Inside of a Dog, It's Too Dark to Read

I stopped in lower Georgia for fuel, caffeine, nose strips, Krystals... important travelling things like that.

And I found out that Krystal, of all places... Krystal has free wireless connectivity. The fact that there's exactly 1 Krystal in SE Florida (apparently sans wireless, still) only makes me gnash my teeth.

For everybody who's too Northern or too not-North-American to know what I'm talking about, Krystals are little square burgers, fried on a griddle and served w/ sauteed onions, mustard and pickle on little puffy buns. They're very much like the NE's White Castle, and Miami's own Royal Castle which, alas, folded decades ago. They are delicious and probably quite bad for you. They're only in the South, which is why they're not in Palm Beach/Broward/Dade/Monroe, except for the sole exception on Sunrise Blvd.

McDonald's should be ashamed of itself.

Hi, I'm back.

Every time I think I'm going to make really good time... I get to the part of I-95 where, in theory at least, you're supposed to slow down. Something about Palm Beach/Broward/Dade that always seems to take forEVer. Contrary to previous practice, it was actually an easier, better drive back than up — mostly because I was pretty short on sleep when I left for parts northwards last week. Since I was in no particular rush to get back, I found sticking to the speed limit... made me look like Joe Friday in the Dragnet movie. I sped up to avoid being a traffic hazard.

Ma's reaction to Sirius when she finally counted noses and realised no, Gemma had not been rolling in ashes: 'What is that doing here?!' She also said his name was stupid [indignation!!] and says she's calling him 'That Dog'. Should I show her Footrot Flats, y'think?

Despite her sputtering, he's already had a fun time running around the yard after/with his sisters. Everybody was a very smart travelling dog, btw: they hardly drank anything until they got in the house. We've had to refill the water bowls twice already.

And I'm trying to sluice some of the extra caffeine (yeah, silly concept all around, right?) out of my system [/vibrates]. ^_^

I will be buzzing the Barony of South Downs approximately 1000 this next Saturday morning give or take about 90 minutes on either side of that (departure time and trooper paranoia depending).

Speak now or forever hold your peace until October 1st. ;)

Anybody want a fly-by on the way back? Looks like the easiest route is Miami > Orlando > Lake City > Atlanta, left turn > Birmingham > Memphis > xianghua's (southern MO), and reverse for return. Let me know now, it was semi-bad improv on the last trip! :) No, I don't know exactly when 'back' will be, but probably Tuesday/Wednesdayish after the 1st.

mincot, agonistes, if you'll be around/available, it'd be great! Ditto snowjag and lazydwarf of course. thlroz, if you need a pickup done up Atlanta-ways, I might be able to manage that, too.

myfanwy, I'll see you, anony_ms and farbelle for sure on the way down. Might need a nap, though.

Yeah, I actually got home closer to 13:00ish, but wanted to fall over unconscious for a bit before doing anything coherent [starts fussing with last couple of posts to tidy them up].

Atlanta, longer version:

Busy-busy!  I got into the Marietta area around 19:00, and since I had a delivery to make (more on that, of course) in Orlando-ish, had both time to kill and... well, it was just early yet.  I knew snowjag and lazydwarf lived there; I've never seen their house since they settled into it, and haven't had a chance to see just them in ages; thankfully, I caught them just in time.  Ditto delamancha, as far as the 'I know she's there somewhere' part. mincot, on the other paw, snagged me, so while sit_good_dog was kindly looking for a dogpark for the Cutest White Boxer Travelling from Miami to stretch his legs in, I was filling out my dance card *bats lashes*.

After some hasty directions, everything got sorted.  I visited with the two closest for nearly an hour; D'Argo got some pats coming and going, but it's a cats-first house and therefore he couldn't come in.  Lewis Park, which is an 'unofficial' dogpark, was only five minutes away.  We met a nice pseudo-Beardie and his human.  Clyde (yes, the dog) was both friendly to all and completely unintimidated by D'Argo, playing tag with him and generally being very cute.  (He's a shelter adoption, so his human wasn't sure either what breed/s he is nor exactly how old.)

[frowns at timestamps on Macon and Valdosta/state line entries, puzzled]

Off to meet mincot next!  After a bit of confusion because some gremlin went and mixed up all the street-name signs, I found her sitting outside the Whole Foods market next to a Borders... and not that far from the Dragon*Con hotels, hmm.  File for hopeful future reference.

We both had nice heathy Odwalla juices and talked mostly dogs, Andrea occasionally and expertly assisting passers-by in their appreciation of D'Argo.  We also talked Serenity and even spoiler-protected our enthusiastic comments in case of said passers-by being stealth Browncoats with scheduling problems.  She agreed that 'Joss, curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!' was a perfect quote for one situation in the movie.  YOU know which one *knowing wink*.  Or you will.  It was an entirely pleasant visit, and I'm glad she managed to get LJ text messaging (at least, I think that's what she used!) to work.

delamancha, I'm sorry I missed you!  Whah! :/

Valdosta:

Expletive deleted Citgo had fuel priced in the $2.60-range if I'd only waited another bloody 17 miles.  ARGH!

Orlando:

myfanwy and I had found this totally psychotic Halloween decoration, consisting of a roughly life-sized black cat, cute little Halloween-witches'-hat on its head.  The cat has a pressure switch in its paw; it starts meowing normally, then disturbingly... then maniacally, while its head spins in a possessed manner.

TOTALLY Alysoun.  Really.  Even if I can't find a picture of the blasted thing on-line.

So I trundled down I-75 to the Turnpike to I-4, off the southbound parking lot, good thing I was headed north expressway, and found the house with no difficulty at all.  Had a nice visit, the cat was indeed perfect, and was also informed we've got a tropical wave passing over.  Lovely.  This meant, yes, heavy intermittent rain alllll the way home.  Also high humidity in general, and southerly winds.

It's pouring here now, in fact.  It'll help keep down the dust from the road plumbing they're still doing.

I stopped making 'marker' posts, though, 'cause bloody Treo input was starting to hurt too much!  My left wrist has to twist against the steering wheel at an unnatural angle for me to do either keyboard input (if it's light enough to see the keyboard) or screen text-input (but I'm not used to my new application for that yet).  I already know exactly how long Florida takes, anyway. ^_^

Next time... more coordination! ;)

...Macon. V. quiet.

The road just split onto I-24 eastbound¡ I can already see the striking horned Bellsouth building in downtown Nashville.

So that's 2.66 hours since SDF, another175ish miles.

After a week of not having to rush back and forth to Miramar, WITH my dog, WITHOUT the heat, and having noodled around about 150 miles worth of Indianapolis... I head south.  annechen67, I'll e-mail you with my mobile number, see what time I'm in your neighbourhood, eh?

Hugs to sit_good_dog just 'cause.

I got to myfanwy's a couple hours after I'd expected to, but with all those traffic problems I had? I'm surprised I wasn't driving a full 24 hours instead of... what, 21ish? (1262 miles, no matter how long.) I didn't have to nap as often as I suspected I might; just the once, and a little Vivarin. What was somewhat surprising as to its effectiveness was just sucking on Hall's Defence drops. I think it was not as much the sugar, but the fact that moving the tongue is apparently linked to concentration somehow.

Something very odd spotted on I-65, still south of Indy by a good bit: A Publix truck. Publix?? Here? Last time I looked, they were all through Florida with a few incursions into Georgia. What the blazes is Publix driving around Indiana for?

Also saw various crews certainly headed south as either 'additional troops' or relief -- a squadron of electrical cherry-pickers, a flight of tree-trimmers... and actual 'additional troops'! A long, long convoy of military vehicles -- a few HumVees, verious equipment on flatbeds, some bigger trucks (deuces?) which looked designed to wade through large puddles, as they had large wheels and had very high undercarriages.

I found, serendipitously, while schlepping through the endlessness that is Tennessee on a horizontal axis, the Lodge Cast Iron Cookware Outlet shop in South Pittsburg (home of the Pirates and the National Cornbread Festival). O drool unmitigated. I was nowhere near as bad as I wanted to be, but the Powerball Lottery is at $148 million and I have tickets now. Then after getting back on the expressway (I-24), one of the most beautiful areas on the planet was revealed -- Nickajack Lake. Apparently it's artificial -- created as a result of damming. Still gorgeous, though.

• This is the official navigation map of the area (433Kb). If you load the image, you'll see that the Lake and its dam/lock complex are actually part of the Tennessee River.


• This is a photo which does not do the view I saw justice. Alas.


• This photo's a lot better, although it wasn't as 'atmospheric' when I passed by.


• One last photo, from the air. Still insufficient, but taking photos at 70-80mph? Not at all practical, especially since the camera was in one of my high-tops.

Not long after passing west of the lake's area, the clouds finally broke. The sky was unbelievable. It was as blue as the Prince of Wales's eyes, cartoon-sky blue, a blue we only come close to in South Florida during 'winter'. It was a shaded cyan off a Paint Shop Pro effects palette. I wanted it in a bottle to take with me.

D'Argo is still somewhat perplexed, and has an urpy tummy on top of that. He's not eating his nice late supper/breakfast/if-you-don't-eat-it-dog-it'll-be-lunch. Considering we didn't really stop for a meal yesterday, I'm kind of surprised (we did have snacks). Otherwise, he seems to be enjoying new smells and people to visit.

Hopefully, tonight Myfi and I will start our 'Serenity' marathoning, as she's never seen ANY of the original series, and I have eleven issues of 'The Signal' AND the comic trilogy for her instruction. ;)

It's 1000 miles and Kentucky almost simultaneously!

*waves maniacally and yells* HI, MISTER CLOONEYYYY! Better luck next campaign!!

(Less maniacally, my phone post phone number has stopped working. Very puzzling.)

!!! Not another jam!