Day 15: Cross Country Trek Complete (Destination: Daytona Beach, FL)

For the morning of the final (albeit short-ish) leg of my cross-country trek, I slept in again.  Slept a little more soundly too than night before, thanks to running white noise machine at a higher level than the night before.  Notable that the note taped to the white noise machine said "adjustable" instead of "advisable" like I had previously thought, ha.

Took some time getting packed up and was driving out of AirBnb by 11:45, just 15 minutes before the noon checkout.

After minimal deliberation, decided to grab drive thru fast food on my way out of town.  There was a Burger King drive right next to the post office where I dropped postcards in mail slot.  Ordered some kind of cheesy bacon chicken sandwich special, plus fries and drink, to consume while I drove.

It was a 2.5 hour drive mainly east but slightly north across the state of Florida.  I went through the city of Orlando, and feel like I saw more of it driving through this day than I did entirely in my 3 night stay last spring for a work conference (where I was planted at the Hilton right near Disney Springs).  A TON of freeway construction going on throughout that city -- so many switches left and right as they build out what appears to be a freeway on par with the 405 through the middle of Orlando.

Listened to the last of an audiobook that I had been listening to for most of the MS - FL drive on Monday, and then just some music as I made my way to the Atlantic Coast.

I had set my destination as the hotel I had booked, but after noting it wasn't yet 3pm and that the hotel was a ways down from what appeared to be the main part of Daytona, I drove the length of Daytona Beach Shores and on into the Daytona Beach beachfront with pier/etc.  I ended up parking at pier area, paid for an hour's worth of parking and got out and walked toruisty pier area as well as pier itself. 

Then some of the boardwalk area, and then back to car.

Drove the few miles back down to the oceanfront hotel and checked in.  Had booked an ocean facing room with balcony, and got the option of high or low floor.  I said I preferred high, and got an 8th floor room (out of 10 total).  Was up and into my room quickly.

View from the room.

Temperature was mild but a little windy, but nice to be out on the balcony for a spell.

Started to get unpacked and ended up just taking a nap in the comfy king size bed.  Ha.

Woke up just after sun had set.  Got thing situated and looked up were to secure dinner and libation.  The front desk guy had said there were two breweries nearby that he said were both good, and I ended up picking the one that was a full service restaurant.  Btw "near" meant 4.5 miles away.

Headed out to Tomoka Brewing in nearby Port Orange.  Ended up ordering their signature burger w. fries, and two pints of beer as I waited/ate (a hef/wit and an EPA). 

I got a crowler of their IPA to-go, since I was driving and didn't want to risk buzzed driving for higher ABV beer.

Back to the hotel and room for relaxing and planning (or not planning) basically free day to check out Daytona Beach.  Sliding door open to enjoy the ocean sounds for rest of the night.  And while it is an unspoiled view of the Atlantic during the day, at night it's just inky black outside -- and even out on the balcony, the horizon line is indiscernable for where the ocean ends and the sky begins.