Boca Raton, FL to Mobile, AL

Inspired song for today:
I’m gonna build a pair of wings for those two Grape Fruit Kings
I’ll do my best to see those two riding high and straight into the wind
They’ll be strainin at the bounce with flappin capes and solid gold reins
Yeah I’m gonna build a pair of wings for those two Grape Fruit Kings
(Detroit Slim)

Photo journal:

Jill drove us to the first charging station using a button called ‘Hurry’.  Imagine that, back in the day the Tesla design team reached out to our Jill on what features she would enjoy most for auto drive and her response was Mario Andretti speeds with a thrill seeking 1% battery dust on arrival.  Tesla complied and then asked our Jill if she had a co-pilot, to which she said “I sure do” and asked her what style features her co-pilot would enjoy, and her response was “Sloth”, which is one level up from parking. 

Watching the battery dwindle to panic and many miles to go, Hurry blathered on about the many features of Auto drive (this auto driver now named Sassyfras) – how it stays in the lane all by itself, passes cars like a professional race driver, knows which exit to take, which turn to make, and even knows how to park into a Tesla charging booth without human intervention. 

Meanwhile, Sloth, happy to old school hand steer, was looking for an out, knew her turn to drive was coming and found a Thank-You-Jeezus moment when a large critter, think small snake, slithered along the driver side dashboard, causing Jill to sprint from the vehicle screaming  something that should not be repeated in proper company.  This was Sloth’s one opportunity to buy favor.  It worked, critter removed and Sloth avoided piloting Sassyfras for another 2 hours.

Turns out, Sassyfras is not all pixie dust.  Somewhere in Florida north of Disney and southeast of Gainesville, Sassyfras without any explanation, took a detour from I75 and went off roading, doing circles and roundabout  loops in a community where cars have been replaced by golf carts, every home looks exactly the same. A line of elders forms early for the local Russell Stover Candy Store.  We don’t know why or how this detour happened, but after an hour getting lost (see inspired song for today) in this Florida armpit, Sassyfras returned to I75, and off we went making haste.

As we made our way west along interstate route 10, miles clicked on, the rains were relentless, Sloth broke down and used cruise control, and soon we saw signs for Pensacola, with the white sandy beaches and we just had to stop and make white sand angels.  Except upon arrival, the sand was not the advertised pristine white, more like dirty brown so we abandoned making white sand angels and opted instead to feast at Shaggy’s Snack Shack.

Back on the road, our final charging station was located just east of Mobile AL, at a road stop called Buc-ee’s.  Inside Buc-ee’s, there is enough food to solve world hunger — including jerky, bacon, brisket, cheeseburgers, fudge, cookies, chocolate cakes, chocolate mousse, trail mix with chocolate — and for a moment we considered breaking bad with a sugar laden hallucinatory dream.  Saved by the charging station bell, It was time to hit the road.  An hour later, and over 700 miles closer to Route 66, we landed in Mobile Alabama. 

Peace, luv, out
Jane -n- Jill