Day Eight

Day Eight started with preparations to start our journey back to West Lafayette. We packed up all of our things and loaded them into the car. After we had loaded our bags into the car, Mr. and Mrs. Hornyak gave us tons of snacks for the ride. We said our goodbyes and thank yous, and started driving north. Our plan was to drive to Daytona Beach, spend some time there, and then continue on to Charlotte. Skyler drove us from Naples to Daytona. It took a little longer than we had planned due to some heavy traffic through Orlando. All in all, it was about 5 hours.

When we arrived at Daytona Beach, it was already 3 PM. We decided to not stay as long as we had originally planned because we did not want to get to Charlotte too late. We decided to pay the few dollars and just drive up and down on the beach. This is one of the unique characteristics about Daytona. We continued to let Skyler drive on the beach. We had driven about half of the length you could drive on when Skyler decided to get us stuck in some deep sand. It was Pat's fault though. After some random guys helped us push the van out, we continued down the beach. We turned around and started our way back to where we began. We stopped to eat some of the sandwiches that we had packed and look at the ocean and enjoy Daytona. After we had finished eating, playing catch, and fixing a few minor issues, we left the beach and headed to a gas station to refuel and switch drivers.

It was a little after 5:30 PM when I started driving in Daytona. I got us back to the Interstate, but on the way we saw Daytona International Speedway, home of the Daytona 500, and Embry Riddle, one of the most prestigious aeronautical colleges in the country. When I got back to the Interstate, we travelled north to Charlotte. Not too much happened on the way except for a stop for gas and food. Other than that, Pat and I stayed awake for driving while the rest of the car slept. It took about 8 hours to get to Charlotte and we arrived at about 2 AM. We stayed in Tom's friend Courtney's room and got some sleep. Here ends day eight.