Our Evacuation Journey

This was not my idea.  I was set to "hunker down" and ride this one out from my apartment in Orlando.  BUT, my parents and son wore me down with all their begging and pleading and everything short of demanding that I evacuate with them. As it turns out, it was the best decision because my dad would never have been able to survive the horrendous drive yesterday.  

According to google, under normal circumstances, the drive time from Orlando to Cullman, Alabama is almost 9 hours.  Unfortunately, we did not have normal circumstances.  Unfortunately, this was our reality...

...throughout most of the day. And I drove ALL of it.

We began a little before 7 in the morning and, while according to google, we should have crossed into Alabama about noon...in our reality, it was actually about 7:30!!  

Around dinner time we started estimating our destination time of arrival at about midnight and began looking for alternative lodging for the night - but there was not a thing to be had south of Birmingham!  Even the little mom and pop motels we passed on hwy 231 were full.  So we soldiered on.  

Gas was a precious commodity and lines were long where there was gas available.  

And don't even get me started on the great bathroom debacle!   
Suffice it to say it involved a one bathroom stall, a line of 6 women in front of me (which then became 7 and then became 8 when two witches cut in line because that is where their family was), and a dash out to the back of the gas station when holding it was no longer an option.  You know what they say about desperate times! 

In the end, we arrived at out motel a little after midnight, unpacked, got ready for bed, watched a bit of the news, and turned lights out about 1:30!  Ahhhh....sweet sleep...

...and then the dog woke us up at 7:00 am.  ARG!