Day 8 - TRAVEL, ST AUGUSTINE TO CHATTANOOGA TN

Long before dawn, we were awake, had the vehicle packed, travel coffee mugs ready, and took off before 6 am. It was still dark, but you could see the hint of light off to the east as we traversed Jacksonville's I-295 to the west of town. We debated whether or not to get fuel in JAX or wait until Georgia where prices were lower, opting for Georgia since we were only down to 3/4 tank. Mistake, that's for sure.

Along the way, hubby wanted to know where we were stopping for breakfast. By this time, we were already through JAX, westbound on I-10. There wasn't much to offer except a Huddle House, which he declined. Mistake #2. Instead, we were headed for a Cracker Barrel at exit 5 in Georgia.

It was easy to see the issue there, right away. NONE of the truck stops' signs were lit up, no vehicles were at pumps: NO POWER. So we moved on, headed for fuel.

Pulled into Valdosta, GA's Sam's Club and this is what greeted us:

Day 8-5A

Sam's Club was one of the few places in Valdosta that had power "the normal way", where everyone else that had power was using generators. The photo shows how it was when we got in line, but the line kept getting longer and longer, and people were not just filling their car's tanks, they were also filling spare jugs for generator fuel. The line we were in only had one pump, and as we pulled up to be the next to fill, the card of the girl in front of us froze the pump. They still could not get it working, 15 minutes later, and when the manager heard our predicament, she got us moved to the front of the line on the next pump over. We lost 50 minutes there, plus more time trying to get back on the freeway as the traffic lights weren't working and there weren't any traffic policemen out there.

All along the route, we saw power outages (until Tifton, GA), downed trees, and billboards that were torn apart. We looked for another breakfast place, and found an open Cracker Barrel. But they had a 30-45 minute wait just to get seated, so we moved on, finally taking brunch at a fast-food place around 11 am.

Downed billboard in this photo:

Day 8-3A

Atlanta traffic was easier - maybe fewer people out because the storm had moved through there. We were able to use the Express Lanes this time, which helped us a lot. Then the HOV lanes. We didn't really see "heavy" traffic until Marrieta.

Day 8-8A

We finally got to Tennessee around 3:30, and into the traffic snarl caused by the new intersection of I-24 and I-75 that's being built. Some day it might make that intersection smoother, but not at any time during our stay in Chattanooga. It was a bear to deal with, so we tried to find ways around if we could reasonably do so during our 3-night, 2-day stay.

Our lodging was another Best Western. We've been trying to build up points with BW for several reasons, and by the end of the trip, we had enough points for 2 free nights (we hope). We chose this one for its proximity to Lookout Mountain, and because it had laundry facilities. (The previous one did not.)

Up the hill from the lodge was a Logan's Roadhouse, which we'd never tried. So that was dinner. Similar in concept to a Texas Roadhouse (which we like), the food was fine but TR's rolls are better.