The drive between home and school is pretty much a straight shot for me. Since I’ve now done the drive countless times, I can tell you the exact exit numbers and everything.
So what happens when the route that I know like the back of my hand is unavailable?
Well, I didn’t think that would ever be the case. The first highway I take is one of the busiest in the state. There was no way it could be completely shut down.
Until it was.
I was trapped going back to school on I-4 West and not even halfway back to campus. If you have ever seen the “Malcolm in the Middle” episode where the family gets stranded on a highway during an accident and all of the cars are parked so the passengers can walk in the road, it was pretty much that.
I sat in the traffic for about thirty minutes. In that time, I maybe moved .2 miles, due to the fact that cars were turning around and hopping on I-4 East.
When the white SUV in front of me chose to turn around, I decided that my tiny 2001 Toyota Corolla and I should probably follow suit. We cut across the grass median on I-4 (it’s a miracle I didn’t get stuck!) and merged onto I-4 East. I got off at the next exit, as I remembered that I had used this road to go to this city on the west coast once. I typed the address of campus into my maps app and chose to avoid highways.
This is where the fun started. I stayed mainly on these two roads for the duration of the trip. I had never taken this route back to St. Petersburg before and it was very interesting. What made this route so interesting was that, unlike the highway, it’s overly desolate. When I would think that I reached a city (i.e. seeing a gas station, a fast food restaurant), I thought that I was back in normal civilization. But once I drove the few extra blocks back towards St. Pete, civilization was gone again.
Here are some of the things I saw on this road less traveled:
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A church called THE ROCK, which I don’t think is worshipping Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. I wish it was though… How funny would that be?
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MULTIPLE signs on the side of the road advertising “gator sausage” for sale. Now, as a native Floridian, I have heard of a lot of different gator foods. However, I had absolutely never heard of gator sausage, and I am totally fine with never trying it.
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Halfway through my drive, I ended up on this highway that ran right by a bunch of houses. There were no business by these houses, except a bar. The bar looked like it had previously been a house and someone decided to convert it. The sign outside of it literally just said BAR.
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I literally saw a woman riding a horse next to me on the side of the road. That’s when I really knew I was out in the country.
Obviously for the sake of time, I do not think I would take this route again unless I truly had to. However, I really enjoyed seeing a part of my state that I normally would not have seen. So next time you’re stuck on highway, hop that grass median and find yourself a road less travelled.
HC XOXO,
Danielle