December 18, 2022

Heading North

My drive to Tim’s took me two hours and forty minutes. That’s to go just over 100 miles. The problem, as it always seems to be, was getting through Atlanta. I think because I anticipated an issue, I was not that irritated when one popped up. Unfortunately, Apple Maps rerouted me, and I think it actually wasted more of my time and cost m e some sanity points. Yet, I made it by about the time the sun set. We had some burgers and called it an early night. I spent the rest of the evening watching Home Town on HGTV. Of course, I woke up shortly after 04:00 and read until it was time to get up. If you’ve not read it, I recommend “Minla’s Flowers” by Alastair Reynolds. I’m probably going to start House of Suns soon.

                    

We left about 07:30 and now we’re in Knoxville at the Tesla supercharger. We have about 35 minutes, so I’m now in Starbucks sipping on a flat white and checking my email. As much as I don’t want to, I like the Model Y a lot. It truly strikes me as an Apple computer on wheels. Too bad they’re so expensive. Still, I have about a year-and-a-half on my current lease, so maybe I’ll be able to afford a used on my May of 2024. A lot can happen in that time.

The drive has been pretty good. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect with my brother, but we’ve had some positive conversation so far. We still have a way to go until getting to Ohio, but so-far, so-good. It’ll be fun to surprise Mom; we might even see her tonight. I assume we will. I brought the camera, but it may be too damn cold to really take any photos, and our time is limited.

I’ll have more to report later, I’m sure.

                    

After two more supercharger stops—one took 35 minutes, but we had lunch while it charged—we arrived about 16:00. We checked into the hotel, and Tim coordinated with Gail to get Mom to P. F. Chang’s for dinner. I should have snapped a picture of her in Gail’s BMW watching me approach. It took her a second, but I saw the realization come over her like a sunrise. We had a good dinner, but called it pretty early. I kept telling her that we were taking her to the zoo tomorrow. She is not looking forward to that.