Thanksgiving Up North

Here's a Dixie Highway sign near Cincinnati.

We had fun visiting family and friends up north this week in Toledo, Ohio. It was 25° F when we left this morning, and we're so glad to be heading south.

Florence Y'all

Here are some things we saw on our way up north for Thanksgiving. This water tower in Florence, Kentucky cracks me up. At this point headed north, we're about to leave "Y'all Country." You don't hear southern drawls as much once you cross the Ohio River.



You never know what you'll encounter on a long road trip. What is that? Redneck A/C? They want to make sure the back of the SUV stays cool.

It's only winter until you get to Kentucky

The weather was 45° F and windy when we left Michigan yesterday. By the time we got to Cincinnati it was 77° F. So, there you have it. It's only winter until you get to Kentucky.

Cincinnati is the first big challenge driving south. The traffic can be terrible and there are a lot of lane changes as you try to stay on I-75 and not end up somewhere in downtown Cincinnati. Traffic was light and we cruised right through.

The next one was Atlanta. We sailed through Atlanta last night around 11:30pm. There was a lot of traffic, but it moved along. The lights of Atlanta are pretty at night.

Today I'm in shorts. The weather is sunny and in the 80's as we approach the Florida border. I've never seen so many billboards along a highway. The Florida vacation billboards start more than 100 miles from the border.

American Cancer Society

This morning I finally got some of our furniture and equipment listed on Craigslist.org. I'm a little behind schedule with selling this off and donating household items. I wanted to make sure I got those things listed before this weekend's web surfers started browsing Craigslist. Then I listed the truck at AutoTrader.com. We had some response about the truck from the Craigslist ad last week, but it hasn't sold yet. The truck is the biggest ticket item I have to sell before moving.

After lunch I started putting together items to donate to the American Cancer Society's "Discovery Shop" in Sylvania, Ohio. I already had a lot of items collected that I forgot to take on Thursday. I was amazed at how long it actually took to physically get the stuff piled up, boxed up, and loaded into the truck. It took all afternoon. I got to the "Discovery Shop" 1/2 hour before closing.

When I got home I found some plates in the kitchen I was going to donate. Whoops! Looks like I'll be getting another load together. Maybe I can find a charity closer to home. It takes about 1/2 hour to drive to Sylvania.

Alfonse started packing his workshop. He said that he worked on it all day and it didn't even look like he put a dent in it.

Toledo Museum of Art

We went to the Toledo Museum of Art today. It is good relief from cabin fever in the winter. I always find something new to be amazed with every time I go. It is easy to get lost in the galleries.

We saw the Glass Pavilion for the first time. It is across Monroe Street. There is an umbrella stand in each building where you can borrow an umbrella to go outside to cross the street. I was a little surprised that they chose to display their glass in this way, because direct sunlight can be bad for glass. They had gray curtains to compensate. Some of the interior rooms were darker. There was a gallery where they had their collection that was not yet set up to exhibit. The pieces weren't all labeled, but it was interesting just the same.