| With Carol and Doug Kenudson | ||
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Friday, February 15, and we left early, as usual, and continued on I 75 north to Gainesville. We did nothing of note on the route. We checked into the Comfort Inn early, and looked through the telephone directory to find Doug and Carol Kenudson. They were home and surprised to get our call. We arranged to meet at 6 pm, and ate at a Thai restaurant. We had not seen Doug and Carol for about 7 years. When we were all very poor in Vancouver we used to go to their house to play Mah Jong, taking all three kids along in sleeping bags, stacked on a platform in the back of the Austin. Since we were on no fixed schedule, Carol suggested we stay the following night with them. |
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| Saturday, February 16; Gainesville | ||
| Carol needed some breathing space to tidy the house in the morning! So we went for a drive around the University of Florida area. We saw a large sinkhole, the Devil’s Millhopper State Geological Site, in drizzly rain, and climbed to the bottom and back up. The sinkhole was formed when acidic rain (from CO2 in the air, not industrial pollution) soaked through the ground, becoming more acidic, and dissolved the underlying limestone forming a cavern. Eventually the roof of the cavern collapsed, forming the hole. This one was 120 ft. deep and 500 ft. across. We also visited the excellent Florida Natural History Museum on the University Campus. | 
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After lunch, we found our way to the Kenudson’s house (only getting lost once over confusion between 75th Way, 75th Avenue and 75th Street). A nice house on about an acre, in an area of new homes. On a slab, like all houses in Florida, but with a big garage for Doug, filled with woodworking machines, a painting studio for Carol, and another place for making pottery. A gorgeous display of plants indoors, particularly in a sun-room they had added on. The house is filled with exotic things from their travels. They were psyching up to go to Paris for a month, together with one of the kids to stay in an apartment they had found on the internet. We talked to some of the neighbors, and had a really good time, drank lots of wine, Doug and Carol managed dinner, and Peter fell asleep! |
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Sunday, February 17; Gainesville to South Carolina By this time we felt that we had sight seen as much as we could take, so we decided to more or less cut and run for home. We left on Route 301, and went very slowly through Waldo, of speed trap infamy, to I 10, around Jacksonville and then north on I 95. We decided not to go inland but to stick with I 95, and found a Red Roof Inn in Florence, South Carolina that afternoon. The best bargain in motels of the entire trip at about $35.
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Monday, February 18; Florence to Home Up early, and set the cruise control to 80 or so. Narrowly avoided running out of gas, on I 95, because of euphoria, but just made it to Prince William County and cheap gas. We got home just after midday.
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