The Journey Begins

Monday afternoon was supposed to be clear until, well, afternoon. Somebody got paid money to say that the snow wasn't going to start until afternoon. Well isn't that amazing, because they got paid to screw it up again. The snow started falling in northeast Ohio around 9am and by the time I excused myself from my 9 to 5 (well, hell, who am I kidding, more like my 6 to 4 these days, cut down from 6 to 5) there were a couple of inches on the ground. Got ready to roll out of the driveway around 1:30pm and we were on the road...and it sucked.

Buffalo and the Palm Tree

We have arrived!

What should have taken about an hour and a half, to get from Warren to south of Canton, Ohio took us over four hours of white knuckle adventure. Roads were slick into West Virginia, where we were greeted with flashing signals informing us of the possibility of ice and scary conditions, rolling on curvy roads where the speed limit in good conditions is 55! No street lights because, well, you're in West Virginia, folks. Somewhere along the way, we were both mentally spent and we pulled into a rest stop for gas and to try to grab some sleep in the back of the van. But first, we were confronted by a “supposed” marine who was trying to get back to base but had no cash. This was in the parking lot of the rest area and he went on about how the rest area personnel would not accept his military version of of an ATM card that apparently only works on base. We spent fifteen minutes getting this guy to go away, and then finally settled in. Two hours later poor Buffalo woke up shivering and freezing, as we turned off the van and heat to go to sleep. He woke up, turned on the heat, but couldn't get back to sleep, so at 1am Saturday morning, we hit the road again, Buffalo driving and, well, I went back to sleep for a few hours. Up at 4am, I took over the wheel for Buffalo. Next stop (well, or somewhere down the road) is a pit stop at a rest area in North Carolina, where the roads actually appeared to be dry and we were comfortable running at the 65 mile per hour speed limit on the interstate. When I stepped out of the van to walk into the building, the sidewalk was covered in ice! I could barely walk! And we were driving at 65mph? Finally by the time we hit South Carolina the fear had subsided.

We stopped for lunch at a restaurant along the way and saw our first palm tree that we had seen since leaving Southern California so very many years ago and we just had to do the tourist thing. Yes, we were those geeks in the parking lot! LOL

We hit Florida state line by mid-afternoon. Blue skies...no, BLUE SKIES! OMG! Water, birds, palm trees. It is a rush to the senses, coming from nights of single digit temperatures. The change of the last twenty four hours was immense, something so unexpected. And I guess it was such a surprise, since I am a southern California native. I never expected so much delight. I am really surprised by it but, as you will see, I will come to question the value of the enjoyment to the other elements of the trip.

Peace~ Bobbi