Wow!  It has been sooooo many years since we drove to Kentucky, we’ve been mostly flying in for a quick weekend trips.  This time we’re ground bound. Theoretically, the trip should take us 11 hours and 15 minutes, if we don’t stop – which is not possible for us, for a number of reasons.  While we didn’t leave as early as I would have liked, I did see the sunrise.

As we packed our bags, I noticed a common theme……….Vera Bradley.  Maybe hard to see, but there are four different VB bags.  I could probably do a post, just on VB bags!  Not sure if I want Eric knowing how many I truly have.  Can you even have too many?

Just in case you’re not a VB fan or unaware:

• It was founded in 1982 in Fort Wayne, IN.
• Last fiscal year had a revenue over $416 million.
• They make handbags, luggage, travel items, cosmetic cases, wrist accessories, umbrellas, beach towels, bedding, stationary, tech products and……………sounds just like the UPS commercial.

Even this time of year, watering is still required for our potted plants before leaving.  Eric took over this task while I finished packing the truck.  I can truthfully say watering didn’t take as long in years past as this past summer has been hard on plants and I keep throwing out the ones that are half-dead.  Trust me, they’re not coming back.

So, a (long) road trip.

It is definitely a chance to see what is happening, although to be perfectly honest you’re restricted to sites along the interstate.  In North Florida, Eric noticed this solar farm.  During our quick 75+mph drive-by, the Florida hills (yes, we have hills) seemed to be covered with these panels, lots and  lots of panels.  Google is my friend, I had to dive deeper.

Turns out this is a collaborative effort between Florida Power & Light Co. and Columbia county. On this 500 acre solar farm sits 330,000 panels, which their website states ‘the power generated is enough for 15,000 homes’ (which that part seemed kind of vague).  I did like this factoid “This power plant operates without human on-site intervention, while sheep take care of keeping the grounds mowed.”  That’s pretty cool.  Currently FPL has 18 plants across the state and their goal is to install 30 million solar panels by 2030 and it would make Florida a world leader in solar energy production.  We’ll see.

Okay, enough learning.  Fairly soon, our next photo-worthy site was the Florida ‘leaving’ sign.  I did not know we had one of those.

What I was really looking for was the Georgia welcome sign.

Another interesting sight was seeing cotton growing along the interstate, which had not been harvested yet.  Waaaay in the distance you can see the irrigation system.

It’s typically planted in May(ish) and harvested in October (ish).  What I found on the internet says that Georgia ranks third in overall production & acres planted.  The other interesting thing I read was that Georgia doesn’t want uncontrolled backyard cotton gardening that could lead to an outbreak of the cotton boll weevil – which could devastate this industry.

Our plan was to get through Atlanta before eating our picnic lunch.  It took much longer than planned, due to traffic (on a sunday!) and rain.  We could barely see the gold state capital rotunda.

We started this trick a couple trips ago – much quicker and seems healthier, a picnic lunch.  This time our choice was egg salad, ‘organic’ nacho cheese chips, sugarcane cola and home-made chocolate chip cookies.

Yeah!  The weather is finally changing.  I’m still wearing shorts, but needed to add a jacket for this stop.  We’ve had so many days, weeks and months of hot weather, this was a much needed break in temps.

Finally got to the next ‘welcome’ state sign…………

…………then the last state ‘welcome’ sign before getting to our destination.

We weren’t able to see the sunset since we’re getting in later than expected.  We talked about stopping at a favorite Lexington pizza joint, but someone suggested we call in our order and bring it to his mother’s house.  Great, absolutely great idea!

Commonly called Joe B’s, it was established in 1973, housed in a former synagogue with stained glass windows.  I really like the vibe inside but it was bustling even on a Sunday and we wouldn’t have been eating for probably another hour if we ate in.  Again, great  idea to pick up the pizza and bring it home.

It was nothing fancy, ground beef over all of it, pepperoni on half and bacon (my request) on the other half.

We made it safe and sound.  Now onto planned and unplanned activities in Lexington!

Ginny