Met Laurie, Chip and Dylan for our farewell breakfast at Mulligan's in downtown Stuart. After a great meal, good conversation and most enjoyable company, there were hugs and double hugs, goodbye kisses and then we headed out to the Florida Turnpike and points north. Bye bye Florida.
On the way home we stopped in Valdosta, Georgia - Dalton, Georgia - and Franklin, Indiana. On January 31 we arrived at Basswood Bend around 4:30 in the afternoon. Unpacked the car and then went out to dinner at Rico's. It felt super good to us to sleep in our own bed after two months away.
Homeward Bound
Flowers in January!
The trip home was uneventful - good weather and light traffic always make for a good ride. Along the way we did some caching - found six in Georgia and one in Indiana. In Atlanta we took a travel bug to visit Falcon Stadium:
On Sunday, January 29 we were heartsick to hear of the horrendous accident on I-75 just south of Gainesville. We had just driven through the Paynes Prairie Preserve Stat Park on I-75 the day before this accident. I remember commenting that a Florida prairie doesn't resemble a Midwestern prairie at all. It's just a flat stretch of scrub. My idea of a prairie is waving grasses and wild flowers. We did notice some smoke off in the distance, but it certainly didn't affect our visibility at all. These poor people really didn't have a chance, with the combination of smoke, fog and speed that they had to deal with.
Florida I-75 Crash 'Horrendous,' Victim Says; 10 Dead
CNN
6:11 p.m. PST, January 30, 2012
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- After the crashes stopped, Steven Camps said all he could hear was the sound of crying as the air, heavy with smoke, shone red from vehicle fires.
He pulled his friend from their car, which wound up wedged between two semi trucks. The two were lying in the grassy median of Interstate 75, he said, praying that a car would not leave the roadway and hit them.
Thank goodness that we left on Saturday!
