Redirection Road

I was thinking what travel tips I would put out there after driving across the country. These are tips other than the obvious make sure your car is in good running order, etc….

* Tell your credit cards that you are traveling
* Bring snacks that don’t need refrigeration
* Use hotels that cater to business travelers
* Bring stretch clothing or sweat pants
* Handwipes and facial misters are a nice luxury on the road
* Bring fingernail files (nothing worse than a hangnail while driving 😉
* Make lots of stops…it just helps with fatigue.

The first night was a bit lonesome and creepy. It is totally dark out here, forrest!!! I would like to say it is also quiet, but the cicadas are incredibly loud at night. You do get used to them though. I am transitioning from living in an urban area to the forrest. In the city, you have street lights and house light that give off a sort of glow. It is never really dark. Out here it is completely dark, no neighbor lights, no street lights. I was a bit lonely and thinking about all those scary shows I watch…. Newness has that effect. THANKS to everyone who called and kept me company through the first few nights! It made all the difference. This is the first time in many years that I have actually been alone. It is kind of a weird experience. You just get used to having another person around. It becomes comfortable.

I am starting to get used to it. It is nice to feel like I have some privacy. I have been cleaning and making the house home. It is getting better. How wonderful to make coffee and sit on the porch and look out into the woods. Circe is totally digging it. She wants to go exploring in the woods and hunt things. She has chased every cricket, butterfly and flying thing she can get close to. There is a kitty cat that discovered she can sit in the back field and torture Circe in the morning. It just cracks me up.

Tuesday morning I went on my first run in weeks. Wow….it was hard! It was beautiful but I have to run on the road as running in the woods isn’t doable. Running on a two lane road without a shoulder has new challenges. Wearing headphones is not the best idea. You need to listen for speeding cars. I did find out where my five mile marker is. I go out 2.5 miles to an old white church and run back for my 5 miles. I do have to use two roads to get the miles. It is 1.5 miles to the end of my road.

So, I am feeling quite out of shape. I am starting at 3 to 3.5 miles. I hope to be back up to 5 miles next week. It is nice and cool this week so that helps.

I found these huge mushrooms while running. They are the size of dinner plates. It is hard to tell the size I the pictures, but believe me, they are huge. All sorts of strange looking mushrooms here.

Wow, Friday morning and it is 68. I was surprised at how cool it is. I guess that cool dome has reached our area. It is going to be in the 70’s for a few days, Nice!

One thing you don’t realize when you change your whole life is how many things there are to do. I have spent the week learning where all my services are, post office, bank, etc…. Cleaning, organizing, shopping for TP and other essentials. Just learning a good running route has been interesting. I have to get ready for the movers on Monday. Hopefully, they get here on Monday. I have to arrange to move some things out to make room for my things. Also, I have to learn how to use a riding mower, that should be interesting. I will try and video that, should be good for a laugh. Also, there are numerous trees around (hello, forest!) that I have to cut some big limbs off of if the movers are to get down the driveway. Should be a fun week next week clearing the outside area. Everything grows so fast here!