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- Hey everybody, remember a couple of years ago?
We are on our way to Lawrenceville, Georgia,
which is very close to Atlanta to visit family
to celebrate Thanksgiving with them which is tomorrow.
Estimated time of arrival: 2 a.m.
Well, we're doing it again, but ssh, it's a secret.
They don't know we're coming.
Also in this video, we visit two, not one,
but two state capitols, and the tallest hotel
in the Western hemisphere.
♪ I'm riding ♪
♪ Riding, riding ♪
♪ Riding with my RV. ♪
♪ My RV ♪
♪ Wherever I want to be ♪
♪ Because I'm free in my RV, yeah ♪
We are once again on the road
and we should be moving right.
Instead, we are enjoying the horrendous gridlock
of Miami's notorious rush hour traffic.
Actually, the expressway is not so bad
so it looks like we might actually make it after all.
We go north on I-95, engaging in the endeavor
of traversing this long peninsula that is Florida,
and boy is it long.
We have taken the express lane.
It is only $1.50 at this time and that should save us
some of the worst part of the traffic.
I'm going to have to eat my words.
I said I was never ever ever going to take
the Florida's Turnpike, never ever again,
and here I am, driving along this dark, boring, dull road.
It'll shave roughly one hour off our trip
and since time is of the essence right now,
I have decided to emulate myself.
Meanwhile, Momma and the rest of the family
have taken the faster route
and they have actually flown to Atlanta.
Perhaps a more sensible choice but hey,
they will miss the road trip.
We however, are arriving
at the Port St Lucie's service plaza to refuel
and take a break, but it is so crowded
that there's even police guiding traffic
and the cars are parked in the RV area.
We find a parking space miraculously,
but the place is a madhouse.
So we decide to eat some of the food
we have brought with us, and go to the bathroom in the RV.
One of the many advantages of having a home on wheels.
We continue on this godforsaken road.
As fatigue sets in, we decide to spend the night
at the TA, the Travel Centers of America.
It's near Wildwood, Florida,
right where the turnpike merges with I-75.
It is mostly a truck stop, but they have amenities,
laundry, food, et cetera.
We decided to spend the night at the diner's parking area,
away from the noise of the idling diesel engines.
We wake up and walk
to the Country Pride restaurant for breakfast.
It's pretty much your classic diner, good food.
♪ I'm riding ♪
♪ Riding with my RV ♪
We continue on I-75 North
and as we approach the Georgia border,
we start seeing incipient examples of the fall colors
in some of the trees.
Of course, the rest of the family is already enjoying
full-blown fall colors near Atlanta, Georgia.
Eventually, we make it to the Florida-Georgia border
and we stop of course, for the requisite picture.
Hello Instagram.
We continue along this billboard-laden road.
Meanwhile, in Lawrenceville,
where the rest of the family is, they have had breakfast
and are preparing the Thanksgiving dinner.
Lots of homemade desserts.
We continue nonstop, trying to make it on time for dinner,
and finally we arrive at the Jones RV Park,
where we'll be spending the night.
We have found out, thanks to a Facebook check-in,
that our family members have gone to downtown Lawrenceville
for hot chocolate at the McCray's Tavern,
and to see the lighting of the Christmas tree.
Surprise, here we are.
The family is reunited.
- [Kim] I've been here 22 years.
My name is Kim Sheely and I'm the volunteer coordinator
for Gwinnett County Parks and Recreation.
Of course, it's my pleasure that you are all here
to see the lighting of this tree in beautiful
downtown Lawrenceville on the square.
- [Robert] Santa Claus arrives, Christmas carols are sung.
It seems to be a major event
even though it is freezing cold.
Finally the tree is lit so let's go eat.
Happy Thanksgiving.
We wake up at the RV park in below freezing temperatures.
You may not think so, but for us south Floridians,
the sight of the car covered in ice is actually a big deal.
We have said our goodbyes,
since Mom and the rest of the family
are staying a couple more days
and we want to head back early
and take it slow on the way south.
But first, a quick visit to Atlanta seems appropriate.
First, we are going to pass by the capitol buildings
since Atlanta is Georgia's capitol city.
Typically in the U.S., state capitol cities,
not necessarily the largest city
but Georgia is one of the exceptions.
It's all under construction
so I'll settle for this selfie and this quick view
from the other side of the road and off we go.
Let's go see the tallest hotel in the Western hemisphere
and take a ride all the way to the top.
There it is, the tall round building,
that's where we're going.
We ride the glass elevator to the top.
They have a revolving restaurant,
so let's take a quick ride around and see the sights.
Down there, we see the Georgia Aquarium,
Georgia Tech, little further down on I-85.
The brownish skyscraper is the Bank of America plaza,
the tallest building in Atlanta.
Right in front of us,
the Sun Trust Plaza, the second largest.
We see Stone Mountain in the distance
and the 191 Peachtree Tower, the Georgia-Pacific Tower,
and even the capitol building.
There is Stone Mountain where the family is going tomorrow,
and actually, right now, the rest of the family
is also arriving at downtown this very moment.
We could probably see them if we looked hard enough.
They take a ride on the Ferris Wheel
while we spy from above.
Could that be them?
Now they are down by the skating rink,
the white tent that we see down there,
right next to the Georgia Aquarium
and the World of Coca-Cola.
This site is called Pemberton Place,
in honor of John Pemberton,
the guy who invented the sugary drink.
Well, time's up for us.
It is time to start spinning back south.
(mellow music)
We pick up Minitini and off we go,
nearly nonstop for over six hours.
It is less than 300 miles but
since we can't go too fast while pulling the trailer
and we stop a few times to refuel and take breaks,
it takes a long time.
Also we are running a little behind schedule
to be honest about it.
We should have been in Florida by now.
Instead we will arrive well into the night.
By the way, what's up with Georgia roads
and all these billboards?
I mean, we have them in Florida too but not as many.
The day comes to an end, and I must confess,
I love driving at night.
There's less blare and less chance for the car to overheat,
but of course you can't see any of the scenery.
We get off the interstate
and go through some deserted towns.
We refuel near Moultrie and take US 319.
We pass by Thomasville in southern Georgia
and its historic downtown, also called the City of Roses.
Soon, we are back in Florida
and shortly thereafter, we are arriving
at the state capitol city Tallahassee
and the Lakeview Travel Park.
Not the most glamorous place, but hey, we'll take it.
It looks like it froze again last night.
The furnace sure didn't stop.
Let's check out the state capitol while we're here.
We stop in front of
the 1949 Greek Revival style Supreme Court building.
The Court originally met in the old capitol building
which is now a museum.
The new 1977 capitol building is across the street,
and at least from the outside, it is quite an eyesore.
I really don't like this Cold War-era architecture.
It almost looks like the Soviets built it.
It's one redeeming quality
is perhaps these dolphins in the front.
Actually I hear it's quite nice inside
but today it is closed, so let's go around the block
towards the old and far more attractive capitol building.
Nowadays, the inside, it is a museum
relating the history of Florida with many artifacts.
Among the many artifacts,
there's the ballot box and voting machine
from the disputed 2000 president elections,
part of recent history.
We also get a look at the original Supreme Court
when they used to meet here.
It was situated on the left wing of the building.
As we make our way to the second floor
through the rotunda, we get to see
the famous stained glass cupola,
which was renovated in 2012.
On the second floor, they have this supposedly
award-winning audiovisual presentation,
which is out of sync by the way.
Take note museum people.
More historical artifacts,
and then we have the governor's office
as it was in the olden days.
I love to see the old furniture and the office equipment.
They had a cuspidor which is a nicer word for spit bucket.
More old signs and memorabilia.
This radiological meter or Geiger Counter
was actually used as a prop in the original Star Trek.
They also have this device where you see old movies
by flipping pages, it's pretty cool.
On the second floor, we also have
the two chambers of Congress.
The larger one is of course the House of Representatives.
Yea and nay.
This is the Senate.
The smaller one, actually the one with less chairs,
is obviously the Senate.
You have to love these chairs,
a sign that a time before air conditioning was invented.
It's the beautiful old Floridian capitol building.
Very nice.
Right next to the new eyesore capitol.
A small courtyard between the two capitol buildings
is quite nice and welcoming as well.
I actually really enjoyed this place.
It was a pleasant surprise and it was free.
But all things come to an end,
and it is time for us to continue on our journey.
We get tangled up a little bit in traffic
as apparently there is a Seminoles football game
this afternoon and everybody's out tailgating.
We depart from the Lakeview RV Park.
You know, I have been living in Florida for over 26 years
and I have never been to the capitol.
This was a nice experience
and I hope to be back soon with more time to explore.
As I said at the beginning, Florida is a long peninsula,
so we still have a long way ahead of us.
Meanwhile, the rest of the family is visiting
Stone Mountain near Atlanta.
(mellow music)
Here we are, taking a quick break in the middle of I-10
on our way to Gainesville.
See you on the road.
Here we are at Gainesville.
We are going to explore downtown a little bit.
Gainesville was ranked in the number one place
to live in America, and one of the best places
to live and play in 2007.
It's very odd.
The downtown has a bunch of cafes, restaurants, and bars.
You can tell it is going to be really lively
later at night, and everybody is so nice.
But as I've said before, it is time to go, time to continue.
We continue riding into the sunset.
We are going to spend the night at
the Thousand Trails Peace River campground.
We've been there before.
Since we got a membership to Thousand Trails
with the purchase of the Minitini,
it is a free night, so why not.
Even though the pool is heated,
it is a little too cold to venture in.
Not too cold though to do some night photography.
♪ I'm riding ♪
♪ Riding with my RV. ♪
In the morning, we walk around a little bit.
The RV park is a lot more crowded than the last time
we were here two months ago in September.
The weather is a lot better.
You can tell we are in the beginning of the high season.
There's a river, a little less swollen this time.
On the way back, we also check out South Bay
for a possible future trip.
It looks nice.
It's right next to Lake Okeechobee
and that's all I've got for you today.
♪ In my RV, yeah ♪
♪ I'm riding ♪
♪ Riding with my RV ♪
♪ Wherever I want to be ♪
♪ Because I'm free in my RV, yeah. ♪
♪ I'm riding. ♪