Sitting Still

Well, I missed posting anything last night.  When last we met, we were leaving Jackson, MS and heading to Mobile, AL.  We didn't make it.  About 12:30 a.m., we passed a motel about halfway from Jackson to Mobile and pulled in for the night.  There were two rooms left, so we took one.  It wasn't in a town, just on the side of the road.  'Billy' owned the motel, the Huddle House next door, some apartments on the motel property, cabins nearby and a very nice water park.  We tried to introduce Marcella and Billy, but never made the connection.  So we left Billy's empire and headed on to Pensacola Sunday morning (after having some wonderful waffles).

Arriving in Pensacola, we headed to Pensacola Beach to look for tar balls (lol).  Instead we looked for a southern belle named Sue.  We called her from the parking lot of the condo complex and she graciously asked us to come up.  (back story:  Sue is the sister of a friend of ours in Jefferson City - Steve).  She is a gracious, vivacious lady and we really enjoyed meeting her.  We asked for her recommendations for having a seafood lunch on Pensacola Beach.  She suggested Flounders and we're glad she did.  It was great.  After lunch, we drove thru downtown Pensacola and decided we really liked it.  But, we had to press on.

We left Pensacola about 3:00 p.m. and headed to Apalachicola for the oysters.  We drove the road along the gulf and went thru several interesting areas -- Fort Walton Beach, Panama City, Destin, Mexico Beach and several other 'beach' areas.  It was good to see them all in a short time so our limited memories could compare them pretty easily.  (If we had taken a few weeks to visit them all, we probably couldn't remember specifics about any of them -- you know what aging does to the memory.)

Arriving in Apalachicola just before sundown, we went to Caroline's River Dining -- a restaurant where Marcella remembers some good times.  It is situated right on the Apalachicola river and is where fishermen bring in their catches.  Well, it was as good as she said it would be.  Nice atmosphere, good food, beautiful views.  Marcella and PJ had oysters on the halfshell, Bob stuck with the grouper. 

                                   

By the time we finished dinner, it was about 8:30 and we were tired. We tried to get a room at the motel connected to the restaurant, but there were no rooms. The desk clerk was very helpful, calling all the other motels in a 50-mile radius -- to no avail. All were booked solid. (We didn't take into account the fact that it was a holiday weekend.) She gave us 'shortcut' routes to Ocala, indicating that we could get there in about the same time it would take to get to Tallahassee and -- we would wind up much closer to our destination.



We headed out to Ocala.  However, somewhere along the way, Bob took a deliberate wrong turn to get us to Tallahassee in about two hours.  The chances of finding a room was much greater in a larger town.  It worked.  About 1:00 we arrived in Tallahassee, got a room and immediately passed out from exhaustion. 

This morning we got up, ate a quick continental breakfast and headed out for Leesburg.  After another 4 hours of driving, we stopped at Billys restaurant near The Villages for breakfast/lunch.  GOOD food.  Pushing on to Leesburg, we arrived about 3:30.  Our hosts, Bob and Diane, welcomed us to their home.  (back story:  Marcella worked for Bob for several years when she lived in this area and she and Jack became good friends with Bob and Diane.  We will use this as our base for the next 4-5 days as Marcella visits her sister and other good friends she made while living here.  We are actually staying in the 'original' part of the house which is self-contained with kitchen, bath, etc.  Even though this part of the house is attached to the 'new' part of the house, Bob and Diane consider it their guest house.  It is actually Bob's dad's house which Bob remodeled some and made it very comfortable guest quarters.  We are on a large lake, and have a great view out the back of the house.

Enough for now.  We will be picking up Marcella's sister tomorrow and take her to her house.  She and her husband are in assisted living and want to prepare their home for sale.  She wants to check on the progress being made. 

This has been fun getting here.  Now we can relax a little, catch up on our sleep and explore more.

Special note:  PJ has not gotten into one fight, I think he is saving up for later down the trail.

p.s. PJ wants everyone to know he is fine!!