Day 5- Ft. Myers to Mobile, AL

That was probably the strangest, and at the same time, the greatest, day of my life.

We had the car packed up and were ready to go at 6AM this morning. The car did not start. It was dead. In the 9 hours overnight since we'd last driven it, somehow it died. Absolutely gutted.

But then Team FOUS kicked into gear and were just lifesavers. AAA towed it to the place we bought it, they didn't know what was wrong, that was that. They can have the car back, we have to move on. We fly off to another car lot and within 15 minutes literally buy a replacement. A 2002 Chevy Tracker. It's incredible.



From absolute tragedy at 6AM, to full on glory at 9:15 AM, we finally hit the road, only one day behind schedule. The target for the day was Mobile, AL., about 700 miles away, via the Georgia State Line.

We literally drove the car straight off the lot, down Tamiami Trail, and onto the I-75. It was pretty intense. Steve took the wheel first and did real good. Oh yeah, for the sake of... whatever, here is the exact number of miles on the car when we started the trip.



Before we knew it, we were flying north through Florida.



We got the car with a half tank of fuel or so, which got us 200 miles I think. We pulled over to a gas station, and spent like 20 minutes drooling over everything on offer in the store. Couldn't believe my eyes, you can get a 64oz fountain soda for less than a buck fifty. Which is like... a pound. 64oz by the way, is just short of 2 litres. It is MASSIVE. None of us have braved one yet. Maybe tomorrow.



This is Neil struggling a little with the gas pump at our first fill up. Things were a little confusing, but he sussed it out. Back on the road with Neil at the helm, and we were off to the races again. In the roomy backseat, I enjoyed a July 4 cupcake.



Things got a little hairy as we approached Gainesville. We hit a little Florida weather.

At this point, I can introduce the first video from our trip. We've taken quite a few, but I never have the patience to upload the things to youtube. This is short and worthwhile. Neil handled the situation very well, there is no doubt in my mind I would have definitely killed everyone.



Thankfully it didn't last too long, and we could get back up to speed. With cruise control by the way. Cruise control, once you figure it out, is the single greatest invention in the world.

We empty the tank again and pull over at another services type place for gas and food. In the shop, they have things which plug into your cigarette lighter. Things like... pizza ovens. Serious.



We buy 3 tacky as hell Florida t shirts for $10, and go to Wendys. FAST FOOD STOP NUMBER 2!!!

Totally as good as I remember. Steve was a douche and had some chicken sandwich, Neil went for the 1/2lb Double and I had a 'Baconator', which was the same as Neil's but with bacon. I felt like a bit of a tool asking for a freakin' 'Baconator' but whatever, it was amazing. It looked like this.





That's a 'small' meal by the way. Mental. Probably the greatest burger i've ever eaten though. I'll probably go for another tomorrow, unless we find a KFC All You Can Eat, which according to billboards at the side of the I-10, totally do exist. Can you believe that? We've discussed it for about 3 hours. We all agree if it is a real thing, it'll be humanity's greatest achievement. But yeah, Wendys was totally amazing, but I was so full after the 'small' meal that there was no room for a Frosty. Save it for Texas or something.

After joining the I-10, headed West to Tallahassee, we took a detour so we could nip into Georgia. Very worth it.



After so long on the Interstate, we'd not really seen much 'real' America. We saw it when we went to Georgia. Sadly it was pretty poor. I'm not gonna get all douchey, i'll save that for when i've been drinking, but it's pretty sobering to see these beautiful houses sitting not 200 meters from a trailer park where everything looks to be 3 months from either falling apart of spontaneously combusting.

We left Georgia and headed back for the interstate, it was getting a little late and we still had a few hundred miles to go. It was a pretty beautiful drive.





Our last stop in Florida was only just to use a restroom and stretch the legs, but it was probably the best stop of the day. Standing in the car park of a Waffle House, an employee comes over to say hi. Being a complete cynic, I assumed he was coming to flog us some waffles. What an asshole I am. Donte just came over to chat, and in 15 minutes he covered skating, poetry, why there will never be world peace, where the best women in the US are, and the little steps everyone needs to take to make sure the whole world is as happy as it can be. It was incredible, he was a total dude.





Back on the road and it got dark quickly. Still beautiful though.



After about a 12 hour day, and over 700 miles, we finally arrived in Mobile, AL.



We're also all in Central Time for the first time in our lives. The time changes are a novelty which are gonna confuse me forever I think.

I know there is loads i'm missing out, but i'm shattered and desperate to sleep. Oh yeah, before I forget, we've not been in Alabama long. We arrived at the motel, then went and grabbed a few beers at the Touchdown Tavern. But the few Alabamans we've met, there's something... something not quite right. In a Deliverance kind of way. I'm not gonna say anymore.

Tomorrow we're gonna go see some of Mobile in the daylight, and then it's time for New Orleans, LA. It's also Independence Day. There's gonna be trouble, the really good type of trouble. Wish us luck.