long roads
Wow.
Florida is an incredibly long and densely populated state. The eight hours between my coursework in Gainesville and my research lab in Homestead is a long way to drive, and while I have stopped to visit my parents in Palmetto at the half-way point... I am still wiped out by this evening's adventure. The trip down was not nearly so exhausting as the trip to return - it rained something terrible this afternoon, and I was no longer as driven to arrive - or as caffeinated.
I am still trying to decide whether it is better to stop and visit my folks (and get some laundry done!) and trek through the Everglades each time, or whether it might be better to head straight through Orlando and then down along the Atlantic coast on that leg of the Sunpass turnpike. One path puts me in my parents' good graces and nets me a free meal and possibly some free laundry. The other road probably saves me the few hours I would otherwise spend visiting with family. I must master each route, as there will probably come a day when I will need to arrive in Homestead as early as possible in order to spend as much time and get as much work accomplished as is humanly possible while I am down there.
In the meantime, it is nice getting the opportunity to know my folks better. As much as I joke about what a chore it is to visit them more often than once or twice a year because I am now only three hours down the road, I am glad that they are there. It is kind of odd: I lived with them almost continuously for well over eighteen years, but I still don't think that we know each other very well. I believe that it is only recently that we have begun to take notice of one another, and to respect each other as adults. They are good and interesting people, and I remain more than just fond of them.
We will see what time brings us.