Traveling notes

It's no trouble to go visit the family for holidays.
Right.

The highways have something to say about that. Like how a few million cars can squeeze onto two lanes going one direction, and supposedly get up to a speed of 75 miles per hour.  It's been a laugh. Though many of us weren't laughing.

I was on the I-95 parking lot in South Carolina some of Monday afternoon.  In case you hadn't heard, there were rain storms all over this area.  As I went the long way through South Carolina, once I was advised by Serri (really, is it Sirrie?) to get off I-26 and try Hwy 301, and 21, and later 17.

The most fun was going through South Carolina's Dismal Swamp.  I even crossed a pretty small bridge over "Big Swamp." It was not as impressive as the 50 miles of wet lands on each side of the road, with pines squeezed together.  And one of those roads was even called "Low Country Highway."

I actually noticed a different feeling, an intimacy that happened, between being in a chain of cars that couldn't change anything as we snaked (pardon the verb) our way along almost straight roads through wetlands for miles. It was much more personal than the speedy swerves that happen on the interstates. I could read the bumper sticker of the car in front of me, who was from Asheville, NC, and was a "Crone Power" woman. When I finally passed her later on the interstate, I was sad that she wasn't anyone I knew (since I know a lot of women of power in Black Mountain and Asheville (which is 15 miles away.)

Then the TV in the motel room cut out...no cable service.  Drat. What else shall I do? Well, there's still the library books I'm reading on line. As well as movies on Netflix.  So before I'm bored, I shall have some entertainment. And get to sleep early for an early start to beat some of the traffic in the morning.

Second day (Tues.) was the opposite of Monday. Serri took me through north Florida after I zipped through Georgia...and I was in Tampa in plenty of time for a nap before my son got home from work. My grandson (who lives with him) was home earlier, and I chatted with him while he wrapped packages.

That night the 3 of us went to St. Petersburg and indulged in a fabulous feast put together by my son's wife, Barbara.

We opened some presents while waiting for dessert...a good pause for digestion!