En Route to Tampa, FL

            Thursday, 24 Oct 2019 – We just embarked on our fourth Carnival cruise or our seventh Caribbean Cruise; the other three were on Princess.  This was a cruise with family and friends, as were the three previous Carnival cruises.  However, this would be the first time cruising with Jesse’s kids, Verna and Jesse, Jr; and their spouses/significant others, Tony and Bethany, and granddaughter, Aubrey.  Cuba was originally on the itinerary, but it was replaced by Cozumel after the Trump administration made Cuba off limits for cruise ships.

After a busy day of packing and completing last-minute tasks, we finally departed Bettendorf, IA.  We had intended to leave early in the morning, but it was about 4:00 PM by the time we got on the road.  Except for occasional construction, it was an uneventful drive.  We stopped for the night in Nashville, TN at about midnight, and finally made it to bed by 2:00 AM.

Friday, 25 Oct 2019 – At 9:18 AM we checked out of our motel.  Although our drive from Nashville to Tampa should have taken us about 10.5 hours, we reached Atlanta, GA, in the middle of rush hour; therefore, our drive through Atlanta was very slow.  We arrived at our hotel in Tampa at 11:45 PM.  Because a large, gala party was taking place at the hotel, we had trouble finding a parking space.  Although at first, no carts were available, eventually one was returned; we grabbed it, and unloaded our luggage.  Sally waited in the lobby with our luggage while Jesse continued looking for a parking space, which he finally found on the first floor of the parking garage, just inside the door.   We finally made it to bed at about 2:00 AM.