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)

Day Seven - Maryville, MO to El Dorado Springs, MO

Today was a short day of driving - milage wise. Time wise....... well, it took a little longer than we thought it would. Dad decided to rotate the tires on the car while he had them off to work on the brakes last night, and the car picked up an odd vibration in the right front. Probably due to being out of balance, and wearing itself down in a funny pattern to match the rear wheel position it used to be in. We stopped at a Sears in Kansas City, since the tires were originally from Sears (small chance that they would have done it for free - but no such luck) and asked them to balance the tires - make sure everything was as even as it could be.

After spending an hour catching up on phone calls while sitting on the floor of the service center - propped up between a couple stacks of tires... we were back on the road and looking for dinner. A call to my older cousin filled us in on the important info, "Get food before this one particular town - nothing's good past that." Ok, food it is. We found a A&W / Long John Silver combo, and had baby corn dogs, coleslaw, fries, popcorn shrimp and fish (talk about a balanced meal!)

Back in the car after dinner, a quick glance at the map brought a good round of laughs. We could go back to the interstate, and head south to my cousin's - or we could take a small detour, and drive through Peculiar, MO. (I'm kicking myself here, because I had about 5 pictures of the road signs for Peculiar... and the camera ate them.... all of them... :-( ) On the way, we passed Hwy YY, and the junction between Hwy OO and Hwy ZZ. (together, it looked like OOZZ - or Oz! which we've been seeing LOTS of the last three days!) Yes, for you fearless west-coasters out there, the way most of the midwest ID's their state highways - at a certain point, you start gettting letter designations and double letter designations, instead of just numbers. It makes for some interesting street signs!

The rest of the drive was uneventful, until we actually reached the house - where three kids (7, 4, and 20 mos) and a dog were waiting with enthusiastic and sloppy kisses! We spent the rest of the evening reading bedtime stories, catching up on life with my cousin and her husband, relaxing, and finally passing out.

The cheerful patter of little feet greeted us the next morning, as none of my young cousins will walk when running works even better! Dad managed to make it through the whole day as part storybook reader, part human jungle gym, and part playmate to Josh, the four year old. I freely admit that I didn't make it - I took a nice long nap about 2pm... Which was just as well - I didn't fall asleep early later on, and was on hand when Joel (the almost-two-year-old) woke up with bad dreams at 12:30 am.... and 1:15 am.... and again at 7:00 am (I was up for the day by that time) He's still at almost the right size to cuddle easily, and I loved every minute holding him! Joel's a big fan of bicycles and sharks. There's a book on sharks at their house that he asked to have read to him at least three times today! (Here, Dad is reading the shark book to Joel.

Tomorrow, we're off to a little town outside Nashville, TN, where we'll catch up with some old friends of both Dad & I from junior high and high school days. Then it's on to Georgia and Florida!

Day Six - Hays, KS to Maryville, MO

Had a short jaunt from Hays to Kansas City on I-70 today, before turning north on I-29 towards Maryville and my cousin's house. Today, my mission was to try and find a charm for my charm bracelet. I try and collect at least one from every trip I take. They're fairly portable memory keepers - though I'm about due to start a new bracelet. It's getting too heavy to wear. I found one in Wamego, KS at the ‘Wizard of Oz Museum” shaped in the familiar image of the Tin Man, Scarecrow, Dorothy and Cowardly Lion wandering down the yellow brick road. But I digress... Now that the radio is functioning again - the hills are alive with the sound of music, though we soon won’t be in Kansas anymore. (Ok, so I’m mixing my movie quotes…) And what pretty hills they are too!

We made better progress than we expected to, and pulled into my cousin's house around 4pm. (Including a 1 hr detour after we left the hotel, and I realized I'd left my pillow behind!) He was on the nearby college campus leading a bible study, but his wife was home, and welcomed us with open arms. Joseph, the newest addition to the family, had been having a rough day, and having people willing to make funny faces and hold him meant that Jess could get dinner finished up and take a break. At four months, Joey’s main accomplishment for the day was discovering how to get only his thumb into his mouth – and not just his entire fist. He’s generally a happy baby, and in between fussy moments was more than happy to smile, laugh and stare at whatever bright, shiny objects were available. I’m quite glad that he doesn’t have the motor skills to grab at my glasses yet. They’re not quite the same once they’ve been used as a chew toy!

Dad spent the evening changing the oil in my car and replacing the brake drums on my rear wheels. He also got a do-it-yourself fixit manual for me for the car, so we can start investigating why the A/C is having issues. Tearing that apart will probably mean disconnecting the radio (again), but I’m fairly certain I can unlock it again this time without having to call the dealer. As long as the back tires were off, Dad decided to rotate my tires and swap everything around, as well – which I wasn’t expecting, but appreciated. (I’m sure you wanted to know ALL about my car’s maintenance record!)

Day Five - Longmont, CO to Hays, KS

We left Longmont around 10:45, after church, packing, and a warm round of sloppy kisses from the puppy, and drove through Denver on our way to the Colorado/Kansas border. We outran the thunderstorm sitting over Denver, and before long, were driving through this.

Contrary to popular belief - Kansas is not flat. The hills are about 5 ft high and 300 ft long... but it's not flat.


Here's the Colorado / Kansas border











Other than that - not a whole lot happened for a Sunday afternoon. We pulled into Hays around 7:30pm, (including the Central Time Zone change). Next we head off to my cousin's house in Maryville, MO!

Day Three - Crooked Creek, CO to Longmont, CO

This was a short, fun day of driving as we only had about 200 miles to go between Young Life's Crooked Creek and my sorority sister's house outside of Boulder, CO. We left Crooked Creek right after lunch with the camp staff, and headed out across the continental divide. As soon as we headed out of Fraser, we realized that it had snowed up above the tree line overnight. At least half of the snow shown at left wasn't there when we pulled into Fraser at the end of day two. The speed limit on Hwy 40 over Berthoud Pass is somewhere between 35 and 45 - except for the road construction areas, which are 25. This gave us a great opportunity to admire the scenery and oooh and aaaah over the mountains. The summit itself was fogged in, so we didn't get any fantastic pictures from 11,307 feet, but knowing that we were there is exciting.

We took two quick detours en route - one on the north side of Denver to pick up a few maps and tour books from AAA that I didn't pick up before leaving California, and one in Longmont to the Saturn dealer. I learned the hard way on day two that my car's radio has a theft deterrant system in it. Something went funny with the air conditioning system on day two shortly after Dinosaur, CO. We stopped in Craig, CO for gas and to poke under the hood and see why the air wasn't blowing well. In the midst of testing the fuses for the A/C. Dad pulled the fuse for the radio by mistake. When we reconnected it, the radio displayed "LOC" rather than the time. pushing any buttons prompts the user to enter a code to unlock the radio. Do I know this code? No. Reading the user's manual told me that the dealer had a code that could be punched in. After that, I can re-program my own code. So, we were stuck without a radio for a couple hours on day two and most of the drive on day three. The service guys at the Longmont Saturn dealer were very helpful and took the time to unlock my stereo for me. Now I need to remember to program my own code soon - before I go tinkering under the hood again. :-)

We pulled in to my sorority sister's house about 5:15pm, and headed out to dinner at Red Robin. After going home to play with their dog, Aspen for a few minutes, we then headed back out to go bowling for a couple of hours. It was a good day, and the highlight of day 4 is going to be the Colorado State/University of Colorado football game and a few minor errands.

Stay Tuned!

Day Two - Wendover, UT to Crooked Creek Ranch, CO

We got an early start Thursday morning, leaving Wendover around 7am after a quick breakfast at the hotel. The western half of Utah is much like northern Nevada - though we did see more small wildlife in Utah than in Nevada... complete with a couple of prairie dogs attempting to re-create that GEICO commercial where the squirrels are playing "dead" in the road. Fortunately, prairie dogs seem to have a slightly higher IQ than squirrels, since both the prairie dogs and the car are in one piece. Having Dad along has proven to be quite useful - I got a good nap in and still had plenty of time to try and take pictures of suicidal wildlife standing in the middle of the road, DJ using my iPod and FM transmitter while in the mountains (why worry about finding a good radio station when you're carrying your own? No commercials required!) and generally enjoy God's taste in scenery.

We drove past Dinosaur National Monument at the Utah / Colorado border, but we didn't stop due to time constraints. Dad and I have both visited the monument before - on our last major family cross country trip. I'm glad we visited then, because the National Park website mentioned that parts of the monument have been indefinitely closed (I can't remember exactly why though). Their hours and services are reduced after Labor Day as well. We did get a couple of neat shots of some of the nearby town signs on Hwy 40. Yes folks, dinosaurs are alive and well in Utah and Colorado.

Heading into the Rocky Mountains livened the drive up considerably, both in the scenery and road design. This is probably going to be one of the most beautiful stretches of road we're going to see this trip. I can understand the magnetic appeal that these mountains have for people. You can see ski resort after ski resort cut into the hills - where you know the ski trails are in the winter. I lost track of the number of ski resorts we passed shortly after Salt Lake City.

We started seeing signs for a major general store named F.M. Light & Sons about 100 miles out from Steamboat Springs, CO. After seeing all the hype, I was interested in seeing the store itself, and possibly hunting down a charm for my charm bracelet to mark this section of the trip. Alas, no such luck. We drove the entire length of Steamboat Springs, saw a replica of the steamboat that used to operate on the river there, and a fantastic old-style downtown area...but couldn't find the general store. We did see the sign on the other end that said "You missed us! Turn around!" but we needed to keep going and try and get to Young Life's Crooked Creek Ranch before dark.

Crooked Creek has a fantastic layout of cabins, dining hall, game room, pool, hot tub, ropes course, club room and other activities sure to excite and amaze teens of all ages. It was a bit drizzly and cool as we pulled in - just enough to make unpacking the jackets a necessity.

Now it's off to Boulder, CO to visit one of my sorority sisters from Alpha Delta Chi, and spend the weekend relaxing and recouperating (and watching the CU - CSU football game!)

Day One - Challenge, CA to Wendover, UT.

The journey has begun - in my family's typical travelling fashion. Dad was held up with a few things from work, so we had a late start packing the car.... and the goodbyes, packing problems and list of things to do that never seems complete meant that we didn't leave Mom & Dad's house until 2pm Weds afternoon. Our destination - Wendover, Utah, right on the Nevada/Utah border. We had some great scenery on the way, as we drove through Truckee, CA, Reno, NV, Elko, NV and half a dozen small towns in between. Here's a few snapshots of the scenery across Nevada. Fortunately, the road isn't QUITE always this straight... there's just enough hills, curves and twists to keep the drive from completely putting you to sleep. In it's own sparse way, the colors of the dunes and sand flats were quite pretty.

Dad and I have been trading off driving - and it's quite odd to be sitting in the passenger seat of my car. That's not a place I find myself very often! I'm kicking myself a little bit for not being prepared to snap a picture as we drove across the Nevada / Utah state line in Wendover. Granted, it was about 12:15 am Thursday morning - and I wasn't expecting to see "NEVADA" or "UTAH" stenciled on the road in 4' letters. I suppose because Wendover is on the state line - and Nevada and Utah have different activities legalized - that it's important to know which side of the line you're on!

This was one of the longest days of driving for the entire trip.... mostly because there isn't a whole lot for tourists in Nevada (aside from casinos... which I don't have any money to gamble away) so we might as well get through it as fast as possible, and get to the interesting stuff in Colorado. I'd hoped to be able to catch up with one of my sorority sisters from UC Davis who's now living in Nevada - but no such luck.... I think we passed each other on the road somewhere in Reno. :-(

More posting on Day Two to come! Stay Tuned!

The Beginnings of an Adventure

Here's a map of the tenative itinerary for my cross country trip! More details to follow later...