Returning To Stuart!

My sister Susan and I arrived back in Stuart, Florida late yesterday evening, refugees from days of snow back in Colorado. We had planned to start out for Florida this past Saturday, but the Eastern Plains had received over 3 feet of snow the previous day, and so I-70, the interstate highway we needed to take, was closed in both directions. We therefore decided to head out on Sunday, instead. Once we got past Denver, a sign said I-70 was closed 9 miles ahead, but the road was bone dry, and traffic seemed normal, and so we just assumed that the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) just forgot to turn that sign off. And we were right. That day and the next went smoothly, with stays at luxury Motel 6 Resort Hotels and Spas in Columbia, Missouri and East Ridge, Tennessee, but on the final leg of the journey, speeding down the Florida turnpike toward Stuart, a message board said that all lanes were closed 16 miles ahead and to find an alternative route. A sign just before the Yeehaw Junction exit (Yes! Yeehaw Junction!) said that the next exit was 41 miles away (with all lanes closed in just 16), and so we took that exit and drove 35 miles east through rain and mist and road construction to I-95 in Vero Beach, barely able to see out the windshield. And so next time, we will fly. Does Spirit Airlines (known to Susan as Evil Spirit Airlines) still exist? And yes, that is indeed the House of Refuge in Stuart, Florida, built in 1876 and now a museum in the photograph above. A place well worth visiting.