We wanted bring some household stuff and memorabilia back from Florida. The biggest items were the temple rubbings. Instead of getting them shipped, we decided to drive to Florida, build a box specifically to fit the temple rubbings, strap it on top of the Murano, and then drive home. Things went pretty much according to plan.
Things to See and Do Enroute
- Click on this link to see a Google Map showing things to see and do:
- Click on this link to see a Google Map of disc golf courses. This is mostly the top 5 in each state we pass though. And a few more that I am interested in: HERE.
Route Going East then South
I have recently done two drives from Saskatoon, passing through St. Louis/Nashville. The optimum route for driving to Florida overlaps with this route a great deal. Therefore, I want to do something different. And Sandy had some places she wanted to visit too. (click on the More options to see more details)
Highlight Photos Going South with Sandy
Day-By-Day Going South with Sandy
- Friday, March 7: Day 1 – Drive to Winnipeg – Google Photos
- Drive into a frosted tree sunrise
- Visit Scott in Melville
- Arrive Winnipeg around 6, gave up on walk
- Dinner at Original Joes
- Saturday, March 8: Day 2 – Drive to Duluth – Google Photos
- Entering the Canadian shield is cool
- Roads are wet, or snowy, then perfect
- International Falls and the bridge are a pretty grotty way to enter US
- Duluth is cool, especially the aerial bridge and the canal area
- Sunday, March 9: Day 3 – Drive to Sheboygan – Google Photos
- Visit Glensheen. Extra cool when it was the same vintage as our Duffererin house, with similar fittings etc. Of course, this one was for an ultra-rich family
- Walk along Amnicorn Falls. Pretty insignificant actually, but nice to get out of the car and walk along the icy/snowy/wet snow trail
- LONG drive to Sheboygan
- Great dinner at Texas Roadhouse
- Monday, March 10: Day 4 – Kohler Factory, Lottie Cooper schooner – Google Photos
- Early morning drive to Kohler for our factory tour (foundry and pottery). Which was AWESOME. I should have snuck some photos but didn’t. Eric was great, and since there was only two of us, we got the full meal deal tour. These photos are from outside the no-photos area, or stolen from the internet! We saw ALL of this, including stumbling down narrow, noisy aisles in the foundry. Kohler Factory and Forge Tour
- Lottie Cooper Schooner Wreck was cool. I like the giant centerboard
- Long drive towards Indianapolis, stopped a couple hours short
- Holiday Inn Express in Rensselaer is very nice, but we had some tense moments with the Booking.Com reservation. We will see what happens tomorrow.
- Dinner at Taco Bell was quite good, above expectations.
- Discovered that the Underground Railroad in Cincinati will be closed on Tuesday. Time to make new plans
- Discovered that ALL of the Mammoth cave tours are booked solid. We did manage to book a self guided one for Wednesday morning. And we have a hotel booked in Cave City, near Mammoth Cave.
- Tuesday, March 11, Day 5: Rush to Mammoth and do a small cave tour – Google Photos
- Make new plans while driving towards Louisville, nothing in Cincinati good for last minute, decide we can maybe make it to Mammoth by 2:30 and do the cave tour today.
- Make it in time, 3 separate time zone changes confused us over and over, explored the historic section of Mammoth Cave
- Drove to Hampton Inn. Police pushed us aside while pursuing another vehicle. Both ran stop signs in front of us.
- Hampton Inn turned out to be a motel. Pleasant enough.
- Walked to Cracker Barrel. Good, but we have had enough grease for awhile.
- Wednesday, March 12, Day 6: Chattanooga, new tires and drive to Atlanta – Google Photos
- Took the scenic route to Chattanooga, lots of windy roads
- Ran over a curb visiting Starbucks, bubbled a side wall
- Rock City Garden was unexpectedly GREAT
- Started the drive to Atlanta, when Sandy noticed a Costco on our route. We stopped, and they were able to install 4 new tires, on the spot! Luck of the Irish
- Arrived late in Atlanta, and hit more miserable traffic jams. La Quinta is nice.
- Drove to a sktechy part of town nearby for Thai food. Excellent, but neighborhood was not
- Thursday, March 13, Day 7: Explore Atlanta – Google Photos
- Unexpected Atlanta – Martin Luther King Walking Tour. Jessica was excellent
- Kroff Tunnel Graffiti was cool, batter than expected
- Yet another traffic jam driving out to Stone Mountain.
- Stone Mountain was fun, an easy walk up a big rock. About 1.5 hours up and down.
- Another traffic jam as we headed down to Atlantic Station, for Ikea and dinner at Cal. Pizza
- Friday, March 14: Day 8– Ocmulgee Mounds, and Alison arrives MCO – Google Photos
- Supposed to be an easy days drive but that changed as we were driving when we volunteered to pick Alison up at the airport.
- Ocmulgee Mounds was cool. Most unexpected in North America. I didn’t realize that they also had underground dwellings. Sandy and I got lost from each other in the very small visitor center, and took about half an hour to find each other.
- Started driving hard to make it to Summerfield, and then the airport. We did have time to drop stuff off at Mom’s house, but had to continue rushing to the airport. And hit multiple traffic jams. We were a little late but not too bad.
- Passed by ChickFilet on the way home. Long day of driving., 12-ish hours
- Met Graham at the house, and proceeded to start packing stuff up.
Day-By-Day in Florida with Alison and Graham
- Saturday, March 15: Day 1 – Packing – Google Photos
- Packing
- Sort paintings
- Measure temple rubbings and decide on box design
- Deliver load to Thrift Shop, quick bite to eat at Campo Azul
- Pickup wood, and saw for roof top box from Home Depot
- Groceries for keema by Sandy
- Warren and Sandy play some pickleball
- DIY fix roof shingles, replace outside garage lights
- More packing and dinner
- Sunday, March 16: Day 2 – Packing, built roof box base – Google Photos
- Go through posters
- Attempt #1 bending U-bolts, decide square ones better…
- Build roof box base
- Drive to Thrift store, closed
- Drive to Home Depot, no square U bolts, so re-purchased round ones. Will make them fit.
- Thunderstorm
- Texas Roadhouse dinner
- Monday, March 17: Day 3 – Moving semi took Alison’s stuff, built roofbox lid – Google Photos
- Miki the driver was a character, and a pilot with his own plane in San Diego
- Test fit #1 of roof box with Sandy. Looks good, but going to use a hoist next time.
- Build lid for roof box
- Vice does a good job of making round brackets square
- Thrift Shop run
- Chisel out notches for roof rack and try out the hoist to place it on Murano
- Grocery run, Sandy makes tacos
- Tuesday, March 18: Day 4 – Painted roofbox, Pho Saigon, Ms Steves Icecream – Google Photos
- Paint top and bottom of roof box with old paint. Mostly beige.
- Take down a winch
- Pho Saigon dinner
- Ice cream at Ms. Steves in Belleville
- Wednesday, March 19: Day 5 – Nissan dealer fixes Murano wheel bearings, 5 hours of walking Ocala – Google Photos
- Wait for diagnosis (new rear hubs and wheel bearings) and work took 4-ish hours. Good to have it done
- Did a LONG 21 km walk from dealer to see Fort King. Got sunburned. No hat
- Test packing of the roofbox
- Thursday, March 20: Day 6 – More house cleanup and Franco’s for dinner – Google Photos
- More packing and clean up, posters, thrift shop
- More wood, extend box up
- TDAmeritrade failure at Sumter Landing
- Dinner at Franco’s. Most excellent.
- Strap kayak onto Graham’s Suburban
- Paint new rooftop box wood
- Friday, March 21: Day 7 – Graham leaves, recycling, pickleball, Campo Azul – Google Photos
- Graham leaves at 6
- Consignment/Facebook fire sale photos
- Cremation boxes to Neptune
- Recycling at Transit Station at Carney
- Remove HiFi stuff from shelving
- Pickleball
- Dinner at Campo Azul
- Saturday, March 22: Day 8 – Alison leaves, get Indian Hawthorn, softshell turtle – Google Photos
- Groome gets lost, but still picks Alison up at 3:25
- More kitchen cleanup
- Goney’s Garden Center for a new Indian Hawthorn bush
- Soft shell turtle on golf course
- Plant bush, walk around lake
- Sunday, March 23: Day 9 – Firesale success, garden rocks, Kim and Karin arrive – Google Photos
- Sold a bunch of stuff through Facebook
- Freezer dissassembly and cleanup!
- Got 10 bags of pebbles for garden, need another 5
- Firesale success, garden rocks
- Drive to airport to pick up Kim and Karin, eat at Miller’s Ale House in Orlando
- LATE drive back to Summerfield, bed at 1:40 am
Day-by-Day in Florida with Kim and Karin
- Monday, March 24: Day 1 – Disc golf, Lowes, Centsible, HomeDepot, Pickleball – Google Photos
- Disc golf Ocala Greenway FL
- Centsible donations
- More garden rocks
- Aprilaire filter
- Pickleball with Kim
- Homemade dinner
- Tuesday, March 25: Day 2 – Kayak Juniper Springs – Google Photos
- Juniper Springs, saw 5 alligators, river otter, many turtles. Nice paddle. Karin fell in…
- Miss Steve’s Icecream for soft serve
- Texas Roadhouse for dinner
- Wednesday, March 26: Day 3 – Sawmill, Okahumpka, Fort King, Murano dies – Google Photos
- Disc golf Sawmill FL in Ocala
- Visit Fort King in Ocala again, this time with Kim
- Finally fix bulbs in house number. Needs 12 volt bulbs…
- Disc golf Okahumpka FL (twice, 9 x2 = 18 holes)
- Murano dies on girl’s shopping trip. We came over from Home Depot, verified problem, phoned Ace Towing, dropped Murano off at Nissan in Leesburg
- Thursday, March 27: Day 4 – Pickleball, thrift store, Murano dies – Google Photos
- Pickleball with all 4 of us, mixing it up with locals
- Take torn screens out
- Visit Hospice Thrift Store, see Mom’s stuff, pick up suitcase for Karin
- Much packing by the girls
- Dinner at Campo Azul
- Final packing by the girls, and now with a valid SunPass, we will be taking the big red truck on the toll roads at 4:30 am.
- Friday, March 28: Day 5 – Airport run, mountain bike, Murano pickup, disc golf, pickleball – Google Photos
- Drop the girls off at the airport at 6 am
- Mountain bike Santos
- Pick up Murano
- Play disc golf at Lady Hawk FL
- More pickleball
- Saturday, March 29: Day 6 – Mount Roof Box, Pack up Murano, Pickleball – Google Photos
- Test fit the chair, butterfly chairs, tool box
- Attach roof box, fill it and seal it up.
- Pickleball
- Leftovers
- Walk around little lake
- Sunday, March 30: Day 7 – Start Drive to Rock Hill
Route Going North then West
This route has us going north through the Carolina’s, then turning west. Once past Chicago, we can opt to continue west though the SD Badlands, then head north. Or we can take the shorter route and just head “straight” for Saskatoon. (click on the More options to see more details)
Highlight Photos Going North with Kim
Driving North Day-By-Day (47 hours, 4800 km)
- Sunday, March 30: Day 1 – Drive to Rock Hill ((7.5 hours, 774 km) – Google Photos
- drive to Rock Hill
- stay with Daneel
- Monday, March 31: Day 2 – Drive to Knoxville (5 hours 510 km) – Google Photos
- disc golf Winthrop University SC
- heavy rain storms and lots of traffic
- And forest fires and flooding slow us down
- End up in Knoxville Days Inn
- Tuesday, April 1, Day 3 – Drive to Mammoth Cave via Chained Rock (5 1/2 hours, 200 km) – Google Photos
- hike Chained Rock
- hike Cumberland Falls
- disc golf Creekside at Gorin KY
- Arrive Mammoth Cave around 6, set up tents
- Wednesday, April 2, Day 4 – Drive to Brown County State Campground (3 hours 300 km) – Google Photos
- Mammoth Cave Dripstone Tour (9:45 am)
- disc golf Arrowhead KY
- tent in big thunderstorms on a high mountain ridge. Stayed remarkably dry. Lotsa lightning and thunder and winds
- Thursday, April 3, Day 5 – Drive to Davenport (5 1/2 hours, 575 km) – Google Photos
- pack up mostly dry tents
- Flooding has started, but covered bridge is still passable
- Quick McDonalds for coffee, but NO espresso. 🙂
- disc golf Camden Two IL
- Visit Antique Archeology
- Stay at Days Inn Baymount Davenport. Very nice for a two star
- Dinner at The Filling Station
- Friday, April 4: Day 6 – Drive to Sioux Falls (6 1/2 hours, 700 km) – Google Photos
- Murano mileage miserable with 80 mph speed limits, headwinds and roofbox
- disc golf Wildcat Bluff IA
- Explore Sioux Falls Park
- Stay at Ramada, dodgiest hotel of the whole trip. And most expensive
- Dinner at 5 Guys
- Saturday, April 5: Day 7 – Drive to Spearfish via Badlands (6 1/2 hours, 660 km) – Google Photos
- explore Badlands
- lunch at Wall Drugs
- disc golf Spearfish Canyon SD
- stay at Super 8 by Wyndham in Spearfish
- Hot tub and swim
- Dinner at Culver, an upscale family burger place (home of the butter burger)
- Sunday, April 6: Day 8 – Drive to Williston (6 hours, 550 km) – Google Photos
- Devil’s Tower
- Finding gas was tough
- disc golf Makoshika – Buccaneer Flats WY
- stay at Roosevelt hotel in Williston, yet another one undergoing improvements
- Dinner at Williston Brewing Company
- Monday, April 7: Day 9 – Drive to Saskatoon (6 hours, 600 km) – Google Photos
- disc golf at Spring Lake ND
- clear customs into Canada
- visit Warren Conley in Regina Hospital
- drive Saskatoon
Packing
Packing was mostly my standard Big Drive Packing List. For this trip, I added in a bunch of power tools to build the roof box.