Heading up to Illinois

We got up this morning at 6:00 and after loading the last minute items in the car, we left the house at 7:45 and headed north on I-95. We took I-95 up to Jacksonville and then I-10 west and got onto I-75 north. We stopped at Camping World at Lake Park, GA and bought a Next Exit book to give to my cousin Frances and a small utility leaf blower for us. We stopped at a Flash Foods in Byron, GA to get gas and paid $1.879 a gallon. 

About 45 minutes after leaving the gas station, the northbound traffic on I-75 came to a halt. We decided to exit I-75 south of McDonough, GA and try to go around the traffic. We took exit 216 and headed north on US-23 into McDonough. We did have traffic backed up in
town, but nothing like it was on I-75. We passed by some really nice older homes on our way into town

and we passed by the Henry County Courthouse 

on GA-20 on our way back out to I-75. The traffic was flowing smoothly on I-75, so our detour worked out OK and we weren't still sitting back south on I-75 waiting for the traffic to start moving again.

We arrived at the La Quinta in Acworth, GA at 7:30. After checking in we drove over to Wendy's for a quick supper - we both ordered the Son of Baconater meals - I had fries and Mike had chili instead of fries. Then we headed back to the motel for the night. 

We drove 576 miles today and a total of 12 hours travel time. It would have been much longer if we hadn't decided to take the detour through McDonough, but even then it was a long travel day. Tomorrow night we will be up at my cousin Frances' house in Benton, IL.