Tom's mom, Priscilla, ready for our bike ride with the ladies
We spent another night with Walmart’s hospitality, this time in Savannah, GA. The Savannah Walmart is a little more upscale than Auburn, NY, but it was, if anything, colder when we woke up in Savannah than it was when we woke up in Auburn almost two weeks earlier. The day warmed up nicely, however, and by the time we arrived at Tom’s parents in Heathrow, FL, on Tuesday, it was a sunny Florida day in the high 60’s.
Since then we’ve been chillin’ with Tom’s parents. The trip down the coast gave us some ideas on how to repack, so we’ve been moving stuff around in the truck and camper, although anyone watching us would think what we were doing was completely pointless. We’ve also had to shuffle clothes, since we packed with the idea that it would get warmer as we went down the coast, and it’s cooler here than it was in Delaware last week. We drove down I-4 through Orlando to Lakeland on Wednesday to pick up the propane fridge we purchased on eBay, and Tom is in the process of installing it in the camper. I borrowed Tom’s dad’s bike and took a great bike ride along the bike trail towards Orlando with Tom’s mom and her biker chick buddies, followed by coffee and bagels at Panera – a lesson in how one lives when not trying to squeeze exercise in between work and everything that has to get done day to day.
We had planned to go watch the space shuttle take off Thursday night since Cape Canaveral is only a little over an hour from here, but since it was scrubbed we may head out there tonight, if it looks like it’s going, although the launch probability is currently only 30% because of the cold front hanging over us – although we’re not going to complain about this “cold front,” since cold here is in the 50’s rather than the 20’s as we’ve heard it is in NY.
A quick glimpse inside my head – I just had to self edit because where I wrote “in NY” in the last sentence, I initially wrote “at home,” and our journey so far just seems like a vacation. We think what we’re doing probably won’t sink in until we leave my brother’s house in GA and head for Mexico, where we won’t have any more friends or family to visit – we’ll really be on our own!
We’re planning to leave here on Tuesday to give Tom’s parents some time to pack before they leave for a month in India on Friday, December 15. We don’t think they and their neighbors will be too upset to see the truck and camper out of their driveway, although one of the neighbors told us that she loved looking out her window and seeing the rig because it made the neighborhood less stuffy! The tentative plan is to head over to Cape Canaveral and tour the space center, then head up the FL and GA coast exploring those beaches and islands before we start heading west towards Athens, GA on Sunday or Monday.
Up to the minute news - Tom just returned from an excursion with his dad, because a man left a suicide note, stole a garbage truck, crashed the gate of their gated community, and ran the garbage truck off a dock and into a lake. Crazy people everywhere!
Following is the information which was on the Sheriff's website. If you want
to view the video click on the url at the end of this message.
On December 9, 2006, at approximately 0840 hours, the Seminole County
Sheriff's Office was contacted by the Orlando Police Department to assist
with a fleeing stolen garbage truck that was heading into the Maitland area
of Seminole County.
The incident began when the driver of the stolen garbage truck notified OPD
that he was suicidal. OPD followed the truck north on U.S. Hwy 17/92 to the
Maitland over-pass, where Seminole County Sheriff’s Deputies caught sight of
him. The truck then turned west onto S.R. 436 into Altamonte Springs.
Deputies deployed stop sticks at S.R. 436 and Palm Springs Drive, deflating
the front two tires of the truck. The driver proceeded to get on Interstate
4 in Altamonte Springs. He traveled through Longwood and got off at the exit
ramp at Lake Mary Blvd. At that time, the truck had completely lost the
front two tires. Traveling on the front rims, he turned east onto Lake Mary
Blvd. He continued to travel through Lake Mary. At one point he yelled out
the window “you will have to kill me”.
The incident came to an end at approximately 0917 hours when the driver
drove through the Heathrow area, veered off the road and headed towards a
lake. The truck came to a stop just at the water’s edge. The driver
surrendered to authorities without further incident. He was taken into
protective custody and will face criminal charges upon his release.
http://www.seminolesheriffnews.org/files/garbagetruck.wmv
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