We rolled out of Mobile/Daphne ar 6:30am for the run to Fort Myers. We stopped 4-5 times on the way and arrived around 5:30pm. One of the great things about Florida interstate highway stretches is that there are rest areas every 30-45 miles. Also,one thing I forgot to take into account was the time change. When you cross the Chattahoochee River on IH-10 just west of Tallahassee,you enter the Eastern Time Zone. Didn't make much difference that Thursday because it was already a scheduled travel day. It was a long haul too and I knew from Google Maps we'd be getting there about the time we did. It made a difference going back though. It made the arrival time in Pensacola earlier than I had anticipated. Anyway,the turn south off of IH-10 and onto IH-75 is about midway between Tallahassee and Jacksonville. Part of that stretch of IH-10 and all of IH-75 was new to me. For the first coupla hours south on IH-75 the countryside is just like the Florida panhandle and even East Texas...hills,creeks and piney woods with scatterings of oak trees. For about an hour on IH-75, we hit the only bad weather we experienced on the whole trip. Then all of the sudden,somewhere south of Gainesville on IH-75,the terrain just flattens out and it's palm trees,sago palms,marsh grass,creeks,sloughs,ponds etc. for the rest of the run to Fort Myers and probably further south. Even though it is beautiful,it's boring after awhile. Lemme tell you something else. Driving on IH-75 in Florida is like driving on the straightaway at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It is a 3-4 lane highway on both sides and the speed limit is 70mph. I got in the "slower traffic keep right" righthand lane and set the cruise control at 77-78mph and the traffic just flew by us in the other lanes. Those people are crazy.
We arrived at 5:30pm,unloaded our stuff real fast and then went and ate at a seafood restaurant named "Pinchers" that had been recommended. The food was good,the service was great and we were tired afterwards. We gassed up,went back to our room and fell out. Long haul and long day.