ANTIGONISH TO TAMPA

We left Antigonish on Monday with good driving as far as Moncton.  After that the unplowed roads were tricky until Fredericton where we hit freezing rain on top of unplowed snow.  White knuckle until Houlton, Maine where I-95 was seemingly bare and we zipped along until we changed drivers.  Getting out of the car I slipped on the black ice and realized the entire highway was a skating rink.  Back to a death grip on the steering wheel.

We made it as far as Portland where we checked into a hotel and went out to find a big steak and a drink.  Outback Steakhouse appeared to have gone out of business so we simply went into a place called “Romano’s Macaroni Grill” across from our hotel.

On the way in an exiting patron said:  “You’re in for a treat if you order the chicken parmesan”.  While looking at the wine list our waiter suggested that we have the “honor system house wine”.  He then explained that you ordered a glass of house wine but he would leave the bottle on the table.  Needlesstosay we were not very honorable and found that the thin Tuscan plonc was great for washing down our chicken and pasta, which was covered in a delicious tomato sauce.  Eventually the waiter commented that there was no point in leaving the little bit left in the bottle and poured us the last of it.   It was only then that I read the fine print on the label and noted that the bottle, which he had originally brought unopened to the table, was 1.5 liters.  Although my vision was getting blurrier by the minute I did note that we were only charged $ 5.50 each for a glass of wine.

On Tuesday the weather was very cold and when we stopped at a “Welcome Center” in Penn. we were advised to hole up in a hotel as there was a blizzard across the south.  We ignored that and drove on dry pavement as far as Mechanicsburg.  Heading into Carolinas on Wednesday (the day after the storm) we still had very cold weather (-12 degrees) but dry pavement.  However, five states had declared a state of emergency caused by the storm (some reports said 6 cm; others 2”).  Apparently the roads were very slippery and the inexperienced drivers caused hundreds of accidents which led to total gridlock in places like Atlanta.  Home Depot and other stores opened their aisles for sleeping, and in many cases children spent the night on stranded school buses.  At dinner the hostess apologized for the slow service because so many staff didn’t come in because of the storm.  She also told us that her daughter’s school would be closed for the third day in a row.

Sunny Florida was anything but.  We arrived in Ocala to 5 degrees and our one golf game for the trip down started at 8 degrees and ended in heavy rain.   However, it did warm up a bit for our last full day in Florida.  Saturday was packing day.  I brought a scale as we are warned the Air Tahiti is very rigid on luggage weights.  Betty has been known to want to travel with 40 or 50 items more than is absolutely necessary.

In the evening we linked up with Rene and Elsa Villa and drove to Ybor City for a great meal.  Rene and I share a unique bond in that we studied at the same time at the same two obscure graduate schools in the 60’s.  In recent years we lost contact but it was wonderful to reunite with friends from almost 50 years ago.

Today is “survival day”.   After breakfast we head to Tampa airport where we face 24 hours of flights in three steps; for all three we will be sitting in steerage.  However, Papeete promises to be warm.