In no particular order:

1. Florida is a lot bigger than you might think. To put it into perspective: it takes about 7 hours to pass through Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. This somehow makes me feel like I’ve made a lot of progress, and that one more state can’t take too much longer. However, once you’ve reached Pensacola, you’ve got another 7.5 hours of driving to look forward to. Driving through Florida makes up over 50% of the driving on this trip.

2. Finding an open rest stop in Mississippi is almost impossible. I’ve done this trip three times now, and every time I went, there was only one open rest stop throughout all of Mississippi. The rest were blown down by Katrina or something, and have yet to be rebuilt.

3. You can easily drive the entire ~1000 mile trip without stopping at a motel for the night. I like to leave Houston around 3AM, get all the boring Texas driving out of the way before sunrise, and then enjoy a nice trip during daylight hours. If you time things properly, you should be able to make it to Orlando before sunset. If you need to take a nap, Florida’s rest stops are a great choice. See below.

4. Florida has the best rest stops by far. Well maintained, clean facilities. Night-time security at almost all locations. You can tell based on the rest stops alone that Florida really loves its tourists.

5. Taking the I-12 shortcut in Louisiana is not a good idea. Taking I-12 instead of I-10 will bring you away from New Orleans, and shave about 25 minutes off the trip — but the drive is very dull, and I-12′s shoulders are full of roadkill. Given my previous luck with roadside fauna, taking this shortcut is not a good idea, especially at night.

6. Louisiana has very nice rest stops. The Atchafalaya Welcome Center is actually located in the middle of a swamp. Very peaceful, very well built. What’s especially nice about this rest stop is that truck parking is far away from the car parking. Anyone who’s ever tried to take a nap while parked next to a noisy diesel truck should know what I’m going on about.

7. Thought gas prices were high in Texas? Try leaving the state. Gas in Houston was around $3.39/gallon when I drove to Orlando back in April. The same fuel cost about $3.75/gallon when I filled up again in Ocala.

8. Florida really loves its toll roads. It’s almost impossible to get anywhere in the metropolitan Orlando area without taking a toll road. Hell, you have to take a toll road (Florida’s Turnpike) just to get to Orlando. On the upside, the roads are very well maintained, and roadside services are top-notch.

9. Pollo Tropical really kicks ass. Why they haven’t opened locations back home in Texas is beyond me. :( You can’t beat a TropiChop after a hard day’s work. This tidbit isn’t really about the drive, but I’m running low on ideas for the rest of this entry, so I’m going to include this.