Back in Alabama

Tuesday, March 17, 2020

We left Midway Campground Monday morning after a much needed restful Sunday.  As we were leaving we thought, with the recommendations that people work from home as much as possible and limit travel and social interactions because of COVID-19, traffic might be lighter. What we forgot to consider was the annual northward snowbird migration. There were many RVs with tags from northern states northbound on I-75. And every rest area was crowded with them. Things improved when we changed to I-10 west.

For the most part the drive was uneventful. We hunted a couple of rest area geocaches and enjoyed the scenery. At the I-10 rest area just west of I-75 we saw the largest solar farm we have ever seen. It is the Florida Power & Light Sunshine Gateway Solar Energy Center. It has around 330,000 panels on 953 acres. Read more about it here.

We drove longer Monday than we usually do. But we wanted a shorter day today. We spent the night in the parking lot of the Marianna, Florida WalMart with a few other RVs and 18-wheelers.

We arrived back on Pine Mountain shortly after noon and are now set up here for a few days before our next NOMADS project. It surprised us a little to see how far behind spring is here compared to even south Alabama.  It was really a joy to see Donna and Barry again and walk the track a couple of times this evening.