The Florida Trip

Stacy and I recently returned from a vacation/business trip. (Stacy had to be in Orlando, FL by Thursday for a trade show on Friday and Saturday.) Our adventure by car took us through Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida. We had driven to Georgia to see my sister in Atlanta before. The last full week of February found temperatures in the south in the mid-70's to low-80's. Perfect. Our route was (more or less) based on the locations of Harley Davidson dealerships. Southaven, MS was one of our favorites. The people there were super friendly and the dealership was huge! Across the parking lot was an awesome bar/grill called The Fillin' Station. We went over for a drink after we finished at the dealership, then ended up there for supper. I found it interesting that the lunch and supper menus were different. I had my first taste of Gumbo there -- it was AWESOME!! This place had so much character! And it was huge, too, both inside and out. You can see that they sport a pretty spiffy upper deck for music and other special events.

While taking a scenic route through downtown Mobile, AL, we noticed a few buildings with some pretty cool architecture. I would love to go back some day and find out what was in some of those buildings or tour them. We also noticed that they were getting ready for some sort of event. Road barracades were set up in parking areas and a few carnival-type (sno-cones, funnel cake, etc.) kiosks were set up in parking lots. We learned later that day that they were getting ready for Mardi Gras!! (We made it through just in time!! What a mess that would have been to get lost in!) Apparently, Mobile is the original home for Mardi Gras. Who knew?!

We overnighted in Pensicola, FL. The next destination was Daytona. We spent about a day and a half in Daytona. It was a week before the start of Bike Week, but the areas we saw were getting ready! I think our first stop was Bruce Rossmeyer's Destination Daytona. I have a lot to write about from this stop, so I'm going to break it down into smaller posts. Stay tuned!