Since my last blog, back in mid October, I have been keeping pretty busy still. I just recently completed my 37th vehicle delivery and have a good chance of making my annual goal of 40!
One more is booked for another Florida trip so by the end of November, I should be at a minimum of 38. Still time to book one more this month!! Busy busy!!
Below is the map for vehicle delivery trips 34-37.
Trip 34 – Jacksonville Florida to Boca Raton Florida
Trip 35 – Linthicum MD to North Haven CT
Trip 36 – Fishers IN to Elk Grove Village IL
Trip 37 – Sarasota FL to Zebulon NC
All of those routes are quite familiar to me, so there was nothing new to the territory I covered. I did however, seek out new places to stay while enroute and that turned out to be quite beneficial. The best thing, with one exception, all stayed within my proposed budget and I will highlight them and strongly recommend most of them.
Jacksonville to Boca Raton – Pretty much straight down I-95S! As most of you know, I have delivered vehicles to South Florida many times. My challenge is always based on my final destination as well as the airport I will fly out of to return back to home base. This trip, as I said, route wise was familiar, and my research pretty much brought up many of the places I have stayed overnight before. Selection was pretty easy but I did remember that my previous stay there resulted in lukewarm shower water and not the greatest desk receptionist. I decided to give it another chance and it was worth it. La Quinta Inns and Suites of Coral Springs. Big rooms, good breakfast and if you have the opportunity, plenty of nice places to eat locally. Good size outdoor pool, but both times I have stayed there, the timing was not right, so I was never able to take advantage of this amenity. My room actually had a small veranda!! If you find yourself in this area and looking to book, just a heads up, there are two La Quintas within a mile of each other. Also, to be honest, I believe not all rooms at this hotel have a microwave and small fridge. Check ahead of time when booking.
Linthicum MD to North Haven CT – Definitely a route I am pretty familiar with (both North and South bound). Not only from a business driving sense, I used to live near the Linthicum area (suburb of Baltimore) and traveled up to New England often to visit family. This particular trip, I took a chance and stayed on I-95N the whole way, even through New York City!! TOLLS, TOLLS, TOLLS….uuugh. With North Haven being my ultimate destination, I was not too familiar with the hotels in the area and their offerings so it was a crapshoot. After much consideration, I opted to go with another La Quinta. For a single male, it wasn’t a bad place. I actually had a nice room, overlooking the Long Island Sound. Even though it’s off season, it’s a little pricey. Yale University is just up the road. There appears to be lots to offer restaurant wise and downtown shopping. The place is currently undergoing some renovations but that was not a hindrance. Offered a full breakfast but I was not able to take advantage of that due to time constraints. There is an attached restaurant/bar as well. For those who don’t know, North Haven is just north (make sense) of New Haven, which is where interstates 95 and 91 meet and as I said, rests on the Long Island Sound. If you are going to visit the area, shop around hotel wise.
(Side note, as a reminder, my hotel stays are limited, normally to ones that fall under the Wyndham Group. Your searches may find other appealing places)
Fishers IN to Elk Grove Village IL – Where’s Fishers IN? A nice northeastern suburb of Indianapolis. Where’s Elk Grove Village IL? Small but growing town, northwest of Chicago by about 20 miles. If Elk Grove sounds familiar, it is. As recently as five weeks prior, I delivered a car in the same area. Although never teaming those two towns together on a specific trip, I have traveled that route many times in the past, primarily using I-65. To reduce toll costs some, I used state road 30 that runs east/west in IN and IL. This route runs parallel to I-80 which is about ten miles north and cuts off a few expenses (tolls) and quite possibly, traffic congestion, despite traffic lights! Ultimately I needed to go up to I-80W and take I-94W into the Elk Grove Village area. Although I liked the last hotel I stayed in that area, I decided to try another one and it turned out much better. Cleaner. Well kept. Plenty of places to eat locally. Only drawback was a limited (in my mind) morning breakfast offering. Days Inn in Arlington Heights IL (neighboring town). Highly recommended. I know I will eventually stay there again!
Sarasota FL to Zebulon NC – Most people know or at least have a good idea where Sarasota FL is, but where is Zebulon NC? “Zeb” is located about 25 miles due east of the Raleigh area. Definitely, it is country area off state road 264. To get to Raleigh, you have to pass by the quaint towns of Lizard Lick and Eagle Rock just to name a few. “Zeb” does have a Walmart and across from the parking lot, a hole in the wall Mexican restaurant named “SAN JOSE”. It is also the hometown the minor league baseball team, “MUDCATS.
The trip up from Sarasota includes I-75N up to exit 358, where I took the by pass that led me to state route 301. Traveling up 301, I joined I-10E to Jacksonville. Took I-295N around “Jax” to I-95N into NC. Because of my later than desired arrival in Sarasota and 700 plus mile journey, I planned this trip to include two overnights. My first planned stop was the Brunswick GA area. My hotel of choice for this night was a Baymont. This place is classified as a motel, more than a hotel I guess with outdoor corridors. It was still very nice. Very clean. Close to pretty much everything you might need (to include a Walmart) and of course, Mexican restaurants. The one I chose was Cilantros of Brunswick. Very nice set up. A little pricier than I would normally like but it literally was right around the corner from my motel and served my purpose. The following morning I visited the free breakfast offerings and again, it did the job! Back on the road a little later in the morning, I was headed for my next intended stop, Hope Mills NC area..just southeast of Fayetteville NC. This would leave me about two hours short of my delivery destination of “Zeb”. I arrived in the Hope Mills area and scouted it out and honestly was not too impressed with the area. I stopped at a gas station, did some online research and decided to continue on and check out Wilson NC. Had a few, nicely rated Wyndham hotels there, so why not. This turned out to be a great decision. Just an hour further up the road and it was still daylight. Great town (about 80K population, spread out some). I settled on a MICROTEL in Wilson. Excellent location. Very quiet area, Great room and nice breakfast. I look forward to the chance to spend more time in Wilson as it has a historic downtown area full of stores, shopping, and of course local “establishments”.
That pretty much summarizes my last four trips. Of note, in between those trips, I did squeeze in one round trip to the Mexico Beach FL to move some more furniture (also on this trip, a quick jaunt over to Jacksonville beach area to meet with some friends and go to a football game). We took another trip back to Mexico Beach to have a deck built on the front of the house. So a lot of driving other than the “professional” stuff.
As always, I appreciate all the comments and feedback!!
Cheers until next time.
P.s.- Sorry, not as many pictures but still some good links…lol!!