Sorry all, I know it’s been awhile since the last chapter, almost 2 weeks I think, so will divide this chapter into two and hope to complete them both tonight.
When last we left this saga, I had just arrived in Washington NC, and that’s not a typo, that’s NC not DC. It’s a little town just east of Greenville. Pleasant little motel called of course the Washington Motel, ran me $35 a night, so I figured that since that was the cheapest motel I’d seen and was clean and near all kinds of stores – namely WalMart and Home Depot – I’d go ahead and thin my possessions and reorganize the load. Also, the snow and cold that swept across the south was bearing down on me, and having driven all day in the rain the second day out I was not anxious to repeat that.
So stayed there a couple days and got to know a little bit about a few of the people in the motel. Apparently they only pay the maids $2 per room they clean, and $2.50 if the person has left and they have to completely clean the room. No hourly wage, and if there’s only 10 rooms to clean they only make $20. Since they stay at the motel, at the end of the week, most of their check goes back to the motel for rent. Apparently they have to sign a contract in order to work there, so they’re considered a contractor instead of an employee. Seems not too different from stories I remember reading when I was younger about company towns and indentured servants, but who am I to judge.
Anyway, donated most of my books and some clothes to the local Goodwill, gave a few items that might be useful to the maid and left some of the heavier items behind. In addition I threw out an entire garbage can (55 gallon variety) of excess crap that I had thrown in the car in my haste to pack – didn’t really need all those hundreds of pictures of the Puerto Rican Day and the West Indian Day parades over the years, nor all the pics from Orchard Beach. So, while the car is still over loaded and riding a bit low, it feels much better than it did, and feels much safer.
On the third day there, Mon, the 7th, the sun shown bright, and I figured it was time to continue on. Went on down Hwy 17 and made it into Charleston SC that night. Saw a sign for a motel for $32.99, and when I registered I chose to not see the “no pets” in the midst of a much larger sign with rules and regulations, so the next morning as I was getting back from walking the dog the manager and wife we shoutin and yellin at me telling me I had 10 minutes to check out or I’d be getting charged for another night or some such. Which really sucked since I hadn’t had a shower or anything, but I figure that was on me. So, after finally finding the cat, who’d gotten spooked bad and found the smallest sliver of a crack to slide behind, I made it out and on my way.
Stopped in a little wildlife preserve (see the photos) just outside Charleston a ways and had caught my breath, then pressed on. Figured I’d try to make it to Florida that day since I was really hoping for warmer weather. So, I slid by a little town called Dale SC, and past Savannah GA, which everyone says is just the loveliest town ever – I’ll have to go back someday and check it out – and on into Florida. Did you know they give you free samples of either OJ or Grapefruit juice at the welcome center on I-95? Thought that was pretty cool.
Got off the Interstate as soon as possible and started down 301 towards Ocala and the middle of the state. Figured the gulf side of FL was where I’d rather be since the water should be a degree or two warmer there than it would be on the Atlantic side. So, I rolled into Lawty FL in the evening and saw the Sleepy Hollow Motel which looked cheap but fairly clean. Also saw a ‘Beware the Dachshund’ sign on the door and figured they’d be ok with the dog at least. Nice little spot, except there’s like 3 prisons within 10 miles of the place so that put a bit of a damper on the whole thing since I just kept thinking about escaped convicts, lol. Silly me.
Still hadn’t gotten the car organized to where I was able to sleep in it, so was staying in motels. At this point I’m a week into the trip and feeling like a tourist, albeit a cheap one, but since checkout time is always at 11am there wasn’t much time to pull all my stuff out and reorganize it so I could finally sleep in the back.
Anyway, I realized that Shirley, my sister’s good friend, was just down the road a bit and pretty much on the way to St. Petersburg which was where I wanted to hit the coast and beaches. So contacted her and arranged to meet her for lunch the next day. She’s in Leesburg FL, and somehow I made it pretty much on time, lol. Was a lovely long lunch, and I can see why my sister likes her so much. Just hope I didn’t get her in trouble for taking such a long lunch, but it was close to 2:30 or so by the time I started back down the road.
Made St. Petersburg that night and after driving around and looking for a motel unsuccessfully I went ahead and looked in the coupon books I’d picked up at the welcome center and found a fairly cheap motel to spend the night. Of course I made a couple wrong turns and went through a couple of side streets where it was like a nightmare version of ho’s and pimps. Now if I’d been looking for that section I’d have never found it, but I wasn’t and apparently in St Pete you don’t have to look that hard. Anyway after getting the F outta that area I finally made it to the motel and felt like I’d gotten to where I could relax and not have to drive 7-8 hrs a day.
And that takes us to the evening of Wed, Dec 9, and the last time I stayed in a motel. But I’m going to have to pick this up after getting out of the car and stretching a bit and taking the dog for a bit of a walk. I’ll be back soon with Chapter 2b of this, ok?
