As planned, I got up at 5:15, loaded the car, ate a hasty breakfast and we were out the door. I figured we should make on stop at Starbucks on our way out of town to fuel up on caffeine. Then it just became a matter of following our extremely well laid out map from Google. Even as we left Ocala the sky was barely lightening at the horizon and a dense, eerie fog clung to the open fields and pastures. I may have mentioned earlier about the oddities of the forests down here. On our drive from Orlando to Ocala were a unique mixture of leaf-bearing tree, evergreen trees, and palm trees. Throughout the day, as we drove northward, it was interesting to watch the forests change gradually from the seemingly out of place palm interspersed forests, accented by clusters of Spanish moss hanging from every branch, to the Pine forests of South Carolina. As we drove along the state highways of northern Florida the enigmatic fog continued to hang a few feet off the ground in any open field, pasture, or meadow until the sun finally broke the constraint of the horizon. We made good time throughout the day, travelling the five hundred forty miles in only seven and a half hours. Georgia was interesting in some ways and boring in others. The boring part was that we were just driving along straight, flat highways with the only change in elevation being the rises and dips of getting over surface streets at exits. But there were a few interesting views from some bridges. In Oregon most of our rivers usually have steep sides or are in some kind of valley or canyon but in Georgia the land is all flat. The rivers that intersected the highway were bordered by large sections of flat grassy land that seemed to merge perfectly into the rivers. Through most of southern Georgia the highway looked was lined with seemingly endless forests broken only by the swaths of grassy river banks and the rivers themselves. Eventually the road narrowed to only two lanes which required a little more effort from whoever was driving. We stopped for gas and switched drivers and as I stood next to the car I was impressed at how surreal the surrounding area was. The sun was warm but was definitely less humid than Florida. There weren’t many other people out on the road where we had stopped for gas. Emanating from the nearby trees was all many of insect noise, I can’t even begin to try to explain to you what kind of insects they might even have been. It was really a whole new world, very different from what I was used to. The only stops we made all day were three caffeine system overflow let off stops, one time to refill the fuel, one lunch break, and one stop for the following reason. It was my turn to drive and we were going along through South Carolina on a two lane divided interstate when up ahead a car had gone off the road into the median and was kicking up a cloud of dust. As the person realized that they were no longer driving on the road, and desired to be back on the road, the turned their wheels hard to get back on the road. However they turned their wheels way too much and came flying back across both lanes of traffic and then went sailing off the other side of the road, down the moderate embankment, and into the underbrush on the edge of the grass. I immediately stopped and jumped out as others that saw the accident did too. The car was on it’s side at the bottom of the embankment and it had turned around too. The bottom was facing toward us so we couldn’t easily get to the top. A State trooper showed up right away. I explained to him what had happened, and after finding out that the people inside were okay the officer said that we could go. While I was in the ditch, however, I wasn’t paying attention to where I was stepping and put my foot right into the stagnant, muddy water at the bottom. All I had to show for the whole ordeal was a dirty wet shoe and foot for the rest of the drive to school. We did finally make it to school at 3:30, received a packet of information, got our room assignment, and unloaded everything. After meeting my roommates I took a shower and then we went to dinner. After dinner I unpacked my bags, made my bed, and then went to check out the activities at the Alumni Commons. Dorm meeting at 10:45. Lights out was at 12 so after getting ready I read until then and went to sleep.
John
