Newsletter 4  -  Travelling around the ‘Panhandle’ to Tampa

After our two days in Miami we travelled north west to Tampa, hoping to visit cousins on the way who have retired to Sarasota, a beautiful spot on the water south of Tampa, but sadly they were holidaying in Paris, we think they move away from the holiday crowds here at this time of year!!  The map of US on South East shows what they call the ‘Florida Panhandle’ we have travelled down around that and now up the other side.  I had never thought of it as that, but when you think about it aptly named. 

We travelled along ‘Alligator Alley’ (also known as the Everglades Parkway) from east to west, this was opened in 1969 and named by the  AAA as they believed it would be useless to cars merely an ‘alley for alligators’!!  Alligators do frequent the waterways beside the road.  We had scenic views of the Everglades, 78 miles long, flat grassed countryside with canals built to prevent flooding, Sawgrass in abundance,  a most interesting area.  We were again travelling on Tollways, have come across these quite a lot this trip, worth it though when you have great highways to travel on.   Most have booths where you can use cash, you can have a Pass or have your number plate photographed and they send you the account, make sure you get in the correct land though. Again lots of police cars watching for speeding motorists (just like home).  We stopped off at an RV Centre and checked out huge vehicles, they really are nice.  Arrived in Tampa and settled into our Hotel, time for a rest then off to St Petersburg for sunset and dinner.

St Pete Beach was magnificent, we accessed the beach through the Trade Winds Hotel and arrived in time for Megan & Shaun to have a swim while we watched an amazing sunset and cloud formation prior to a storm.  Just beautiful, by the time the storm arrived we had settled into Ben O’Gradys Pub for a great evening and dinner.  Megan & Shaun went out and bought us Key Lime Pie, I had heard so much about this and Florida is the place to get the genuine article.  Well, it was worth waiting for, beautiful a memorable taste, thanks Megan & Shaun for your thoughtfulness, we loved it.  On the TV there were warnings of tornados and storms, we were concerned about getting back to the hotel but other than some rain, all passed over. 

Next morning, after we had made use of the free Wi-Fi at the hotel for downloading photos etc we left and headed towards the State of Georgia again passing lovely farmlands, horses, blueberries, roadside stalls and RV Parks (Shayne says Trailer Trash Parks).  Lots of Pick Ups (utes) and Rednecks around here.  We passed the State of Georgia Welcome Centre, a nice Rest Area, temperature had reached 98F, 3 lanes each side of the highway, trucks with more than 6 wheels cannot use the left lane, great rule.  Shayne informed us that we had travelled 122hrs 22mins & 22 secs into Florida and out again.  Lunch at Cracker Barrell, Pete keen on this one, good variety of food & American lemonade, this is sensational on a hot day.  Outside this chain of Restaurants they have nice wooden rocking chairs and large draughts which Megan & Shaun liked to play.  We listened to the Redneck song on the radio, Shayne is ‘big’ on mentioning the ‘Rednecks’.  We arrived in Savannah late afternoon settled into our hotel and then had HH in the dining room at 5:30, nice idea, free wine, beer and nibbles.

That evening’s highlight for us was a trip into Savannah’s charming historic district with Lee & Shayne, quite a surprise (pleased Shayne encouraged Pete to go, I didn’t need any encouragement!) a beautifully kept and restored town, Lee & I hopped out of the Mustang to take photos of the lovely old cars outside the police station, of course Shayne had to go in and chat to the black (you are allowed to say that here0 policewomen, they were so interesting and friendly, they had name badges and one was ‘B Smart’ (her name was Beatrice), novel name we laughed about it with her.  In the Station they had the original first speed camera and first search warrant in Savannah (a scratched out name on it, for obvious reasons).  We then drove around the beautiful cobbled streets, noticed people driving along the tracks on the roadway, yes not as bumpy as the cobblestones, walked along the river viewing buildings and sunset.  The cobbles were ballasts brought from afar in the hold of sailing ships in the old days.  They would dump these loads of stones (valuable building resources, probably came from Africa or the Caribbean) in Savannah before they took on their next load. 

We then decided on one of the numerous restaurants for dinner, a Shrimp House, what else when one is in Savannah?  A really good choice a lovely local girl, Susannah (from Savannah) was an excellent waitress/host had a vast knowledge of the area and also of the food.  I had the Crab cakes, yummy they were lovely.  Pete could not resist sampling the Pecan Pie, significant to the area, it was very nice, but we did not need it!!  A really great place and evening, lots of laughs.