Fun Times – J.I.L.L.

Little Touch Follow-Up

First, if you don’t already use a navigation app like Waze or Google Maps when you drive, I highly recommend it. I am a fan of Waze, which will update your route based on real time traffic data. Also, users can share information like when there is a car on the side of the road, debris on the road, or a police car up ahead.

Granted, short drives don’t really warrant using a navigation app. Long distance drives, trips during high traffic times, and driving in unfamiliar places are great for using Waze.

Anyway, one of my favorite features is that you can choose different navigation voices. I like using one of the UK English voices. It became a favorite of mine when it pronounced Lititz Pike (“lit-its”) as “le tits” pike.

My sister uses the Boy Band voice option. It sings the navigation. “🎶In a quarter of a mile, go leeeeft🎶.” It’s so silly. And so simple. And just adds a little touch of joy to driving, which could otherwise be mundane, frustrating, etc.

I hope you notice and appreciate the little touches in the world around you. And if you don’t see enough, consider adding some of your own. Like changing up the voice on your navigation app.

🙂 Love you my friends!

A little rainy

Today was unexpectedly rainy, but still warmer than back in PA. We started our day seeing a stork by the pond out back. He was cute, standing on his tall legs with his wings at his sides. He looked much more stork-like once he took to the air. Here’s a picture of the view out back, no stork in it though.

Then we went and had coffee and pastries at the 1420 Coffee Shop. Delish!

From there we ventured to Round Island Beach Park, where we were hoping we might see some manatees. No such luck with that but we did enjoy taking in the serene sights and other fauna like birds, lizards, and jumping fish.

The rain held off just long enough for us to spend some time at the park. As the rain picked back up, we drove north on A1A, all the way to Sebastian Inlet State Park, taking in some local beach sights.

After some rest and relaxing this afternoon, we had a delicious meal at Italian Cousin before taking BA to her hotel near the Orlando Sanford airport.

I got one final big hug from Betty Anne as we said goodbye for now. I’m so grateful to her for joining me on this journey. She was great company and a good sport all along the way. Who would’ve thought, when she said several months ago she wouldn’t let me drive to Florida alone, that this is how things would turn out. God is great. And so are amazing people, like Betty Anne.

Gator Day

Today Betty Anne and I went on an air boat ride! We saw gators and birds and lots of beautiful flora. I’ve been on this tour once before, in late June. At that time, since it was hot, you could only see the gators’ nostrils and eyes popping up slightly out of the water. Since it’s “getting colder” now, the gators are moving up onto land areas so you can see almost their whole bodies.

We spent some time driving around Vero, laying by the pool, and napping. Then we went for dinner at Captain Hiram’s in Sebastian, which is the next town north of Vero Beach. It was a lovely day again.

Vero Beach – First Full Day

Well , today was rough… BA had to have shoofly pie for breakfast, a mimosa before noon, and a Pain Killer with lunch…

It was a beautiful day in Vero, despite lingering winds and choppy seas from the storm this weekend. And it was a great day. We both slept really well and slept in. We had some breakfast and took care of a little business and then headed over to my sister’s house.

We sat by her pool, listening to the fountain, soaking up some sun, chatting, and sipping mimosas.

Then BA and I headed to the island to Waldo’s for a Pusser’s Pain Killer and some lunch. We sat by the ocean and enjoyed the sound and smell of the surf. I’ve never seen the ocean here so muddled, nor have I seen such big waves here. It was still a lovely sight to behold though.

After lunch, we drove a few minutes south to a public beach access point. We set up close to the water. I may or may not have dozed off while BA watched the surf and even dipped her toes in. The wind was a little strong at times, but so was the sun.

We were so drained from our busy day that we both took naps after we got home. And now we’re hanging out while mom makes dinner.

In all, it was another wonderful day of sunshine and quality time with friends and family.

Vero Beach, FL

We made it!!!

8+ hours and we’re finally in Vero Beach, FL! We had another leisurely start to the day, especially because of turning the clocks back.

Our first stop was at Buc-ees. Holy crap. What an experience. Steve told us we should stop there if possible – that it’s like a Cracker Barrel combined with a Sheetz on steroids – and boy was he right! It was an experience in and of itself.

It was another lovely day for a drive. Traffic was okay most of the time. Waze took us another way than we had planned, saying it was 24 minutes shorter, and it worked out okay. I’ve learned to trust Waze. It’s a pretty great app. About an hour after I told BA people don’t really abuse the app to put incorrect alerts out, we started getting a bunch of nonsense alerts. Oh well…

We tried stopping at Cracker Barrel. Waited 20 minutes for a table. Then, after about 3 minutes at the table, we decided to leave. It was super busy, one table near us was complaining to the manager, and another table near us was sitting waiting for their waitress (and had been seated ten minutes before us). Although it was a shame to waste half an hour, we were glad we left and didn’t waste any more time.

Three and a half hours later, we made it to Vero and clinked our glasses:)

We had a nice (and crazy) dinner with family and now we’re settling in at my mom’s place. She and BA are getting along swimmingly:)

Plans for tomorrow… mimosas and the beach!!!

Atlanta, Georgia

We started our day a little leisurely, waking up without an alarm. Even so, we were on the road around 9 am. We skipped breakfast so BA had a few Wilbur Buds to hold her over (thanks Kim!).

About two hours down the road, we decided it was a frappe Saturday so we stopped and got ourselves medium caramel frappes and fries at McDonalds. I also filled up the car and cleaned the windshield and rear window. My car got 40 mpg again, which is great (especially given how heavy the car is now that it’s packed full).

Shortly thereafter, we crossed into Georgia; and, as has been the case all along the way so far, I said “Welcome to Georgia, BA!” To which she said thank you and promptly texted her brother that we just crossed the line into Georgia. Not even five minutes later, we passed a sign that said “Welcome to Tennessee!” We were a little confused but we went with it. I asked BA if she was going to text her brother that we were back in Tennessee now and she said, “Nope.”

Traffic today was noticeably heavier and less patient than the past two days. I may have dropped several expletives, which I was delighted to find BA completely agreed with.

A couple hours later we made it to Atlanta and BA’s brother’s home. We had a nice introductory conversation and then he kindly took us on a driving tour of parts of Atlanta. We saw Emory University (fun fact: Emory was the only place I applied to in high school – and, no, I didn’t get accepted), the Governor’s mansion, parts of Buckhead, and Peachtree Rd, along with several other sights. Atlanta is hillier than I expected and is lush with beautiful mature trees.

Upon returning home, we quickly dove into some day drinking and chatting while dinner was cooking. What a delightful time chatting with BA and David! Dinner was a delicious fall-themed meal and the great conversation continued. I talked with them about the 5 Love Languages – you know what a fan I am of that – and really enjoyed the whole visit so far because I am a quality time kind of person.

I particularly enjoyed the banter between BA and David. Here’s a nugget you’ll have to ask her about sometime. Check out the horse in the picture below. It wasn’t originally designed to have a removable tail. Yet, now it does…

We get an extra hour to sleep tonight. Perhaps we’ll actually make it past 10 pm! Good night y’all!

Bristol, Virginia

Well, we are on our way! We left Pennsylvania today and crossed through Maryland (very briefly) and West Virginia to land in Bristol, Virginia. Fun fact, Bristol is on the state line so half of it is in Virginia and the other half is in Tennessee.

What a beautiful day for a drive! It was sunny with happy clouds and the trees in lovely fall colors. We listened to 70’s Light Rock on Pandora. Traffic was relatively light and although BA used the holy sh!t handle a few times and offered to flip somebody off, there were no serious curse words, no true a-holes on the road, and my driving was solid.

We started off only a smidge rough. We had to return for some forgotten snacks, forgot to ask someone to take a picture of us, and forgot to take a picture of the car. Fortunately, it only took a few moments for us to realize this. So we stopped on a random street in Palmyra to snap a selfie. There was a light up goat decoration in the yard where we stopped. Seemed perfect!

The quote of the day: “You see, there’s a lot of stuff I don’t know” (courtesy of BA) and followed up later by the caveat, “but I do know hot buns.” We had delicious hot buns, Cesar salad, steaks, and sweet potatoes at Texas Road House. Can you guess whose drink is who’s?

Now we’re settling into our room to get a good night’s sleep. Good night! Thank you for the prayers and well wishes! I’ll share more tomorrow!