Trek to Tampa - Friday, July 11, 2008

Today we headed to Tampa to attend a retirement party for one of the Biologist's colleagues. Of course, she managed to plot a few (okay several) waymarking targets into the mix. So... early this morning we departed Jacksonville and started making our way to Tampa via I-95 and I-4. "Oh, by the way," the Biologist tells the Marine, "we need to make a stop near Crescent City to photograph and get coordinates for the Railway Disaster Site of the 2002 Amtrak Auto Train derailment. It's not that far off I-95." So about 60 miles later, we get back on I-95 and resume our trip to Tampa. A few moments later the Biologist says, "You know, we're really close to the Ocala National Forest. We should go back to that cache on that jeep trail that had a few Shoe Trees near it." So we once again left I-95 and headed for the ONF in our 2-wheel-drive SUV. Thankfully the Marine put the vehicle in virtual 4-wheel-drive and we made it to the Shoe Trees and back without getting stuck in the sugar sand. About another 50 miles later we made it back to I-95.

This time we actually made it to I-4 and started crossing the State to head to Tampa, which is located on the opposite coast from Jacksonville. As we approached Orlando on I-4, the Biologist says to the Marine, "You know, I've always wanted to go to Gatorland and it's not that far from here. Why don't we make a quick stop? It will be a blast." A couple hours later, $22.99 poorer, and dripping wet from the 80% plus humidity and mid-90's temperature, the Biologist departed Gatorland (the Marine was smart and stayed in the vehicle in a nice shady spot) with two Mold-a-rama Machines, two Penny Smashers, a Compass Rose, an Architectural Remnant, a Miniature Railroad, yada, yada, yada under her belt. With the A/C blasting, we resumed our journey.

"Since we're in Orlando," the Biologist says, "why don't we stop at Downtown Disney to see if they've got any Disney World benchmarks there." The Marine rolled his eyes but off we went in search of the elusive rodent benchmark. After at least an hour wandering around Downtown Disney, we concluded there are no Disney benchmarks there, darn it. However, we did spot a nice Topiary at Planet Hollywood.

Back on the road again. This time we actually made it to Tampa without any further stops and went to the party that was the reason (really!) for our trip. Of course, the Biologist couldn't help that we spotted several waymarks after leaving the party...