The Things You See Along The Way...

We took off for our trip south this year on a bright, crisp New Year’s Day and we learned something from that.  Traveling on New Year’s Day is a great idea.  While most people were home nursing hangovers, watching the Rose Bowl Parade or breaking their New Year resolutions, we were putting miles under our wheels.  It’s lovely traveling when there’s practically no traffic.

I think people who believe that Americans have lost their work ethic would be encouraged by this photo.   This was taken on New Year’s Day in Pennsylvania.  These people weren’t home nursing hangovers or watching the Rose Bowl Parade.  No, they were definitely working.

Sometimes you get a little hungry on the road, so it’s nice to have an invitation to lunch.

One day while we were in Apalachicola, Florida, we saw a bunch of men coming out of a building with white boots on.  There was a pretty steady stream of them.  My first thought was that it was a troop of men on their break from a “women’s club.”   You know, a “women’s club” like a (wink, wink) “gentlemen’s club” and that they were (wink, wink) go-go dancers.  But on second thought, those boots might have something to do with the oyster industry down there.  I never did find out.

Here’s a little something I’m sure most of us don’t want to see.  This was taken at the ferry stop in Fort Morgan, Florida.  We didn’t take the ferry, but it wasn’t because of the snakes.  We've seen these signs in the South, both in Texas and Florida.  I've never seen one up this way.  I guess we don't have to be cautious around our snakes in Massachusetts.

I wanted to stop at this place, but unfortunately the timing wasn’t right.  For one thing, I am a Lambert and could be related to these people.  For another thing, I had to wonder about the “throwed roll” thing.  My mother is only a Lambert by marriage and, even in her prime, she wasn’t much of a cook, but she could bake and I bet she could have throwed a roll in her day.

And, by the way, that’s MR.! Bingo to you…

The Things You See Along the Way: Leaving for Texas...

When we left Central Massachusetts this past Monday morning, it was 50 degrees F. and pouring rain. It was great luck for us that Massachusetts hadn't fallen into the deep freeze yet because had it been 30 degrees cooler with that precip, we probably wouldn't have been able to leave. But leave we did and managed to get almost 600 miles under our wheels before we stopped in Virginia. There was really only one snag we encountered that day. Traffic came to a complete halt in New York because of a car fire. But it only took 20 minutes for us to get going again. Meanwhile, two cars with a bunch of kids kept us entertained by throwing strawberries and goldfish at each other. They did remember to take the goldfish back in the car before they took off again.

And then there was this pooch who was more than interested in what was going on.

Mostly what we saw was a landscape that remained very grey and got progressively colder until by the time we arrived in Virginia, the temps were in the single digits.