After a pretty successful 2025, 2026 is off to a good start. Four drives completed in January and three (maybe four) already booked for February. Spinning the wheels!!
The month started off with an all too familiar drive…Miami Fl to Calhoun.
I was authorized to make it a two night trip as getting out of the Miami area can be quite the difficult task at times. Lots of traffic . 730 plus miles.
I started the journey out on the morning of the 5th. The flight, landing, ubering and eventually driving the ‘25 Grand Cherokee out of Miami on I-95N went smoothly. The trip up through central Florida was the usual pain as I took the turnpike and it can get quite congested at times with 18 wheelers. My suggestion if ever using the Florida turnpike, when it is just two lanes…stay in the passing lane as much as possible!!!! Finally leaving the turnpike, it was now just a straight shot all the way on north on I-75.
By 5pm I was ready to stop for the night. I had targeted Adel GA for my first stop (464 miles into the trip) but was feeling good and had a little sunlight left so I drove up another twenty miles roughly and stayed in Tifton GA (a common stopping area for me on these south FL to North GA drives). I stayed at the very affordable, very nice Howard Johnson’s. Knowing this area, I already knew Mexican was out of the question for the night. I went to the nearby Chili’s. The following day, the 6th, I finished the remaining 280 miles and stopped at my destination town of Calhoun GA. Stayed in the same motel I usually do, SUPER 8 and visited one of my favorite Mexican restaurants, EL NOPAL. The following morning, I delivered the vehicle and returned back to the Atlanta airport on the GROOME shuttle, retrieved my car and headed home!
(Special note: When I stay in Calhoun and use only the Super 8, ti’s more of a cost saving move for the customer. There are plenty of hotel options if you are ever in the area as well as food/dining/breakfast. Also, the Super 8 website shows a pool that hasn’t been operational for a couple of years. I will be up that way again soon, I will ask the manager if they plan on opening back up this year)
I had about a week off and then started off on my next trip. Charlotte NC to Baton Rouge LA
Technically, the drive started out near Huntersville NC (a few miles north of Charlotte),
It was a pretty simple drive that I began on 14 Jan. Clouds were a little ominous but the weather held out. Just bout halfway through my first day’s drive, I passed back through the always congested Atlanta traffic. Coming down I-85S, through Atlanta, pass our airport, all the way down to the Alabama line. In Montgomery Alabama (where I-85 stops), I joined I-65S, eventually stopping for the night in Greenville AL. I stayed at pretty nice, reasonable DAYS INN.
Nothing spectacular but clean and close to many food sources and a Walmart, Offered a breakfast but it was very limited. The only thing I disliked about this place is that the entrance is like a step away from the entrance to the interstate…just odd how it is laid out. Almost like they just squeezed the motel in there. I did find a decent Mexican place, El Amigo’s. A decent night sleep and the next morning, it was on to Baton Rouge.
Continuing down I-65S and on to I-10W, the drive to Baton Rouge started off as a rainy one and ended up sunny and dry. The highly rated Days INN hotel I had planned on staying at didn’t pan out. As I started to check in, the young lady behind the counter (quite possibly the manager) sadly informed me that the hotel experienced a serious water pipe leak in the morning. They had yet to have a plumber come in and do the repairs. She let me out of my reservation and helped me book with a decently rated SUPER 8, just a few blocks down the street. It turned out fine. It was still close to a few restaurants and offered a breakfast grab and go, but my plan was to be gone before breakfast.
Once I got checked in, I reached out to my point of contact in town whom I was delivering the vehicle to and ended up bringing him the car late that afternoon. Dinner that night was an entree order at Twin Peaks.The following morning I took a scheduled uber to the Baton Rouge Airport for my fight home.
So I was back home on the 16th of January with only a May snowbird trip scheduled. I was now unemployed. I knew something would eventually come up and fill in the calendar and it happened..in a FLURRY!!!
On the morning of the 17th, I received a text from a former customer from three years back, asking for a quote on moving a vehicle from Springfield NJ (near Newark) to Chapel Hill NC.
We worked the details out so now that is one of the scheduled February jobs.
Mid morning on the 19th, one of the companies I move vehicles for contacted me needing not one, not two, not three but four vehicles moved. Two of them as soon as possible, The other two can be moved when I can schedule them. I spent the next two hours working on a plan for the vehicles that needed to be moved immediately. Scranton PA to Morrisville NC and Salisbury MD to The Plains VA (not far from Manassas VA)
Gameplan for the double move:
Fly to BWI and take a one way rental down to Salisbury MD.
(There is a two way toll bridge near the Annapolis MD area going to Kent Island MD. Electronic pay by plate)
Then drive from Salisbury to The Plains area
Second one way rental out of The Plains area (technically the rental was out of Warrenton VA)
Then finally out of Scranton, the drive down to Morrisville NC
Believe it or not, the scheduling worked perfectly. The dates of travel were 20-23 January.
The vehicles needed moving were both 2025 Grand Cherokees.
One way rentals…24 Nissan Rouge and 24 Toyota Highlander. Wasn’t a big fan of the Rouge although it handled fine.
I completed the first drive (one way rental included) in one day, the 20th, but didn’t deliver the vehicle in The Plains area until the next morning. I overnighted on the 20th in the LaQuinta of Manassas Battlefield. It was convenient. To late in the day to go Mexican restaurant hunting, so McDonald’s won the night. The hotel offered a breakfast buffet but it sort of fell short.
The second drive (again including the other way rental) I started in the morning of the 21st and finished late on the 22nd but didn’t deliver the vehicle until the morning of the 23rd. Then rental drive up to the Scranton area went fine. I dropped off the one way rental at the Wilkes-Barre airport and ubered to the location of the next vehicle to be moved. As I began to head out of Scranton, a light snowfall began. Thankfully it was light. My goal for the night was the Harrisburg area for my first stop
I did stay overnight on the way back down to Morrisville NC in the familiar area..Harrisburg. Same low priced but very nice La Quinta. I also visited my favorite Mexican restaurant in the area, FIESTA MEXICO. The next morning I had a nice breakfast and headed down to Morrisville NC to finish the whirlwind drives.
I guess I picked the wrong side of Morrisville to stop. The hotel was good, La Quinta by the RDU airport. Good breakfast buffet. Evening eats were limited and I ended up at the Taco Bell next door to the hotel. In the morning, I delivered the car, ubered to the airport and caught my flight home.
Well as I mentioned, busy beginning to 2026. Have three booked vehicle deliveries in the next two weeks and may add a fourth. Hope you enjoyed this update and don’t hesitate to share with others and don’t forget, I AM FOR HIRE!!!!