Friday, May 10~

We woke up early and drove a couple hours to Atlanta. The capitol was gorgeous! We headed straight for the information desk where we got our stamp and a couple brochures for a self guided tour. 

Atlanta City Hall. Snapped a pic on the walk up to the capitol.

Quite a few school groups were on their field trips so kids were everywhere. We managed to filter through the groups and walk floor to floor. 

Miss Freedom. A very small replica of the one that stands on top of the dome.

We walked to a building across the street to buy my coffee mug then back to the bike and straight for Tallahassee, Florida.

The sky became darker and darker the farther we drove.  Suddenly, it started pouring! We pulled under a gas pump roof and put on all of our rain gear. It rained most of the way to Tallahassee. 

The rain subsided when we were close to Tallahassee but boy, it was so muggy!! My helmet visor kept fogging up and we were miserable in our gear. We parked across for the capitol and peeled our gear off. 

We were walking across the street to go inside when I saw them locking the front doors. What?! No! They couldn’t be closing! We had checked the times and they HAD to be open! Well, it turns out that, in fact, they were closed. Fortunately, the newer capitol building was open for another hour. The pretty one in front had been turned into a museum and isn’t used for work anymore. I was so disappointed I couldn’t take a tour.  I peeked in the windows and it looked like a cute little capitol. 

Instead, we walked into the tall building behind the museum where the actual work of the state takes place. RJ walked to the desk to get our stamp and then we took the elevator up to the 22nd floor to look at the city from  the observation deck. 

The fifth floor was home to the Senate and House.  

Then down to the first floor before walking outside to look at a couple memorials. 

We walked back to the bike and very reluctantly put on our  gear. We stopped at a store to buy a coffee mug and made our way up to Montgomery, Alabama just as fast as we could. The closer we got, the less humid it became. 

Once we were out of Florida, we stopped at a Steak and Shake for supper. Now, if you’ve read a couple of my previous blogs, you’ll know that they have absolutely terrible service and almost as terrible not-so-great food. But it’s somewhat of a competition with RJ’s parents and us to see who can tell the funniest or worst experience they had at a Steak and Shake so of course we had to see if we would have anything noteworthy to report. 

It wasn’t as bad as some experiences we’ve had there but I’d give it about a 4/10 for service and food. We had a few good laughs about it so we called it a success. 

On to Montgomery. We got in after dark and got a motel right beside the capitol. 

~em