I slept in. The morning I am heading off to Florida, and I slept until almost 7AM. By 07:30, I had everything in the car, and I was off. I had heard there was some snow last night, and more was expected. So I wanted to get away from the lake as quick as possible. If it got too bad, I would forget about driving through Erie, PA, and just head east for a while to get out of the snow belt.
It was a beautiful day to start my trip. The sun was shining, the sky had that crisp blue colour it gets when it is really cold.
I got across the Queenston/Lewiston bridge with no trouble at all. Then I was bombing down the 190 until I saw the 'Road Closed at next exit' sign. I was directed onto the 290, then that highway closed, and I was driving through the snowy streets of Buffalo.
The further in I got the deeper the snow got. Police were at the intersections, directing traffic in the one, and only one direction, we could go. At one point I was directed in a full circle from one intersection to another, so I pulled up to a police cruiser.
I asked the officer for advice on how to get to Florida. Should I go south, or east, and how do I get out of the city.
His answer, "Thursday" . He was wrong, because Buffalo is scheduled to get hit again on Wednesday night. He recommended I continue down Clinton, and cross at the Peace Bridge. Three blocks after I drove away from the policeman, the streets were clear. Buffalo gets some damn weird snow.
As I was crossing the Peace Bridge I looked north, at the bright clear sky. I then looked south, at the huge bank of dark clouds. The clouds had a very clearly defined front edge. Dark, and thick south, bright and blue north. Very weird. Going south of the lake was not an option.
I stopped at a Tim Horton's, to decide what to do. I could just go home, and wait for the storm to blow over. On the other hand. The car was packed, I was ready, and doing a quick weather check, north of the lake was clear with no bad weather forecast. It was 11AM. I could be in Windsor before 4PM, and driving south for a good chunk of the day still. I have always been more of a journey over destination person. This just added to the journey.
I crossed the Windsor/Detroit bridge at 3PM. By 6PM I was enjoying a delicious chicken dinner at Bob Evan's Restaurant, in Wapakoneta, Ohio.
http://goo.gl/maps/Q3Y4D
I looked at my maps, and decided to continue to London, Kentucky. I had stopped here last year, and gotten a nice room, in a family hotel, for under $50.
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g39598-d266286-Reviews-Budget_Host_Westgate_Inn-London_Kentucky.html
I recommend it highly. It took 16 hours of driving, but I was now about one third of the way to Florida.
There was a Cracker Barrel restaurant just up the hill from the hotel, so that's where I went for breakfast.
Cracker Barrel is hybrid store/restaurant chain. There are rocking chairs, and other pieces of furniture, for sale on the big front veranda.
Inside there is a big country market style store you have to walk through to get to the restaurant.
The restaurant has a big fireplace, with logs burning in it. It is decorated in a cottage, old thyme country store, style.
I could have just ordered bacon and eggs, but getting the combo, was actually cheaper.
This is the smallest combo I could get. Grits, biscuits & gravy, eggs, bacon, ham, sausage, hash browns, a cinnamon biscuit, warm fruit in a honey syrup, and tea. All this for $7.99. I think it was cheaper, but I asked for a new teabag when she came back with hot water, so that boosted the price.
Lunch was going to be lighter.
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