Day 17 - North to Tampa

 Monday, Jan. 21, 2013

Lots of Overpasses

After taking Karen and Lloyd to the airport, I returned to our hotel so we could get ready to head out as well.  I spent a fair while looking for my sunglasses, but we decided I must have left them in the first van we had.  We tried calling Hertz to see if they were around, and also to see if we could exchange this van for a car that I had originally reserved.  Like all large businesses though, we could only reach an automated operator, and then had to leave a call back number.  So, hopefully they will have them online in their lost and found section.

Toll Booth

Anyhow, the route to Tampa, took us right by the Hollywood airport that I had dropped Karen and Lloyd off at.  We continued north, which was the same highway we had followed to the Keys.  Before long, we were on new roads to us.  The first highway which travelled west, was called the Everglades Parkway through Alligator Alley, a toll highway that travels east-west, taking us to Naples.

Long Bridge to Tampa and St. Petersburgh

Then we punched in Clearwater, which is just north of Tampa, and let us take a route that took us over a very long bridge.  We had to go to Clearwater, because Dawn knows that the Blue Jays train or play there during Spring training.  It was about 4:15 then, and we were going to head towards Orlando tomorrow, so I thought we should get through Tampa in order to miss the rush hour traffic in the morning.  We got to a place called Auburndale and stayed at a Best Western there.

Suspension Bridge

Where the Tampa Rays Play

Highway East Toward Orlando

Hotel in Auburndale