Winter Wanderings 2012 - Day #5 - 1/31

This was just a long day of driving.  In Marissa's driveway, after the trip down & a couple of excursions to Evansville the van odometer read 293.8, now, here in Dothan, it reads 861 exactly, so I have driven 567.2 miles today.  The mild and overcast morning (and I had dry roads all day long) was nice for driving, and once the sun was to the west the evening was OK too, but the broken skies with intermittent brightness and gloom during the middle part of the day were very wearing on my old eyes with their slow iris reaction time.

I managed the whole trip with just two stops, both at MacDonald's for a fancy coffee, once with food and once without, plus a half-tank fill-up at the first McD, which was enough to get me to Dothan where I have now filled again ready for a fast start tomorrow.  I again shot myself in the foot mentally, forgetting that Alabama is on Central Time when I thought it was on Eastern.  I was feeling good about being 20 minutes from the hotel until Portia popped up and told me to run 94 miles before my next turn!  Then the penny dropped & that last hour or so seemed endless.

On the upside I never got lost or into an irretrievably wrong lane.  The hotel is nice, I have the corporate rate (the lowest available), the room is super - king bed, nice desk, armchair and ottoman and a nice big bathroom, I couldn't ask for anything more!  I decided I needed a reward for all that driving, solo, so I dined at Ruby Tuesday's on a "trio", shrimp sauteed in garlic, a crab cake that was 95% crab and almost no cake, and a lobster tail with drawn butter.  I even had a yogurt-based dessert, so all is well in John Priddis world.

Winter Wanderings 2012 - Day #4 - 1/30

Being a Monday this was Marissa's "split day", working morning and evening and having a free afternoon.  In due course she went off to work, and I.....didn't!  I had a gentle morning with my PC, my phone, and my books, including making a hotel reservation for Tuesday night.

When Marissa came home at midday we all three piled into the van and headed for Evansville.  Our first stop was a Sonic drive-in for lunch.  We then headed to the far end of the peoples' trail atop the Evansville levee, parked the van, and embarked on a good long walk beside the swollen Ohio River - not desperately high but enough to inundate some riverside parking lots and lower trails and walkways.  The wind was almost as stiff as the previous two days, but the temperature was a good thirty degrees higher making it quite tolerable.

Once we were all exercised we headed to a large Rural King for a nice browse around and a series of miscellaneous purchases by Marissa, including a wood chisel.  Since gas in Evansville was cheaper than in Mount Vernon I filled up the van's tank ready for tomorrows run southwards.

Back home the chisel was used to improve the functionality of Marissa's patio door deadbolt, and the pump & hose & electric cable used for the water pumping all put away & the crawl space entrance closed and covered so that until the heat trunking is fixed Marissa need only heat part of Mount Vernon, not all of it!

Winter Wanderings 2012 - Day #3 - 1/29

This day was the antithesis of yesterday.  Despite bright sunshine it was chilly and the wind howled all day long.  Added to the fact that Harmonie State Park was officially closed and that New Harmony was already under flood from the swollen Wabash we chose to simply remain indoors all day.  A doorknob was fixed and a follow-up pumping out of the crawl space entrance was soon completed but otherwise, reading, TV/DVDs, and some games were the order of the day.  Significant time was spent with the original 1982 Trivial Pursuit, surprising the two of us both ways - in what we did know/remember, and conversely what we had forgotten or never knew in the first place! 

Although the stuffed pork roast that we had for dinner in the evening was nice (and plentiful) the culinary highlight of the day was our oh-so-British luncheon of "Bangers And Mash" which both of us enjoyed enormously.

Winter Wanderings 2012 - Day #2 - 1/28

This bright, sunny, but very windy and chilly day was quite a mix.  We started gently, as is typical when I am here, and having ruled out most seriously outdoor activities decided to go "shopping" (mostly window) in Evansville, but not before addressing a home hiccup of Marissa's.  Back in the summer we had established that a lack of forced air in a bathroom was due to an air duct coming apart.  This was found by my crawling around uncomfortably in the aptly-named crawl space, and the successful fix involved the heavy use of many yards of duct tape.  It was also agreed that this was my last such exercise of that nature.

Marissa has now found that her largely unused study is significantly colder than the rest of the house and no air can be detected coming from the vent when the furnace is running, leading to the likely conclusion that yet another duct has become disconnected, which will require the hiring of a professional to investigate and, if our suspicions are correct - fix.  However, in the light of recent weather conditions a look at the crawl space entrance seemed to be in order and our fears were realized - it was several inches deep in water.  Our first order of business, despite the chilly conditions, was to set up a pump & drain hose to the street and leave it to run while we spent much of the day in Evansville.  When we returned the water was virtually gone.

We headed to and across Evansville to the "East Side" and

commenced our "window shopping".  After a while we took a time out for a coffee break at a conveniently located Starbucks.  Before leaving that particular area we visited The Fresh Market and bought some British bangers and also a stuffed pork roast, plus Marissa added some hard-to-find things she needed.  Since the timing was right we had lunch in the Food Court of a mall, both of us having a delicious open face gyros sandwich and a side.

We continued our mix of exploration of that side of Evansville with additional shopping and in the end both actually bought in Sears, of all places.  I got a comfortable pair of sunglasses for my long drives to come and Marissa found several pairs of jeans for both here and Disney.  We then headed home, had a cuppa tea, and took the "neglected" and long-suffering Zoe for a walk.

After a rest period we again embarked for Evansville, in the van this time as it has heated seats, and met up with Becca (owner of Zoe's sister) at Quiznos for a sandwich and conversation prior to making the very short run across the service road to the movie theater complex where we saw and all enjoyed "One for the Money" the first movie version of the first of a long series of books that Marissa & Becca had been reading and enjoying for years.  On returning to Mount Vernon we treated ourselves to a Dairy Queen treat to complete a very enjoyable day.

Winter Wanderings 2012 - Day #1 - 1/27

By late morning everything was packed and in the van and the house completely prepped for being left.  With the odometer zeroed the adventure began and less than 15 minutes later I was here:

The Brick in Jonesville with its unprepossessing exterior (and interior, come to that) but the purveyor of great soups and even better, if messy, hamburgers.

With the inner man fully fortified the serious driving began.  The trip was uneventful and the gray (but rain-free) skies meant no sunglasses were necessary.  While I had realized that we have had more than our share of rain recently I was unprepared for the sight of flooded fields and overflowing streams everywhere I looked for the entire journey.  Water was encroaching on the pavement of the Azalia road between highways 31 and 11.

A stop was made, much as usual, at Schnucks in Evansville for a few edible supplies and then the last short leg was completed.  Zoe was surprised and excited to see me, and once I had become basically unloaded and organized she required amazingly little encouragement to accompany me on a lengthy walk around the neighborhood.  However, as can be seen in the accompanying photograph she was far from tired and still keen to play!  It can also be seen that she is well recovered from her autumnal shearing and is now quite shaggy, or should that be fluffy.

It became increasingly obvious that in Zoe's little mind "grampa" was here for only one purpose, to actively play with, or at least give constant attention to, herself, and nothing else!  Considerable pouting would ensue if Marissa, or food, or the TV got any attention.

Winter Wanderings 2012 - Preamble

While much of early January was used for the usual reorganizations at the start of a new year, especially as it pertained to files both electronic and paper, the Priddis penchant for such activities over the last couple of years meant all was comfortably in place by mid-month.  Since no big indoor schemes, such as redecorating various rooms, was planned the dull, dreary, and largely snowless winter loomed as seeming to be endless.

The solution was to combine various "invitations" primarily the one to visit the Emerys in Florida for a couple of weeks (February being convenient for them) along with a visit to Marissa for a weekend at the beginning and a visit to the Stevens in southern Alabama on the way back home.  Thus were plans made (with an awareness that weather conditions could affect chosen travel dates).

Travel will be by van, loaded with a large proportion of my wardrobe to allow for a wide variety of weather conditions.  Initial departure from Columbus will be at the end of the morning on Friday 1/27/2012.