July 2021 – Page 3

As some of you know, I’ve been using a route-planning site called Furkot to help me visualize the itinerary we might be taking for the trip. This turned out to be confusing, because other than our starting point and our planned “next destination,” we don’t yet know for sure where we’ll be, when, and for how long. So I emailed the people at Furkot to ask: how do I “plan” a trip only in retrospect — showing the places we’ve been to, but not all the succeeding ones?

I was impressed; they got back to me literally within minutes with several very specific steps to take. At any rate, here (shown in Google Maps) is the trip so far (assuming no itinerary changes over the next few days [*cough* Elsa *cough*])… If you click on the link, it looks like this:

It’s not much so far, of course. But this is generally the sort of thing I’ll be experimenting with until I’m satisfied with the “look,” or until the trip is over. Whichever comes first, ha.

…and no, I still haven’t memorized our new “home” address. It’s a good thing my computer has!

We pulled out of the hotel parking lot in Tallahassee yesterday at around 2:00 pm. It felt not very much like a triumphant departure — we were (are) both too tired to celebrate, what with a six-plus-hours drive still ahead of us. But we did bump fists, so that counts, right?

(Well, technically we bumped fists twice. I’ve never mastered the art of the cool-guy fist bump. When The Missus first raised her fist, her eyebrows raised and face all expectant, I got the right idea — but with poor brain/fist coordination, all I managed was a weak, upside-down response. “Damn it,” I thought, flipped the fist around, and successfully pulled off Try #2.)

Instead of the faster –but higher-pressure — highway route, we opted for “the back way,’ at least to start out. (I’d even mapped out an entirely “back way” to South(ish) Florida… but to follow through on that alternative, we’d have to have left by noon. No way!) It drizzled a bit, but by the time we stopped for a fast-food mid-afternoon bite to eat, it was obvious we’d have to switch to the all-highways option…

This being Central Florida, the serious rain started a few minutes later. And continued, almost whiting-out the way forward, until we finally pulled off at the Stuart exit of the Florida Turnpike, seven-and-a-half hours after departure.

Whew!

ADMIN: Documenting the Trip in Progress

Gone

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