Michigan to Miami

When you live in Michigan like I do, the winter can just wear you down. Lately, it’s been so cold to make you not want to go out-of-doors. The snow in Lansing has been uneven, a nice four or five inches followed by rain only two days later. And then it’s the clouds that go on for days, and days. The sky might clear just before sunset.

So, when I got a great deal on a brand-new, but never used, no longer needed, won’t someone take this off of my hands and out of my spare bedroom sail, I was told by my dear wife that we needed to go to Pompano Beach, Florida to pick it up. Although it’s lightweight, the package would be pretty big.

We left on a miserable, schools are closed, winter’s day driving at speeds around 40 to 50 miles per hour until we got to the point where it was no longer icy. That was about three hours of what would have been a twelve hour driving day that expanded in fourteen.

It’s a very long way to southern Florida, and our two day journey was over 1450 miles.

But the next morning, after spending two hours in the bright sunshine on the beach, I almost forgot about the long drive. I didn’t quite realize how much my body and my mind was craving the warmth, and the bright sun (neither of which are available in Michigan during winter). I’ve been supplementing vitamin D for about a year and a half, I use artificial sunshine (a very bright light panel) and all this helps but it’s not like sandals, shorts and a t-shirt with the bright, dare I say, hot sun shining down.

It’s a Michigan hot sun. I’ve only been in Florida twice during the summer, and that’s a totally different kind of weather that unless I’m neck deep in the ocean, I’d prefer not to experience.

We’ve spent a few days exploring Merritt Island, bird watching and alligator watching, the latter something one doesn’t do in Michigan. And we’ve adjusted our plans to stay in the deep South one more day to avoid the cold rain, and to delay the inevitable journey back into winter.

A delightful respite that I hope carries me through until the snow melts away for the last time this winter.

The strangest thing about traveling from the cold to warm is when the temperature for the car heat switches seamlessly in air conditioning. And this morning as we travel home, the 78 degree setting of A/C in Titusville became heat as we entered Georgia.