We've arrived in Fort Myers

This is a shot of our trunk this morning: even after two days on the road, there's still lots of room.  well at least there's more room than we usually have.

And this a shot of the rear seat, and more importantly, the space behind the rear seat where the roof usually hides when it's off.

This is how we travel: a cooler [purple], snack canyon [red shoebox] and an assortment of coats, fleeces, and a red blanket.

For the third time in a row, departure was around 8 am, and we arrived in Fort Myers shortly after noon. Today was grey, rainy, and fairly slow due to very heavy traffic.  Other than that, no issues, no worries.

Chris and Peter arrived before us and we were welcomed with hugs, laughter and a very happy Cragen.  Great way to start a holiday!

After a few trips from the car to our southern place, this is what the bed looked like...

As usual, Joan does a fantastic job of emptying luggage, and sucky bags.  Most things have found their place for the next three months already.  How fascinating is that?  Magic for sure.

There has been laundry of clothes and dishes, and a quick trip for bubbly for our nightcap...

Not to rub it in more that I have to, the weather is greyish, windy, and a damp 25ºC.  Nice way to end a good year.

Hope your new year is joyous, happy, and healthy.  Hoist one for us, and we'll do the same for you.

Harrisonburg to Baldwin Florida

Another early start, 8:00!  How cool is that?  Two days in a row?

We had lots of traffic most of the afternoon: many slow-ups for no apparent reason; been there before.  So why is it called a slow-up when we all slow down?  But I digress.

We saw the left over skiffs of the snow that fell overnight. By 9:00 or so, we started seeing hoar frost  on tree tops, then as we went higher, things got prettier and prettier.  Time for Joan to take pictures: all the pictures that follow.

Shot out the open window, the leftover snow and wonderful hoar frost.  Quite magical! 

This was the lightest traffic we saw all day.  Mind you, there may be more behind us...

Then as we went higher in the mountain range, we hit the fog that had been announced. I guess it's hard to see the car in my lane passing the guy on the right; trust me, they're there.  Fortunately, the fog dissipated quickly, and the traffic increased.

Here's that last shot, just as the fog was starting to lift.  Interesting drive.

The traffic kept building up, or some places have mid day traffic jams; either way, we probably drove at half the speed limit, in stop and go traffic for almost the whole afternoon, until we quit at 8:15pm.  After a few navigational detours, we found the last motel in the area.  This is something that happened last time we were out this way...  My bad.

Since we're already in Florida, we should have a fairly short day tomorrow. 

Stittsville to Harrisonburg Va.

Our crack of dawn departure was very nearly at the real crack of dawn, much closer than usual for us: 8:15 am!

The roads were clear of snow, still had salt that rose in the air like a fine deadly powder: hastening rust and all that other stuff.  Ugh.

The border crossing was busy, but pleasant enough, and we switched from KPH to MPH.

New York State had virtually no snow and the only thing out of the ordinary was looking at a Mennonite farmer tilling his field with a three horse [Belgian] plough.  Other than that, and a skiff of falling snow, nothing of great interest...

We had some road delays in Penn, Md, WVa, and VA.  No apparent reason for any of the delays, other than relatively heavy traffic.

We stopped shortly after 6:15 or so, at a Holiday Inn in Harrisonburg Va.  Getting to the hotel was awkward says 'he who ended up back on the interstate headed north', but we won't go there now will we...

There might be a light frost tonight, and possibly a little snow in the morning, but by and large, it looks like clear sailing from here on down.  I'll let you know...

Ready, Set, Go [tomorrow]

Those that follow our travels might remember that we usually buy an orchid or two 'down south' for us to enjoy during our winter.  Since many orchids have their own blooming time, it happens that some of the orchids we buy in bloom during the first three months of the year, keep blooming at the same time.  Ergo, we never see the blooms!

This little guy has bloomed every year since we bought it, but we've missed seeing the blooms for the last four years.  It surprised us this year by opening a few days before Christmas, and today, there are only a few buds left to open. Each bloom is smaller than a dime, but collectively, they make quite the show, don't you think?

They also have a fairly sweet but rich aroma in the morning: bonus!

We are planning to leave at the usual crack of dawn tomorrow. Here's what part of our staging area looks like before we pack the car.  

The blue items in the hall are our sucky bags.  These four bags contain almost all our clothes for three months!  ... and they go in the trunk.  

The shoes at the front, as well as the coat hangers and shoes, and all the boxes along the railing, go behind the back seat, just in front of the rear window.  Remember, we have a convertible, so the trunk is small, but there is storage behind the back seat where the top is stored when the car goes topless.

So what's left, you ask?  Two smallish suitcases, two computers, one camera bag, toiletries, and an assortment of stuff that didn't fit anywhere else.  

In the backseat will go winter coats, a cooler with sandwiches  drinks, and boiled eggs, the usual maps and hotel books, and our usual 'snack canyon' [a shoebox filled with sugar and calories,  yum].  I'll try to remember to make a photo of the stuffed car for later use.

All in all, we seem to have less than last year, but we've felt that way every year so far.  I'm sure something will have been forgotten, but I understand they have all kinds of stores just dying to help us out...   To be continued...