I LIVE!

So it's been a couple of eventful, diet free days, and I've got a quick recap for you.  I drove up through Tampa Bay from Ft. Myers, FL and into Georgia, where I stopped at a Comfort Inn near the Alabama border for the evening.  I then jogged west into Alabama and Mississippi on my way to Memphis, where I intended to visit Graceland.

Upon reaching Graceland, I realized a couple of things.  First, parking was 15 bucks, and there were probably going to be more charges once I got past parking.  The area is also a complete shithole, check cashing places and pawn shops everywhere.  I also realized I don't really like Elvis all that much.  His music's great and an important part of American musical history, but I can deal without the shag carpets and purple wallpaper.

So I decided to go to the Jack Daniel's Distillery, on the east side of Tennessee.  I stayed in a nearby KOA for the night, and went to the distillery in the morning.

The tour was awesome, and there were great shops in downtown Lynchburg, all of which had the same Jack merch and gave you a free shot glass with a 10 dollar purchase.  Needless to say, I spread my shopping across all the shops.  The picture above is a bronze of Jack with the cave spring that the water comes from in the background.  While at the distillery, I bought 2 commemorative bottles of black label and a bottle of single-barrel, all of which I had signed by the "Master Taster", who happened to be in the tour area signing bottles while I was there.

I then went to the New Albanian Bank St Brewhouse [www.newalbanian.com] at the request of one of the folks I'm visiting in Indianapolis, and picked up a few growlers of beer.  He wanted the Hoptimus, and I bought the Haggis Laddie for myself (I have a weakness for the reds).

Today, I'm going to visit the Creation Museum outside of Cincinnati and then move on to Indianapolis.  I hope not to be arrested.

I've tried to get weighed at a few of the places I've stayed, but there hasn't been a decent flat surface for the purpose, so I'm probably just going to not do it again until I reach home next week.

Florida Sunrise

GOOD MORNING!

I'm pretty stoked for the day, as I've got a very pleasant drive ahead of me, but before I get to that, maybe I should recap yesterday afternoon.  Before I do that, I should get out of the way that I just realized that, once again, I forgot to get weighed this morning.  Something about waking up in a car and then needing to hunt for a place to piss just makes me forgetful.

After I headed out from the Georgia rest stop/visitors center, I made headway into Florida.  I came down 95 into Jacksonville, whereafter I shot out to A1A, which is the coastal 2-lane highway here in FL.  I stopped in St Augustine, which has a Walmart, and decided I wanted seafood for dinner.  Unfortunately, it was past 9, and all the little seafood joints had closed their kitchens for the evening.  This lead to a Big Buford at Checkers.

I've figured out what my problem is with the bad eating.  I'd relaxed my rules about meal times, and I need to stop that.  Even if I decide it's the local flavor I want to try for dinner, I need to make sure I do it at the right time, so I'm not starving at 10 o'clock at night and ordering too much/the worst possible thing for me.  Besides that, the only food available that late at night is awful for me, and I shouldn't be eating that late.

So this morning started off nice.  I woke up a bit before six in the Walmart parking lot (bought me a camp fan so I'm not dying in the car at night, anymore) and decided to head to the beach to catch the sunrise.  It was beautiful, but I didn't quite catch it on the beach.  I was coming over a bridge during the main part of it, and I enjoyed it, but I was too late to the beach to capture stills.  I did get a few decent shots, though, and decided to put one up.

After that, I hopped in the car and started south on A1A again, now desperate to empty my bladder.  That's one of the worst parts of staying urban at night, not being able to take a leak right away without fear of a public indecency charge.  All that aside, I found a Starbucks not too far down the road, where I grabbed a venti iced coffee with my gift card, and had a breakfast consisting of a Nutrisystem Blueberry Muffin, a slice of wheat toast (carbohydrate), a juice box (fruit), and 8 oz of milk (dairy).  I didn't really feel like chugging my milk down, so I drank half my coffee and dumped the milk in what remained of that.

Now, I'm going to head out, and see if I can't put some serious miles on the car today.

Lunch and Some Interstate Fun

Today's travel has been all on the interstate, so I haven't seen much of interest.  I had to make up some time, and I've done that.  I'm stopped for a bit because I (finally) had to drop a deuce, and I figured I'd rest up and knock out a lunch entry, while I'm here.

I set out this morning fully prepared to eat a proper lunch and dinner, and things were going well at the start of lunch.  When I stopped for gas in South Carolina, my Red Beans and Rice was hot from sitting on the back deck of the car, and I ripped off the top, put a bit of water in it (as you're supposed to), stuck a fork in it and placed it by the shifter in the car.  Unfortunately, as I sat down next to it, the damned thing spilled out all over the floor.  Recalling a sign I'd seen at the ramp, I put the car in gear and headed out.

One of the things I've been told to try on the journey was a chain restaurant called Bojangles.  They're a primarily southern fast food chain, although they appear to have one location in PA and several in Maryland and DC (http://www.bojangles.com/aboutus_locations.html).  Specifically, I was told to try the Ham Biscuit, which is a slice of ham on a biscuit, un-shockingly.

I decided against the Ham Biscuit (because my car's messy enough without biscuit all over it.in favor of some manner of Cajun Club sandwich, which was fried chicken with some manner of sweet mustard sauce and lettuce & tomato.  It was good, although not worth a re-destruction of the diet for a second visit.

I should get back on the road, when I get nearer to where I intend to stop for the night, I need to find a grocery store and re-stock on milk.  Since I think I'm mostly abandoning eggs as a primary protein source, I think I can upgrade from a quart to a half gallon, and re-purpose my milk Nalgene as a third water Nalgene, to try and keep up with the pace of sweat in the 95+ heat.