 |
Construction here continues at a slow pace while the Purple Whale racks up miles at a fast pace, 30,000 miles in about 22 months. Because the kitchen is a mess and unusable yesterday we had a rare weekday trifecta of dining out. Breakfast at Dunkin Donuts, natch. Lunch at Betsy’s on the Corner and dinner at Cracker Barrel.
As soon as we got into Florida we took the second exit off I-95 and got on A1A heading east towards the ocean where we had a picnic lunch on the beach in the city of Fernandina Beach. Because we were not in any hurry we just stayed right on A1A all the way to Daytona Beach Shores where we are spending the night over looking the Atlantic Ocean from the sixth floor of the Holiday Inn Express (mmm, cinnamon buns.) In the early part of the trip along the coast we get a very short (0.9 mile) ferry ride across the St Johns River between Fort George Island and Mayport Village. It departs every 30 minutes on the 1/4 & 3/4 hour and costs a whopping six bucks. We arrived, pulling up behind 2 waiting cars, with 6 minutes to sailing, talk about great timing. Just north of Daytona Beach the Purple Whale passed the 29,000 mile mark. Ran out to the store this evening to pick up a couple prescriptions. When I parked the car in the driveway on my return I noticed the odometer on the Purple Whale read 28045. Huh? I passed the twenty eight thousand mile mark and didn’t blog about it when it happened. To the store and back was 2 miles. The round trip to work and back today another 13. That takes us to 28030. Yesterday’s round trip to work was another 13, 28017. New Year’s Day we did a small trip to the BBHIW, a friend’s house and out to eat. That was probably 8 miles, so I’m thinking we were then at 28009 the morning of 1/1/13. This means the Sonata crossed the mark on the way home from work on the last day of last year. Only we didn’t take it to work that day we drove the Miata. That means it happened over the weekend, crap, what did we do. On Sunday I think all we did was grocery shop. On Saturday we did some driving around while granite/tile shopping, so it had to have happened then. As long grocery shop was all we did on Sunday. I’m going with Saturday.
Its fall, quite literally around here. Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend we raked up all the leaves shed buy the dozen or so hardwood trees on our lot. A little less than a week later we had to rake again, this time we just did the front yard. Less than 4 days later, upon our return from Hilton Head, it was hard to tell we had done any clean up at all. So this time we opted to do the “Let’s At Least Make It Look Like Someone Lives Here” minimal sweep, I took out the leaf blower and forced about 27,000 leaves off the sidewalk and driveway into the street. During that return drive from Hilton Head, the Purple Whale rode through its twenty-seven thousandth mile. We took a little trip to Florence to visit Cousin Laurie and current beau Harold. With one cup of coffee each for Laurie and I, plus a refill or two, between us, we used 8 little creamer containers and about 26,000 granules of real sugar. The little bowl for the creamer cups was empty and the sweetener packet holder was left only holding those blue, yellow or pink packets of synthetic stuff. Maybe because it is past the summer I-95 Florida tourist time and not late enough for the I-95 Snowbirds, the Cracker Barrel was not really busy. As a consequence of this we ended up with an overly attentive waiter which became a source of both amusement and irritation. But somehow attentive didn’t translate into efficient. We didn’t get our food to us in a very timely manner, it seemed to take longer than usual and when it arrived nothing was outright cold, but nothing was really hot, just warm. Plus Harold’s breakfast meal came without any bread (everything at Cracker comes with biscuits), when he asked for some toast, it came very quickly, so much so that it almost didn’t look toasted. No butter or jelly came along with it though. Now, suddenly, the guy that was asking how everything was, seemingly between bites, was nowhere to be found. After we parted ways, Donna and I did a little geocaching (9 for 9) on one of the sections of Florence’s wooded trails that is near the Mall. On the drive home the Purple Whale passed by the 26,000 mile mark. We pulled off I-95 in near Melbourne, Florida to do a driver change. We turn right and make a u-turn to stop in a spot on the left hand side of the road. This allows Donna to just turn right out of the parking and turn right again to get back going southbound. At the intersection at the bottom of the off ramp there is a red light. No problem we should be able to go right on red. Ha. It is a very busy road and we watch 25,000 cars go by until a light turns red somewhere back to our left. I zip across 4 lanes to get in one of the two left turn lanes and get caught at another light. We wait for another 25,000 cars to go every which way until it is our turn. Of course to two left turn lanes promptly turn into one lane creating confusion and jockeying for position. After navigating that mess we find ourselves in a giant Target parking lot. I make a left and then another left to head back out to the road where we run into a stop sign and no place to pull over to swap drivers. We do it anyway and rush through the procedure. Only to have to wait at the stop sign for another 25,000 cars to pass by before a big enough gap appears for Donna to pull out and get on the Interstate. What takes 3 minutes on I-95 in SC or GA takes 15 minutes in FL. If Donna’s sister didn’t live in this state we would never get anywhere near it. On I-95 near Flagler Beach, Florida the Purple Whale passed the 25,000 mile mark. Since we bought the car we have been driving the heck out of it, in the five hundred and fifty eight days of ownership we have averaged 46.5 miles a day. We only live 6 miles from work…
Somewhere close to the Mall of Georgia the Purple Whale passed the 24,000 mile mark. |
|
|
| Log in | Posts Feed | Comments Feed | Copyright © 2013 Life of Brian - All Rights Reserved Powered by WordPress & Atahualpa |
||
