Closing notes
I'm heading home today and the sightseeing is finished for this trip. My intention this winter was not to be gone for so long that I was really sick of traveling by the end of my trip, and I succeeded at that. However, I'm also not feeling completely ready to be back home.
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I am glad that I got back near home before the current storm arrived in the Southeast. If I'd spent another few days traveling before starting to head home, I'd have had to deal with the kind of weather I was most hoping to miss on this trip. For the most part, I've had fabulous weather, almost no insects, and light traffic. My kind of trip.
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Normally when I think about speed limits I think about road conditions or human conditions (such as school zones). Factoring into the 50 mph speed limit on the Natchez Trace Parkway there is another consideration: wildlife. On the latter part of my trip I saw a wild turkey cross the road and decide halfway across to start flying instead of running. There was another vehicle coming the other way and we both slowed down to give the bird plenty of room. A couple of days later, a large hawk took off flying toward me from the side of the road. It saw me and I saw it and we managed to avoid each other, but my van is a much more dangerous projectile than a regular car, at least if you're a bird or insect. I've hit at least one small bird that would have cleared my vehicle if I were driving a car, and I can't count the number of insects that the same can be said for. It does help when I'm driving more slowly. At freeway speeds, there isn't much either one of us can do.
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When I mentioned the mascot/logo for the National Rural Electrification Cooperative in a previous post, something didn't look and sound right about the logo I provided. Then later the name "Reddy Kilowatt" came to mind, peeking out through years of neglected memories. I googled that name and found a logo that looked even more familiar: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reddy_Kilowatt
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Note for future reference: make sure to cancel any uncompleted navigations on the Garmin GPS before turning off the engine. I generally prefer the directions I get from my phone's navigation program, but sometimes when I'm in an area without cell service I use Garmin's satellite service. It turns out that turning off the engine and unplugging the device and waiting until the next day are not enough to cancel the navigation it is trying to follow. When I start driving again, it still trie to send me to the same place. I was already moving at a good clip merging onto the freeway when it gave the first instruction (one of the reasons I prefer the directions my phone provides), and I couldn't reach the screen to cancel it. So for about 25 miles I listened to it tell me to take every single exit in an attempt to turn me around because I didn't want to get off the freeway just to deal with that. Only after stopping and cancelling the navigation did I realize it might have worked to just unplug the power cord, and that I could reach. Oh well... 😎
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As I get close to home I think about how little eager anticipation I had prior to starting this trip. I didn't actually feel excited about it until the van was all packed and I was ready to hit the road. There were a lot of uncertainties about this trip. People I hadn't stayed with before, places I hadn't seen and didn't know how much I'd enjoy, uncertainties about January weather systems that can cause ice storms or even tornadoes if the conditions are just right. If I'd known how much I was going to enjoy this trip, I think I would have been more eager.
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As I head out for the last leg of my trip it is in the mid-30's, raining, and in Kentucky. So my mind turns to Elvis again: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J18Jdkl-lqs This links to a live performance that I think is better than the original single.
This last leg takes me on a road I've traveled often. It's an interstate highway cut through a forest and farmland, often looking like just that wide green (or brown depending on the time of year) strip with two paved stripes stretching out ahead of me. This time I looked more to the sides while I was driving. There's very little foliage this time of year, so I could see a lot farther into the woods than is possible during the summer. I was surprised to notice the same kind of rugged terrain that caught my imagination on the Natchez Trace Parkway and prompted me to think of the Civil War. That makes me wonder me how much I may be missing by not paying more attention when I drive along my beaten path.
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As I write this last paragraph, I'm back home again. Now I begin the process of settling back in. I still have one unfinished blog entry from my previous trip. I hope to get back to that and finish it to tie my fall foliage trip up with a tidy bow, even if it's very late.
Until I hit the road again...
-----
I am glad that I got back near home before the current storm arrived in the Southeast. If I'd spent another few days traveling before starting to head home, I'd have had to deal with the kind of weather I was most hoping to miss on this trip. For the most part, I've had fabulous weather, almost no insects, and light traffic. My kind of trip.
-----
Normally when I think about speed limits I think about road conditions or human conditions (such as school zones). Factoring into the 50 mph speed limit on the Natchez Trace Parkway there is another consideration: wildlife. On the latter part of my trip I saw a wild turkey cross the road and decide halfway across to start flying instead of running. There was another vehicle coming the other way and we both slowed down to give the bird plenty of room. A couple of days later, a large hawk took off flying toward me from the side of the road. It saw me and I saw it and we managed to avoid each other, but my van is a much more dangerous projectile than a regular car, at least if you're a bird or insect. I've hit at least one small bird that would have cleared my vehicle if I were driving a car, and I can't count the number of insects that the same can be said for. It does help when I'm driving more slowly. At freeway speeds, there isn't much either one of us can do.
-----
When I mentioned the mascot/logo for the National Rural Electrification Cooperative in a previous post, something didn't look and sound right about the logo I provided. Then later the name "Reddy Kilowatt" came to mind, peeking out through years of neglected memories. I googled that name and found a logo that looked even more familiar: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reddy_Kilowatt
-----
Note for future reference: make sure to cancel any uncompleted navigations on the Garmin GPS before turning off the engine. I generally prefer the directions I get from my phone's navigation program, but sometimes when I'm in an area without cell service I use Garmin's satellite service. It turns out that turning off the engine and unplugging the device and waiting until the next day are not enough to cancel the navigation it is trying to follow. When I start driving again, it still trie to send me to the same place. I was already moving at a good clip merging onto the freeway when it gave the first instruction (one of the reasons I prefer the directions my phone provides), and I couldn't reach the screen to cancel it. So for about 25 miles I listened to it tell me to take every single exit in an attempt to turn me around because I didn't want to get off the freeway just to deal with that. Only after stopping and cancelling the navigation did I realize it might have worked to just unplug the power cord, and that I could reach. Oh well... 😎
-----
As I get close to home I think about how little eager anticipation I had prior to starting this trip. I didn't actually feel excited about it until the van was all packed and I was ready to hit the road. There were a lot of uncertainties about this trip. People I hadn't stayed with before, places I hadn't seen and didn't know how much I'd enjoy, uncertainties about January weather systems that can cause ice storms or even tornadoes if the conditions are just right. If I'd known how much I was going to enjoy this trip, I think I would have been more eager.
-----
As I head out for the last leg of my trip it is in the mid-30's, raining, and in Kentucky. So my mind turns to Elvis again: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J18Jdkl-lqs This links to a live performance that I think is better than the original single.
This last leg takes me on a road I've traveled often. It's an interstate highway cut through a forest and farmland, often looking like just that wide green (or brown depending on the time of year) strip with two paved stripes stretching out ahead of me. This time I looked more to the sides while I was driving. There's very little foliage this time of year, so I could see a lot farther into the woods than is possible during the summer. I was surprised to notice the same kind of rugged terrain that caught my imagination on the Natchez Trace Parkway and prompted me to think of the Civil War. That makes me wonder me how much I may be missing by not paying more attention when I drive along my beaten path.
------
As I write this last paragraph, I'm back home again. Now I begin the process of settling back in. I still have one unfinished blog entry from my previous trip. I hope to get back to that and finish it to tie my fall foliage trip up with a tidy bow, even if it's very late.
Until I hit the road again...
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