Day Four - Waverly, TN to Springfield, MO

Current Trip Statistics:

Total Milage: 1132.7 miles
Total Elapsed Time: 22 hours 45 mins
Total Construction Zones: 14
Most Random License Plate: Wisconsin

I have had a great couple of days in Tennessee. Monday (day two) was a comfortable, lazy day (I slept in until about 10:30) hanging out around my friend's house, and then at her grandparent's house. Dad and I had stopped at their house a year ago on our way to Florida. It was great to be able to give them a follow up description of camp, and an update on Mom and Dad.

Tuesday (day three) involved a bit more adventure when I ventured into Nashville to wander around the Opry Mills mall and the Opryland hotel atrium with Stuart, one of the other camp interns from the summer. I'm sad that my camera is having issues, and I wasn't able to take pictures of the atrium. It is fantastically beautiful, there's some really unusual and beautiful plants and some great waterfalls and waterways. It was easy to forget that I was inside a building (aside from NOT being in 100 degree heat) until I looked up to see a glass ceiling and hotel room balconies. Working at that hotel would be quite the experience. I think I'm going to add it to the list of places that would be fun to call "my job" at some point in my life. :-) We also went to see "The Nanny Diaries," which I give a so-so rating. It's not going on my list of movies to buy any time soon, but I didn't walk out disgusted either. All in all, a good afternoon!

Today was a nice, relatively short day of driving, although the view of the Ozarks was somewhat obscured by the rain that kept popping up in spots. I left Waverly around 7:30 am, and pulled into Springfield around 3:45 pm. Watching Sara dance in the parking lot as I pulled up is a milestone memory! We're both very excited to see one another and have a day and a half to reminisce over the summer, explore Springfield in the rain and enjoy life. :-D

Day One - Southwind, FL to Waverly, TN

Current Trip Statistics:

Elapsed Milage: 699.6 miles
Elapsed Time: 14 hours 30 mins
Construction Zones: 8
Most Random License Plate: Alaska

Had a great drive up today, after leaving Southwind around 7:30 am EDT. Atlanta was a surprisingly quick drive, without any slowdowns at all. I'd estimated that I'd end up spending an hour sitting in traffic, and didn't need to after all. Turned out that I needed that extra hour, when I got turned around just off of I-40, and spent some time doing some unplanned exploration of the Tennessee countryside, just west of Nashville. :-) What can I say - there's at least one unexpected adventure in every road trip... this trip promises to have more than one adventure!

Tomorrow is a relatively easy day, hanging out with an elementary school friend, and Tuesday I'm going to go explore Nashville with a friend from Young Life! It's going to be an exciting few days!

The Beginnings of Another Adventure

Exactly one year later, I'm planning another cross country trip! This time, my final destination is Seattle, as my family has relocated there. Here's the route I'm taking (roughly) ...

Day Thirteen - Orlando, FL to Southwind, FL

Today was a short drive, mostly on back hill roads, and we spent as much time staring at the map and the directions as we did admiring the scenery. It was about an hour and a half from our friend’s house in Orlando to Southwind, outside of Ocala.



Once we got there, we spent the afternoon:
meeting the staff
having lunch
exploring my new house
unpacking the boxes I shipped
napping
figuring out how much cleaning and organizing there was to do

Finally about 4:00, we drove into Ocala to do a bit more exploring, have dinner at the Cracker Barrel (GREAT restaurant for those of you who’ve never been there – think southern country kitchen cookin’. Yummy.), and start working on finding the best deal on new car insurance. But enough about Ocala – camp is much more entertaining!

Here’s a few views from around camp:












Now it’s time to settle in, explore for a few days, and take Dad to the airport on Weds.

WE DID IT! We covered 3600 Miles in 12 days (counting from 2pm PDT), 9 states, lots of laughs, and many fond memories. Thanks to all who helped make this trip possible by hosting us overnight, and thanks for all the memories!

Day Eleven - SharpTop Cove, GA to Orlando, FL

We headed out of SharpTop after breakfast with the weekend work crew, an affectionate scratch to the resident laundry kitty, and several comments to one another along the lines of "We REALLY didn't plan enough time here!" The laundry kitty is just that... she lives in the laundry room in the old hotel that's been renovated for the summer staff / work crew use. Apparently she gets free room in exchange for board - that is... keeping the critters out of the rooms and laundry. She's quite affectionate, and tried to wander into our room any time the door was open.

The main area of camp is gorgeous, as you can see from the pictures in my previous post (sorry I wasn't more awake last time to be more verbose). The pond isn't large enough for boats - but it's plenty big enough to be a landing zone for two zip lines, two straight water slides and the blob. The high rain frequency means the basket ball courts need a roof - there's also a rock climbing wall on one end. We didn't get a chance to explore the store and the club room, but the dining hall and adult guest lodge were fantastic!

The drive down towards Orlando was beautiful, and I put in most of the time behind the weel. Dad didn't sleep as well as he might have on a camp mattress (no major complaints, as the lodging was free :-) ) so he was sleepy most of the drive. Fortunately for me, the end was in sight... and I was rearing to go.

Seven hours later - we hit the Florida turnpike, a great stretch of....... toll road. yipee. Remind me to stock up on $1's and quarters. This is one of the main roads to take to get from my new abode to Disney World. (I think I need to invest in the e-pass thingy) For those of you in Cali - you think the Bridge toll in the Bay is bad.... imagine doing that - every 5-10 miles.... not as expensive of course - $1 here, $.50 there..... but you've got to slow down or stop at each one. blah.

An hour after the novelty of the turnpike quickly wore off, we were pulling into the driveway of some old friends we knew from California who moved to Orlando several years ago. They were as thrilled to see us as we were to see them - though Dad has strict instructions not to return without Mom. :-) They have a beautiful house, with a gorgeous view out the backyard. One thing I defenitely like out here is that fences are kept at a minimum - and are often disguised with hedges when possible. Everything is so much more open and free!

We're going to be here tonight, and tomorrow, and leave bright and (sorta) early on Monday (18th) for Southwind!

Day Ten - Dickson, TN to SharpTop Cove, GA

We said goodbye to Princess and Katie this morning - probably later than we should have - and headed off through Nashville, and Chattanooga towards Atlanta. SharpTop Cove is in Jasper, GA, less than an hour north of Atlanta. Some of the maintenance guys at SharpTop were having problems similar to things that Dad has dealt with recently, so we were going to stop, admire the scenery, drool over the different design, and let Dad talk shop with the maintenance folks.

Tennessee is mostly rolling hills, though the eastern part gets into the Appalachian mountains, and starts having some more defined characteristics. Dad had a "Eureka!" moment about half way through the day, as he sat contemplating the A/C that had once again misbehaved. We're now thinking that it's a tiny bit short on Freon, and the constant use is causing the coils to get clogged with ice. As soon as we turn it off and allow the ice to melt (45-60 seconds) it works fine again. Thankfully, this means we don't need to perform open-dashboard-surgery on my car.

Here's some scenery shots from the trip:

Here's pictures of SharpTop Cove:

Next stop is Orlando, FL with some friends of Mom & Dad from when I was in grade school.... Monday... It's SOUTHWIND! The end is in sight!

Day Nine - El Dorado Springs, MO to Dickson, TN

Today we said a very sad goodbye to Jenny’s kids. Joel seemed to take it in stride, but Josh was NOT happy that his personal human jungle gym had only stayed for two days. I walked by his room just in time to hear “Do they HAVE to go already???” It was touching, and I’m going to try and make an effort to make it back for at least one of the holidays this winter. We’ll see what my new work schedule is going to end up looking like.

Dad drove for the first hour while I finished catching up on sleep. Joel’s midnight adventures took a bit of a toll, and I was slow to wake up. After that, I was fine to drive, and he was the sleepy one! *grins* Driving through eastern Missouri and western Tennessee was pretty and fairly quiet. We found the cheapest gas of the trip at the Missouri/Tennessee border at 2.12 a gallon.

A couple days ago, the thought occurred to me that an old friend of mine from elementary school had moved out to Tennessee. She’d also gotten married, and I couldn’t remember her new last name. I mentioned this to dad, who remembered that her grandparents (her granddad was an old co-worker of his) had also moved to Tennessee. Whitepages.com provided us with their address and phone number, and we called them up yesterday. Turns out they live about 45 minutes west of Nashville, and were surprised and delighted to hear from us. They insisted that we should stay with them, rather than getting a hotel in Nashville (our original plan). We adjusted accordingly, and had a delightful pot roast dinner and spent a couple hours catching up on one another’s lives and the activities of mutual friends we’d each lost track of. I was able to call my friend, living about 45 miles west of her grandparents, and we talked for a couple hours. Sadly, her work schedule and my night navigation abilities didn’t let us see one another in person – but we’re going to be close enough now that we can meet somewhere in the middle for something or other – maybe hitting an amusement park in Atlanta or something…

I seem to be making excellent friends with the pets of the folks I visit, no matter where I go! Here Princess (left) and Katie (right) quickly discovered I was a softie for dogs. Katie in particular took full advantage of the marshmallow effect in both Dad and I.

Tomorrow includes the rest of Tennessee and a bit of Georgia (just above Atlanta)