Today, December 21st, I started on my trip up to Massachusetts for the Christmas and New Year’s holidays. I will be spending time with both my sons Dan and Nick and their families. I’m also looking forward to spending some time with my buddies and seeing the Bruins with my friend Cris.

My trip did not start out well. I had loaded the car late yesterday afternoon and was looking forward to starting out as early as 7:00 AM. First, I overslept. Then when I finally finished packing and started the car, a message popped up on my dash that my “key battery is low”. So now I went back into the condo for the spare key, and after rooting around in drawers trying to find it, I finally got underway around 8 AM, an hour late.

Around Jacksonville I decided to stop at a rest stop for a bathroom break. When I got back into the car, a message popped up that there was a “low tire pressure”. One tire was one pound under the limit. Me being “Anal Dan”, I immediately got out of the car and checked the tires. All looked good. I drove to the next rest stop and repeated the process. The pressure had actually gone up one pound but the light was still on. Needless to say I kept an eye on the gauge all day long. I’m guessing that this was a real life example of the Ideal Gas Law in action where the colder weather caused the tire pressure to reduce. I’ll stop at an air pump tomorrow and get all of the tires up to 32 lbs. each.

The trip from Florida to Georgia and through Georgia was uneventful. The trip through South Carolina was tough. The traffic on I95 was heavy and in several instances stop and go. This added about an hour to my travel time. While I could not control the traffic I could control getting the address of the hotel correct which I screwed up. Not my best moment.

Long story short I did not get into my hotel until 6:30. I did salvage the day somewhat by going to a restaurant across the street, having a martini and a good dinner, and coming back to the room to write this blog.

Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day. Talk to you all tomorrow.

Thursday 12/22

Another very tough day of travel. I encountered rain from the start of the day at 7:00 AM and it never stopped for the 10 hours I was on the road. It was torrential at times which reduced the speed one could drive down to 20 miles per hour during those times. I drove the last two hours in freezing rain with snow accumulating on the sides of the highway. There were several accidents along the way which also slowed down the flow of traffic.

I did drive through several areas of Virginia which looked beautiful but the rain dampened the view. The martini at dinner helped take the edge off. Sorry I don’y have more to write about but the less I think about today the better.

Talk to you tomorrow.

Christmas Day

My apologies for not updating the blog until now. I made it safely to my son Dan’s home around 3:30 Friday afternoon. The ride was uneventful though I did encounter rain at the start of the day. When I reached Connecticut the sun popped out for about 10 minutes. It was the first time I saw the sun since I had left Florida.

I’ve come to realize that I’m not used to the cold anymore. I feel like I’ve been cold since I’ve been here. It snowed here in Lunenburg on Friday night so we have a white Christmas today which is nice. I’ve had a great morning watching my granddaughter Grace open her presents. Looking forward to visiting with my son Nick and his family tomorrow and over the next few days.

Merry Christmas to everyone!

Monday January 2, 2023

Happy New Year everyone! After a great trip back up to Massachusetts I’ve started my trip back to Naples.

I really enjoyed seeing my family and friends, Watching my grandchildren opening their Christmas gifts could not have made me happier. It was a busy 9 days and I enjoyed every minute of it, even the snow! From spending quality time with both of my sons Dan and Nick and their families, to having lunches and dinner with all of my buddies, to seeing the Bruins and having a New Years Eve dinner with my friend Cris, the trip was one of my best yet.

While the trip was great, I am looking forward to getting back to the warm weather of Naples. Today I traveled to Woodstock, VA. The ride was a good one with no trouble. Tomorrow I plan to travel to Georgia, then to Naples on Wednesday. Have a good evening and I’ll talk to you tomorrow.

Tuesday January 3, 2023

Not much to talk about today. Straight trip down from Woodstock, VA to Richmond Hill, GA.

The last 30 miles took over 2 hours to drive due to an accident at the Georgia state line. When I passed by the accident site it was one of the worst I’ve seen. I would not be surprised if someone passed away due to the accident. Very sorry to see that.

Will talk to you all when I get back to Naples tomorrow.

Thursday January 5, 2023

My apologies for the delay in posting this update. I made it back to Naples late yesterday afternoon without incident. The trip down from Georgia was uneventful with the exception of a very bad accident on Route 75 Northbound in Ft. Myers. Again, based on the severity of the accident I would assume that there was a fatality. I saw two severe accidents during this trip while not having seen one in all of my other trips combined. Maybe there was more traffic due to the holiday season and/or the weather contributed. After seeing the first accident I drove fairly defensively for the remainder of the trip, which I guess is not surprising.

I did get home in time for cocktail hour at the pool house! My daughter in law Jenn made Fluffernutter sandwiches for my granddaughter Grace this past Sunday. She cut off the crust and then cut the sandwich in half, effectively making finger sandwiches. I thought that some of the folks here at Gleneagles III , being from the Midwest and other non-New England regions, might never have had the pleasure of eating a Fluffernutter so I picked up some Marshmallow Fluff along with Teddy Peanut Butter up in MA before I left. I made the finger sandwiches (with Wonder Bread!) for the cocktail hour and they were a hit! The folks went after them like it was crack! Not a single one was left after the cocktail hour was over. All in all, a very enjoyable evening.

I’m planning on visiting some local state parks and will post commentary and pictures when I do. In the meantime, be well.