What a difference a half day makes

We put Florida in the rear view mirror today and weaved our way through a line of thunderstorms and sometimes heavy traffic through four states today.

The weather forecasts were dire, but except for two short sections we pretty much dodged the weather that was so much in the news today.

Not to say there wasn’t damage along the way. We saw the evidence of heavy rain and heard stories of tornadoes that swept through Tennessee and Kentucky just hours before we arrived there. But our prayers were answered and averted any major disruptions or trouble.

The wind was pretty stiff and my hands were numb by the time we pulled into our RV park this evening in Louisville, Kentucky.

It was 73 degrees when we left Pensacola this morning and rose to a high of 82 in Alabama before it plunged to 66 in a matter of minutes when a strong line of thunderstorms passed over Tennessee a little south of Nashville.

We had a little thunder and lightning, some heavy rain, but only for about 10 minutes and then it started to clear out.

At a point early in the day’s travels we passed a highway sign that said for weather information to tune to a certain FM Station. So we did and what we got was a local show called “Rick and Bubba.” Well, Rick and Bubba were taking calls on how and where to find pure gasoline, fuel without ethanol.

During the calls Rick and Bubba were marking certain bodily noises that are sometimes associated with human gas. I’m the first one who will stand up for Southerners and say that people mistake their slow speech style and mannerisms with a lack of intelligence, but Rick and Bubba aren’t helping with the stereotype.

It reminded us of a time we were driving through Arkansas and listening to a local radio show where people could call in and sell stuff. “Tradio” it was called. People were offering to sell five gallon buckets of “hog slop” and despite the repeated disclaimer that cars could not be sold over the show (the main advertiser was a car dealer) people kept calling in offering a used car for sell. A very exasperated host was losing it over that.

Perhaps our biggest amusement of the day, and this will leave you underwhelmed I’m sure, was when we crossed the time line between the Eastern and Central time zones and we watched our cell phones to see how quickly the time would adjust. It readjusted within a mile of the sign. We were pretty impressed. I guess this is what passes for fun when you get old.

We had to refuel three times today, but will only have to fuel one more time with the trailer before reaching Lapeer.

Unfortunately, it was only 39 degrees when we arrived at the Louisville South RV Park, so it is clear we are not in Florida anymore. It was also dark so that should explain the lousy photo. You'll also notice that the camp office was closed, but they were kind enough to leave us a map to our campsite and instructions on how to fire up the wireless.

Mileage out: 57399
Time out: 7:51 a.m. (Central time)

Mileage in: 57990
Time in: 7:20 p.m. (Eastern time)