As you notice I am writing this on Sunday and my trip home was yesterday. That is because Saturday was a long day from when I got up to when we unloaded the car was close to 16 hours (twelve of that was in the car driving). From the length of the day, I did start it with a sunrise, the last over Mulberry Cove and from the overlook. While today there were no Manatee the sunrise was just as beautiful. But I did see two Racoons (one fell out of the tree while one climbed down) and an Armadillo.
After breakfast and loading the car we said goodbye to the Navy Lodge it is a nice place to stay and enjoyed my time there. Two things can describe the drive back, first, it was a hard drive especially on I-95 and then I-26 to Columbia. We hit a number of spots where traffic came to a crawl. The second thing that made it even harder as it was Hot as Hell on the way back. In Georgia temperatures topped out at 103 degrees, that was four of the days on this trip that surpassed 100. While the traffic let up around Columbia so did temperatures. We started hitting clouds just before the South Carolina capital. While still in the mid-90's it was a break taking into account it was 103 degrees in Columbia on the way down. Then with driving through a thunderstorm and reaching the North Carolina Mountains it was 73 degrees at the welcome center. That was a 30-degree difference...nice!
Finally, when we reached Asheville we decided to take I-26 over Sams Gap instead of going through Davenport Gap on I-40. The reason, one lane is closed on both sides to finish construction, no thanks. Going this way offered a nice sunset with Bays Mountain as the backdrop. Anyway, overall it was a great week in Jacksonville I had loads of fun. I would like to thank Dad and Terry for inviting Deb and me along for the week...thanks.
