My road trip from NC to Hilton Head to WDW

Saturday, March 2, 2024

Got up and finished packing the remaining items I knew I would need this morning, There is always more stuff than you think and it always takes longer to finish packing up--at least it does me. I finally got everything together and called for Bell Services. My dilemma was how was I going to get my car and the scooter over to Saratoga. I decided the best thing was to have everything loaded into the car, leave it at the Riviera, then take the scooter on the bus to Disney Springs and then ride over to Saratoga and leave the scooter with Bell Services while I take a ride share back to the Riviera for my car. So, once the car was loaded u.  I went back inside as I wanted to have breakfast at Primo Piatto, I knew that the lemon and blueberry pancakes were to die for, and I wanted them once on this trip.  There were even better than I remembered and are now my No. 1 favorite food item at the Riviera.  After eating, I took off for Disney Springs on the scooter. No stops, just scooted on over to Saratoga. When I exited Disney Springs, a boat was pulling up at the boar dock, so I took that over to Saratoga and worked my way up to the carriage house. I went to Guest Services to make sure they had my requests on file and if they had assigned me a room, to make sure it would work ok. I was so surprised when they told me that my room was ready as it was not quite even noon yet, and they had given me a room right off the elevator in the GrandStand area, perfect.

I took the scooter to the room and then called for a Minnie Van. I had no idea they were so expensive. Cost was around $30 to get back to the Riviera. Anyways, back to the Riviera to pick up the White Rabbit, what my car is named. And then since I was not going to a Park, I headed back up International Drive to get that Dooney bag I had been wanting. I figured if I was still thinking about it, I would be sorry if I did not get it. On the way back, I decided to hit the Disney Character Warehouse, if I could easily get a parking spot. I did eventually get a spot and made my way into the Outlet Mall and once again there was a line to get in the store. The line does move fairly quickly, so I decided to wait. I picked up a couple of shirts for my Grandson and a sweater for me that I had eyed back in the fall. When I left there, I had to go thru the food court to get back to my car. There was a Japanese place that looked really good for a food court, and I ordered some Teriyaki Chicken and Shrimp. They cook it right in front of you. I took it back to the room as that food court is just too noisy for me. Back at the room and that take out was really, really good. I could only eat about half and saved the rest for dinner on Sunday night. I then did a couple of loads of laundry and called it a night.

Monday, March 3, 2024

Up and at em, it was a nicer day today, even though you can start to feel the humidity--first time this trip. I had the car loaded and was pulling out of my parking spot at exactly 8:00 AM. Traffic on I-4 was not as bad as I expected until I got close to downtown Orlando and there was a wreck. Once I got thru that things started moving along. I did stop at Buc-ee's to charge and use the facilities, even though I did not need to charge. Last stop it was Daytona 500 crowds, this time it was Bike Weekend crowds, but not nearly as bad as it was on the stop down. When I got to Jacksonville, my navigation had me take the beltway around Jacksonville, which it had not done on the trip down. Somewhere along the way, I saw a Duluth Trading Co. store and knowing their quality I decided to stop and check out what I had only seen in their catalog. I found a couple of things to purchase and in the process I learned there is a store within 20 miles of my house that I did not know about. There was a lot of construction on that beltway, too. Off towards Savannah and I encountered road construction on and off almost all the way back to North Carolina. I also stopped at Brunswick, Georgia to charge, and I did not recognize until I pulled up that it was just where I had stopped on the way down, kind of in a parking lot that also houses a bowling alley. I had stopped there on the way down and used the facilities, so I knew it was descent, not Buc-ees clean, but acceptable. I had not eaten at this point, so I decided to order a hot dog at the snack bar while my car was charging. It took forever, and I finally inquired and learned they only had one oven and I had two pizzas ahead of me, one was for a man that I let order ahead of me because I was still deciding. It took a full 30 minutes to get that flippin hot dog. I ended up charging my car up to 100% just so the time was not wasted. If they had told me it would take that long, I would have gone somewhere else, but the guy had already given me the chips and the drink, so I felt I needed to stay for the hot dog. Still shaking my head at 30 minutes for a flippin hot dog. My 100% charge did get me all the way to the Buc-ees at Florence, SC, which I had stopped on the way down. I needed something to eat again and ordered a grilled cheese with bacon that really hit the spot. I would get their grilled cheese again. More road construction as I got into North Carolina that really slowed me down. Lots of left and right lanes closed that shut traffic down to one lane only. I finally got home around 9:00 P.M. 13 hours is a long time for that drive. I have made it in the past in 9 hours. I knew that stopping to charge would take longer, but the road construction is what really did me in. When I got home, I only unloaded my computer bag and the cooler as everything else could wait until the next day.

Misc thoughts in another post.

Good to see you made it home with little trouble.