This is the first day of our trip to Kerrville, TX and the Motor Maids convention. It takes a long time to get out of Florida. To avoid I-75 traffic we usually head north on the Suncoast Parkway and US-19. It often rains somewhere on 19 and it’s always hot in July.

We got an early start, packing the bags in the garage well before dawn.

We stopped at gas stations and rest stops lunching on the fly.

Our destination was Hattiesburg, MS, 600 miles from home. Our regular routine is to cover a lot of miles in the first couple of days so we can enjoy more interesting places at a more leisurely pace. We enjoyed the trip up US-19 the first time we took it, but since then it has become too familiar. It’s a 4-lane divided highway with not too many towns. We’ve passed a few places we might come back to, but for the most part it’s just boring.

From 19 we picked up I-10 and then headed west. We tried a different route through Mobile. Rather than go through the tunnel, which is often backed up, we took the US-90, Government Street tunnel. It wasn’t too bad, but we did have to contend with downtown traffic. Sometimes I experiment with alternate routes. This one was OK.

From Mobile we headed northwest on US-98 and arrived in Hattiesburg in the late afternoon. We didn’t feel like fast food or a full restaurant meal, so we got salads from Walmart and took them back to the motel room.

Tomorrow will be another long day – 500 miles – but we will be staying with friends in Frisco, TX.