Monday, October 1, 2007

Day 29 -- Back on the road and heading west

Frustrating. I pick a hotel (in Tallahassee) for the internet connection and I can’t connect. Something about the authentication method not matching the way my system is set up. This has happened at a few places. At one I got around it by using the ethernet connection that was available in the room. Nothing in this room. At another I just used my dial-up account. In this room the phone wire is fixed. No jack. Front desk is no help, but I asked whether there is an ethernet connection anywhere and she said it was in the lobby.

I’ll go down there after “Dancing With The Stars” is over. Can’t miss Week 2. But that won’t be until 10PM. Won’t be time to do much – IF there really is an ethernet connection in the lobby. I’ll use commercial breaks to draft a few highlights that I can add to the blog later when/if I manage to get a connection.

Sunday I returned to Save the Chimps and worked in the kitchen again. Counted and bagged lots and lots of chow and helped dish up the Sunday carb meal. Then a staff member took us (me and the two other volunteers) on a tour of the facility in a golf cart. Several members of each chimp group we visited came to greet us, and we could see the rest of them roaming around on their grassy islands. It’s so great to see them with all that space. They’ll never be truly free, but considering where they came from … their Florida home must seem like heaven. [Maybe I’ll get some photos up later when I can get my wireless act together.]

This morning I woke up early to the sound of wind and rain. Strong wind and heavy rain. Good thing I had already packed all my freshly laundered clothes, but I was thinking about trying to pack the rest in a driving rain. But it suddenly stopped and by the time I finally got up the street was practically dry. Yeah. But it was still muggy. Always muggy.

Four nights in Wauchula (at Center for Great Apes) and four nights in Barefoot Bay – what a change after sleeping in a new place almost every night for three weeks. It was refreshing, but I was ready to hit the road again and was looking forward to some long driving days. Really. Monday would mark the first day of the second half of the trip.

I hit the road by 9:30. I decided to take the interstate (95) past Daytona to state route 100, which would cut diagonally across the state to another interstate (10), which would get me to Tallahassee. That way I could cover the distance I needed to but still get off the big, homogenous highway. It worked. I got to Tallahassee by 5PM.

Not sure yet what route I will take tomorrow on my way to Shreveport. A little spontaneity is a good thing … right? BTW, today I passed the 5,000-mile mark.

[Am sitting in the motel lobby with an ethernet connection coming out of a closet. I'm running on battery power. Purposely did not bring my power cord so I would not be tempted to stay too long. Still have to figure out what route I will take tomorrow.]

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