2024 Spring Exploring Florida

[DonnaR57]

My husband and I just returned from an 18-day trip to explore a little of the Gulf coast and Florida. Some of the highlights were Gulfport, the Florida Keys, visiting good friends, a day in the St Augustine area, and a day in Shiloh National Military Park. I will start to post more details, and photos, as I go along.

We stayed in motels/hotels the entire way -- Comfort Suites (two places), Holiday Inn Express (two places), Best Western and Best Western Plus (several places), Margaritaville Beach House in Key West, and Quality Inn (one place). We were able to use our points for two nights and build up points to be used on a trip later this year.

Fuel was all over the place, price-wise. Hubby puts premium in his baby. We use Gas Buddy but a lot of times, GB did not have the price for premium listed. (I think that's because some reporters just list the prices they see on the outside signs, which tend to be Regular Unleaded and maybe Diesel.). We paid anywhere from $3.30 to $4.14, though we could have gone as high as $4.90-ish. Prices were highest in Florida, and lowest in Mississippi. We used Sam's Club a couple of times, and Murphy USA more than a couple of times. Our MPG ran from 22mpg to a whopping 30mpg.

I have to give a round of applause to Florida for their rest areas. They are numerous on 10, 75 and 95, usually 30-40 miles apart. Most of them are HUGE, with parking places for trucks that number up to 140 at some. They are often unusually set up, to be able to accommodate that many trucks. (Our friends told us that Florida did that and drastically reduced the numbers of trucking accidents in their state.) The rest areas are also CLEAN and have nighttime security -- and some of them have daytime security.

Our weather was good except for the 2nd day and the last day. On the second day, we were driving in downpour after downpour. We found out later that we went through Slidell, LA, a few hours after a tornado hit. We saw the evidence as we passed. We were basking in the 80s and 90s when in southern Florida.

Before we left, we ordered (and got) a Florida SunPass Pro. We chose to buy one for a few reasons, only a minor one being able to use Florida's turnpikes if necessary. The other reason? It's good in a LOT of other states, including Kansas where we travel a lot due to family.

We brought home a number of souvenirs. It was a challenge to find good riding places for new coffee mugs in the car we took, as there was no room for the empty suitcase or crate that we toss into the pickup when we take that on a trip. But all 4 mugs got home safely, as did the other things we brought home.

No, unpacking has not been completed yet. Soon. Soon.


Donna