Sunday, June 18, 2017

HRPT 2017- June 17: Getting Home- Bowling Green, KY to Orlando, FL (761 miles)


We stretched our final night of Power Tour as far as we possibly could and went to bed around midnight.  As a result, we didn't get the bright and early home start on which we had planned.  We said our goodbyes to our friends Ted and Lori who headed back to Texas.  Jacob stayed in Bowling Green to see the Corvette Museum and some other sights.  Our group was down to four cars Tim and Lori in their '57 Chevy, Tim and Timmy in their '57 Chevy, us in the Acadian and Ken and Bryson, who rode with us as far as Nashville before heading to Alabama to buy a motor.
Gassin' up

The drive home was relatively uneventful.  In Atlanta, we caught up to a woman driving a gold on gold 1967 Chevelle SS.  She wasn't part of the Power Tour, but it made the drive feel a little more like one.  We stopped for a late lunch and discussed whether to stop in Valdosta or plow through and get home in one shot.  We opted for the one shot.
The long and lonely road home.

Everything went smoothly until we were diverted off I-75 in High Springs.  We got off the exit, but the onramp across the way was still open.  Tara was looking for a detour when Lori saw other cars getting back on the freeway at the onramp across the way, so we went for it.  WE SHOULD HAVE LISTENED TO TARA.  The police had shut down I-75 southbound a few miles down from the exit where we got off.  They just hadn't gotten around to blocking the onramp.  We sat in traffic for an hour and a half to go a few miles.

We ended up getting diverted off the highway a little further south.  Tara found a short route back to the highway that most of the diverted traffic was not taking and this time WE LISTENED TO TARA.  We shot down a very narrow two lane road that dumped us onto 441 right by the I-75 entrance ramp.  We all made our last gas and bathroom stop at a gas station before the highway and then began the final stretch home.  Tara and I rolled up to the house at 1:00 a.m. 
We have to start a new row next year.  Scott gave me a new "2016" so that I can get some more space before the 2017.

It was hard to believe ten days and over 3,300 miles had passed by so quickly. It's back to work tomorrow and the first thing I'm going to do is block off the calendar for next year's Power Tour. It's only 354 days until we leave again.  Bowling Green, KY to ???????

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