At last........

8:43 am - Sunday - December 30th - Cedar Key, FL - 66º F, 93% humidity, wind 2 mph out of the east by southeast......foggy right now with a forecast high of 70º F.

As it turned out our driving distance to Cedar Key on Saturday was 176 miles.  We were moving out of our site at Cain Creekside RV Parke about 9 am, but first we had to ford some water.....apparently the pond had overflowed during the night covering the entrance road to our section, but it ended up only being about 12" deep, and we crossed without incident.....

.....initially I-75 was free flowing, but you just know something is going to happen to slow you down eventually....this is the nature of I-75.....

.....within 20 miles we were leaving Georgia in our rear view mirror and entering Florida for the first time in 6 years......

.....and, of course, Florida not to be outdone by Georgia, gave us some good old 'slow and go' at about the 85 mile mark into our day.....

....then it completely stopped, and when it began to move again it took us a good 30 minutes to cover just 3 miles......

.....we're imagining a large, multi car accident, but the actual issue was a motorist who was off the freeway, actually parked on the grass, who was trying to cool off the disc brakes on their SUV, and the attendant steam (smoke) resulted in what we call RPS.....Residual Pinhead Slowing.  Everyone had to slow way down, stopping in some cases, to see what was happening....oh the humanity!

Eventually we exited I-75 just southwest of Gainsville to SR-121 leaving us with 60+ miles to Cedar Key.  In Bronson, FL we transitioned from the 121 to the 24 which took us directly to Cedar Key.  As we approached the bridge taking us on to the island we suddenly saw our friends, Krash and Karen, standing on the side of the road waiving and welcoming us to Cedar Key....what a cool surprise!

As you can see from the picture above it was quite foggy around 1:07 pm as we crossed the bridge......

....eventually we saw the sign welcoming us to Cedar Key, and within another few hundred feet that very familiar, funky sign for Sunset Isle RV Park & Motel.....

.....this is our 3rd time at Sunset Isle RV Park, and for us it is the only place to stay in Cedar Key if your home is an RV.  From Sunset Isle it is a quick 1.5 mile walk to the center of town, and many fabulous restaurants, as well as the beach.  We are only a couple hundred feet from the water in our site (#60), which is a long pull through site....one of only 4 that will fit our coach and trailer without us having to drop the trailer.....perfect!

Within 40 minutes we were mostly set up, and made plans with Krash and Karen to meet them at '83 West', a restaurant on Dock Street on the waterfront, for a late lunch.  By the time we got there it was after 3 pm, and we were famished......

 Our favorite corner table!

....within minutes we had a couple of Yuengling drafts at our finger tips, and were waiting for our entrees.  Krash and Karen arrived about 20 minutes after us, and settled down to talk non-stop for about 90 minutes.  We first met Krash and Karen back in April of 2012 while visiting my sister who lived near Ann Arbor, Michigan at the time.  Karen had begun reading my fledgling blog, and asked if they could meet us.  We agreed and it was the beginning of a wonderful nomadic friendship.  We met again when we returned to Cedar Key in late December of 2012 when we spent over 5 weeks in this lovely, funky, quaint, sleepy, Gulf Coast fishing village.  We have hooked up with them twice more over the intervening years, but the last time we saw them was in Cape Blanco back in 2014.  They sort of made Cedar Key their winter home away from home each of the last 6 years, and it has been our dream to return to Cedar Key again and spend time with them and enjoying the quirkiness that is Cedar Key.

They had arranged an aggressive first day schedule for us....a late lunch at '83 West', a girls basketball tournament basketball final at the local Cedar Key School (K-HS) at 6 pm, and then a gourmet dinner at the 1842 Daily Grind and Mercantile on 2nd Street in downtown Cedar Key at 8 pm....

 From right to left: TLE, moi, Karen, Debbie (friend of Krash and Karen's), and Krash

 The girl's team finished in second place to a much larger school...it was a great game!

The game was over by 7:40 pm, so we drove home to pick up a bottle of wine for our gourmet dinner at the 1842 Daily Grind & Mercantile.  This place is normally a high end coffee shop during the day, but a few times a year they host a two seating (6 pm and 8 pm) gourmet dinner in the evening prepared by one of the co-owners, Martin.  He is a wonderful chef, and the food was exceptional.  There were three choices, and TLE and I chose the Shrimp & Crab Crepe topped with seared Sea Scollops and covered with Lobster Infused Bernaise sauce....

....by the time we finished dessert it was after 10:30 pm, and we were ready to head home and get some much needed rest.  We bid adieu to Krash, Karen and Debby and were home within 3 minutes.  What a great first day in Cedar Key.....what is in store for Sunday?

Thanks for stopping by!

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The deluge......

7:37 am - Saturday - December 29th - Hahira, GA (just north of Valdosta) - 62º F, 96% humidity, wind  - CALM......cloudy today with a forecast high in Hahira of 71º F.....WOW!

I think many of you know how we avoid driving in the rain, or in the wind to the point we have paid for extra days at RV parks to get beyond rain and/or wind.  Sometimes there is nothing one can do about the weather and it is necessary to drive in it, and this trip south from Nashville is one of those times.  We needed to be in Cedar Key by the 29th, which is when one of our very rare reservations begins.  We don't make reservations as a rule, and where we are this morning (December 29th) is a great example.....we just drove in last night and managed to snag their last site, which alsoha ppened to be a 100' pull through site.  It always works out for us, but if you want to stay in Cedar Key, FL reservations are a must.  Even in this case we waited until the last minute to make the reservation and, once again, got the last site.  Anyway, in order to get to Cedar Key without pounding out two 350 days we had to leave Nashville a few hours after arriving home from SoCal.  By driving 150 miles Thursday we only had 500 miles to go to Cedar Key......two 250 mile days give, or take a few.

It rained all night Thursday, and was still raining Friday morning when we departed Chattanooga, TN at 9 am.  Within minutes of merging on to I-75 we entered the lovely state of Georgia.....

.....which also boasts some of the worst Interstate traffic in the nation.  This is our thrid time traversing the I-75 corridor through Georgia on our way to Florida, and each time the traffic has been worse......no matter what time of day we pass through.  It rained all day long with the exception of a few 15 minute segments where it was not raining........

 In between squalls....entering the Altanta traffic corridor

 See all the red?  Stoppage due to dozens of accidents on I-75, I-675 and I-475

....within 2 hours we were entering the Atlanta Traffic Hell......traffic in and around Atlanta is always bad, and then add in heavy rainfall most of the day and you get dozens of accidents on the various Interstates in and around Atlanta.  It took us 2 hours to traverse about 30 miles of heavily congested roads.  At one point our Garmin Trucker GPS re-routed us off the Interstates and on to surface streets to get us past most of the accidents......  

.....at last we came to a much needed Rest Area south of Atlanta and exited with scores of other vehicles to take a break from the rain and traffic.....

......as we moved south along the I-75 corridor we were smack dab in the middle of the storm front which stretched from far north all the way to the Florida panhandle.....

.....near the end of our 356 mile driving day (I know, right?) the rainfall intensified.....

.....at times visibility was reduced significantly.....

.....at last we arrived at Cain Creekside RV Park in the lovely, welcoming town of Hahira, GA, just 15 miles north of Valdosta.  When we were getting ready to leave Chattanooga TLE and I had discussed the need to be plugged in that night, so I had checked ahead to see if there was a Passport American park (50% off) near Valdosta.  Cain Creekside came up, so we made that our destination hoping we would get a site.....no reservations....and it worked out.  We arrived just before sundown, got our site paid for ($20), parked, hooked up to the 50 amp electrical pedestal, and began to relax.  TLE was amazing all day long checking out alternate routes, checking ahead for traffic accidents, and getting water, and snacks as needed.  In all we stopped at 3 Rest Areas for 15 minute breaks,  and our travel time was about 7.5 hours to cover 356 miles.  That's one of the longest driving days we have had in years, but now we only have 145 miles to Sunset Isle in Cedar Key where we will spend time with our very good friends Krash and Karen.

TLE was in bed by 9 pm, and I followed short time later....it continued raining throughout the night, but as I sit here this morning composing the skies are clearing and it promises to be a rain free drive to Cedar Key....fingers and toes crossed.

Thanks for stopping by!

When you shop Amazon, please use our link (below) to access their website.......we will appreciate every purchase you make using our Amazon Affiliate link, and  remember, using our link will not add one penny to your purchase, plus we will receive a small commission which helps defray our travel expenses to a small degree.