Road Trip--Cruise--Key Largo

 We arrived in Dobson, North Carolina, about four o'clock or so in the afternoon. We were a little disappointed that our stop here was on a Monday since our favorite restaurant, Harvest Grill set among the Shelton Vineyards, is closed on Mondays. There would be no nice fireplace to sit by as we enjoyed their wonderful food. There was a restaurant right next to the Hampton Inn called Coach's where we'd eaten once before but it was mostly hamburgers and such and not nearly as nice a venue. 

After grabbing our overnight bags, we rolled into the Hampton which was unusually dark. I began to get a bad feeling as I remembered the parking lot was not very full. Sure enough the hostess told us she'd been trying to contact us all afternoon. (We were listening to an audio book on my phone so Bob's phone was not connected.) There had been several nights below freezing in Dobson and some of the pipes had frozen and burst, somehow causing the fire sprinklers to go off and spray the rooms on the upper floors. The whole place was without water until they could get it fixed--and of course, replace the wet mattresses. In a couple of minutes however, she had us booked in another Hampton just down the road about 11 miles.

The Hampton in Jonesville was a little smaller but had lots of Christmas decoration and offered popcorn in the lobby along with the usual coffee. Our room was quality and we settled in to find a place to eat. There was plenty to choose from but again a lot of them were closed on Mondays. We settled on the Cracker Barrel and enjoyed a meal within view of their fireplace. 

The next morning we were up at our usual seven o'clock time so we could eat and be on the road by 7:30 or so. This day of travel was usually about seven hours. It would prove to be a lot longer. We reached I 26 near Columbia, SC, and found ourselves stuck in traffic that soon became a parking lot. When two fire engines, an ambulance and several state patrol cars passed us on the berm we knew what lay ahead couldn't be good. 

As we sat there listening to our audio book, we noticed people backing up or crossing the side berm to get to the rest stop near where we were. It took a little while and some observation and we realized they were accessing a side road through a gate in the fence surrounding the rest stop. Bob judged the depth of the gully in the berm and decided we could make it across. We followed the traffic out onto the side road and to another road that ran parallel to the highway. It was heavy traffic but at least it was moving. 

We made it around the accident and back onto I 26 and thought we were home free. Not so.