On the road: NC to GA to FL

I didn't realize until now that I have absolutely no pictures from North Carolina to Florida, so I will have to rely on the power of the written word a little more this time. In North Carolina, we found a room to rent for $20 on Craigslist. The place seemed a little strange, but fortunately we didn't have to spend a lot of time there as we were spending the evening hanging out with one of Peter's longtime friends. We ended up hanging out a a couple local places and then spent the rest of the night playing Apples to Apples with everyone.

The next day was more of a chill day, which we planned to spend doing laundry at our rental place and taking care of some errands. As we began to put in our laundry, we realized there was no detergent around. In fact, we began to notice there was no soap of any form in this house at all, which was quite strange considering there were at least 6 other people living there. Nothing in the bathrooms, kitchen, laundry room, or anywhere. Finally, we opened up a closet in the utility room to check.... and we froze. There, laying on the wood laminate floor beside the water heater was a 4-foot long crocodile. It was very much alive, and breathing.

"Don't... move..." I whispered to Peter as we both stared in shock.

"Do you think it got in somehow?" He whispered back.

I thought about it but quickly pieces of the puzzle came together in my head. "I think it's a pet." Glancing around, there were successively larger fish tanks and aquariums around the house, and I got the distinct feeling the homeowner had raised this reptile from infancy. Suddenly, I also became afraid the guy might kill us if we knew he had it, since he hadn't mentioned anything before.

We decided not to bring it up, closed the crocodile back up in the closet, and I settled on looking up exotic pet laws later after we got the heck out of North Carolina.

After one more (slightly restless) night, we hit the road again to head down towards Florida. It was a nice drive, spent listening to audiobooks and music, chatting, and enjoying the beautiful scenery of the southern Smoky Mountains.

We made it to Brunswick, GA in early evening, but soon found that the hotel we'd planned on staying at was absolutely horrendous. Note to self: NEVER stay at a Days Inn. After quoting us the wrong price for the room we'd requested twice, we were given the key to a room that reeked of cigarettes, had a burnt out bathroom light, and was probably in violation of several health codes. We were told we couldn't change rooms (even though we seemed to be the only ones there), so I promptly filled out a refund request, and we drove next door to a neighboring hotel.

This hotel was kind enough to give us the same price after we told them our experience at the Days Inn, so we ended up with a luxury room and hot breakfast the next day for the price of a budget hotel. Not bad!

On the road once more, we drove south through the sunshine state, where the sun beat down through the windshield and we shed layers of winter clothes the nearer we got to Tampa. It was a welcome change from the chill of the northeast and the sketchiness of the deep south. I couldn't believe we were nearly halfway done with our road trip, and coming home to see my family for the holidays. The feeling was surreal and, as much as I was having a blast on the trip, I couldn't wait for a few weeks' break from constantly driving!