The morning started cold and foreboding. And the weather was too. Physical strain has taken a toll. Despite it all, we table our gripes and soldier on. We’ve discovered we’re three vastly different people (what, you mean there are more than two choices?!). But we are all learning how to interface with each other.
We make a tourist run to Kennedy Space Center. I learn the hard way that a Swiss Army Penknife jeopardizes national security.
The afternoon brought sunshine and warmth. Our first proper driving weather of the trip. I rather enjoy driving an open top car. It gives more sense of your surroundings. Your senses are heightened. The warmth of the sunshine, the smell of oil & rubber, the taste of sweat, the whirr of the engine, and the pops and gurgles of the twin pipe exhaust. I think the Lotus is the closest one can get to a motorcycle, and yet still retain some semblance of a car.
Despite the utter lack of cruise control, my foot/leg is not cramping. I suspect it’s the driving position: instead of an elevated seat, we practically sit on the floor and there’s not as much flex in the knee or ankle. But as the miles accumulate, we tire in other ways and aren’t quite as sharp. The pace oscillates when we encounter traffic congestion and as the fatigue of the day begins to set in.
A buck fiddy has no street cred: We arrive in Miami and soon are driving in city traffic. Stop. Go. Stop. “Yo!” yells a man walking, “YO! How fast?!” He looks positively giddy. “About 150.” I reply. “Oh.”, and he shuffles away now looking a bit demoralized.
Tooling about in Miami, the radar detector goes absolutely BERSERK: A cruiser pulls alongside to us. The policewoman smiles and asks if we are part of a club. I explain how we’re on this 26 day jaunt about the country. She welcomes us to Miami, tells us to have a happy Easter and may God bless our trip. She was quite the ambassador and brightened my day.
We lug our bags into a hotel for a two night stay in Miami. The placard next to the wash basin extolls me to “wake up to the invigorating powers of Rosemary and Peppermint”! I’ll keep an eye out for those two. ;)
Sunday, April 8, 2007
