Thoughts about My Latest Long Stretch and Upcoming Plans
So, I finally got that bucket list entry, Glacier National Park, taken care of! After so many aborted attempts, I just wasn’t letting my hopes get too high until I actually steered the Silver Bullet through the park entrance. Anyway, it was definitely a visit that didn’t disappoint, even with the winter storm that cut the trip short and the parts of the park I wasn’t able to see. Before I left for that trip, I acquired a set of National Park postcards that also include several memorials and other sites that are part of the US Parks System. I’ve started work on a display of the parks that I have visited in the order I was there, with lots of space for more cards. National Parks Planned and Those So Far Visited It’s already August, but I have several trips planned for the remainder of the year. This includes…
Tamiami Loop,… and Tallahassee, Too
: //singin1.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Day-9-266x300.gif" alt="Day 9" width="315" height="355" />One thing I learned from my past visits to national parks is that some are not entirely civilized--or more accurately, near civilization's accoutrements, such as gas stations, stores or restaurants. One should not enter these parks or even go near them without a full tank and refreshments on hand. So, when I saw what I suspected was the only gas station and hotel within the approximately 50 miles of the Loop Road that was my destination, I decided it was wise to stock up and wait until Wednesday morning to head in. This worked out to be a good decision because there was no gas or anything else but beautiful scenery.
I didn't have an exact address to give the GPS, and the National Park Service welcome center didn't open until 9 a.m., so I fumbled around a bit. Finally got the correct directions from a ranger at the center, plus bought a new medallion for my walking stick and some postcards for the family.The Big Cypress National Preserve's : //www.nps.gov/bicy/planyourvisit/upload/BICY-Loop-Road-Scenic-Road-FINAL-2.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Loop Road Scenic Drive is approximately 24 miles of nature. Mostly unpaved, it allows one to take in its beauty at a relaxed pace--in fact, the speed limit is 15 miles per hour on the gravelled portion. I had the road nearly entirely to myself, so I spent over 2 1/2 hours driving slowly and stopping regularly to take pictures. Was not lucky enough to see any alligators or other larger wild life, but there were plenty of biting bugs that seemed to have a voracious appetite for people driving by with their car windows open to take a picture. A small selection of the pix is below, while the larger selection is available at https://www.flickr.com/gp/singinone/L8LeuZ:
[gallery type="slideshow" size="large" ids="363,358,357,356,355,354,353,352,351,350,349,348,359,347,346"] Upon finally leaving the scenic road, I stopped by the Ochopee post office, the world's smallest, and mailed the post cards so that they would have its postmark. [gallery columns="2" size="medium" ids="365,366"]My destination for the night was a former colleague's home in Tallahassee, some 320 miles north. My GPS said I should get in about 8: 30 p.m., but it didn't account for two extended traffic incidents in the Tampa. I arrived a little after 10 p.m., and my friend kindly waited up for me despite having an early workday on Thursday.
: //singin1.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Day-10.gif" alt="Day 10" width="532" height="163" />
BTW, if you have ever driven through or visited various parts of Florida, you surely would have found the differences between the peninsula and the panhandle striking, almost as if visiting two separate states. Certainly for me, with my only prior knowledge of Florida consisting of "Miami Vice" episodes, driving into Tallahassee my first time was a stunner. There is a reason why some have called the panhandle "south Georgia with a north Florida zip code." Anyway, back to the present day. I wanted to wind down a little before the stretch run ending of my vacation, so the only thing I had scheduled for Wednesday was to visit my old grad school stumping grounds at Florida State University. I had an enjoyable lunch with Sarah at a new restaurant (it used to be a Hardee's in my student days) before actually going on campus.As I suspected, none of the faculty were around, but the halls were full of my 20+ year old memories. I spent a couple hours doing some research in the music library, and then it was time to head out before the evening rush hour began. Of course, I got a few pictures of the music buildings:
[gallery size="medium" ids="372,373,374,375,376"]Made good time getting into Mobile, Alabama, just in time to find some dinner. My mistake was not investigating the area's BBQ before buying a dinner consisting of it. In one word: ACK!! It was only 7:45 p.m. when I gladly left the restaurant, so I decided to see if I could make Gulfport, Mississippi, before calling it a night.
In doing so, I crossed my 47th state off my US-states-to-visit list:
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As I've blogged previously, while Mississippi has one of those "Bathroom Laws" in place, I'm not going to spend my tourist dollars there. I'm making an exception with Gulfport because it, like Charlotte in North Carolina, is vehemently opposed to that law. I'm planning on having a fun day in Gulfport.: //singin1.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/loudmusic-e1465435175950.jpg" alt="loudmusic" width="358" height="340" />The music in my playlist finished the C's on Wednesday while driving down the Loop Road. Thankfully, because the D's--especially the disco sounds of Donna Summer--got me into Tallahassee. I started feeling the many hours of driving well before I got there. The drive across the Florida panhandle and eventually into Mississippi saw the end of the D's and was just beginning the E's: Ella, Elton, and Elvis, plus others.
Still haven't made up my mind which part of the playlist is my favorite. Guess I'll have to listen to it a few more times to decide.: 2px; text-indent: 20px; width: auto; padding: 0px 4px 0px 0px; text-align: center; font: bold 11px/20px 'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,sans-serif; color: #ffffff; background: #bd081c no-repeat scroll 3px 50% / 14px 14px; position: absolute; opacity: 1; z-index: 8675309; display: none; cursor: pointer;">Save
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Singin’ in the Right Keys
For unintended reasons, I continued to rise early and was on the road pretty early. I left Islamarada and headed west down the Overseas Highway. Fortunately, rush hour traffic wasn’t bad, so I made very good time, reaching Key West around 9 a.m. I didn’t have a specific destination in mind, only knew that I wanted to get out as far south and west as RB could take me. I soon saw a pair of cruise ships in port and by heading their way, happened upon Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park. Since I had nothing better planned at that point, I decided to see what there was to see inside the park. Past the fort just a short distance beyond the park entrance was a beautiful beach that I learned was bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and the transitional waters of the Gulf of Mexico. An area…
The Art of Driving, Florida Edition
: //singin1.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Day3-300x261.gif" alt="Day3" width="424" height="369" />I got out early Thursday morning, but there seemed to be one delay after another along the way. Plus, I didn't account for finally crossing from CDT to EDT, losing another hour. One delay was my fault. My original plan was to drive past Tallahassee (Tallytown) heading south and to stay there overnight on my way back. Well, Floridians seem to have a thing about putting their college decals all over their cars (admittedly a mild exaggeration), and well, my FSU decal was so damaged, it was unrecognizable. I couldn't represent like that, so I drove into town and bought a replacement. Thing is, this placed me barely a block from my old haunt at the FSU School of Music, and I owe folks an explanation for why I didn't stop by while there.
Grabbed lunch to go--I still thought it was before noon and not actually 12: 30 at that point (reminder: set clock on cameras, please)--and noticed the intown traffic was already getting heavy. Once I was back on I-10, things really got serious. You see, this was the Thursday before a 3-day, 4th of July, weekend in Florida. Everyone who could start their vacation/holiday early was on the road. And the driving was not for the faint-hearted. Fortunately, my big city driving skills still exist, and RB responded to the situation as she always does.
FYI, for those not used to this kind of driving: one, the speed limit is totally irrelevant; two, that barely there space in the lane beside you also looks pretty attractive to at least one other driver in the lane on the other side; three, if you take time to think about braking, it's probably too late; four AND MOST IMPORTANT, if you are crazed enough to be out there and want to drive no faster than speed limit, please don't take up permanent residence in the far left lane--you will be the likely cause of the multi-car accident or, if the rest of us are lucky, solely be the recipient of floods of profanity.
I realized that time was getting late, so instead of taking the site-seer route I'd originally planned, I took the more direct one using the Florida Turnpike. By then, however, the rush hour traffic had joined the vacation/holiday traffic. I will spare you a description of THAT, but I will only say it's the stuff of nightmares. Oh, BTW, it rained regularly throughout the day, so bad weather was also a contributing factor to the day's adventures in driving.At one of the few quiet moments, I saw a beautiful double rainbow stretching across the sky. A few pictures are below:
[gallery type="rectangular" ids="142,143,144,145"] I do wish that it hadn't been so late when I finally approached Miami Beach. It was too dark to see much of the area, but I hope to have some time to get out and explore before I leave next week. Other than that, RB will get a much-deserved four-day break. For this part of the trip, I've arranged through Airbnb to stay in a room at a residence in Miami Beach. It's a great location--only two blocks from the beach and a ten-minute Uber ride to the Miami Beach Convention hall, where the Supercon is being held. The host has been very gracious thus far, and the room is very comfortable with my own bath.: //singin1.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/loudmusic-1-300x285.jpg" alt="loudmusic" width="300" height="285" />
The music for a day like this was critical for me. Believe it or not, it kept me focused on the task at hand, which is why I don't put Classical music on the list. And I'm glad I broke up the "The" groups to add an even more pleasant variety of solo performers and groups to the playlist. The B's part of the playlist is huge (remember that the playlist as a whole is nearly 14GB) with my usual obsession session on Barry Manilow's "Could It Be Magic"--don't try to figure out why I obsess over that song, I gave up trying to understand why long ago. The first of the C's didn't begin until I had passed Orlando. Some great music to look forward to hearing.: 2px; text-indent: 20px; width: auto; padding: 0px 4px 0px 0px; text-align: center; font: bold 11px/20px 'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,sans-serif; color: #ffffff; background: #bd081c no-repeat scroll 3px 50% / 14px 14px; position: absolute; opacity: 1; z-index: 8675309; display: none; cursor: pointer;">Save
Another Update… Just a Couple of Minor Changes…
… Really, they are! Two scenic drives that add very little to the trip distance overall, but add to the overall variety of the trip as a whole. First, the town of Burlington, Iowa, boasts that its Snake Alley rivals Lombard Street in San Francisco for its twists and turns. We will only need a slight detour leaving Riverside to get there. How can I possibly miss out out on the opportunity to take RB down it? And we’ll be too close to the Everglades National Park in Florida not to visit. There is the Loop Road Scenic Drive, which promises to provide a very good view of the variety of flora and fauna in the Everglades. And all from the comfort of RB! So glad I got the dash cam to capture it all! The great thing, too, is that this doesn’t add much to the total driving distance. …
The Trip… It Is a-Changin’
As I suspected, my plans for this trip have changed again. I received an email about The Overseas Highway and realized just how close I’m scheduled to be to it from Miami, so…. Even I recognize, however, that the addition to the trip would cause it to pass the 4,000-mile mark, yet I still have the same number of days to complete it. So, I’m going to take the Cincinnati stop–which would be far easier to schedule the next time I drive east–off the map and add Key West. (Wonder if it’s possible to do a one-day trip to Cuba? Better pack my passport, just in case. 😎) So, this is how things stand with those changes: Two points: this stop looks like it would take me to the southernmost point of the contiguous United States. This will also take me close enough to the Everglades National Park to…
Summer Plans: A Little Work… And a Lot of Star Trek
Starting to formulate plans for summer vacation. First, RB and I can take a fairly leisurely ride through Arkansas, Mississippi–with potentially a brief stopover in New Orleans, and Alabama, which would finally give me the last three contiguous states I need. Visit some Civil Rights historical sites, add a little research,… and hey, if I can get in a performance and/or lecture, so much the better. Then, into Florida to visit friends in Tallytown and attend the 50th anniversary Star Trek convention in Miami. Final stop on the way back, get in a site I recently missed. Only about 3,700 miles driving distance–2,000 less than RB and I covered in the same time frame in 2014! Sounds like a plan. And a busy two weeks.