Thursday September 22nd 2016

It was a long travel day. I got started a little later than I’d planned at 10AM. It ended at about 4PM local time just south of Montgomery Alabama. With the hour gained with the switch to central time, I was on the road around 7 hours.

I didn’t plan to travel this far or for this long, but I missed the first place I was going to stop. I couldn’t get the GPS to accept the address of the campground so I was looking for signs when I got to the right area. I never saw any signs, but I found The Woods RV Park and Campground on the south side of Montgomery about 60 miles up the road. It is an ok place with long drive-thru sites so I didn’t have to disconnect the car.

Long pull thru site at The Woods RV Park and Campground in Montgomery AL.

After the first 80 miles or so, I was in new territory. I found the distance across Florida surprising. It was around 180 miles from Jacksonville to Tallahasse. The turn north on US 231 was another 70 miles west of Tallahasse. At that point, the distance to Mobile Alabama was still advertised as another 100 miles. When I think of Florida, I think of the narrow area of the state from Orlando south, not the wide 350 mile or so at the northern border.

Another big difference is the topology of northwest Florida. The Interstate has rolling hills with some steep slopes. In some ways the highway reminds me of a New England interstate. Once I turned north into Alabama, it was mostly farmland. I even saw one cotton field that needed to be picked.

Because I traveled so far today, I have a shorter travel day tomorrow. The down side is I have the big cites of Montgomery and Birmingham to pass through. I should be able to avoid the worst of the traffic if I leave at the end of the rush hour. With any luck, I should be at the factory service center in Red Bay by early afternoon.