Day Seventeen – July 4, 2018 – Lake Ridge, VA to Tampa, FL

Day Seventeen – July 4, 2018 – Lake Ridge, VA to Tampa, FL

Happy Fourth of July!

We’re up and packed and ready to hit the road around eight-thirty, with time for a cup of coffee and last hugs and good-byes.  It’s been a lot of fun getting to know Kathy and Dennis – and Baby and Twink!!

Roddy has already filled the car, so we head down the highway with a full tank, and only stop the first time when breakfast calls.  We find a Denny’s and the waitress points out the morning’s special – two eggs, bacon and sausage (or four of one), hash browns and two pancakes!!  The last time I had pancakes was Christmas morning!  (One of the offerings is “Moon over my hammy’!)  

Splitsville!

Sunflowers zipping by

It's still going strong!

Back on the road, and it’s a string of highway miles broken up by stops for coffee, or gas, or bathroom breaks.  We’re listening to the last half of Dick Francis’ “The Refusal”.  And when that’s over, Betsy has lots of other fun stuff on her phone, like science podcasts and Levar Burton reading short stories.

Along the way, there are also some fun things to see!  There’s a winery’s billboard that advised, “Sip back and relax!” and the Six Bears and a Goat Brewery.  There’s a peas and beans sign that suggests, “Peas be with you”, and my two favorites, “Hello, I’m Bill Board and I work nights and weekends.,” and “The NRA is a terrorist organization.”  We pass several banks of tall sunflowers that may be growing wild and lots of corn that is much further along that the knee-high crops further north.  There’s a sign for the Ava Gardner Museum!  When we turn onto US 301 it is getting dark and there are semis along both sides of the road.  I guess it’s night-night time for the drivers.

We stop for dinner at Wendy’s, mostly because it is close to the interstate and they have chocolate Frosties!!  When we get back in the car, we begin listening to a serial called, “Sandra” about an AI that uses actual people!  Very interesting.  The last story we hear is a Ray Bradbury one from Golden Apples of the Sun, called, “The Great Wide World Over There”.  There are only seven minutes left in the story when we pull into my driveway;  but I’m so tired that I’m willing to let it go rather than wait another seven minutes!  Besides, I have the book upstairs and this will give me a good excuse to reread all of it!!  I try to open the garage door, so as to make unloading the car easier;  bit it won’t open!  I’ll deal with that in the morning.  (Aside – in the morning I discover that the spring is broken and requires a service call.)

The cats are very happy to have me home.  I can tell because they take turns requiring attention until about two-thirty in the morning!!  Good thing they’re so beautiful!!  And loveable!!   And I’m pretty happy to see them, too!