Alaska to Florida Adventure: Days 15 & 16

Megan had originally wanted to make our next stop Nashville, TN, (she has friends there) but summer storms changed the game. As it stood, Nashville and the Northeast were under a perpetual tornado threat and Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas were under water. This left us with a narrow band of safe southward travel (one that didn’t include Nashville) and so we took it.

The Journey

With the horsepower of a cardboard cutout of a three legged mule, our new chariot wasn’t going win any uphill races (or downhill races; heck, we would’ve lost an idling race if it were a thing) but we earned milage.

Modest milage: 400 miles in 14 hours (this was the only instance on this adventure I felt less than jolly but the situation couldn’t be helped so I got over it.) That put us in Springfeild, MO, for the night.

Megan’s Boss Crochet Skills

She was able to catch up on a project or two. (She’s so good at yarn things – both crochet and knit; I’d let her teach me but she says it’s addictive. I don’t want to get addicted to fiber arts while I’m in the middle of writing projects. Not yet.)

Slipping Tire Straps 

Some of our delay can be attributed to excessive stops. At one rest stop, Megan noticed the straps securing the front tires of the Jeep to the auto trailer looked awkward. Every time we rocked a decent dip or bump in the road (which were everywhere), the straps jumped. Once we realized what was going on, we drove even slower and pulled over often to readjust and tighten the straps.

Random: Personalized Location References – How we eventually referred to places:

• Yukon Territory/British Columbia = “Not America”
• Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia = “Not Florida”
• Florida = “Florida”

A Word About His Majesty

You might have noticed that I’ve barely mentioned local sights or eateries. It’s not like we didn’t want to explore. We did. But we couldn’t because of our deer-dog.

His Highness is a young rescue with an intense separation anxiety reaction (we’re talking ripping out of plastic and metal crates, and destroying things and places to escape) so we couldn’t leave him alone, but we also couldn’t take him with us or leave him with anyone (has a mortal terror of new people).

I was an exception, apparently. He warmed up to me over the course of a few days while in Fairbanks, AK, after which he adopted a habit of curling up near my pillow at bedtime. Sadly, I was forced to push him away repeatedly because, while I’m literally allergic to no other animal or dog, I am allergic to him (I’m sorry, Your Majesty, I can’t hug you because I like to breathe).

The Lodge at the End of the Universe 

After Springfield, we carried on much like the day before (adventure music, snail-speed, arts & crafts, wicked weather avoidance) and arrived at the edge of Tennessee by evening. We arrived in Memphis.

Unfortunately no one told us that remaining in Memphis after dark was generally regarded as a bad idea.

Next in the Alaska to Florida Adventure: Memphica

[Did you wanna read the AK to FL mayhem from the beginning? Start here: Road Trip Manifesto: Go Big or Don’t Go.]