My dad and I just completed a 1,500 mile road trip, from West Newbury, Massachusetts on the northeastern seaboard, to North Port, Florida. My folks have a beautiful home there, and normally they would drive down together in October, but my mom recently had a hip replacement and was not given the doctor's okay to drive so far. So she flew down on Friday morning while we drove the van. In the back, nestled in amongst the luggage, was their 13-year old golden retriever, Reilly.
We traveled west, through the Berkshires, and then south through New York and Pennsylvania, where we hit lots of icy snow and fog in the Scranton area. No fun. But we got through that and by the time we hit Virginia, the roads were clear, although it was frigid cold and everything was covered in snow and ice. But we made it through the bad weather and the rest was more or less clear sailing.
We spent the second day driving through North and South Carolina to my cousin's home in Georgia. He and his wife own a sprawling horse farm in the countryside, with two horses, two ponies, five dogs, two cats and a parrot. It was so much visiting with them, and their home was so beautiful that I didn't want to leave! Here is a picture of Jodi with the ponies:
And here I am with my cousin, Mike:
We reached Florida by dinnertime on the third day, and although I'd been looking forward to the warm weather, the temperatures were only in the 20's. Many of the trees and bushes had to be covered that night for protection from the severe frost, and my sister and her husband were protecting their beehives by wrapping them in heating pads and heavy blankets.
I spent the night at my sister's house and then flew back the next morning, so not much of a visit, but I really enjoyed spending the time with my dad. Would I do it again? Ask me in the spring.
