To Englewood, FL - #61-03

January 13, 2006 (Fri)
Lakeland, FL to Plant City, FL (20/1364 miles)

A lot of folks travel with dogs and some take along their cats. There are probably those who share their adventures with their pet birds, fish or turtles. Winnie and Joanne have two horses. Since they - the horses - are a little big to curl up on the seats, they pull a horse trailer behind their Allure class A motorhome. (Their toad is a scooter which shares bunk space with the horses.) At about 9:00 they - Winnie, Joanne, and Dorothea - pulled out of Ed and Kathy's yard and headed for the pasture a quarter mile away where the horses had spent their time in Lakeland. We pulled out at about 10:40 leaving Ed and Kathy industriously packing their motorhome for a weekend camping trip. Thanks Ed and Kathy for the use of your yard and your good company.

We had 16 miles to go today and managed to get lost anyway! Our intent was to travel to Plant City on the "back roads" since it and Lakeland are both north of I-4. We didn't think we were doing too badly until we found ourselves southbound crossing over I-4. We'd missed a turn somewhere. In spite of the detour, though, we got to Ruth and Gordy's at about 11:30. We packed up our suitcases, disembarked and deposited Q in the swimming pool parking lot - poor guy! We spent the afternoon in good conversation. In the evening they generously agreed to endure a slide show of our trip to Alaska.

Q028592 Swimming Pool Parking lot (x2)
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January 14, 2006 (Sat) Plant City, FL (2) - Henry has an assistant. Hildene (for want of a better name right now) won't be replacing him, much to his relief, as he will continue to handle the heavy duty trip planning and overall routing - things he is much better at. The new unit will do the on-the-road point to point navigation because it is small enough be attached to the windshield or hand-held and can be on duty full-time. It has simple navigational instructions in an unintimidating female voice and is easy to program. It is our Christmas gift to each other and to our marriage.

While Mark and Gordy were in Circuit City seeing to Hildene's purchase, Joy and Ruth "shopped" in a nearby mall. Before that they'd tested the comfort of various chairs and benches at another mall. Lunch was TGI Friday's fare. In the evening we compared notes on dominoes rules and played a few games. (Their rules include splitting the train at the doubles.)
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January 15, 2006 (Sun)
Plant City, FL to Englewood, Fl (96/1460 miles)

We didn't have far to go today so we lingered. It was so good to be with Ruth and Gordy. After breakfast we sat at the breakfast table and talked - until almost lunch time. Then we sat and talked some more. We finally got off at 12:55.

It was sunny but a cool 60°. The trip down was straight forward and uneventful. Although we know the way and don't need help, Hildene was up and running - for training (ours mostly). She did very well with one exception. We were instructed to exit I-4 at one point and, although we knew better, we did. We were then instructed to proceed straight across the road at the end of the ramp and get right back on I-4. She must have gotten her programming while the overpass was under construction.

We were greeted warmly in Englewood by Bom (Joy's mother) and Frannie (Joy's sister) at about 3:00. We again off loaded our clothes and a few personal things and sent Q off to the bank parking lot making him most unhappy.

We will be here a week.

Q028688 SunTrust parking lot, parked. (x7)