Have a great trip, look forward to your travelling tails.

In SA, try to stop in Gruene and drive through the Hill Country, we enjoyed our trip there. Fredricksburg is neat,the town has a big German influence.

Great little car...but I would drive as far North as possible during that trip. The South, LA in particular, gets brutally hot this time of year with the sun beating down. Your plan is good. Drive early morning, stop in an interesting place for the day and head out in the evening for a few more hours before your stop for the night. Best way to do it. Have fun!

As a former TR driver (even older than yours) I commend your adventurous spirit. I think keeping to the mornings is a good idea, although it will mean driving with the sun in your eyes much of the time.

But I confess that my first reaction to your post was, "Omigod."

Take any and every part you can find under the bonnet or in the dash with the word "Lucas" or "Dunlop" on it and throw it away before even leaving Phoenix. You can replace the rubbish with original bits when you get to Florida in easy reach of tow trucks and overpriced British car mechanics.

I love road trips; doing one in a TR6 sounds like a serious hoot. Do you have a cloth flat cap and a scarf? Can you work the word "chaps" into most sentences? Tally-ho.

One summer on our annual family vacation we drove half way across America (southwest included) without AC. However, this was in 1967 and we still didn't have air conditioning in our house. While my brothers and I still laugh about traveling at night through the desert because it was too hot during the day, I would not want to re-live the experience.

Have fun and good luck!

Take any and every part you can find under the bonnet or in the dash with the word "Lucas" or "Dunlop" on it and throw it away before even leaving Phoenix. You can replace the rubbish with original bits when you get to Florida in easy reach of tow trucks and overpriced British car mechanics.
,

that's funny, but not.....

DS had a beauty like that in high school--BRG!! I don't think going much north will help much with the heat.

If you are stopping in Biloxi to gamble, you might want to check out a place called The Shed, right off I-10 at hwy 57, about 10 miles east of Biloxi in Ocean Springs. It's a shed. That serves fabulous BBQ and blues. And is probably unlike anyplace you've been before.

www.theshedbbq.com

I salute you AAFrequentFlyer. When I was 14 my mom purchased a red VW super beetle (looked identical to this one I just found--http://carcrazy.ca/images_cars/2007-09-07-16-42-37-lg.jpg).

I have fond memories of driving around (and breaking down) all over town with her. I wish you well on your adventure and we've just tweeted it. I'm sure there are some car buffs on Twitter that will approve.
http://twitter.com/fodorstravel/

Two bits of pure Americana, convenient to Memphis (which you should also include.) You might consider gambling in Tunica instead of/in addition to Biloxi.

http://www.deltabluesmuseum.org/
http://www.shackupinn.com/

No A/C but the one option we will have is a multi CD player.

I'm burning few CDs at the moment. Bunch of Stones, Bowie, Faces, Zeppelin, Beatles, Who, Kinks, etc.... songs. The one surprise disk will be full of the Clash, Sex Pistols and some old school reggae.

My beautiful wife next to me, rag top down, great music, sunglasses, 1/2 pack of cigs (not really, but we can pretend), full tank of gas... driving a TR6.. can life get better than that?

I'm sooooooooooooooooooo excited!!!!

Katie,

the car link is not working.

I would love to see pic of the car.

If you're traveling on I-10, Memphis is about 6-7 hours out of the way. Each way.

I don't envy you due to the heat/humidity here in the south east. And, no I would not be up for it myself without a/c. But, I do see that you are going to drive for only a few hours each AM. My advice is do it before 10AM! Even that will be hot.
Do you have a time line mapped out of where you expect to be/when?

About 4-6 hours at a time. We have 2 weeks before my wife has to be back so we do have the time. We hope to stop and actually enjoy some new places along the way.

So far the plan is:

Phoenix-El Paso area
El Paso-San Antonio (probably the longest drive of the trip, I'm planning 4am departure)
San Antonio-Houston area
Houston-New Orleans
New Orleans-Biloxi
Biloxi-somewhere in the Florida panhandle
Florida panhandle-Tampa (visit a friend for 1 night)
Tampa-Sarasota

Nothing is written in stone, so we'll play it as it happens but we will try to limit our driving to very early mornings.

We rented a convertible for a Louisiana trip a couple summers ago. Some people thought we were crazy because of the heat, but we had the best time. It was warm, but not bad.

For a recommendation - off I-10 in Louisiana just after Lafayette is the town of Breaux Bridge. There are a bunch of neat things to see in that area around the towns of New Iberia, St. Martinville.

There is a great restaurant in Breaux Bridge called Cafe des Amis - terrific food, nice people, and nice prices. If you are there on a Sunday, I think that is when they have their zydeco breakfast.

If you are interested in plantation houses, Shadows on the Teche in New Iberia is really interesting - very different from the big river road places. Just south of New Iberia is Avery Island, which is famous for Tabasco, however they also have the Jungle Gardens, which was a surprise highlight of our trip - the place is huge, you actually drive through it and with a convertible it is even better.

Lake Martin outside of New Iberia is great - terrific swamp tours with tons of wildlife.

Don't forget sunscreen. Have a great trip!

Sunscreen, water, sunscreen, hat, water, sunscreen...

>>But I confess that my first reaction to your post was, "Omigod." <<

Mine was "WHY?"

Have a good time - better you than me, anyway.

One thing that helped us on an absolutely miserable trip from Dallas to El Paso without AC one May was buying a couple of quart spray bottles, filling them with water, and spraying ourselves periodically for some evaporative cooling.

Lee Ann

We used Elendilpickel's trick when we lived in Mississippi and no cars except Cadillacs had AC: the evaporating water will cool you, even in LA and Mississippi, as long as you keep moving.

Note the phrase "as long as you keep moving": I wouldn't necessarily remove all the Lucas and Dunlop parts, but I would certainly carry spares for anything critical because you aren't likely to be able to buy them anywhere en route, and you will find yourself in places where you are 70+ miles from the nearest town, much less any place you can buy foreign car spares. Ask me how I know this.

Assuming the resto was recent and good and the electrics were brought up to standard, I would focus on fuses and cooling system stuff like thermostats, hoses, belts, etc., because this will demand the most from the car.

Have a great time. It will be hot and a heck of a lot of fun.

For the Florida Panhandle area, let me recommend Cape San Blas. The beaches are just beautiful. We stay in a house but this little Inn on the bay is lovely. http://www.capesanblasinn.com/
OR just up the road, so to speak, is Indian Pass and Starrs stays in this Inn on the Gulf and has recommended it here on Fodors:
http://www.turtlebeachinn.com/
AND be sure to try the oysters at Indian Pass Raw Bar no matter where you stay. Or, if you drive into Apalachicola, try Boss Oyster.

Have a great drive.

Enjoy it. Awesome car.

In San Antonio, check out the missions. I can't get enough of them.

http://www.nps.gov/saan/

Reporting from Phoenix.

Our flights here were uneventful. On time, nice service no problem with our short connection in DFW.

The Arizona Biltmore is very nice.

The weather? not so much. It's freaking HOT and it's only 8am. It's suppose to get to over 100 today, tomorrow, etc... It's about 85 right now.


I'm up already because I'm so excited. In couple of hours we will take posession of my new little toy. SO is still sleeping (how can she do that? )

Didn't realize that many restaurants in the surrounding area are closed in July for summer vacation. I guess it makes sense because the town is pretty much dead due to the heat, so last night we had dinner right here in the hotel, Wright's at the Biltmore. The meal/service was above average but not a 5* experience.

We're planning on UNO Chicago Pizza tonight. Would love to hear any comments about the place. I'm not a big fan of franchises, so I'm little skeptical.

Have a wonderful Sunday!

I'd second Lee Ann's suggestion of the squirt bottles.

Also those "neckerchiefs" like this one which you wear around your neck and which keeps you cool:

http://www.aqualitywater.com/head_and_neck_wear.htm

I'm certain they'll have something like this in Phoenix if you ask the hotel personnel.

Lots of water, water, water. Very big straw hat to cover your head and shoulders. The most potent sunscreen you can get.

Start out early, like 4am and stop around 10am and no later than noon, when, hopefully, you can check into a hotel and get into an A/C room.

If you HAVE to stop on the road, stop in the shade of an overpass.

Past El Paso is Carlsbad Caverns. Get there in time for the 10am special tour (believe it's given only once each day).

Many eons ago, my then boyfriend and I drove across country and through the South in a TR. We were young and foolish then. Sigh.

Have a great trip! Sunglasses, don't forget the sunglasses!

AA, you are certainly a daring person. DH and I (before we were married... co-owned a red TR3. I'm thinking it was about a 1957?? Such a FUN car... when it was running!!!!! As has been suggested, some spare parts would be a great idea for you. You are not going to find just anyone to repair it, should you have problems along your route.

That TR was like a right arm to DH, after he and I got married. I thought we would never sell it, but one day a young man who was heading to the military in Colorado stopped by our house to ask about the TR (it was parked outside). The young man wanted a fun drive to Colorado, I guess. DH SOLD the TR! I went into shock! lol

Have a great trip!!!

(each year when I get my silver '99 SLK out of the garage after a long and cold and snowy winter, I dream about taking a long trip somewhere, with top down... have not done it yet, but I have AC)

Carol

Glad to hear things are going well!

As for UNO, I'm not a big fan. It's mediocre pizza in a Applebee's-type atmosphere...in other words, nothing special or memorable. Maybe you could pick up some food at a market and have a picnic somewhere? After dark, it should be cool enough that you could eat outside (and by cool, I mean less than 95).

Last night we came up with a plan. Starting very early today we drove ~450 miles to El Paso. We are staying in the Camino Real El Paso Hotel. Planning on early dinner and hitting the bed right after. Tomorrow will be our longest drive of ~550 miles so we want to start around 3-4 am. Once we get to San Antonio, we will start to enjoy our vacation. We plan on doing about 2 nights each at SA, Austin and Houston. Then onto New Orleans, followed by Biloxi and Florida Panhandle. The drives from San Antinio on should be no longer than 2-3 hours at most.

It was getting little uncomfortable for the last couple of hours because of the heat today. Tomorrow will be a long day but then the trip will become a fun vacation.

The car is performing wonderfully. It purred like a little kitten today. I don't foresee any problems. The former owner did an outstanding job restoring this classic little car. It's just flawless.

AA: you sound like you're in love!

Have a great and safe trip!

you sound like you're in love!,

funny that you said that, because my wife told me yesterday that I better make up my mind very soon who I love more...

I actually allowed her to drive the car for the first time today. We left El Paso around 3am. I drove all the way to Junction, TX where we stopped for breakfast. The last 120 miles or so from Junction to San Antonio, she drove. All I can say is that she had fun.

We made reservations for a King room with balcony overlooking the river at the Valencia Hotel Riverwalk. As we pulled up to the front room the day manager was walking a business associate out to the front door and saw our car. He came out and we started talking. He had one when he was a young college student and he is also thinking about getting a restored model, so the 2 of us had a nice conversation for about 15 minutes as my wife went inside to check in. I popped the hood for him, we did the tire kicking ritual, you know, the men thing....

Anyways, as I walked up to the front desk with him, my wife informed me that our room is not ready and it may be couple of hours. He stepped behind the desk and upgraded us to a Junior suite room. What a beautiful room, what a beautiful hotel. He also send us a small bottle of champagne to celebrate my new toy.

The car is starting to pay for itself!

We need to relax for couple more hours and then hit the streets. Planning on doing the riverwalk area tonight. Tomorrow we have reservations to take a balloon ride and then do the Alamo, and couple of the other missions, little shopping, a nice dinner in one of the better restaurants in the city. Don't know what that is just yet but I will talk to the concierge and try to do some research on the internet. Any recommendations from locals would be greatly appreciated.

On Thursday we plan on on sticking around till early afternoon so we will try to visit one of the major historic or art museums before heading out to Austin. We haven't decided yet.

So far the car is performing flawlessly.

The worst and longest drives are done. From now on it's 2 to 5 hours drives before stopping at the next destination.

That's it for now.

Happy to hear that your trip is going so well, AA. Congrats on the upgrade!

Boudros on the Riverwalk is pretty good, they do the tableside guacomole thing...For reasonable Mexican food, Mi Tierra is good and so is Rosarios.

Sounds like you're off to a great start!

Best of luck on your excursion. Had a friend in college who had a TR7 - we spent more time working on it than riding in it....again, it is a Triumph, best of luck !

That was the wisest thing you did - let your wife drive the car.

Now you can share the love.

Thanks so much for sharing your travel adventures with us. It's been fun for us to ride along with you.

Hope even greater adventures await you in the days ahead!

Le Reve is probably considered one of if not the best restaurants in town. Mobil 4*.

AA,

I just found this post. What a great time you're having!

But--what color is the TR?

By the way, we still have (garaged) our '63 MGB we bought brand new. When our son was in high school he drove it, and now his son, who is 12, has his eye on it!

Have a great teip!

Byrd

AAFrequentFlyer,

You are certainly living life to the fullest. The TR6 is a beauty and it sounds like you are having a great time. I would do your trip in an instant, so what about the heat...

Sounds like you're in my neck of the woods tomorrow (Austin). If you need any advice about where to visit in Austin, let me know.

My husband and I ate at a Mediterranean restaurant called Oloroso for our anniversary. The halibut was awesome.

http://www.oloroso.biz/

But--what color is the TR?

British Racing Green... That was a prerequisite. I found few great looking restored models with white, red or black paint jobs, but I kept on looking for the famous racing green.....


If you need any advice about where to visit in Austin, let me know.

hotel, location is important but more so is the quality of the place. Higher end places that provide all the amenities but perhaps also have some uniqueness about it , plus things to do, restaurants, great live music venues, as in blues, jazz, etc... Thanks!

Really enjoying your TR, AA.

Hotel in Austin - 4 Seasons. Great location on the Lake downtown, beautiful grounds, excellent restaurant (as well as the one next door - Shoreline Grill) and unique southwestern flavor/decor.

Nothing is more high end than the Driskill in Austin, and it's in the middle of everything you'd want to do in Austin.

I agree on the Driskill.

Just a quick review of the hotel and dinner restaurants:

Valencia Hotel Riverwalk - beautiful property, great service, great locations, IMHO the place to stay in SA.

Dinners at Boudro's and Chama Gaucha Brazilian Steakhouse - both were excellent choices. Highly recommend.

San Antonio - fell in love the city. Beautiful, historic, fun, friendly.

We decided to visit the Mc Nay Art Museum today before heading out to Austin.


Thanks to all for hotel suggestions in Austin.

Driskill looks like what we are looking for so that's where we will be staying at for 2 nights.

AAFrequentFlyer,

Be sure to check out the bar at the Driskill (I think it's on the second level relative to ground level). There are some wonderful statues of Texas folklore and some beautiful paintings of Texas. The cocktails are great too, and there's always interesting people to socialize with.

For dining, don't miss Uchi's. It's a sushi bar that probably has the best sushi in the country.

If it's hot (like it's been although it's raining today for the first time in two months but I guarantee it will be sunny by later), check out Barton Springs. the water is a refreshing 68 degrees year round because it's a natural springs.

Be sure to head out to Lake Travis and eat at the Oasis - The Sunset Capital of Texas (on Comanche Trail). Be sure to try to time getting there at sunset, the views are fantastic - some people have commented that they thought they were in Italy or Greece when they were there. Sip some margaritas or Shiners on the outdoor patio.

We made it to Austin. My little baby is still purring. No problems yet. Back in El Paso we bought couple of small fans that clip on. It will be easy to live without A/C at home as this will not be the "work" car. If it rains the car stays in the garage and even if I get caught in the rain while running around town, I can make it home with the top up, but it's a different story on a long out of state drives when you need to get from point a to point b at somewhat pre planned times. Anyways, the fans do help when we needed to have the top up for brief time.

The Driskill Hotel turned out to be a great suggestion. We stayed in last evening and had dinner at the hotel restaurant, I believe simply called the Driskill Grill. Very good. Today we decided to hit the spa, get a massage. Our bodies need little pampering after the long drives and busy visit in San Antonio. Tonight it's a dinner out on the town followed by an evening out at one of the better music venues.

If any locals read this can they comment on "Speakeasy Club". We were told they have a very good local band playing there tonight. They play 70s and 80s music. Kind of appropriate....

Tomorrow it's all the Austin touristy things. We are planning on staying 3 nights here before heading out early on Sunday to Houston.

See YA!

Glad you got the british racing green. If it were me, I wouldn't accept another color either. And I am enjoying your report.

Eager to hear more about your August leg of the trip...

Let me know when you're driving thru Houston. I"m just south of I-10! I'll be sure to wave to you!

Sorry, I meant Austin leg of your trip, although it is indeed August!

Sorry about the delay but we're very busy for the last 2 days. We're in Houston now and still running around like chickens without a head.

Will make a report about Austin and Houston once I have some free time.

In Houston just for 1 night. My wife needs to back home by this weekend and we still have NO, Biloxi, Panhandle and Tampa in our sights.

2 nights in NO, 1 night in Biloxi, 2 nights in Panhandle and we may just skip Tampa all together.

See YA!

AAF, I would just do NO and then the Panhandle. Honest, Biloxi is no big deal

If you take up cd's recommendation of Cape San Blas, here is where we stayed in the area. It is a very well run B&B, on the beach. The hostess is great!

Starrs has a TR of the place & I added mine with hers, but now can't seem to find it:

http://www.turtlebeachinn.com/

Can't wait to hear the rest of your Austin report, very glad to hear that you enjoyed the Driskill. I've never personally stayed there, since I live here, but I've been to many functions there and really enjoy it.

Also can't wait until you get to New Orleans. Have you decided upon a hotel? I can probably help you for that as well.

Slight change of plans. We will have to skip NO and visit with a friend in Tampa. We may just stop by his place to show him the car but won't be able to stay for a night.

My wife really has to get back as soon as possible. A new client is getting antsy and since it took her months to sign the company she does not want to lose it.

The reason we decided to skip on NO is that we have been there numerous times although not together (just yet). We will be back. I was looking forward to a muffaleta sandwich from the Central Grocery, and some fun in the FQ.

We both know Biloxi but the only reason we want to stop there is because we like to gamble. We like the Beau Rivage, very nice place, they treat us well, as we are regular guests. That will be only 1 night stay.

Then on to the Panfandle for couple of nights and home sweet home from there.


Ok, first, Austin Texas. We stayed at the Driskill Hotel Wonderful stay, great location. On Friday night we had a dinner at the hotel restaurant. Very nice but not outstanding. Still I would highly recommend both. After dinner we headed out to the Speakeasy to hear a local band. Fun time.

Saturday we started with the Texas State History Museum. Great place to learn a great deal about the great state of Texas. Worth few hours of your time. We also checked out the Capitol Building. Very impressive. Then on to the Old West Austin neighborhood where many historic residential homes are located. We walked around a bit before heading back to the hotel. Refreshed we decided on dinner at the Carmelo's Restaurant. We had a taste for Italian and this place fit the bill perfectly.

And then it was time for something special - The Austin bats. Instead of taking one of the cruises we decided to stand on the bridge. What a sight!!! Hundred's of thousands coming our from their hiding place underneath the bridge to kill tons of bugs. It's a must see. It should be at the top 2-3 must sees when in Austin.

Back at the hotel, we decided to check out some night spots on 6th street. There are so many music venues that I don't remember which one we chose, but it was a fun way to close out the busy day.

Sunday we slowed down a little and decided on the Inner Space Caverns. Located ~40 miles north of Austin. I always had a fascination with caves so it was a fun for me. My wife thought it was okay, but she's really not that much into that kind of stuff.

Drove back and hit the LB Johnson Presidential Library and Museum. Neither one of us have ever been to any Presidential Library so we didn't know what to expect. We loved it. There is so much history and really shows what's going on at the Oval Office on a daily basis through the many exhibits. We were there for few hours and we believed we still missed some things. Another must see.

Back to the hotel for little relaxation and out for dinner at the Wink Restaurant. Excellent! Then on to the 6th Street entertainment area for couple of drinks only as we had another road trip in the morning.

Houston - The only part we regret is that we had couple of nights there but since we only had 1 we decided to split and do our own thing for the day. She went shopping and I headed out to the Space Center Houston. I had a blast as I'm kind of NASA junkie. My beautiful SO was also happy upon her return from her shopping excursion.

With smiles on our faces we headed out to the Rice Village for Thai dinner at the Patu. Very good.

Afterwards, we had couple of drinks at the Hotel zaza Houston, our base, and up to bed as we had an early start. Once again it was a wonderful choice and we had a very nice stay. I wasn't sure about the wild, eccentric decor, my wife loved it. I did like it but I just thought it was too much. Anyways, the service and room was impeccable. The decor? either you love it or hate it, but for the most part I believe the majority of guests do love it. I just could not get used to it.


After about 6.5 hours of driving this morning we arrived at the Beau Rivage in Biloxi. Just checking e-mails, Fodor's and relaxing. Nothing special planned. Lunch and dinner in the hotel and gambling. We don't plan on leaving the building.

Tomorrow it's on to the Panhandle. Still undecided where to stop but I will work on something in next couple of hours. We are leaning towards the Apalachicola(sp?) area.

Car is running like a champ. Not one problem yet. No oil leaks, no electrical problems. Very happy with the purchase.

Thanks for reading and if anybody has any suggestions for the Panhandle area please keep them coming. I will be on here for couple of hours and I will also check here tonight and tomorrow morning. Thanks to all for all the great suggestions.

See YA!

btw, the reason for Panhandle? - total beach bums and relaxation before getting back to the real world. Not looking for any 5* restaurants, just fun places. We do prefer full service hotels but B&Bs or Inns are fine as long as it's not very "homey".

Thanks again!

Sounds like a nice trip so far.

Austin - LBJ Library is quite interesting - even if you weren't into his politics. Great overall feel for the office and its operations.

Houston - Glad you liked Patu's. Used to be one of our favorites. Thought it was a little subpar the last couple of times we were there, but think we'll have to go back and recheck it.

Hotel ZaZa is definitely different. About as eclectic as you can get. Our daughter worked there for a summer at the front desk and her stories were the source of nightly entertainment. You're right, you either like the decor or you don't - not much in between. Very pretty area.

Since you were a block from the Museum of Natural Science, hope you had a chance to see the Terra Cotta Warriors from China. First time they've been out of China. But sounds like you weren't able to work it in.

Gook luck on the rest of the trip.

Since you were a block from the Museum of Natural Science, hope you had a chance to see the Terra Cotta Warriors from China.,

we thought about it but with having only one day and my heart set on Space Center we decided against it. I'm not even sure if we could have purchased tickets on such a short notice. We didn't check.

Anyways, the exhibit is moving to the NG Museum in Washington DC. We both have a quick trip planned there early next year so we hope to catch it there.

AAFF
A total beach bum will love the Cape San Blas/Indian Pass area. However, the full service hotels that you also like are non-existent. The drive from Panama City along the coast
to Cape San Blas and Indian Pass and onward to Apalachicola is lovely. There is an Inn on Cape San Blas that is very nice but it's not on the Ocean, it's on the Bay so I would recommend going to the Turtle Inn recommended above by oldsouthernbelle and Starrs at Indian Pass. Indian Pass is in the immediate area of the Cape San Blas Peninsula. St Joseph State Park is at the end of the Peninsula and has a beautiful beach.

If you want a good place to eat or just have drinks on your way to the the Cape, you could stop a Toucan's Restaurant in Mexico Beach. Very good food and you can eat on the beach. You will pass Port St Joe, it is about 15 miles from the Inn recommended above. You might want to go back to Port St Joe for dinner. The Sunset coastal Grill is excellent. http://www.sunsetcoastalgrill.com/ For lunch you must experience the Indian Pass Raw Bar. The only menu is on the wall and you help yourself to the beer. This is oyster country and they are the best ever! If you drive into Apalachicola I recommend Boss Oyster, they have at least 20 kinds of oysters. It's a cute little town but stay on the ocean! The only place for a beach bum. You can horseback ride on the beach at Cape San Blas, sounds like something you would enjoy!

Continued joys in your toy!

I also concur with cd on the rec's of Indian Pass Raw Bar & Boss Oyster! The later makes good Mai Tai's.
Another fancy convertible at Boss Oyster 7/2008:
http://yfrog.com/2fimg7655j

Bay side seating at Boss Oyster: http://yfrog.com/47img7649jj

Indian Pass Raw Bar ( note the words were so faded last year, you could hardly make them out on the building):
http://yfrog.com/58img7672vj

Shrimp Boats near Boss Oyster: http://yfrog.com/58img7672vj

A panhandle, FL sunset near Port St. Joe:
http://yfrog.com/61img7637ij

AAFrequentFlyer,

Sorry to hear that New Orleans is out, but it sounds like you had a great time in Austin. Glad to hear you got to see the bats - it's great watching them from Congress St. Bridge. Next time take a cruise and you'll see the bats from a different angle...

I've been to Inner Space Caverns twice. However, after going to Carlsbad Caverns I don't think I could ever return to Inner Space anymore.

I'm a space junkie as well and really enjoyed NASA. I especially enjoyed the tram tour - being able to see the NASA campus and then actually going into the Space Command Center was truly remarkable.

Enjoy the Panhandle - it's one of my favorite beach areas. I think most of the full service hotels are in the Sandestin area - I wouldn't know though because I'm fine with "homey" accommodations as long as I get my sun, surf, and seafood

When I visited Seaside, it appeared there were some "cottages" and other bed and breakfast type places that were very elegant and you may enjoy that. Seaside is a picturesque town with lots of shops and a beach that is paradise-like. Don't know about Appalachicola, perhaps others can give accommodation recommendations. I can second the motion to get some oysters there - they can't be beat along that stretch of the Gulf.

Enjoy the Panhandle - it's one of my favorite beach areas. I think most of the full service hotels are in the Sandestin area - I wouldn't know though because I'm fine with "homey" accommodations as long as I get my sun, surf, and seafood ,

Please don't misunderstand the following.

You have been nothing but helpful and gave us some great advice, but I'm slowly finding out that the Panhandle "luxury" beach is not exactly what we are looking for.

First allow me to explain. Up to last June, we lived on Siesta Key(Sarasota), just a stone throw away from one of the most beautiful beaches in this country. Since then we moved downtown and have the most beautiful view of Sarasota Bay with sunsets every night from our balcony, yet just few minutes from the beaches of Siesta and Lido Keys..

So "sun, surf and seafood" does not have the same meaning for us. What we were looking for, or perhaps hoping for, was something like the Ritz-Carlton Naples Beach. Luxury inside, around it, yet just few steps from a wonderful, beautiful beach. We just figured out that's not possible.

Thus we will probably just do an Inn on the beach or maybe rent a beach house.

I'm forever grateful for all your support and advice, so please don't misunderstand this post, but when I looked at the Sandestin and Seaside deals, I will have to say it's not for us.

"Homey" will do... just so we can relax . It has been a long drive.

Thanks again!


btw, poker room was good to me. Slots were not so good for SO...

Up to last June

June 2008

'Homey' SeaGrove Beach is 1 mile from Seaside ( can bike to Sea Side) with the same beaches & more reasonable rates for condo/house rental.

Also, it's sounding more & more like Cape San Blas fills your ticket.

And, if you want ALMOST your own private beach, it's Turtle Inn.

AA,

I agree that the Panhandle is not a 5 star beach experience. I hope that what they have won't offend your sensibilities Like I said, I'm not usually one to book 5 star hotels so I'm probably not the best one to recommend. I was a fish out of water making a recommendation there.

Personally, and don't take this the wrong way either, but I found out the hard way that I'm not really very comfortable at super ritzy accommodations and it's not because I can't afford them - it's because it's just not me. Even when I stayed at the Hotel Arts Barcelona, a 5 star 700E a night hotel (you can read my previous posts on my trip report for this a couple years ago), I was uncomfortable the whole time - not a way to enjoy the vacation, it's just the pretense of everyone trying to be perfect that made it an unrelaxing vacation. Perhaps you have some tips to enjoy a 5 star hotel better because to me it just didn't feel like a vacation.

Different strokes for different folks I guess. I'll sip a cocktail at the Driskill, but I'd never dream of staying there.

It's just I'm more of a Caribbean laid back Jimmy Buffett "cheeseburger in paradise" type guy than a "moules marinere on the French Riviera" type guy. I tried both so I know

In any case, I've rather enjoyed your trip reports. I had a Ford Mustang a while back in my youth and couldn't handle it (totalled it) but I do so love convertibles.

We made it to Apalachicola and after driving around some we decided just a 1 night stay. We chose the Gibson Inn. Very nice place, historic and it seems like we can enjoy a relaxing day in the area.

As I stated before, the only reason we were looking for a "luxury" experience while staying on the beach was because I lived almost 15 years on one of the most beautiful Florida beaches and now I live only minutes away. We have wonderful sunsets available daily from our balcony. So at the end, we don't need the beach experience but if it was something more upscale we would have considered it.

I'm not all about luxury but this was a special trip and the decision to stay in nicer places was part of the deal. I too can be very happy in a little shack on a beautiful beach anywhere if that was the intend.

Anyway, the drive here, at least the last part was much different from most of our driving on I-10. The secondary highways are the way to go, but unfortunately you need a great deal more time when doing a cross country drive.

We will be doing our final drive tomorrow with a quick stop at the Hard Rock Hotel/Casino in Tampa to have lunch with our friend. She works there. She made us promise to stop and have lunch on her. We should be home sometime tomorrow afternoon.

I will gather my thoughts about our drive, the places we have seen, the unhappy moments, the fun moments and post the final report either tomorrow evening or Thursday.

Thanks to everybody for great suggestions. We used some and not all but perhaps if others read this thread they can get some valuable information that fits their needs better in a similar situation.

We made it home.

A total of 2642 miles. The car performed flawlessly.

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=106622745602117338769.00046ac3c214d6fe429ec&ll=29.764377,-93.120117&spn=17.955831,28.256836&z=5


Here are some thoughts about the trip:

It was rough without A/C. There were moments were tensions rose due to that fact. We both got cranky on occasion. I don't recommend doing the same drive at this time of the year without A/C. Yet in some special way, the drive was fun. Hard to explain but as tired and hot as we were on occasion we looked forward to the next segment. The car was so much fun to drive we both would get excited in the early mornings on a drive day.

Texas - San Antonio, Austin and Houston. What a blast. The cities were first for both of us. Each one was very different yet very much fun. We wished we had more than 1 night in Houston. It's a wonderful city and we should have spent more time there. San Antonio was just perfect. Everything we thought it would be. Austin was just pure adult fun..... Love the music venues. Texans are some of the most friendly folks in the world. We met some wonderful, fun, people. Plan on going back for some long weekends in all 3 cities.

Panhandle - Apalachicola. It wasn't what we were looking for this time but it is a beautiful part of Florida. We made ourselves a promise to go back with some friends for long weekend. Rent a 3-4 bedroom beach house and just have a fun time.

We stayed at Gibson Inn. Very nice and friendly place. We had lunch at The Owl and dinner at the Veranda. Can't go wrong with either place. Ended up at the Gibson Inn bar for the last call.

The last drive was the most difficult. There was a very heavy storm passing through just when we were close to Tampa. It was a good thing we planned on stopping at the Hard Rock for a lunch with a friend. The final 60 miles to Sarasota included some rain but not as bad as the last 20 miles into Tampa. We pulled into the garage ~2pm. I dropped off my SO and all the luggage and drove straight to a car shop just few blocks away. The owner is a friend so he knew that I would need an oil change as soon as I got back. He had the oil filter ordered and delivered few days ago. He was very impressed with the quality of the restoration. Yesterday I called ahead and arranged a mobile detailer to be available in the late afternoon to wash and detail the beautiful little car. During the oil change I called the detailer and asked if it was possible for him to meet me in an hour or so in our condo garage. No problem. He did an outstanding job. By the early evening the car was looking just as perfect as it did when we took possession of it about 10 days earlier.

That's about it. Wonderful trip across our beautiful country, but there were times we both wished we had A/C.

Once again, thanks to all for the suggestions and support.

It's good to be home! (with the little green beauty sitting in the garage.... )

Glad you made it and thanks for great report. Was more enjoyable reading the "as we go" commentary.

Austin, SA, and Houston are indeed very different from each other - glad you enjoyed yourselves.

[We'd be happy to take some of those storms you're having]

Thanks for the good read. I was truly looking forward to the end of your report. As someone once told me, most long distance accidents usually happen with 5 miles of your home. Glad to hear that you made it as far as you did before you got hit with one of the wild storms we have been having this summer. Take care of your baby as she gave you a trip of a life time.

Thanks for the report, glad you're home safe.

AA, congrats on the new toy. I'm more of a muscle car fan, but jealous just the same. Beats the hell out of a coach seat from Phoenix to Tampa don't it??

I've just come across this thread and am looking forward to going back and reading all the posts at a later time. I am across the state from you and I do enjoy the gulf side very much when I can get over there.

SamH,

Not a muscle car per se but it does have 6 hard working cylinders under the hood. For a small car like this the engine is an overkill.

Anytime you decide to visit the Sarasota area, let me know. I'll take you for a spin.