My first travel adventure is a trip back “home” to New England for my nephew Alex’s wedding. He and his fiance Kerry are getting married on the 22nd. I’m looking forward to the wedding and seeing family, visiting with my two sons and their families (my grandson Everett will be 8 years old on the 22nd also!), and visiting with old friends.

My plans call for me to travel to Tallahassee, stay the night and then travel to Dothan, AL on Monday to play the Robert Trent Jones Magnolia/Highlands course.

I realized early on that I probably shouldn’t have started out on a Sunday as the traffic was heavy and I encountered 3 different accidents along the route. However the slower speeds allowed me to enjoy the scenery a bit more. There are a LOT of citrus, i.e. orange, stands along the highways in Florida. I also drove by “Big Daddy Don Garlits Drag Racing Museum” (might have to stop at that on my way back).

The other thing I noticed was that as I got closer to Ocala and Tallahassee the terrain started to become rolling hills. Nothing hilly like New England but impressive for Florida. And in these rolling hills, especially in Ocala, were impressive horse farms and cattle farms. It’s my understanding that the Ocala horse farms have sired many famous racing horses. The farms I saw represent that.

All in all it was a good first day and start to my trip. Hopefully, tomorrow I will figure out how to upload photos and give you an update on trip to Dothan.

Talk to you soon.

Monday April 11th.

Today I traveled from Tallahassee FL to Dothan MS. This may sound strange the northern part of Florida and the parts that I’ve seen of Alabama remind me a lot of Maine. Rolling hills, lots of land with not many houses, and as bad as this may sound, when I did see houses they were run down with old broken down cars littering the lot. The land itself was beautiful and I can understand why people live here.

The reason for my trip to Dothan was to play a golf course. The course’s name is Highland Oaks and it’s part of the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail in the state of Alabama. The Trail consists of 18 different courses over 8 different sites. Oakland Hills would be the second site that I’ve played. I’ve previously played The Grand National in Auburn.

Here’s a picture of the course’s mascot in front of the clubhouse (I’ve succeeded in downloading a photograph!). I played the Magnolia/Highlands course (they have 3 9 hole courses) and it was tough! I also played as a single so I had no one to give me local knowledge so I hit into unforeseen trouble on several holes. Oh well, I still had fun!

I then had dinner at a place called Cheddars Scratch Kitchen. The food wasn’t memorable but the fish tank behind the bar was:

All in all, another good day. Tomorrow I’m off to Knoxville, TN.

Talk to you soon.

Tuesday April 12th.

Not much to report on today. Long drive through Alabama then Georgia and then into Tennessee. The ride through Alabama was very pleasant. Lots of farmland, cattle and horse ranches. The ride through Georgia, not so much, especially when I was close to Atlanta. Tennessee, from what I could see was average.

I’m travelling to Martinsburgh, WV tomorrow. Hopefully it will be a more interesting drive and some photo opportunities will present themselves.

Talk to you soon.

Wednesday April 13th

Today I traveled from Knoxville, TN to Martinsburgh, WV. It was an interesting trip for several reasons….

I learned a couple of valuable lessons before I really even got onto the road. When I left the hotel I checked my gas gauge and saw that the tank was half full. I like to start the day with a full tank of gas. One of those anal things that I do that you guys like to joke about. Anyway, there was an Exxon station right down the street from the hotel so I decided to stop in and top off the tank. What I thought would be a simple gas stop turned into something that taught me a couple of valuable lessons.

When I pulled into the station I noticed that there were pumps on both sides of the building. I decided to go to the pumps on the “back” side of the building as there were no cars there and the “front” side of the building looked busy. That was my first mistake. As I was filling up the tank, a car pulled up on the other side of the pump and the windows rolled down. A guy who looked like a Black version of your Uncle Bill said he needed to ask me a question. At first I was confused and asked him “What?” He repeated that he needed to ask me a question and motioned me over to his car. I stepped over maybe two steps. That was my second mistake. I now did not have the gas pump between him and me. He said he was having trouble buying gas and that he had a necklace that he had bought in Chattanooga and pulled out a jewelry case and started to pull the necklace out. He wanted me to buy it from him. I told him that I wasn’t interested and turned back towards the pump. He then asked if I could help him out with some money to buy gas. At this point I still did not have the gas pump between him and me. I turned and said “No” but did not turn away as I was not sure what his next action would be. He stared at me for a few seconds then drove off. I finished filling up the car and “beat feet” as they say from that gas station. Hopefully I’ve learned from my two mistakes: Always pump gas at the busy pumps and keep an object between you and an unknown person.

Now onto more pleasant things…My drive today took me through Tennessee, then through the state of Virginia. The drive through the rest of Tennessee was just OK. I said yesterday, Tennessee did not excite me too much. I’m sure there are parts of the state that are interesting and maybe I;ll check them out at some point.

My drive through Virginia, on the other hand, was very interesting. First, let me say that I was trying to take pictures with my camera, not my phone while driving. This was not only not safe, but I was basically pointing my camera out the window and snapping pictures. I wasn’t holding out much hope that the pictures would be worth anything. They actually came out pretty good:

The pictures of Shenandoah Valley were taken from a rest stop that I made. I found that whole area very appealing. Virginia in general has a TON of interesting sites to see, from Civil War sites to Colonial Williamsburg, to Thomas Jefferson’s home at Monticello. I can definitely see it taking a few weeks to explore Virginia on one of my summer trips.

Last but not least, I found myself behind a tractor-trailer at one point in Virginia. It reminded me of a country western song called “Chicken Truck” by John Anderson. I saw these white things coming at me and at first I thought it was the dreaded snowflake but then as I got closer I realized what it was:

I know that Emma and Nick probably won’t like the picture, sorry. On the other hand, here’s John Anderson’s song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qg4psqXicRs

Tomorrow I’m off to Waltham! Talk to you soon.

April 15, 2022

I’m a little late with this post, sorry. I had dinner with Ani then went to the Elks with Ron and did not get a chance to update the blog. I arrived in Waltham late yesterday afternoon after a fairly uneventful trip. The drive through Pennsylvania was very nice. Again, I’ve been continually surprised at how hilly the states have been. Not sure what I was expecting but it wasn’t this.

I will say that I did not enjoy the drive through New York and Connecticut. I did not like the roads, the drivers and the constant presence of state troopers trying to catch speeders. Just not a pleasant experience.

What HAS been a pleasant experience is seeing all of these states close up and discovering what they have to offer. I’ve really been enjoying my trip and traveling in general.

Talk to you soon.