Over the holidays, Mike asked if I wanted to ride with him (and Avon) on his drive from Wisconsin to Florida and back. Of course I said yes! It was a good opportunity to spend some time together and I haven’t been on a road trip like this in a long while.
This post includes some photos from along the way and a few comments about the trip. It’s a little off topic from Central Florida Photo Ops’s stated purpose. I hope you don’t mind.
It’s quite a drive! It took us three days, although you can make it in two if you push hard enough.
Three Amigos. Here we are mid drive on the way back up – it was chilly at times! Avon is a good traveler. The only times he got even a little bothered was when Mike left him with me for a few minutes and was out of sight, or if the hotel we were in had other dogs that night.
Food on the trip was varied and tasty. This Vietnamese place was across from our hotel in Indianapolis. Good food, quick!
We were usually on the road early and some of the sunrises were pretty. This one is leaving Indianapolis, south bound.
This semi up ahead of us was moving around 70 mph – backwards!
When you get near Chattanooga, there are many “See Rock City” signs. No, we didn’t go by and see it.
Heading south out of Atlanta, the clouds were pretty thick
The last time I drove I-75 through South Georgia, I remember seeing a giant peanut on the side of the road. We couldn’t find it this time – even though the map said it was still there!
There are a lot of “World Famous Ruby Falls” signs too. This one may need a little maintenance.
We went north on a slightly different route and it was a little more scenic, especially through the mountains.
Another Mountain View
Passing wind: According to Wikipedia, the Meadow Lakes wind farm along I-65 in Indiana has 414 turbines and produces 801 megawatts of power.
We lucked out on the weather. There were clouds and some rain on the way down, but it wasn’t too cold. On our way north there was a snow storm coming, but it didn’t hit until we were almost to Mike’s house. The next morning, the park near his place was a very un-Florida looking landscape!
A path through the snowy woods
After I got back home, I was struck by the contrast between winter in Wisconsin and Florida. Our weather is very different!
Three Lakes Wildlife Management Area, Osceola County
Family time during the holidays is wonderful. Our home seems so very quiet and empty after everyone leaves. But it’s also wonderful to look forward to the next visit!
Thanks for the invite, Mike – I really enjoyed the ride!
And thanks to everyone for stopping by and reading my blog. Now – go make some photos – on a road trip!
©2020, Ed Rosack. All rights reserved
The road shots were very clear and wondered if the windshield was kept clean or your lens would just eliminate any minor dirt, etc.
Hi Dale,
The roads were dirty on large portions of the trip, which made it hard to keep the glass clear. We only ever cleaned the windshield with the wipers. I tried to minimize dirt by shooting up close to the glass, or rolling down the side window and shooting that way. If you look closely at the Atlanta sunrise image, you can see quite a bit of dirt on the window.
Ed
My hometown is about 15 miles away from where the world’s largest peanut used to be. Hurricane Michael went through there and did quite a bit of damage thus wiping the world’s largest peanut off of its pedestal. It used to be just south of the Ashburn exit on the west side of the interstate.
That was a lot of territory to cover in three short days.
Hey Jim,
I wondered about that, but I didn’t realize how far inland the damage from Hurricane Michael reached. Thanks for the update.
Ed
Terrific travelogue, Ed!
Loved all of the images and reminds me that I need to take the time as we travel around to remember I have an actual camera and should use it for something besides bird portraits!
Great post.
Thank you Wally. I really enjoyed that trip!