Atlanta the Busy

We left Mobile around 2 p.m. (CDT) [Sunday, 3 April 2005] and arrived in Atlanta about 9 p.m. (EDT). We knew we were going to lose an hour in the time-zone but weren't sure where. (Coming back we found the time zone is right at the Alabama/Georgia border).

Atlanta traffic is just plain ridiculous, but since it was Sunday night it wasn't as bad as it could have been. The map we had printed for our hotel (Staybridge-North Perimeter) was wrong and it took us about an hour to find it. We finally had to call them to find out how to get there. Turns out we had driven by our turn three or four times. It was hard to see the street signs in the dark.

Our meeting wasn't until the next day at 1:30 so we had a nice breakfast Monday morning at the hotel and Carol worked on some of her files as there was only one internet connection in the room. Bob was nursing a bad sneezing, coughing, runny-nose situation anyway. We took the hotel shuttle to our meeting (Monday Atlanta traffic) and brought it back to the hotel around four. We then took the shuttle to Max & Erma's for an early dinner. Carol had some kind of chicken dish and Bob had barbeque ribs. Didn't realize Max & Erma's is a chain with over 150 locations, mostly in the South and East, although it was started in Ohio and has several locations there. Pretty good food for a chain.

Bob watched the NCAA Men's Championship game and was sorry to see Illinois lose. They just didn't look as good as they had in earlier games, but North Carolina defense may have had something to do with that.

Tuesday morning we shuttled to our meeting again. This was a presentation from an insurance company that we will work for in the future. We left Atlanta at 11:30 a.m. EDT and planned to stop in Auburn, AL, for gas and some food. We both really wanted a sandwich from Chick-Fil-A and thought for sure one would be in Auburn. Not so, and the best price we could find for gas was $2.29, so we decided to go on toward Montgomery. We did however drive through town and went past Auburn University. Really a nice campus with beautiful buildings, some of which have been there a long time.

On the way up we had seen a sign advertising a casino in Shorter, AL, about 18 miles east of Montgomery. We didn't want to stop on the way to Atlanta, but decided to stop on our way home. Should have gassed up in Auburn as the gas here was $2.31. We checked out the casino, VictoryLand, for a few hours. VictoryLand is located at Exit 22 off Interstate 85 between Montgomery and Tuskegee, Alabama. This is a greyhound racing facility and they simulcast greyhound and horse racing from all over the country. They also have bingo and have added hundreds of slot machines. Slot machines apparently are unlawful in Alabama, but somehow the law allows bingo and these machines are considered bingo machines. We're not sure how all of this shakes out, but we enjoyed our brief stay and left with more money than what we arrived with!!

Got back to Mobile about 10 p.m. It was a good trip.