Day 1 - Sarasota, FL to Jackson, Mississippi

On the road by 7:15, we had partly to mostly cloudy skies all day with some rain thrown in in the Florida panhandle. We drove 757 miles, 520 of them trying to get out of Florida. That state goes on forever! There were no accidents, traffic was moderate to light and driving was very pleasant. There was one glitch (always is, right?) Soon after leaving Florida, I noticed a wobble in a tire at certain speeds. It was not very noticeable at first but after a while, it became quite annoying. We realized that most shops were closing on the stretch we were on from Hattiesburg to Jackson, MS, so we started looking for a place and at Magee, MS we saw a Walmart with a Tire and Lube shop. We got there at 6:00 PM their time. They were open until 7:00. Inspecting the tires revealed that tread separation was occurring in the right rear tire. So we now have 2 brand spanking new tires.

We got to the motel at 7:45 CDT and ended the day with omelets at IHOP.