American Roadtrip

The Great American Roadtrip

2003

Date Location Comments

4-28-2003 Houston, Texas It's hot and humid here. So very very hot. Did I mention that it's HOT!!??
It took me about 3 hours to get from San Antonio to Houston, and then another hour and a half to find the Central Houston KOA. The highways are a wee bit screwy here ... sort of set up as loops within loops. And, if you get on the wrong loop ... or miss the turn off to your loop ... you're toast and on your way to Dallas.

In time, however, I found the KOA and now sit here merrily doing my laundry. Nice laundry room at the KOA here. Lots of clean folding space (or work on your PC space as the case may be), loads of machines, and I'm the only one in here at the moment. I had heard rumors about this laundry room, and they're all true. Which is why I planned my laundry stop for today. I also stopped by the HEB Grocery and stocked up on a few goodies (mostly fresh fruit and soda -- decaf Coke -- can't survive without it).

A few words on the drive here. Flat. Very Flat. In fact, there's even a town named "Flatonia." There's a town with the right name for it's location. If this area was its own country, that's what I'd call it, Flatonia. The problem with driving in really flat country is that you have no points of reference to keep you oriented. Give me a nice big mountain anytime ... even a nice little mountain ... but something. I'm really glad that I had the dealer install the rear view mirror with the compass and outside thermometer. (That way I can tell which direction I'm going, and how HOT it is ... it's quite hot here. Honestly.)

I saw my very first Armadillos today. Of course, they were dead alongside the road, pretty much like all the other animals spotted on this trip. More prayers for the dead were duly chanted as I drove east.

PeeWee continues to be a champ on the highway. All I have to do is set the cruise control to the prevailing speed limit, and enjoy the ride. I've been keeping track of the amount of gas purchased and the miles driven, so at some point I'll sit down and calculate my mpg. Maybe tonight. The movie for this evening is "Apollo 13" (going to NASA tomorrow), so maybe I'll play with my spreadsheet while I watch the film du jour.

Funniest signs seen on the road today: "Baptist Credit Union" (haven't these people read the part about where Jesus chases the money lenders from the temple??) and "World's Largest Cactus Ranch" (I don't care if it IS Texas ... you FARM plants, you RANCH animals -- yeah, yeah, I know there are "horse farms" out there, but I still stay they are wrong wrong wrong). So here I sit, doing my wash and imagining those cactusboys, driving a big ol' herd of prickly pear to market.

4-29-2003 Houston, Texas I drove down to the Johnson Space Center today and took a tour of Mission Control and the Astronaut Training Facility. Really, such an incredibly interesting place. They have original space capsules (complete with re-entry burns) from Mercury 7, Gemini, and Apollo missions. The one thing that really struck me was how small the Mercury 7 rocket and capsule were. The rocket doesn't look more than 40 feet tall. And, the Gemini rocket isn't that much taller -- fatter, yes -- but not that much taller. You compare them to the Saturn V rocket and the difference is astounding. I took lots of photos (as usual), which I will post later, and then decided it was too late in the day to go down to Galveston, so that has been postponed until tomorrow morning.
This evening was dinner with a friend (Barbara Turner) and a visit to her house which is full to the rafters with Great Danes and kittens. The kittens were particularly entertaining ... one that's about three months old and two that are maybe nine months ... chasing each other everywhere and just going nuts. The doggies mostly slobbered all over me and played a game of "Let's See Who Can Tip Over Ricky". Fun game (for them ... these are Texas sized dogs).

The one thing I can't get used to in Texas is that if you travel more than 5 blocks in any direction you are in a whole new county. They must have a million counties in this state. Even the city of Houston has spread out of Harris county and into the surrounding counties. I'm used to Southern California where it takes a few hours to drive from one county into the next. Strange place this ... where the cities are bigger than the counties.

4-30-2003 Houston to New Orleans, Louisiana Heading down to Galveston today to see the beautiful mansions along Broadway - and probably tour a few of them. I love Victorian architecture (well, and architecture generally), so this is a big deal for me.
After Galveston, I'll be driving six hours to New Orleans. I may get in a little late in the day, so I'll probably post photos again in a day or two (after I've got a few shots of the French Quarter).

OK, so I wasn't out of the KOA but 5 seconds when I drove PeeWee into a ditch. (You know these boy rigs, they just have to jump into every mud puddle they see.) What made it even better was that PeeWee was sort of blocking one whole lane of roadway while a road crew was paving the other lane. Had a nice conversation with the crew boss while I waited for the tow truck -- he recommended not driving back up through Houston from Galveston, but taking the Bolivar (pronounced by the locals as "Bahlver") Ferry across from Galveston to the Bolivar Peninsula and going up to New Orleans from there.

Whoever designed the road system in Houston must have been an escapee from a mental institution. A typical sign reads something like 45N 610EW 45S 610NS 8 FMTRG 59 60/40, and the interesting part is that, no matter which lane you take, you're going to Dallas.

Anyway, I was about an hour or more late getting out of Houston, and therefore fairly late getting into Galveston. However, I had enough time to see both of the historic mansions I was really keen on seeing. Most of the buildings on Galveston Island date from after the 1900 hurricane since the storm surge then sucked just about everything off. However, a few of the large (and newer -- built in the 1890s using steel beam construction) homes survived the storm. I went to the Moody Mansion and the Gresham Palace (later renamed the "Bishop's Palace).

The lady who gave us the Second Floor Tour of the Gresham Palace had an accent from I don't know what Eastern European country, but she sounded exactly like Frau Blucher from "Young Frankenstein." Every time she instructed us to "Valk dis vey", it was all I could do to keep from saying "Stay by de kandlez, de staircase kan be trecherous."

On the Bolivar Ferry, I met a shrimper who told me about this great place on the bayou to get the best shrimp and crab dinner, so when I hit the other side I ate. Fantastic shrimp and cornbread hushpuppies. I was so stuffed when I left. I was a little disappointed that there was no where to stop the car by the Bolivar Lighthouse. I would have liked to take a photo of it (I love lighthouses too -- architecture, you know), and the only postcards of it just didn't do it justice.

Didn't get out of the Bolivar area till 5pm, so I got into New Orleans very late. I made myself even later because I stopped outside of Beaumont, TX to let PeeWee have a bath at a truck wash. Luckily, this one time I made reservations in advance because the New Orleans Jazz Festival is going on and the place is packed to the rafters. I pulled in to a sea of campers and rvs at 11:00 at night. Oh so very tired.

Funniest sign on the road today was unintentionally funny. At one point there's a highway sign outside of Baton Rouge, LA, that shows Interstate 12 branching off in two quite opposite directions, both marked "12 E".   To the maker of highway signs, I guess "East" is a purely relative direction. (And, of course, my GPS ... oft referred to as "Gypsy" when I'm arguing with her ... chose the WRONG fork of 12 E to send me down, but that's another story.)

5-1-2003 New Orleans, LA I need to take part of the day and re-group, rest up, and reorganize. I will likely just drive over to take a look at the plantations along the river, write a few letters, take a long nap (last night's drive through bayou country was a little tough on me).
Did I rest? No. I went driving down the River Road to see some of the pretty plantations. The two I took tours of were "Laura" and "Oak Alley". Both were fascinating and very different from each other. Laura is a Creole plantation (and the house is brightly painted West Indian architecture) while Oak Alley appears more typically "Anglo" (and Greek Revival style). I fell head over heals in love with Marian, the plantation cat at Laura. So, of course the camera came whipping out and many pictures were taken. She could not have cared less and napped through all the cooing, petting and photo taking.

The plantation of Laura is where the West African story about the rabbit and the tar baby was first told in America and set down on paper. At the plantation it's known at "Compair Lapin" .... but we Anglos know it as "Br'er Rabbit."

All the plantations this far South grow sugar cane rather than cotton. It's too wet for cotton, which tends to rot before it can be picked. I plan to see some of the cotton plantations when I go further North.

On the way home, I drove through more of the bayous and along the edges of some of the swamps. I'm trying to decide whether or not to take a swamp tour. How badly do I want to see the gators in their natural habitat?

Movie of the evening was "Amistad." I thought something regarding the brutality of slavery was appropriate rather than something set in the area. I had never seen the film before and all I can say is WOW!

5-2-2003 New Orleans, LA I went to the French Quarter today and discovered the art galleries on Royal St. The two I enjoyed the most featured the "Blue Dog" and the "Red Cat". I purchased some small prints at the Blue Dog (I would love to own a large Blue Dog painting, but they run about $7,000), and a book of the Red Cat.
Then there was lunch, which was Gumbo, Shrimp Creole, Jambalaya and Rice and Red Beans. And a flaming case of indigestion to follow. That plus the heat and humidity triggered a really nasty migraine headache in the afternoon. At that point I was in the middle of a driving tour of the city (Gray Line Bus), so I had to wait until late in the day before I could get any relief. (When the bus stopped, I literally bolted from the back of the bus, asked the guide where the nearest bathroom was so I could be sick, and made tracks there as fast as my wobbly legs would carry me.)

I don't think many of my photos of the French Quarter looked all that good. There's a definite degradation in quality the sicker I got. So, the picture of the cathedral came out rather nicely, but that was about it. It didn't help any that the streets are so narrow there, it's tough to get a good shot without a wide angle lens (which I left back at the KOA).

Photos finally taken off the camera and ready to be posted. I really love the way Marian the Cat turned out. I may get a large format print made of that when I get home.

5-3-2003 Milton, Florida I decided to go on a swamp tour before I left New Orleans, so off to Bayou Sagnette as soon as I could get up and get organized. I had thought about skipping this, but I am really glad I didn't. It was GREAT! Our boat pilot was a true Cajun, born and raised and still lives back in the swamps. Hunts gator, fishes for shrimp and gar and crawfish and gives tours for a living, and what a great tour guide he was. He knew everyone in every shack along the bayou by name (and how much rent they paid on their places ... $300 a year in one case). We saw gators, a great blue heron and a cormorant. It was all so beautiful. I can see why people live back there and never go into the city. So, this paragraph is dedicated to Tom Billiot, tour guide extraordinaire (who will likely never see the dedication since he doesn't get the internet back in the swamp).
I may take a new motto based on something he said, and I quote, "You don't chase no gator for no dollar net. He want it he take it, cher, and everything in it, ok by me."

So, as usual, I got off later than expected, but I did make it into Florida tonight. Milton, Florida, to be exact.   I was tired and it was a place to stop, but on arrival I ran into a little girl here at the Milton KOA who wanted someone to show her how to play Parcheesi, so I did that first. We had a really close game going until her father said she had to get her shower and go to bed.

Funniest signs today were both outside of Biloxi, Mississippi. One was for the "Bible Factory Outlet" ... now, that got me really thinking. What exactly do they sell at a Bible Factory Outlet. Factory second Bibles ... with the names wrong or something (Shadrach, Meshack and Shlomo??), or maybe overstocks on sins??   Like specials on gluttony since everyone is buying adultery this season.

The other sign was contextually a hoot. Something like 15 signs in a row for a particular casino ... and then the 16th just said "Gaming Problem? Call 1-800 ........". (Well, I didn't have a gaming problem back 15 signs ago, but now that you mention it ....)

5-4-2003 Walt Disney World, Florida Long haul today in order to get to Disney World. About 400 miles, maybe a little more. As I write this I'm at a rest stop along the I-10 after driving for about 4 1/2 hours. I should be pretty much fried by the time I get there.
Interesting place, Florida. If I didn't know better, I'd swear I was in Texas ... a fair number of signs on the interstate advertising Western Wear, a dead armadillo every few feet along the road, several "Texas Roadhouses," and lots of country music at the gas stations. The view from the interstate is pretty much non-existent, there being a thick screen of forty-foot trees growing on either side of the road. So, I listen to the music that I brought along (also more or less thematic to each area of the country) and watch the miles roll past.

Outside of Panama City, dozens of hot air balloons playing tag with some puffy-fluffy low hanging clouds. One of them (the balloons, not the clouds) is in the shape of a big bug ... purple with big yellow eyes.

Outside of Suwannee and just having crossed the Suwannee River (yes, that "Way down upon the Suwannee River" river) a car on its side in the median, the driver hanging out of the driver's window, clearly dead. My normal instinct would be to stop and render aid, but the Highway Patrol is already there assessing the situation. What's most fascinating to me is that at home everyone would be slowed to a crawl on both sides of the road, but here everyone is whizzing by at 70 mph as if having a dead body 50 feet away from your car was the commonest thing in the world.

I wasn't able to post my photos or much of my page last night since the internet connection kept dropping out. I have no idea what they have for a connection at Fort Wilderness, but it's Disney, so I'm hoping it's good quality.

I didn't get to my campground until about 6:00pm. Part of the reason was that Gypsy decided to take me on a backroads tour of the area, rather than have me stay on the interstate. But, eventually I got there ... here ... right now at the bar on the campground and, getting another bout of indigestion. Lovely. Considering that this is happening half way through a green salad, and it's no where near as hot or humid as it was in New Orleans, I think maybe I'll take my piece of pizza to go. I must just be tired. After all, even with the time change and four fifteen minute breaks, it was an eight hour drive.

Only glitch once I got here was the totally screwy set up that they have with hookups. The water and sewer ports are right next to the concrete pad. But the power .... a good 40 feet away. Yes, I know I could save a bundle if I went to a regular store tomorrow and bought a 30 amp extension cord there, but I have no intention of dealing with the crass realities of the outside world for the next few days.   If the Mouse and Duck want $43.00 for an extension cord, then ... hey, cher, ok by me.

I am told that they have a good internet connection, so from the bar I'll head straight to the front gate to check it out.

Date	Location	Comments
4-28-2003	Houston, Texas	It's hot and humid here. So very very hot. Did I mention that it's HOT!!?? It took me about 3 hours to get from San Antonio to Houston, and then another hour and a half to find the Central Houston KOA. The highways are a wee bit screwy here ... sort of set up as loops within loops. And, if you get on the wrong loop ... or miss the turn off to your loop ... you're toast and on your way to Dallas. In time, however, I found the KOA and now sit here merrily doing my laundry. Nice laundry room at the KOA here. Lots of clean folding space (or work on your PC space as the case may be), loads of machines, and I'm the only one in here at the moment. I had heard rumors about this laundry room, and they're all true. Which is why I planned my laundry stop for today. I also stopped by the HEB Grocery and stocked up on a few goodies (mostly fresh fruit and soda -- decaf Coke -- can't survive without it). A few words on the drive here. Flat. Very Flat. In fact, there's even a town named "Flatonia." There's a town with the right name for it's location. If this area was its own country, that's what I'd call it, Flatonia. The problem with driving in really flat country is that you have no points of reference to keep you oriented. Give me a nice big mountain anytime ... even a nice little mountain ... but something. I'm really glad that I had the dealer install the rear view mirror with the compass and outside thermometer. (That way I can tell which direction I'm going, and how HOT it is ... it's quite hot here. Honestly.) I saw my very first Armadillos today. Of course, they were dead alongside the road, pretty much like all the other animals spotted on this trip. More prayers for the dead were duly chanted as I drove east. PeeWee continues to be a champ on the highway. All I have to do is set the cruise control to the prevailing speed limit, and enjoy the ride. I've been keeping track of the amount of gas purchased and the miles driven, so at some point I'll sit down and calculate my mpg. Maybe tonight. The movie for this evening is "Apollo 13" (going to NASA tomorrow), so maybe I'll play with my spreadsheet while I watch the film du jour. Funniest signs seen on the road today: "Baptist Credit Union" (haven't these people read the part about where Jesus chases the money lenders from the temple??) and "World's Largest Cactus Ranch" (I don't care if it IS Texas ... you FARM plants, you RANCH animals -- yeah, yeah, I know there are "horse farms" out there, but I still stay they are wrong wrong wrong). So here I sit, doing my wash and imagining those cactusboys, driving a big ol' herd of prickly pear to market.
4-29-2003	Houston, Texas	I drove down to the Johnson Space Center today and took a tour of Mission Control and the Astronaut Training Facility. Really, such an incredibly interesting place. They have original space capsules (complete with re-entry burns) from Mercury 7, Gemini, and Apollo missions. The one thing that really struck me was how small the Mercury 7 rocket and capsule were. The rocket doesn't look more than 40 feet tall. And, the Gemini rocket isn't that much taller -- fatter, yes -- but not that much taller. You compare them to the Saturn V rocket and the difference is astounding. I took lots of photos (as usual), which I will post later, and then decided it was too late in the day to go down to Galveston, so that has been postponed until tomorrow morning. This evening was dinner with a friend (Barbara Turner) and a visit to her house which is full to the rafters with Great Danes and kittens. The kittens were particularly entertaining ... one that's about three months old and two that are maybe nine months ... chasing each other everywhere and just going nuts. The doggies mostly slobbered all over me and played a game of "Let's See Who Can Tip Over Ricky". Fun game (for them ... these are Texas sized dogs). The one thing I can't get used to in Texas is that if you travel more than 5 blocks in any direction you are in a whole new county. They must have a million counties in this state. Even the city of Houston has spread out of Harris county and into the surrounding counties. I'm used to Southern California where it takes a few hours to drive from one county into the next. Strange place this ... where the cities are bigger than the counties.
4-30-2003	Houston to New Orleans, Louisiana	Heading down to Galveston today to see the beautiful mansions along Broadway - and probably tour a few of them. I love Victorian architecture (well, and architecture generally), so this is a big deal for me. After Galveston, I'll be driving six hours to New Orleans. I may get in a little late in the day, so I'll probably post photos again in a day or two (after I've got a few shots of the French Quarter). OK, so I wasn't out of the KOA but 5 seconds when I drove PeeWee into a ditch. (You know these boy rigs, they just have to jump into every mud puddle they see.) What made it even better was that PeeWee was sort of blocking one whole lane of roadway while a road crew was paving the other lane. Had a nice conversation with the crew boss while I waited for the tow truck -- he recommended not driving back up through Houston from Galveston, but taking the Bolivar (pronounced by the locals as "Bahlver") Ferry across from Galveston to the Bolivar Peninsula and going up to New Orleans from there. Whoever designed the road system in Houston must have been an escapee from a mental institution. A typical sign reads something like 45N 610EW 45S 610NS 8 FMTRG 59 60/40, and the interesting part is that, no matter which lane you take, you're going to Dallas. Anyway, I was about an hour or more late getting out of Houston, and therefore fairly late getting into Galveston. However, I had enough time to see both of the historic mansions I was really keen on seeing. Most of the buildings on Galveston Island date from after the 1900 hurricane since the storm surge then sucked just about everything off. However, a few of the large (and newer -- built in the 1890s using steel beam construction) homes survived the storm. I went to the Moody Mansion and the Gresham Palace (later renamed the "Bishop's Palace). The lady who gave us the Second Floor Tour of the Gresham Palace had an accent from I don't know what Eastern European country, but she sounded exactly like Frau Blucher from "Young Frankenstein." Every time she instructed us to "Valk dis vey", it was all I could do to keep from saying "Stay by de kandlez, de staircase kan be trecherous." On the Bolivar Ferry, I met a shrimper who told me about this great place on the bayou to get the best shrimp and crab dinner, so when I hit the other side I ate. Fantastic shrimp and cornbread hushpuppies. I was so stuffed when I left. I was a little disappointed that there was no where to stop the car by the Bolivar Lighthouse. I would have liked to take a photo of it (I love lighthouses too -- architecture, you know), and the only postcards of it just didn't do it justice. Didn't get out of the Bolivar area till 5pm, so I got into New Orleans very late. I made myself even later because I stopped outside of Beaumont, TX to let PeeWee have a bath at a truck wash. Luckily, this one time I made reservations in advance because the New Orleans Jazz Festival is going on and the place is packed to the rafters. I pulled in to a sea of campers and rvs at 11:00 at night. Oh so very tired. Funniest sign on the road today was unintentionally funny. At one point there's a highway sign outside of Baton Rouge, LA, that shows Interstate 12 branching off in two quite opposite directions, both marked "12 E". To the maker of highway signs, I guess "East" is a purely relative direction. (And, of course, my GPS ... oft referred to as "Gypsy" when I'm arguing with her ... chose the WRONG fork of 12 E to send me down, but that's another story.)
5-1-2003	New Orleans, LA	I need to take part of the day and re-group, rest up, and reorganize. I will likely just drive over to take a look at the plantations along the river, write a few letters, take a long nap (last night's drive through bayou country was a little tough on me). Did I rest? No. I went driving down the River Road to see some of the pretty plantations. The two I took tours of were "Laura" and "Oak Alley". Both were fascinating and very different from each other. Laura is a Creole plantation (and the house is brightly painted West Indian architecture) while Oak Alley appears more typically "Anglo" (and Greek Revival style). I fell head over heals in love with Marian, the plantation cat at Laura. So, of course the camera came whipping out and many pictures were taken. She could not have cared less and napped through all the cooing, petting and photo taking. The plantation of Laura is where the West African story about the rabbit and the tar baby was first told in America and set down on paper. At the plantation it's known at "Compair Lapin" .... but we Anglos know it as "Br'er Rabbit." All the plantations this far South grow sugar cane rather than cotton. It's too wet for cotton, which tends to rot before it can be picked. I plan to see some of the cotton plantations when I go further North. On the way home, I drove through more of the bayous and along the edges of some of the swamps. I'm trying to decide whether or not to take a swamp tour. How badly do I want to see the gators in their natural habitat? Movie of the evening was "Amistad." I thought something regarding the brutality of slavery was appropriate rather than something set in the area. I had never seen the film before and all I can say is WOW!
5-2-2003	New Orleans, LA	I went to the French Quarter today and discovered the art galleries on Royal St. The two I enjoyed the most featured the "Blue Dog" and the "Red Cat". I purchased some small prints at the Blue Dog (I would love to own a large Blue Dog painting, but they run about $7,000), and a book of the Red Cat. Then there was lunch, which was Gumbo, Shrimp Creole, Jambalaya and Rice and Red Beans. And a flaming case of indigestion to follow. That plus the heat and humidity triggered a really nasty migraine headache in the afternoon. At that point I was in the middle of a driving tour of the city (Gray Line Bus), so I had to wait until late in the day before I could get any relief. (When the bus stopped, I literally bolted from the back of the bus, asked the guide where the nearest bathroom was so I could be sick, and made tracks there as fast as my wobbly legs would carry me.) I don't think many of my photos of the French Quarter looked all that good. There's a definite degradation in quality the sicker I got. So, the picture of the cathedral came out rather nicely, but that was about it. It didn't help any that the streets are so narrow there, it's tough to get a good shot without a wide angle lens (which I left back at the KOA). Photos finally taken off the camera and ready to be posted. I really love the way Marian the Cat turned out. I may get a large format print made of that when I get home.
5-3-2003	Milton, Florida	I decided to go on a swamp tour before I left New Orleans, so off to Bayou Sagnette as soon as I could get up and get organized. I had thought about skipping this, but I am really glad I didn't. It was GREAT! Our boat pilot was a true Cajun, born and raised and still lives back in the swamps. Hunts gator, fishes for shrimp and gar and crawfish and gives tours for a living, and what a great tour guide he was. He knew everyone in every shack along the bayou by name (and how much rent they paid on their places ... $300 a year in one case). We saw gators, a great blue heron and a cormorant. It was all so beautiful. I can see why people live back there and never go into the city. So, this paragraph is dedicated to Tom Billiot, tour guide extraordinaire (who will likely never see the dedication since he doesn't get the internet back in the swamp). I may take a new motto based on something he said, and I quote, "You don't chase no gator for no dollar net. He want it he take it, cher, and everything in it, ok by me." So, as usual, I got off later than expected, but I did make it into Florida tonight. Milton, Florida, to be exact. I was tired and it was a place to stop, but on arrival I ran into a little girl here at the Milton KOA who wanted someone to show her how to play Parcheesi, so I did that first. We had a really close game going until her father said she had to get her shower and go to bed. Funniest signs today were both outside of Biloxi, Mississippi. One was for the "Bible Factory Outlet" ... now, that got me really thinking. What exactly do they sell at a Bible Factory Outlet. Factory second Bibles ... with the names wrong or something (Shadrach, Meshack and Shlomo??), or maybe overstocks on sins?? Like specials on gluttony since everyone is buying adultery this season. The other sign was contextually a hoot. Something like 15 signs in a row for a particular casino ... and then the 16th just said "Gaming Problem? Call 1-800 ........". (Well, I didn't have a gaming problem back 15 signs ago, but now that you mention it ....)
5-4-2003	Walt Disney World, Florida	Long haul today in order to get to Disney World. About 400 miles, maybe a little more. As I write this I'm at a rest stop along the I-10 after driving for about 4 1/2 hours. I should be pretty much fried by the time I get there. Interesting place, Florida. If I didn't know better, I'd swear I was in Texas ... a fair number of signs on the interstate advertising Western Wear, a dead armadillo every few feet along the road, several "Texas Roadhouses," and lots of country music at the gas stations. The view from the interstate is pretty much non-existent, there being a thick screen of forty-foot trees growing on either side of the road. So, I listen to the music that I brought along (also more or less thematic to each area of the country) and watch the miles roll past. Outside of Panama City, dozens of hot air balloons playing tag with some puffy-fluffy low hanging clouds. One of them (the balloons, not the clouds) is in the shape of a big bug ... purple with big yellow eyes. Outside of Suwannee and just having crossed the Suwannee River (yes, that "Way down upon the Suwannee River" river) a car on its side in the median, the driver hanging out of the driver's window, clearly dead. My normal instinct would be to stop and render aid, but the Highway Patrol is already there assessing the situation. What's most fascinating to me is that at home everyone would be slowed to a crawl on both sides of the road, but here everyone is whizzing by at 70 mph as if having a dead body 50 feet away from your car was the commonest thing in the world. I wasn't able to post my photos or much of my page last night since the internet connection kept dropping out. I have no idea what they have for a connection at Fort Wilderness, but it's Disney, so I'm hoping it's good quality. I didn't get to my campground until about 6:00pm. Part of the reason was that Gypsy decided to take me on a backroads tour of the area, rather than have me stay on the interstate. But, eventually I got there ... here ... right now at the bar on the campground and, getting another bout of indigestion. Lovely. Considering that this is happening half way through a green salad, and it's no where near as hot or humid as it was in New Orleans, I think maybe I'll take my piece of pizza to go. I must just be tired. After all, even with the time change and four fifteen minute breaks, it was an eight hour drive. Only glitch once I got here was the totally screwy set up that they have with hookups. The water and sewer ports are right next to the concrete pad. But the power .... a good 40 feet away. Yes, I know I could save a bundle if I went to a regular store tomorrow and bought a 30 amp extension cord there, but I have no intention of dealing with the crass realities of the outside world for the next few days. If the Mouse and Duck want $43.00 for an extension cord, then ... hey, cher, ok by me. I am told that they have a good internet connection, so from the bar I'll head straight to the front gate to check it out.