April 19 - The Journey to Home

Anticipating Sunday to be the last day on the road, we were on Interstate-10 eastbound by 8:21 a.m., having skipped breakfast and a shower just to get started.  An hour later, after crossing the Suwannee River, we reached Interstate-75 southbound, the road that would ultimately yield an exit a short drive from our condominium in Punta Gorda.  The weather was sunny, clear, and 73 degrees.  

We passed a large section of solar panel installations along the west side of the road shortly after joining I-75.  The Interstate was wide here, with large emergency lanes and relatively clear, with fewer cars than we'd been experiencing, probably due to it being a Sunday.  Even so, the highway department was mowing the median and along the sides of the road.  No litter and no graffiti to be seen anywhere!

    

By 10 a.m., we had reached Gainesville, Florida, home to the University of Florida.  Just south of Gainesville, we crossed a large, flat dried-up lake called Paynes Prairie.  Heavy rains in September 2017 temporarily restored the lake when Hurricane Irma dropped several inches of rain and damaged a levee, flooding the Paynes Prairie basin for months.

Thereafter, we passed through Micanope.  This town always makes me smile because, as kids living in Florida, we always pronounced it "my-can-o-pee."  

The town of Ocala followed, known for its horse farms.  This is an area of rolling hills partitioned by white-fenced pastures and gated driveways leading up to large homes.  The horse farms are evident all the way south toward Orlando.  Of course, everyone knows of Disney World's location near Orlando.

Next followed Tampa, Venice, Port Charlotte, and finally our exit.  Though our mailing address is Punta Gorda, we are physically closer to Port Charlotte.  It seemed surreal turning into our condominium parking lot.  We'd purchased the home sight-unseen.  We were pleasantly surprised when we walked in to have everything we'd imagined surpassed.  The day ended with a beautiful sunset from our lanai.

I think it will be a great place to live.  Writing this at the end of today, after driving over to Punta Gorda across the Peace River to start our mail, and then exploring Port Charlotte to get our internet service set up at Xfinity, was a pleasant experience.  We've already met several friendly neighbors who have told us we have one of the nicest condos in this building!  Snoopy has given his new home a vote of approval as well.

 

That's it for our journey of 3,438 miles across the country.  Thanks for sharing our adventure with us.

As we settle in, we'll share some stories from time to time about anything interesting we discover here along the west coast of Florida.  If you are curious, check in from time to time and see what we've been up to.  It's an amazing journey for two elders still seeking moments of adventure in life...