FLORIDA ADVENTURE 2013 - TRAVELING ALONE!!

So begins the adventure planned for a year ago at this time when Sandy and I took off for Florida.  She to see her family, me to find a place to stay this year.   And here I am.

I'm tucked into bed at Susan Scott's magnificent condo in Clearwater, Florida.  I was here New Year's Eve last year.  It is spectacular.   My lovely pink bedding and private bath are my reward for two long days of driving.

So many times when I mention these long distance adventures I go on, I'm asked this question,  "How can you stand driving in the car that long all alone?"

And the answer truly is,  "I don't know."   But I've always liked driving long distances.  And being alone is a moot point.

It's taken me two days to get here.  I left yesterday from my house around 9:00 and made it as far as Walterboro, South Carolina to the Comfort Inn and Suites where Sandy and I stayed last year.   Today was the Walterboro to Clearwater segment.   About 8 - 9 hours of driving each day.

But I wasn't alone.  My IPhone was with me.  And I'm completely serious when I say that.

To begin with, programmed into my phone was the route to take.  With one push of the button I could see the flashing light indicating where I was and  a purple line showing me which way to go.  Yesterday's route seemed totally cockamamie (I love that word but don't know if that's how to spell it.).  It took me down Rt. 29 and through the state of North Carolina on back roads, across the South Carolina line, and finally merging with I95 around Florence.  But truly, the less time I can spend on 95 the better.  I loved the route.  Today's leg was mostly Interstate.

So my IPhone was my directions.  And I confirmed my hotel reservations with my phone.  And with another push of the button I could conjure up radar to tell me if the overcast skies were going to produce rain.  

And then there was my IPod. . . also on my phone.  I have over 500 songs programmed into my phone.  I started at the beginning.  First up: the recording for Les Miserables.  Casey and I just attended the movie on New Year's Day.  I'm still stuck on the music.  For over an hour I was moved all over again by the power of the words and music of this incredible show.

Then my IPod moved through many of the pieces I downloaded to hear while I was in Choral Arts.   When we had a new piece to learn, I downloaded the music so that I could listen to it on my trips back and forth to rehearsals.

So yesterday and today I listened to Carmina Burana, Stravinsky Symphony of Psalms, Faure Requiem, Russian opera choruses.   During all those hours of music, I felt like I was sharing my car with 179 of my best singing friends and then an orchestra of about 50.  I relived every note and every memory of the venue in which we sang those notes.  The time flew by as the notes flew by.  It was so wonderful to revisit those pieces and those times.  I'm so grateful I know those pieces so well, and that I have such extraordinary memories of each one.

I relived singing in the Verizon Center with Andrea Boccellli.   I rocked along to some of my favorite pop music.  I was riveted by the Symphonic Dances of Leonard Bernstein.  When Blood Sweat and Tears came on, I was in a vintage Pontiac with rotted floor boards with my college boyfriend.  

Under no other circumstances but a long road trip do I take the opportunity to listen to my beloved music.  And now that I'm in Clearwater I've only gone through about 20% of the music I have loaded on that IPod.  

But that's not all. . . at 2:00 on both traveling  days the music was turned off. A phone APP I have allowed me to listen live to Chad's show and hear it through my radio.   Five hours of my own son.  I never have that kind of time at home to listen.

So yes, I've put about 900 miles on the car, and driven about 16 hours or so.   But I hardly noticed.  I wasn't alone at all.

And tomorrow I will move into my rented house in Sarasota.  One of my favorite things of all time is to move into a new space.   I'll send pictures.  I'll write about it.  I have a feeling the next month will go very fast.  Please join me for the ride.   I won't be alone. . . . ..