Africa 2023:
Pre-Cruise

	Saturday, October 7, 2023: It was finally here. Departure day. We picked up our rental car at 9:45 AM from Enterprise, ...
	... and headed back home. We quickly transferred all of our luggage and travel stuff into the car and were on the road by 10:30 AM.
	Our first stop was at Claire's group home to drop off some supplies and a new vacuum cleaner, ...
	... and to say goodbye to our girl. It was hard to leave her knowing that we won't be seeing her for more than two months.
	Our next stop was at Jill's house where we only took a single picture of their neighbor's brand new fence. We were giving them everything from our refrigerator that we didn't eat before we left, and dropping off birthday presents for Kelly and Liam since their birthdays would happen while we were gone. We said our goodbyes to Jill and Jared, ...
	... and headed south, stopping at McDonald's to get Oreo McFlurries to celebrate the start of this epic trip.
	By 1:30 PM, we were crossing into Kentucky, ...
	... and picking up lunch at Zaxby's. The first place we ever had Zaxby's was in Kentucky, so it seemed like regional fast food to us.
	As we headed east across Kentucky, we stopped at a rest area where we saw these horse statues.
	This one was particularly beautiful.
	Maersk!
	As you probably already know, we like to collect scenic byway signs like this one for Wilderness Road Scenic Byway.
	Shortly after 5:00 PM, we drove through this tunnel, ...
	... and crossed into Tennessee, ...
	... and then two minutes later we crossed into Virginia.
	We followed the Virginia Birding and Wildlife Trail for a while, ...
	... through the beautiful hills ...
	... and grasslands of Virginia. We marvelled at the monumental effort it must take to mow this lawn as we watched the riding lawnmower reach the top of the hill.
	The kudzu was everywhere and on everything. Someday this part of the state will be nothing but kudzu.
	As we climbed through the hills in Appalachia, ...
	... we were on the Virginia Coal Heritage Trail/Virginia Byway, ...
	... and the Country Music Highway.
	An enormously long train bridge spanned the hills running along the highway.
	We followed the Daniel Boone Wilderness Trail into the outskirts of Bristol, Tennessee, ...
	... where we stopped at a Pal's Sudden Service for dinner. We squealed with delight as we saw the food decorations on the building. So cute!
	We ordered a Big Pal, a Jr, Burger, and a large Frenchie Fries to share.
	After a quick stop at CVS to pick up a few last minute items, we crossed back over into Virginia and were briefly on the Crooked Road, Virginia's Heritage Music Trail ...
	... before arriving at the Budget Inn Express, our destination for this day. We got checked in, brought in our bags, and immediately changed into our pajamas and got ready for bed. It had been a long day and we were exhausted.
	Sunday, October 8, 2023: We were up bright and early and out of the motel by 6:30 AM. We were back in Tennessee three minutes later, ...
	... heading through a very sleep Bristol, Tennessee, on this early Sunday morning.
	Just before 7:00 AM, we arrived our first stop of the day: the Tennessee Merci Train boxcar. It was located in a covered shelter outside of an American Legion Hall, and the first thing we noticed about it was that it was on tires rather than rails.
	We're guessing that they pull the boxcar in parades. Other than that, it looked like it was in great shape.
	We stopped again at Pal's Sudden Service to try their breakfast, ...
	... and got two biscuit sandwiches and their cheddar hashbrowns. Unfortunately, we aren't dry biscuit people so the best we can say about the breakfast was that the Diet Cokes were nice and cold.
	We followed the Tennessee Scenic Parkway as we made our way south across the eastern corner of Tennessee.
	Hey! That drive-in movie theater was named State Line.
	Does that mean what we think it means?
	Yes, it does. Welcome to North Carolina!
	We were thrilled to see a motor route sign that we hadn't seen before. This one was for the Overmountain Victory National Historical Trail Commemorative Motor Route.
	North Carolina really wants you to know that you are on the Blue Ridge Parkway. In a very short distance there was this North Carolina Byway Little Parkway sign, ...
	... and then the official entrance sign for the Blue Ridge Parkway, ...
	... and then one more sign as you joined the limited access road. Whew.
	The drive was beautiful, with gorgeous overlooks and amazing vistas.
	iJust before 8:30 AM, we pulled into the completely empty parking lot at the Blue Ridge Parkway's Linn Cove Visitor Center, ...
	... and made our way to the back of the building to see ...
	... the Stephen Mather plaque. This one is different from the others. It is cast out of a silvery metal, maybe aluminum. There is speculation that it might have been a trial casting for a new mold and they went ahead and used it after it turned out okay. Other than being shiny silver rather than bronze, it looked great.
	Here's our trusty rental car all alone in the parking lot.
	We continued our drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway, ...
	... enjoying the beautiful weather and the great scenery, ...
	... and stopping to check out the deer that crossed the road in front of us. There were several more in the tree line, all enjoying a nice morning breakfast on the grass.
	At 10:45 AM, we arrived at our next stop for the day: Concord Mills Mall in Concord, North Carolina.
	The LEGO Store didn't open until 11:00 AM, ...
	... so we pressed our faces against the glass and looked at all of the new models in the window.
	Tom really liked this stormtrooper sculpture.
	The store opened right at 11:00 AM, and after taking a quick look at the Build-A-Minifig station, ...
	... Debbie checked out the Pick & Build wall, ...
	... before returning to the Build-A-Minifig station and assembling this set of Halloween minifigs. Debbie got her LEGO passport stamped and off we headed, ...
	... to the LEGO Store at the Southpark Mall in Charlotte, North Carolina.
	We looked at this Viking village set for a long time before we went in, ...
	... and not finding the new October minifig pieces or anything compelling on the Pick & Build wall, Debbie selected this gingerbread ornaments set, got her LEGO passport stamped, and off we went.
	Staying firm on our rule to only eat regional fast food, we stopped at Bojangles for lunch, getting a three tenders meal for Debbie and a chicken sandwich for Tom.
	Just after 12:30 PM, we crossed into South Carolina, ...
	... and stopped at the Welcome Center right across the border. It was one of the nicest rest areas we've ever been in.
	Just before 4:00 PM, we crossed the border into Georgia, ...
	... where we weren't at all surprised to find that we were on the Purple Heart Trail.
	At 5:45 PM, we arrived in Florida, ...
	... and stopped at their Welcome Center. As we hoped we would, we found a dolphin statue outside the rest area. This one was cleverly named Clementine.
	We were going to stop at one more LEGO Store in Jacksonville, but unfortunately it closed at 6:00 PM and we just couldn't get there in time. We decided to head to Pollo Tropical instead, ...
	... and got two delicious TropiChop bowls and a side of plantains. We ate about half of each bowl and a few of the plantains, ...
	... and drove the rest of the way to our hotel, ...
	... the Comfort Suites in Baymeadows.
	After we got everything into the room, Debbie noticed that there were these big white birds flying in and landing on the trees above a pond behind the fire station across the street.
	The longer she watched, the more birds that flew in.
	She used the fantastic zoom on her camera to get this close-up shot. They look like they are American white ibis.
	At Pollo Tropical, we had also ordered two servings of cuatro leches cake which is the most delicious cake in the world.
	Monday, October 9, 2023: We slept in late, waking up around 8:30 AM and taking our time getting started this morning. We watched this hawk that was sitting on the wire across our parking lot, ...
	... as two smaller birds to the left of it were inching closer to it and trying to drive it off. The smaller bird on the far left kept leaping into the air trying to intimidate the hawk. After several minutes, the hawk finally spread its wings and took off, chasing one of the smaller birds for a short distance before it finally gave up and flew away. Nature is fascinating.
	We had slept in both to get a well deserved long night's sleep, and to time our departure so that we could visit the LEGO Store at St. John's Town Center that we didn't get to before it closed on Sunday.
	Check out this awesome Disney castle set! So many play areas! So many cool details! We made our purchase, got Debbie's passport stamped, and headed back to the car.
	On the way, we stopped to admire this stamped manhole cover in the sidewalk bearing a Jacksonville-specific design.
	Back at the car, Debbie photographed her loot: a Technic Snow Groomer set, or more accurately, Tom's loot. It is a 2-in-1 set, which means that it can be built into two different models.
	As we headed south on I-95, we stopped at McDonald's for an early lunch and had this Maersk truck drive right past us.
	Traffic was all bottled up as we drove south, and we eventually passed what was causing the delay: two oversized cargo carriers hauling what appeared to be payload fairings for a rocket. This is probably just normal Monday morning traffic along the Space Coast.
	We laughed as we drove past this line of No Parking signs outside of a rest area. There were probably fifty signs lining the side of the road.
	By 11:30 AM, we were on the outskirts of Daytona Beach.
	We were hoping this was something space-related as well, but it looked more like a farm silo as we drove past it.
	By 1:00 PM, we were more than half-way down the peninsula, ...
	... and by 3:00 PM, we were pulling into the Town Center Mall in Boca Raton.
	It was time for another LEGO Store, another passport stamp, ...
	... and more loot. Debbie got a Star Wars Holiday set, another Technic 2-in-1 set for Tom, ...
	... and several of the October minifigs that she wanted.
	Traffic was backing up as we got further south, so we decided to skip the remaining LEGO Stores that we had planned on visiting and headed straight to the hotel. We passed the Fort Lauderdale Hollywood Airport where we would be returning the rental car, ...
	... and entered the Dania Beach area of Fort Lauderdale.
	Debbie loves vintage neon signs like this one for Tropical Acres Steakhouse which is apparently two miles that way.
	Just after 4:00 PM, we pulled into the Comfort Suites Dania Beach, ...
	... which was our last stop before boarding the cruise ship tomorrow afternoon. We brought everything from the rental car that needed to be repacked up to the room and settled in for the night.
	From our hotel room window, we could see the iconic guitar-shaped Seminole Hard Rock Hotel that was about five miles directly west of us.
	Here's a closer look at it zoomed in with Debbie's camera.
	As it got darker, the guitar lit up, ...
	... changing colors, ...
	... and looking really cool in the Florida night sky. We repacked all of our travel stuff from the car into the luggage we were carrying onto the ship, and settled in to try to get some sleep before our big day tomorrow. Day 1 >