One year ago today: December 4, 2023, pure beet sugar.
Five years ago today: December 4, 2019, anniversary coincidence.
Nine years ago today: December 4, 2015, I lost that raincoat.
Random years ago today: December 4, 2013, missed by 243 miles.
9:00AM left Hermitage with a turtle. I've got seven years experience turtle-sitting but this is the first time I've had one at home. I hope they are a hardy breed as I just don't know. I took exit 239 because I wanted to see Statesville. I didn't, it isn't there any more. Or I drove it without realizing.
10:00AM it is utterly beautiful countryside, it would be paradise it it was 50 miles closer, ah, but they it would not be paradise for long. I stopped for a soda in Auburntown, it's right out of Americana. But past that, toward Woodbury, it becomes shit-box townhouses and satellite dishes.
11:00AM Dunlap, I took the scenic route south along 127, where I'm sure I've been before but did not recognize a think. Picturesque hidden valleys. Heavily forested.
1:00PM I emerged a the base of Signal Mountain. I've been here before, since it is the only road in or out of the area. But I can't recognize a thing? Maybe I came through at night or in the rain. They have finally fixed the highway through town, it's a disgrace how may years that took.
2:00PM The customary stop for gasoline in Dalton. JeePee is napping. I grabbed a sandwich and back on the road. Daylight is a premium and I dislike driving at night. The motorcycle thing again.
3:00PM I hit that roadblock called Atlanta. I pass the time listening to audiobooks and I'm still on The Body of David Hayes”, about the whiz who steals $17 from the Russian guy. It is not a bad detective story but the pace slows down when you hit a chapter about the police detective and his wife. Everything slows down to the speed of the wife and her sterotypical "concerns". She's the bank executive who slept with the embezzler and has "feelings" about everything. The cop keeps forgiving her as each layer of her behavior emerges, tipping us off this novel was written with a eye on a TV series. She's the embodiment of what you don't want to wind up with unless you enjoy endless kind-hearted pardoning. And please, no more cops who are fans of "good jazz", that cliche died in the 1960s.
4:00PM It's nice to have intelligent company on these long car trips, especially through the radio desert of Georgia, where you have your pick. Between sports and religion, that is. Driving conditions are ideal. Light traffic, overcast, and getting warmer by the hour.
“Chinese” warships.
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5:00PM Nearing Macon, a town with little to recommend it other than it being the halfway mark. Years of stopping there now show it is not the most convenient. It took a broken transmission for me to find that. Valdosta is 500 miles from Hermitage and 250 miles from Mulberry yet a better deal. Why? Because I tend to get an earlier start heading north and it is definitely nice to overnight there. It has more of the things I like and it a but quieter overall. This has been a most pleasant drive.
6:00PM It's getting dark and I'm 132 miles from Valdosta. But as mentioned, I took the longer way around stopped every couple hours to check my JeePee. As far as I know, this is the longest single-day car tip he's been on in nearly twenty years. We talked about balancing the books, as this planned Tennessee stay happened within hours of my reporting the books were done for the year. Bidenflation has caused some sobering realizations.
7:00PM 61 miles to go. JeePee, whose hobby is celestial navigation, points out we are under a waxing crescent Moon. We were discussing his “2D” navigation method. He feels the best way to present these topics is via a Synthesia avatar. Heavy math and science, he feels, is best presented in the least intimidating manner. He outlines it today's addendum. Meanwhile, here he is in his custom camper, loaded with his favorite goodies. Including apple slices, celery, boiled chicken, and mashed sweet potato. No wonder he likes field trips.
8:00PM Welcome to Valdosta. I found a spot to park overnight and finally, after how many years of passing by, I found the legendary Whiskey River. A welcome sight after nine hours on the road, it lives up to its reputation as a Texas honkytonk, complete with slim women in jeans line-dancing. Well, at least a couple of them anyway. This old cowboy knows that after a certain age, the pretty women are long gone, so I wrote a letter to Marion about the day. And sketched out a temporary residence of JeePee while I design his Florida Palace. Um, I take it a lot of patrons at Whiskey River have never seen a man there but not wasting his time.
ADDENDUM
JeePee is collaborating on a way to grasp navigational theory using flat sheets of paper. His reasoning is that is the part of navigation most people who are just curious would learn. Over small areas, say the average navigation chart, the Earth is practically flat. So, why struggle to learn the skill using methods that were developed using hyperbolic arctangents? After all, the complete charts are laid out on a table. JeePee points out this is just for learning, you don't need to learn how to pilot a mission to Mars.
It works by establishing two triangles and applying the theories of side-angle-side and angle-side-angle which were standard sixth grade arithmetic in my day. Once these relationships are reviewed and understood, it is (try it) easier to imagine the triangles that result on a curved surface after you know them when flat. Yep, he needs that avatar.
