A nutty detour on the way home

We were leaving the Keys not a minute too soon.  A big cold front had moved in overnight and the highs would struggle to get into the 50s and with high winds the day we left.  So, best to get my tall vehicle off those long wind-exposed bridges in the Keys as soon as possible.

We had a long 4-day drive back to Chicago, and it was predicted to be below freezing every single night along the way (even our first night in central Florida!).  We rolled into Bushnell, FL about 9:00pm.  Mom and Dolores headed off to their hotel, while Millie and I boondocked in the Wal-Mart parking lot. 

There were about 10 RVs and Truckers parked closely together off on one side of the lot, and 1 small RV parked by itself on the other side of the lot.  Of course, I decided to park on the uncrowded side of the lot.  Got Millie walked, my shades pulled down, bed made, jammies on and crawled into bed by around 10.  Just as I was drifting off to sleep, a big 18-wheeler rolled in and decided to park right next to me.  Of course he left his loud diesel engine running :-) .  About 30 minutes later, I heard him put his truck into gear and drive away.  “Hallelujah!  For once, I’ve lucked out!,” I thought.

Uh, not so fast.

It seems he was just turning around so he could get his engine even CLOSER to my RV.  Argh!  Need to remember to bring ear plugs on these RV trips in the future! 

Our next day’s drive was through Georgia, and after the monotony of 2 days of highway driving, Dolores had a perfect diversion to recharge our batteries…a trip to Ellis Brothers Nut Shop!  The billboard signs dot the interstate for miles in Georgia saying '”We’re Nuts!”, so when we turned off a rural exit, I expected to find a tourist shack selling over-priced stale nuts.  Well, there was one of those right at the exit.  But one of Dolores’ cousins was a pecan farmer in Georgia, and told her to drive a few miles to the main store.  Wow, what fun.  We passed cotton fields and persimmon trees, and arrived to a store full of fresh, tasty samples of everything they sold, at reasonable prices too!   Yum!