vacation, days 1 & 2

We left for Florida on Friday.

It was good day. We had no real set time to leave, just before 11am or so. So we left about 8ish and headed down I-10 with the intent on missing rush-hour traffic in Houston and stopping when we got tired of looking at road.

We stopped in Seguin for breakfast at McDonald's which has become a tradtion of sorts for us. Whenever we pass through Seguin at breakfast time on the road to somewhere we have to stop there.

After that, it was just the road. I spent the time listening to "Snowcrash" from Audible.com. I swear to god I love that place. It's just too much of a good deal.

When we got to Houston there was traffic. Of course there's traffic it's fucking Houston. So I take the Jeep off cruise-control and play with the other cars. We almost got in a wreck and killed a motorcycle cop in the same second. We were doing ok when a extra wide load trailer carrying a big ditch digger need to get to the center median. The cycle cop was his escort. We we're right behind the wide load caravan when the four lanes suddenly merged to 3 lanes. "Fuck, fuck, fuck!" All at once I was trying to keep from smashing the cycle cop into the wide load trailer, keep others from doing the same, and keep from getting anything from ramming us. Ten seconds later all was ok but it was pretty hairy for a few.

After that it was smooth sailing in the HOV lane all the way to downtown. We got through Houston after one stop for drinks.

The rest of the driving was really easy for the rest of the way through Biloxi. We hit a few rainstorms but that was all the trouble we had.

The hotel Hampton Inn where we stayed in Biloxi had free wireless internet in the lobby. Knowing that you can't just stop radio waves without paying extra cash, I cracked open the iBook in our room and sure enough, there was the network.

Their network was wide open, no passwords needed. When I started Safari it went to the Hampton Inn page for that hotel, but that was it. I thought for sure I'd have to crack in but no.

We ate free breakfast the next morning in the lobby and hit the road.

We cruised through the rest of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama in very little time. I thought for sure that we'd be to Orlando by 2:00pm. Florida never stops. It just keeps going. It tricks you.

We finally made it to Kissamee and just drove up the strip, waiting for Mary's parents to get to the time share. But their plane was delayed so we had to try and get the room. We got it and we're shocked at how nice it was.

I'll post pictures when I'm off a dialup.