Part 2 – Signage

Driving through this part of Florida was a challenge. Driving through this part of Florida was even more of a challenge during going home traffic, in the middle of a torrential storm, unsure of where you were going, with drivers determined to do you in.

My cousin, Kathy, and I had a goal, to get to our hotel and check in, before the last member of our party was due to arrive. Heading over to Turkey Lake Rd. we realized that, like California, the GPS knew names of the streets that argued with overhead, and street signs.

When we got to the address of the hotel, we were told that we were in the wrong place *sigh* and the actual hotel was half a mile further down the road. A plus, the rain had slowed down. The minus we had to go down to the next signal and make a U turn before heading in the right direction. ( The sign for the U turn stipulated that the turner had to wait for the Right hand turners to go first. I found out this was SO not true, After being honked at and getting Rather Rude greetings!)

Making our way into the hotel, the A/C felt so good. But the hotel informed us that for three adults we didn’t get the three beds which we requested, but rather just two. Gentle arguments ensued which culminated in phone calls to the travel agent and corporate, and our luggage being left behind for safe keeping. Our friend was DUE in!

We headed Back to the airport just in time for the rain to pick up again, and not satisfied with rain, flooding too. We got lost again. As mentioned above, the GPS had names for highways, and streets that overhead signs did not agree with. Did you know the entrance into the airport has a formal name!? We went by that overhead sign almost in desperation. People kept trying to run us down, pulling over on top of us. But we found Susan, our third companion, at the end of the terminal, an hour after we’d left the hotel. (It’s a 30 minute drive.)

The trip back seemed to reflect our previous pattern. . .lost, toll road (again no money), awkward interactions with our fellow travelers who felt driving at high speeds was fine in a downpour, rain, flooding. . .bring it on! We arrived back to the hotel and ‘tried’ to check in, again.

Everything finally got settled by one am. Good night!