We got up early for our most ambitious drive of this trip yet. We had the car packed before our planned 8am departure time - Arielle wants to emphasize that since it rarely happens. Arielle started driving but realized quickly that she was too tired, and so we stopped just as soon as we crossed the border into Mississippi to switch. Right before that, we had been mesmerized by the length of the bridges, one of which took us 4 minutes and 35 seconds to cross at 75 mph. It was hard not to think about the fact that we were suspended on a piece of concrete in the middle of the water, very far from either side. Technically, Mississippi was the 41st state for Arielle, and should count because she bought a Mountain Dew. Alabama, however, does not count since she only woke up to take a picture of the sign and for us to sing the Fifty Nifty United States song we always do upon entering a new state. Fear not - we’ll do something more concrete on our next visit to both states in just two weeks. We were already in Florida before we knew it, marking the 25th state our car has driven through, regardless of activities done or not done. We stopped at the welcome center and were greeted by an offer of a cup of orange juice or grapefruit juice, which was far sweeter than the unhelpful directions we got from a SunPass representative about a toll-free route to Orlando (the state is just starting to accept E-ZPass in some places, but right now they’re still mostly on a system we don’t have). We were amazed that our GPS told us we had six and a half more hours left in Florida alone, along with a one-hour time difference not in our favor. We were also greeted by the sight of a Confederate flag right next to a Shell station visible from the highway.
Somehow, we made it to Kissimmee, FL by around 7:15pm, stopping eagerly at a Wawa gas station down the street from our hotel, fully aware that we would return to the convenience store daily during our time in Florida. We were a bit nervous about the quality of the Destiny Palms Hotel Maingate West, which we had booked the night before for just $59 on Hotels.com. Fortunately, it was perfectly fine, and we unloaded a few items into our room before driving down the “main drag” to local restaurant Olive Garden. We were not pleased to discover an excessive wait time of more than half an hour, but upon checking back in with the hostess, we were directed to the bar, where we got to sit and watch the bartender make numerous drinks per minute. Arielle got the reliable soup (minestrone) and salad, first with Italian house dressing and then with ranch, and Abe got the equally reliable Fettuccine Alfredo, which was superb as always.
Abe was excited to see Chocolate Brownie Lasagna on the menu and couldn’t believe that they had brought back the delicious Chocolate Lasagna dessert discontinued during his summer working for Olive Garden in Massachusetts back in 2006. Sadly, that was not the case, and some quick description reading and Googling convinced him not to try the pale cream cheese-heavy imitation. We were beyond tired after a great dinner and returned to our hotel, ready to call it a night before a trip the next day to what many call the happiest place on earth.
Approximate number of miles covered: 647
