We left home on Feb. 9 on dry highways. In southern Illinois we encountered dry, fine, power-like snow. My SSR has the wide Bridgestone rears that are not all-weather tires. Well, the roads became very slick. The first time I realized how slick it was a semi had stopped on an overpass about an eighth mile ahead. I applied the break and felt no decrease in speed at first, but came to a stop well behind the semi.
I looked in my mirror and saw a car sliding toward my rear bumper so I let the SSR roll forward. At the last second, the cars front wheel caught and he slid to one side and missed us. We drove on very carefully, hoping the snow would let up, while 18 wheelers passed us on the left at 75-80 mph, blinding us with snow till they were a half mile ahead. Then, just as we started over a small bridge, the SSR went sideways till I was looking back the way we came, then suddenly back the other way. I did my best to control the slide and keep us out of the ditch and guard rails. She went back & forth about 5 times before coming to rest crossways on both lanes.
Thank God we were unharmed!
I eased it back into the right lane and said we would stop at the very first hotel that we saw, even the Bates Motel! It didn't matter, we were stopping!
Luck was with us, since we didn't get hit and the hotel was a nice Best Western. On the news that day we heard the there was a 6 semi pile up on the next bridge with a van and the van driver was missing, presumed dead, they were searching the river below for his body and I-24 was shut down.
The next morning roads were clear and we drove to visit my uncle in Atmore, AL.
The next day we met (Niceville Bill) Bill & Lenora, (Purple Penelope) Ed & Maddie, and Neal (sorry, don't know his screen name) for lunch at the Boat House Restaurant on a bay. We had a great time and now have 5 new friends!
After the fine lunch, we drove on to Madison, FL to meet up with my other uncle for dinner.
The next day we drove on down to our favorite place, Madeira Beach, FL on the west coast below Clearwater. We rented a 2nd floor unit in a condo right on the beach. We have stayed there 5 times over the last few years. We could only get one week there, so we moved on to Ft. Myers Beach, where we rented a small house with private pool and boat dock, right across from the Gulf beach. We stayed there for a week, then drove to Lehigh Acres to visit friends for a couple of days.
We then drove on up to the Seralago Resort in Kissimmee, FL and checked in 4 days early for the SSR Rally. During that week we toured the area including 2 trips to Old Town and a shuttle bus ride over to Disney's Universal Studios.
We had a great time there and at the SSR Rally!
See pictures posted on the SSR Rally thread.
We drove back over to Lutz to have Jeremy Formato tune the SSR before heading north for home. We arrived home in Peoria, IL late yesterday tired, happy and road weary.
1. Lenora & Bill (Niceville Bill)
2. Ed & Maddie (Purple Penelope)
3. Niceville group, Neal, Ron, Frieda, Lenora, Bill & Maddie. Ed took the photo.
4&5. Our balcony in Madeira Beach
on display, so we went to talk to the owners, a nice couple named Don & Mary from Michigan. I gave them my card and told them about the SSR Rally that was coming up in March. They said they would check out this SSRFanatic site and might want to go to the rally.
SANDY
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