The Move From Sedona To Sarasota
Experience A Modern Day Walkabout!!
View of Cathedral Rock , entering Sedona from Cottonwood on Hwy. 89A
The big day had arrived, as usual moving day saw a shortage of help, I only had one person helping me load the moving van in 105 degree heat, we did it in record time, all we could think of was drinking a cold beer in an air conditioned house!
Bright and early the next morning, with our remaining car in tow, we left for Florida. The Ryder truck was loaded to the max as I saw Bell Rock fade into the horizon.
As would be the case several more times, there was a large mountain to climb .
Not having much time to build up speed before approaching Copper Canyon, I began to wonder if I could make it to the top of Mingus Mountain. The truck kept slowing down, thankfully I ran out of mountain before I ran out of power, I reached the summit traveling at a blazing speed of 20 MPH. PHEW!!
The rest of the trip would be all downhill from here!! Traveling hard and stopping often, we had two dogs with us, we crossed into Texas about 4PM and stopped for the night in El Paso.
El Paso sits in the Rio Grande Valley and as most desert towns it is long and narrow. It would be the last of the desert, as the next day we would be traveling across the west Texas hill country.
The next day was spent traveling across the hills and valleys of west Texas, pretty, but desolate scenery, a good part of the way there was no radio station to be found. On the occasion the radio did pick up a station, it was either Bluegrass or Gospel Music.
The second day out took us through San Antonio, where our second night was spent about 30 miles east of town. It is really quite nice around San Antonio, I had spent some time at Lackland Air Force Base in the 60s, but never had a chance to look around.
Heading east on I-10 the landscape was rapidly changing , we were leaving the west behind us. On through Houston and Beaumont, somewhere, I had a large bowl of Jambala waiting for me!
Crossing the Louisiana Bayou was interesting. It seemed like we drove for 30 miles across one bridge, traversing alligator, water moccasin infested swamps.
We were making good time so it was decided to press on to Gulfport Mississippi, that would leave less driving for our fourth day. I was glad we did, the Best Western we checked into was really nice and it had a gigantic pool to swim in and relax around.
City Park Sarasota, Florida
The fourth night was to be spent in Lake City Florida, we had driven longer the previous day, so arrival was around 3 PM. Good thing, It was getting tiring driving the moving truck with the car in tow.
I knew we were in Florida, the first thing seen was an alligator in the hotel pond. At least it was a small alligator.
We decided to relax a little and leave a little later the next day, having only about three hours to drive.
Our apartment came into sight about 1 PM, the men were there to help unload our belongings, and as always happens in Florida in the summer, a hard rain appeared out of nowhere, and we all were drenched!
Welcome to Florida!
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