Friday 23 June 2017

We Are Here!

Posted By: imamsahara 19:40:00 Leave a Reply

Spanish moss blows in the breeze in Tallahassee

As they say, "wherever you go, there you are." And we are here! We are in The Land of Flip Flops after a week on the road (5 days of driving plus time off-road to visit family and friends in 3 different locations). While a quick air flight might have been nice, I think taking a week to get here helps us to physically and mentally weather the transition a little better. This is a huge change, after all.

Shortly after we drove into our new home state, our car was nearly running on fumes, so we stopped at the first gas station we could find in a tiny little town off of Interstate 10. This is a sign they had in their window:

Hmm. This doesn't represent the level of sophistication I prefer, but it did put a smile on my face. We are truly in the South now and I am so glad.

Today we moved into the Eastern Time Zone. We stopped for a late lunch around 2pm at The Cracker Barrel. I had my usual plate of trout with fried apples and cooked carrots.

the St. Johns River

A couple of hours later we rolled into our new home town, which included a long drive over the St. Johns River.

driving the Buckman bridge over the St. Johns River

Now when some of our grandchildren come to see us, they can sing, "Over the river and through the woods to Grandmother's house we go...." but they get to skip the parts about riding in a sleigh, etc. heh heh heh!

the bridge rises in the middle to about 65 feet above the water for boats to go under

The Buckman bridge is one of eight major bridges over the St. Johns River in Jacksonville. Beloved clocked it as we crossed today and then I checked his calculation with the Internet. Both agreed that it is just over 3 miles in length.

I find this to be very exciting! If we can't live near the Rocky Mountains, then living close to huge bodies of water with interesting bridges is an acceptable substitute.

photo from the Internet

I expect to learn more about all of the bridges in time to come. The Dames Point Bridge is probably the most fascinating.

Anyway, we checked into our hotel, unpacked (we'll be here for several days while things get taken care of at the new house), and then drove past the house. The sellers have removed the furniture they used to stage it for selling, and have just today cut the grass. Everything appears to be in order for our closing early next week.

We ate dinner and then stopped at Publix to buy fresh produce for my Vitamix (which has been packed in the car for the past week), and ice cream.

While visiting with Beloved's cousins last night in Alabama, they sent us off with wonderful fresh peaches from their area. We sliced them up this evening and enjoyed them with Beloved's Ben and Jerry's Truffle Kerfuffle, and my [non-dairy] So Delicious Coconut Milk 'ice cream.' (you should try it; it's great!)