On the road to Cartersville

It's 8 o'clock in the morning. Mark has turned in his key at the high school. The road awaits.


Look closely to see this glob in Mark's ear. Here's the story: At about Port St. Lucie, Danielle happened to look over and see a green glob of something in Mark's ear. I tell him about it. He asks me to dig it out. Ewww. I ask what it is. He says it's soap. He didn't want to use a washcloth in the shower that morning, since we wouldn't be home to wash it. Instead, he just sticks the soap in his ear to clean it. Noble, yes. So, I found a tissue and dug it out. Sigh.


Through Orlando, we happened to "convoy" behind this bright yellow Trans-Am. It was traveling at about the speed we wanted to be. Funnily enough, the song "Convoy" was on Satellite radio as we followed this car.


As we pass through Ocala on I-75, we give a shoutout to our friends in Fort McCoy: Lisa, Daniel, Jamie, Tommy and Dylan. Hi!


We've entered Georgia on I-75. Billboards aggressively advertise a strip joint about 150 miles up the road. This one notes, "As seen on Jerry Springer." Gee, thanks.


We took a stretch break at the University of Georgia’s Tifton campus. This is part of the agriculture department.


Black-eyed susans were part of the landscape in Tifton.


Bees made their hive on the fat leaf of this plant in Tifton.


We've made it to Cartersville. From left: Mark, Ethan, Danielle, Alan. We were waiting to eat at Longhorn Steakhouse, where we joined the family in stuffing our faces.

________________________________________________________________
Tech report: We left Coral Springs, Fla., at 8 a.m. Thursday with the odometer reading 95,620. We were headed for Cartersville, Ga. We traveled on I-95, the Florida Turnpike, I-75 and I-475. We arrived around 7:15 p.m. with the odometer reading 96,310.

Trip highlights/oddities:
* Just north of Yeehaw Junction, Danielle posed the following question: “How many kangaroos are in the United States?” Mark did not know and seemed at a loss for Danielle’s interest.
* Mark winces when Danielle mispronounces the town of Micanopy (just south of Gainesville). She calls it “mi-CAN-o-pee.” It should be “mi-ken-OH-pee.
* Danielle winces when Mark whistles along to Carly Simon’s “You’re So Vain” (video below). It was a tad out of tune.

Road game
We got stuck in traffic in Atlanta during rush hour. To pass the time, we named all the songs we could with a woman’s name in the title. Mark typed up the list for us here. (Danielle still contests Mark’s disapproval of “Cinderella” and other Disney heroines as song titles. She also contends that the song with the chorus of 867-5309 is really called “Jenny.” Mark scoffs at Danielle’s addition of “Miss Mary Mack”) Aside: The Longhorn waitress agreed with Danielle that "Miss Mary Mack" was, in fact, a song. The two then sung it loudly.


Mark sings and whistles to "You're So Vain."