Think critically for oneself and make informed decisions that best suit ones life? Or listen to your betters and do what youre told. Remain terrified! Question nothing! Stay home! Nah, that never sounded like me. I think for myself and try to do things that scare me or at least give me a thrill from time to time. Take calculate risks and test boundaries. My mom is the same way. So tomorrow we set off again on another adventure. A journey to the Everglades at the tip of Florida. We are driving the length of our country in a car I only first drove today. We are retreating from a brutal few weeks of snow and refusing to be coerced into staying put. Life is short. Travel years are fleeting. Alone together is not a thing. Time once again to say hello to America.
I wrote those words the night before departure. I had never been to Florida and was using this time of international travel inactivity to explore America. I was not keen on the idea of wearing a mask on a plane, so for the time being another road trip was on deck. I didnt think
Baron von Zoom, my nearly two decades old car, would appreciate or even survive the journey. So a shiny white Jeep Compass was recruited to carry us away.
In the morning I eased our rental car out of the driveway and headed for parts unknown. The plan was simple. Point the cars nose south on and drive. The worse part of the journey as usual would be the George Washington Bridge crossing and the upper park of the New Jersey Turnpike. It had recently snowed, and huge cakes of the white stuff kept flying maniacally towards us from off the top of sixteen wheelers. It was too early in the morning for this! However, the evidence of the recent snows dissipated as we sped down through the Garden State.
Just before leaving New Jersey, we stopped at a rest alongside the highway. It was chosen out of convenience. It had everything a road warrior could want: bathrooms, shops, and food. And it was designed in food court style where you could choose from numerous food options and then sit at any table in the cavernous place. The only drawback was that we wouldnt see small
town America like we would have if we had gotten off at an exit and meandered around looking for a place to eat.
We kept on driving, now through the middle of Washington DC. We whizzed past the Washington Monument and the Capital Building in the distance. It was strange to ponder what had gone on in that building just the month before. Now here it was surrounded by high metal fences. Mom and I were driving through a time of momentous history.
We finally got through the congested DC area. I noticed that there were numerous Civil War battlefield between Washington and Richmond. This made sense considering these two cities were the capitals of the Union and the Confederacy respectively. Historical landmarks seemed to take on greater relevance due to recent events. I wanted to make one more stop before we reached out final destination for a bathroom break and a restful sit at a table. However, because of concern for coronavirus all the usual places were only offering So reluctantly we pressed on, squirming in our seats for the final leg of the journey.
Stony Creek, Virginia. The hotel was still very much in CoronaLand. There was a plexiglass barrier up at reception and we were informed that the dining room was closed and there were only boxed breakfasts available. I found myself increasingly frustrated with all the health and safety protocols. Like shouldnt we all be done with this by now?
Mom had wanted to go out for dinner, but we were basically in the middle of nowhere. This had always been planned as a simple along a forgotten section of after a day of hard driving. We settled for takeout Wendys and an Alan Jackson country music documentary instead.
In the morning it was jump in the car, point it south, and drive again. We were driving right through North Carolina onward to a destination of Santee, South Carolina.
