BUC-EES IN FLORENCE, SC, PILOT MOUNTAIN, NC, ALMOST HOME!

Tuesday, February 6, 2024
Hampton Inn
76 Hospitality Way
Weston, WV
Sunny, 41F to 48F

 

On the road from 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., another long day.  I think TK would have driven all the way home, but I suggested that we not do that. Tonight we are about four hours from Erie, and we did drive straight through last year, but we are a year older.  He will not let me drive his truck (it is BIG), and we need to be safe.

 

TK changed our usual route so we could stop at Buc-ees in Florence, South Carolina.  To a casual reader this may seem excessive. That said, Buc-ees is like the Disney World of gas stations and we are acting like little kids.  Again, there are 120 gas pumps, and we did need gas.  We can attest to how delicious their freshly made, warm cinnamon rolls are (with pecans on top)!!

 

[Note: The St. Augustine Buc-ees has 120 gas pumps too, either the clerk misspoke, or I misunderstood her—I had originally written that there were 240 gas pumps there]

 

Because of this stop, our route took us on some less traveled highways, but there was less traffic, less drama, no Charlotte, and that made things easier.  Eventually we returned to I-77 and then I-79 to get to Weston, West Virginia.  Rest stops along the way were very nice in all four states traveled today, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia.  That’s important. 

 

From the Internet for Brother Bill: Pilot Mountain, a metamorphic quartzite monadnock rising to a peak 2,421 feet above sea level, is one of the most distinctive natural features in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is a remnant of the ancient chain of Sauratown Mountains. 

Approaching Pilot Mountain

My Valentine!

We had dinner at Gino’s Pizza and Spaghetti House near the hotel. Since all we ate was the cinnamon roll that we shared at Buc-ees and a few Combos, we were very hungry.  Gino’s is very comparable to Valerio’s or Maria’s in Erie.  That was our day on the road.

 

Tomorrow—Erie!

 

TK’s Takes: A perfect day to drive, sunny and the roads were dry.

BABY BOARS, A SCREW, AND AN ICE BUCKET: DRIVING BACK TO PENNSYLVANIA

Monday, February 5, 2024
Hampton Inn
129 Cane Branch Road
Walterboro, SC
Rain, Clouds, 58F

 

TK, the best driver!

Originally, I was not going to blog today, but my iPad charger is not working now, and since it is 6:30 p.m, too early for bed, this gives me something to do.

 

We left Fort Myers on I-75 in the rain at 8 a.m.  Within an hour both the rain and the traffic subsided. While TK was driving intently, I had my iPad to entertain me, for hours.  TK was headed to Buc-ees in St. Augustine. He crossed the state on Florida Highway 17, which goes through many small towns. 

We saw orange tree orchards, livestock grazing, campgrounds, and a lot of housing construction.  At one point I even saw 5 young boars eating by the highway.  TK really enjoyed driving through Orlando. [She wrote with sarcasm]. He finally jumped on I-95, toward Jacksonville. Buc-ees was his first stop except for rest areas, a five hour drive.

 

Baby boars are cute

Since we don’t eat breakfast, we were starved by the time Buc-ees appeared.  We shared a sandwich, bought some more of those fabulous peanut butter cups, pumped gas, and away we drove toward Walterboro, South Carolina, through Georgia.

Another four hours later and we arrived in Walterboro and our hotel. Fortunately, a Cracker Barrel was on the property, and we walked to it for dinner. We were really tired.

 

Tired TK said something was bothering his foot –for days. He finally decided to look at his shoe and a screw had gone through the sole to his foot. How did he walk? I could feel the point of the screw that had pressured his foot, and now the screw is removed!

 

The screw: he thinks it may have been

in his shoe since San Juan.

To emphasize our fatigue, I volunteered to fill the ice bucket for our soda. I was almost out the door when TK asked me what I was doing with the wastepaper basket. I thought it was the ice bucket.

 

OK—enough for now, it looks like I am grasping for things to write about---

 

Good night!  Sorry, dear friend H, no WWF tonight...

MORE SHOPPING AND FAMILY REUNION IN FORT MYERS

Saturday, February 3, 2024/Sunday, February 4, 2024
Hilton Garden Inn
12600 University Drive
Fort Myers, FL
Rain, then Sun, 73F

 

Val's Delicious apple fritters

Fleamasters Fleamarket

Fort Lauderdale/Port Everglades on Saturday: Fastest time ever getting off the ship! Luggage in hand, no passport needed (just facial recognition now), by 6:50 a.m., leaving Park ‘N’ Go (it was a sunny 58F) in our white GMC Sierra truck at 7:27 a.m., and on the road to Fort Myers!  By the way, I asked the attendant at Park N Go how many cars were in their parking lot—about 2000!!

 

The highway to Fort Myers is called Alligator Alley—the original highway connecting Fort Lauderdale area to the Fort Myers area was built in 1928 as a two lane road. In 1968 the four lane toll highway was completed. 

 

In past years I have seen between 20 and 30 alligators of all sizes sunning themselves along the waterway that the highway follows. On Saturday, I only saw one big alligator, perhaps two others in the water.  It is fun to look for the alligators in the 100 mile stretch that follows the highway.  There are so many waterbirds to see too—some I saw were the White Ibis, many seagulls, Black Vultures (sunning themselves because there was no wind to soar on TK said), Great Egret, Great Blue Heron, many Frigatebirds, and Wood Stork.  This area is a wonderful habitat for the birds and alligators.

 Even the rest areas are educational—with story boards about the precious Everglades and viewing platforms. I totally recommend driving this road!

Wood carved Wood Stork and babies

Tiled image on floor 

Our first mission was visit the Fleamasters Fleamarket in Fort Myers-- 4135 Dr Martin Luther King Jr Boulevard to be precise!

 

Part of one of the many aisles

Fleamasters Fleamarket

I’ve written about this market many times over the years, 400,000 square feet of shopping (900 shops) with “everything from fresh produce to hundreds of bargain-packed booths that specialize in unique items - an eclectic mix of new and old - arts and crafts, antiques and collectibles. Kitchen products, clothing and shoes, luggage, jewelry and watches, 20 snack bars serving yummy treats.”  https://www.fleamastersfleamarket.com/

 

So what on earth are we looking for? Fresh made apple fritters, licorice (https://licoriceguy.com/), brand name shoes, Kettle Korn, used books 6/$5, and I do like looking at the colorful Florida clothes.  We don’t really buy much (books, licorice, apple fritterss, arepas, Kettle Korn) we sure do like looking.

 

After several hours we headed to another favorite, Miromar Outlet Mall—more shoes, a deal at Travelpro because everyone knows we need more luggage, and that is about it.

Miromar Outlet Mall 

Soon enough we were ready to meet friends from Erie, Mike (TK’s neighborhood friend for life) and his wonderful wife Maria at a new restaurant, British Open Pub in Bonita Springs.  The décor is obviously like a British pub and the food was phenomenal—another highly recommended spot!  I ordered fish and chips and TK had chicken and mushroom pie.  (https://www.bonitabritishopen.com/index.html )  After dinner we went to their condo for Greek dessert that Maria had bought at her church’s bake sale that morning—think delicious baklava.

Today we were ready for TK’s favorite Bass Pro (their shirts are very nice), and then to another mall, Coconut Point Mall in Estero, Florida. I do wonder what our readers might think about all the alleged shopping we do. I can say it is a really great way to get steps on my Fitbit and TK’s Samsung watch.   Today’s total was about 10,000 each, yesterday was over 11,000.

 

Coconut Point Mall

Today’s ultimate highlight was meeting the Koenig family for dinner at Miller’s Ale House near our hotel, including sister-in-law Carol, nephew Thomas, and nieces in law Carmel and Brenda.   We hadn’t seen them since before 2019, and the passing of TK’s brother and two nephews. They all live in the area, and it was really really good to see them and catch up.  They were really happy to see us too.

 

L: Thomas, TK, Janie

R: Carmel, Carol, Brenda

We are headed home tomorrow morning, hope to be back by Wednesday, February 7. It will be really good to see our Erie/Jamestown families.

 

Pictures from Friday:

Tiendai from Zimbabwe, Janie, and

Elmer from Philippines

Soleil Dining Room

I always take a photo of our luggage

when we place it outside our door

for pickup

THE JOY OF PACKING ON THE LAST CRUISE DAY AND GROUNDHOG DAY!

Friday, February 2, 2024
Sky Princess
Stateroom S222/17
At Sea
Sun, 76F

 

Sunrise, February 2, 2024, by TK

Groundhog Day!

Punxsutawney Phil predicted an early spring!!

Time to head home!

Packing, the last day, the bane of cruising! This morning we turned in more books and TK skimmed the Internet looking for another cruise, so we could give Joey, our room steward enough time to make the beds and refresh our towels, etc.  We returned to the room so TK could start his packing. This is not a social event and I tried to be unobtrusive.  I will leave that concept with our readers.

 

This is not a matter of gathering everything up and throwing the accumulation of clothes and sundry items into a suitcase. We both must plan for the rest of the trip, packing appropriate clothes for Fort Myers/ Estero/Naples and the drive home.  That means putting the right things in the right suitcase. We sure don’t want to lug 3 suitcases each into the next three hotels! TK was finished by 11:30 a.m. and it was time to meet Erie friends, Jeff and Doris P, for lunch.

 

We had not seen them in a while, so it was fun to catch up. They have been enjoying the Concerts at Sea with the legends like Brian Hyland (Sealed with a Kiss), Gary and the U.S. Bonds (e.g. New Orleans and Quarter to Three), and Peter Rivera (original lead singer for Rare Earth).  Jeff is an expert at rock n roll trivia and TK can sure keep up. We also shared cruise stories, as well as plans for future cruises. 

 

I also learned cheeseburgers are not a simple option in a main dining room.  The menu said, “Signature Burger, 1/3 lb. patty, gouda, cheddar, bacon jam, tomato aioli, arugula, on toasted brioche bun.”  What the heck is bacon jam??? I knew that aioli meant garlic, so I didn’t want that either.  I asked the server if I could just have a cheeseburger with cheddar cheese. He looked at me like I might as well have asked him to fly a cow in from the moon.  He also pronounced “patty” like pate, which further complicated my brain.

 

Aside--- I learned via the Internet just now that tomato aioli is described as such:  “Tomatoes are tossed in olive oil, garlic and diced red onion. They are then roasted in the oven. In a food processor (or a large bowl using an immersion blender), blend the roasted tomatoes, mayo, hot sauce, sherry vinegar and smoked paprika until smooth.” 

On the surface, that does not sound evil, unless we are talking about my stomach. 

 

So, I ended up with a cheeseburger (cheddar) with fries. TK paid extra for a lobster roll, which he said was pretty good.

 

After such a nice lunch, Doris and Jeff went to their next concert and TK and I returned to the room so I could pack.  The process went better than I expected and an  hour later the luggage was almost ready.

 

It is always sad to say goodbye to our servers in the main dining room. Tiendai promised me that if next week’s guests were not as nice as we are, he would give us a call and we could return.  They told us that next week 900 guests from Ireland will be dining in the main dining room.

 

Octopus!

While we were out and about this morning, we
saw some of the housekeeping staff making 
towel animals

Swans!

Tomorrow we will disembark around 7:10 a.m., catch a shuttle to our truck, and off we go to the Gulf Coast near Ft. Myers!   We had a very fine cruise!

Princess Photos-- too bad I wore the same outfit!  Actually Cozumel was week 1 and St. Thomas was week 2. 

COZUMEL

ST. THOMAS

TK's Takes:  The lobster was not as good as those in New Englanc. If you want a lobster roll, go to New England!  Packing was easy because we did not buy much.