I came here only to photograph the campus signs at Jacksonville State University.
About 14 miles south of Montgomery a vehicle passed me and got back into my lane. It kicked a rock back at my rental car windshield
and made a small crack similar to what I got a couple of years ago on my personal leased car. A company came to my home then and
fixed it in 15 minutes. However, this time, the crack slowly started getting bigger in a north-south direction that eventually
curved and was nearly two feet long. Since I had declined extended rental car insurance, they were able to do little for me although
Dominique really tried (and I give her an A++ on that effort). But the best she could do was send Auto Lite the next day. So I took
the vehicle to Auto Glass Now in southern Montgomery, They were able to find and get the windshield in for the 2012 Passat and install
it in four hours of their time. $250 since I have a $500 deductible.By the time I finally got out of Montgomery through their heavy
traffic, it was almost 2:00 pm. So I had to skip both national parks. But I really needed to get the photos at Jacksonville State.
That was a mere 73-mile drive but took 2-1/2 hours because of rush hour traffic and going through several long towns. This is when
I really noticed how slow Southerners are at their pace of life. Incredibly frustrating to me.
BUt, oh, what a change of plans to get here. I intended to leave Pensacola and drive through Montgomery AL to
Tuskegee to visit the Tuskegee Airman National Historic Park, then go north from there to the Horseshoe Bend
National Battlefield, then to Jacksonville. And I could still make it to my hotel in Birmingham AL by 3:00 pm or so.
Wrong!......