Driving Back to Sweet Home Alabama

September 12, 2025

On Saturday (September 6), we finished loading up the truck, clipped Nox into her seat harness, said goodbye to my father-in-law, and headed out.

We stopped at the Jekyll Island Welcome Center to see if they still had a good selection of glass floats. They had a wonderful selection of glittering glass floats. I wanted a blue glass float by the hot glass artist Loretta Eby. The ladies at the Welcome Center were so helpful. They took a glass float out of a locked case so I could look at it. I compared three glass floats. Bruce and I agreed on the one we liked best. When we went to purchase the glass float, we were told that Loretta Eby was closing her studio. We bought all three of the glass floats we had been admiring!

We walked around the back of the Welcome Center to the two-story Lydia Thompson Overlook. The views were stunning from both levels of the overlook.

I carefully put the glass floats into the truck’s back seat.

Then we were on our way home.

We had planned to follow US Hwy 82 to Montgomery. There was a hiccup in Dawson, Georgia. My sister called and I was talking to her. I thought since all we had to do was stay on US Hwy 82, Bruce wouldn’t need any navigation help. Well, I was wrong. Of course, there would be a left turn to stay on US Hwy 82 in Dawson, GA. Bruce saw the sign too late to get over. He thought a side road would take us back to US Hwy 82 and headed down it. Since we weren’t returning to the highway in a timely manner, I ended my call with my sister and resumed my navigation duties.

Google changed our route and directed us down some small roads to US Hwy 280. We crossed a bridge that looked level with the road, but it wasn’t; it was raised above the road. As we drove over the bridge at 55 miles an hour, the truck bounced hard. The jolt broke the fasteners holding the roll-top cover closed. While we were traveling along US Highway 280, the cover unrolled. Bruce pulled over to check that everything in the back of the truck was all right. Fortunately, it was.

We continued home on US Hwy 280 to Birmingham, AL. We got on I-20, then I-65. We headed north and cut a corner by taking AL 157 to County Line Road.

We turned into the driveway just before sunset. I hopped out and grabbed our mail. Bruce told me the garage door opener wasn’t working. As we drove up the driveway, we noticed the front porch lights were off. Our power was out!

Bruce texted our next-door neighbor to find out if he had power. Our neighbor is an electrician and came over to see if we had a lightning strike.

I walked out to the gardens and put in a report with the power company. I took a quick look at the gardens, then started unloading the truck. Dark came quickly.

The utility truck arrived in 15 to 20 minutes after I reported the outage. As they drove up the driveway, they shone a spotlight on the wires, looking for the problem. They replaced a blown fuse a the road and our lights came back on! We had power again!

The linemen checked to make sure the power was on before they drove on.

Our neighbor said we had thunderstorm with a lot of lightning earlier in the day.

The power wasn’t out long; the food in the freezer was hard as a rock. I was happy we didn’t loose a freezer full of food.

I was still unloading the truck when the sun set.

With everything inside, Bruce moved the truck into the garage and helped me unpack.

Bruce, Nox, and I were happy to be home!