driving/riding (6:59 a.m. to 5:45 p.m.) with unbelievable traffic jams through most of South Carolina.  Every time we stopped at a rest area people were talking about how they had never seen so much traffic on the Interstate (95).  I was extremely happy driving through Georgia...my turn at the wheel was a section with three or four lanes of traffic instead of two heading south.  The traffic actually moved!  Most of the speed limits today were 70 mph.  This includes sizes of roads that would be 55 mph in Massachusetts.

Due to our late start, we ended up at a hotel in Park City instead of in Bushnell.  At least we made it to Florida by sunset!!!  Bushnell is two hours south of us.  We will be stopping at the National Cemetery there to visit the resting place of Russ's parents.  His dad served in the U.S. Navy during World War II.  He served on the U.S.S. Augusta which transported President Harry Truman to the Potsdam conference.  Dad would walk the deck with our President.  Harry like him.  He offered Dad a job on his personal yacht after the war, but Dad wanted to return to life with his wife and sons in Rhode Island.  When Dad died, one of Harry's grandsons sent a condolence to the family.

Here are today's photos:

Sunrise in southern Virginia!

Sign entering North Carolina

Sign entering South Carolina...too bad the traffic did not stay this light!

Savannah River which separates South Carolina from Georgia

Sign entering Georgia

Finally, the sign at Florida's Welcome Center

Journey to Florida - Day 1

The adventure has begun!  We left our condo at 5:59 a.m. - - - YES, a minute ahead of schedule!  We stopped at Dunkin' Donuts in Millbury on our way to the Mass Pike. Yum!  My decaf iced coffee caramel swirl and my bagel sustained me for the first part of the ride.  The ride began smoothly with very little traffic...until I took over driving on the Garden State Parkway.  It began to rain...and rained for the next seven hours.  From the amount of traffic, you would have thought everyone from the Northeast was heading to Florida today.  The traffic and rain on Interstate 95 was horrendous for Russ the entire state of Maryland. We crawled for much of that part of the ride along with everyone else.   Thankfully, by the time I took over driving again in Virginia the traffic and rain got soooo much lighter.  Needless to say, we are thankful to be safe in our Chester, VA, hotel room right now.  Chester is 61 miles from the North Carolina border.  The Hampton Inn here is terrific!  Great room and nice breakfast room for tomorrow morning.  (Oh, and did I mention free cookies all day long?!) To finish the first LONG day, we had a delicious meal at Cracker Barrel.  Hopefully, we will sleep well tonight! (Did I mention KING-sized bed?!)

Only two photos to share with friends today:

 The sign (which no one could easily read due to the heavy rain) is for the Fort McHenry Tunnel near Baltimore, MD.  The traffic jam began once again shortly after taking this photo.

I love the way hotel bathrooms greet guests!