March 19th – Our hotel room at Country Inn and Suites in Tifton Georgia was very quiet and comfortable. We were “lights out” by 9:00 p.m. having left N Ft Myers at 8:20 (and up for hours prior) a long day of driving and a couple of glasses of vino. I woke thinking it was around 2-3 a.m. I quietly tip-toed to the bathroom and as I snuck back to my bed Mom says “is it about 3:00 a.m.?” I looked at the clock – 10:55 p.m. I advised her and I think we both said “what??” – and fell back into a deep slumber.
Mom woke around 3:00 a.m. and just laid there knowing it was way too early to think about getting up but at 5:00 a.m. when I woke up, she said “good morning”. We decided to get up, have breakfast and get on the road. The parking lot was wet but it didn’t appear to be raining at that moment. By 7:00 a.m., we were on the road knowing that the forecast for the day was RAIN. The first 17 minutes were perfection, no traffic and no rain. Then, as it would be for most of the day, it started raining. Sometimes heavy, sometimes light and sometimes a couple miles of no rain and then repeat the pattern. I drove 2 1/2 hours, then switched as Mom (age 81) said she’d feel more comfortable driving through Atlanta. Since it is her car after all, I said “go for it”. And she did. Traffic now (of course) was intense and the rain (of course) picked up. But she went for it and is an excellent driver. Around 11:00 we were ready for lunch and I saw that we were approaching a Cracker Barrel. Never one to miss a Cracker Barrel on a road trip, we stopped. The temp had dropped and out came the jackets and we ran in, in the rain. Country Fried Steak with mashed potatoes, sawmill gravy, fried apples and pinto beans for me with a diet Stewarts Root Beer (hey a gal has to save a few calories right?). Mom had the Thursday lunch special of turkey, stuffing, gravy, biscuits and jam, sweet baby carrots with a milk. Delicious – and then we went into a food coma. More driving in and out of rain but we already had our reservation in Loudon TN and it wasn’t too long before we were pulling around 2:00 p.m.
While Mom checked in, I grabbed the cart and unloaded the car. Got into the room and set up our new afternoon tradition:
I thought we might need a nap but we chatted for a bit, checked emails and drank our wine. Now we’re off to a local spot, The Cabin Restaurant for what promises to be a lovely home-cooked kind of meal.
Signing off for today,
Spence’s Girl
