(January 3, 2018) Grayson. A name many people will not forget for quite some time. A media-induced-but-probably-was epic winter storm that has seemed to pummel everyone from Florida to the northernmost reaches of Maine. For us, it has had very little effect weather-wise, the precip line was well to the east of us here in Milledgeville Georgia. But the owners of the home for which we are watching are stranded at Hilton Head South Carolina where sleet snow and freezing rain have all but crippled that part of the state.
For us, it simply means staying a little longer until the home owners can get safely home. It's a win for us because we get to keep company with a great dog, catch up on some reading and continuing to plan the future leg of our journey. It is an interesting feeling to not have to be on a schedule of any kind. After years of wrapping your head around a schedule, a certain date and time to do things, it certainly is harder than one would expect to "unwrap" your head and go with the flow. I at least, constantly feel as if I should be somewhere, to do something, at some particular time. I'm sure at some point, that feeling will fade. For the meantime, We have planned our journey to include stops in Montgomery AL, Mobile AL, and Baton Rouge LA. We'll post the details in the future regarding those particular stops. Stops which should prove interesting.
It will be a great opportunity for Yvette and I to improve our map skills. Using a road atlas, the trucks "MyLink" nav system and some tablet nav apps, we pretty much have no worries when it comes to navigation. The problem comes when you want (or out of necessity) to go really old school, as in "Road Maps". You know, those foldable paper things we used to be able to get at gas stations? Well, apparently they seem to be going the way of the DoDo, at least in our current area. I stopped by three major gas stations in the last week and when I've asked, "Excuse me, do you have a Georgia roadmaps?" I get the same look as if I asked to use a rotary phone. The third time I asked, 5 other people happen to be near the register. They all started to look at me as if I forgot my pants. You know the dream I'm talking about. Fortunately, being members of Triple-A, we should be able to get free road maps whenever we can find one of their outlets, probably in Macon.
So tomorrow, providing the roads are clear in Hilton Head and the homeowners can return safely, we are off to Montgomery Alabama, hopefully, to stay at the historic Fort Toulouse. And if we have to stay here another day, that's okay too because we are learning to ride the wave, not fight it.