Wednesday September 4th 2024

The sun didn’t make a big impression today. The morning was the better part of the day with a few gaps in a generally full cloud covered sky. In the afternoon black clouds were always threatening. A few heavy storms and periods of light rain found their way overhead. You really didn’t know what was going to happen next. The only real constant was the humidity. It was thick.

This was a day for errands. Chief among them was getting groceries. I needed a few things to keep my meal selection diverse. Having hot dogs and beans every night just doesn’t cut it. Walmart was not as busy as it has been. I think we are in the “off” season around here. Kids across the nation are back in school limiting the number of vacations ongoing in this area. It is also not time for the majority of the winter residents to return. The stores and the area theme parks seem to be less crowded. From the perspective of someone trying to get things done that’s a good thing. The businesses probably have a different opinion.

At the RV resort I’ve noticed that a few of the people that left their RVs on their sites for the summer have started to return. The slide rooms are back out, the golf carts are uncovered and everything looks a little more alive. The people are still not visible. I imagine they are staying indoors to take advantage of the air conditioning. The number of RVs sitting on sites that are not occupied still out number the ones that have returned, but the return has started.

I managed to get in an abbreviated walk around the RV resort this evening. I didn’t want to chance getting stranded on the other side of the park by a roaming thunderstorm. Tonight the rabbits were out in force. I saw at least eight. The ones that froze when I approached got their picture taken. The ones that I startled were saved the “horror” of getting their picture taken.

Tuesday September 3rd 2024

The rain was forecast to arrive shortly after 1PM. I planned my day accordingly. My intent was to get to Disney’s Animal Kingdom in the morning and depart before the rain arrived. Things went mostly to plan. I got delayed by replies to Emails and didn’t arrive at Animal Kingdom until around 10:30, but the rain also held off until well after 1PM.

The Animal Kingdom wasn’t busy today. The wait time for the Kilimanjaro Safari was only 25 minutes. It is often close to an hour or more. It was my first stop to see the animals. There weren’t too many to see. The low nineties heat had many of the animals hiding in the shade. Very few creatures were out in the savanna. Getting good pictures of the animals was also next to impossible.

In addition to checking out all the animals, I wanted to pickup the latest annual pass holder magnet. Periodically Disney gives annual pass holders magnets with Disney characters on them. The magnets are useful for decorating the rear of your car or maybe your refrigerator. A couple of mine decorate a lamp shade. The rest are in a draw. The magnet this time celebrate the anniversary of the release of the Lion King movie. Pumbaa and Timon are on this magnet.

Once my mission to pick up my magnet was complete, I walked around the park and along the animal trails. Once again the animals were illusive. Animal Kingdom is a very hot park. The trees and other foliage keeps most of the breeze from reaching the ground. It also seems to retain a higher humidity level making it uncomfortable. I was watching the sky for the forecast rain and decided to head home when the sky got a little dark. It was a false indicator, but I didn’t know until I was home.

Monday September 2nd 2024

After my weekend road trip the blog returns to daily form. I traveled 1438 miles from Friday morning to Sunday night. It was for a gathering in North Caroline on Saturday. A drive up Intestate 95 is the easiest way to get there when you consider waiting time at airports and the distance my destination is from the nearest significant airport in Raleigh. I also tried to manage the holiday weekend travel by traveling early on Friday and on Sunday rather than Monday.

The worst part of the drive was in the state of Florida. On the way north I had commuter traffic in the cities of Orlando, Daytona Beach and Jacksonville. The return trip was fine until I got to Florida. The afternoon and evening thunderstorms greeted me. Heavy thunderstorms started as I was leaving Jacksonville. When combined with the heavy traffic it was a very stress filled time. After a brief letup the storms returned in the Daytona Beach area. This one resulted in an accident that backed up traffic for several miles. The next downpour happened as I followed the GPS directions on Interstate 4 through downtown Orlando. I probably should have taken the toll road around the city to the west. Still, I returned to sunny weather once I got closer to home.

Travel on Interstate 95 through Georgia is a breeze. There is a little congestion as the road passes west of Savannah, but the rest is three or more lanes of easy driving. Traffic is not a problem in South Carolina, but the road in the southern half of the state is a problem. It is a combination of concrete and asphalt that is very rough and really needs repair. The northern part of the state has been updated. North Carolina is similarly divided except Interstate 95 in the southern part of the state is under reconstruction. Thankfully, the construction areas were not active on the holiday weekend.

I spent two nights in different hotel rooms. The rooms were nice and the breakfasts were filling, but I don’t sleep well in hotel rooms the first night. Once I got home on Sunday night I slept well and spent a relaxing day today.