1000 AD - Exodus

So begins the move to Clayton, North Carolina from Tifton, Georgia. We left Tifton on Saturday, May 1st and I count this as the beginning of our six month road trip. In a previous exciting entry in this journal, I mentioned the scope of our trip (going from California to North Carolina). You may ask....how did the TC get from North Carolina to California? That I am afraid is the subject of a later entry, it does not fit into the story as of the moment.

So let us stay focused and take a view of where the TC went on this leg of the journey.

The stops we made going to Clayton were Saint Simons Island, Georgia and Hilton Head, South Carolina. We stayed in these two locations to fill in the last of our "on the coast" places that we had not been to. On previous non TC trips we had visited Jekyll Island, Charleston, and Savannah. All of them wonderful places to see. 

Now to lay a little more groundwork. Why were we in Tifton to begin with? Why are we leaving?

To answer why we are in Tifton in a nutshell: After much movement in my life in different career paths the latest reinvent was as a community college math instructor. To do this (we were living in North Carolina at the time) I returned to college to take enough math courses (took about a year) to obtain the necessary college credits to teach math. All this was done at the ripe old age of 53 back in 2006-2007. It was a VERY strange feeling sitting in classes with students half my age. When I finished, I received an offer from Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in Tifton to teach math. We love to go to places we have not been. And Tifton, in its own way, is a very exotic place to be. Thus we moved to Tifton.

And, why we left Tifton: There is not a single answer for this. I will mention the two main ones. The first one is the easiest to write down. Our daughter and her husband and his parents all live in Clayton. She is expecting our first grandchild and she wanted us to live closer to them. As I said, pretty simple reason. The other reason revolves around my restless personality. After much planning I was able to glue together a lifestyle where we could afford to live. After all, eating is important! Thus we left Tifton.

Here is our moving PODS being carted away from our house and sent to Clayton. House in a can!!!!

Here are the two vehicles (in the hotel parking lot prior to heading to Saint Simons) that would form the  caravan going to Clayton. Both tremendous and purposeful cars, one for distance and one for speed. 

 

0 AD - We Bought the Farm

Why in the world would anyone want to buy this?

When we decided that our 2004 Toyota Corolla needed to go the search began for a purposeful replacement that would fulfill our need to transport bicycles along with other large items on our frequent journeys. We do love to travel. Being the "denizen of the internet" that I am, the approach I used was to go to edmunds.com and perform a search to find a car with the specs we wanted. The vehicles that were shown as a result of the search were broken down into crossovers (too small), utility (still too small), full size vans (too large), minivans, and all by its lonesome was this thing called a Transit Connect. What was a Transit Connect? I sure had never seen one.

So began the process of looking over the minivans to see which would be the right one. We ruled out the Chrysler products due to concerns if Chrysler was going to survive and stay in business, Chevrolet's minivan had many bad internet reviews about its quality, and Ford had removed its Windstar from production. The field was getting pretty small. Toyota's minivan had stellar reviews but it is VERY pricey. In any case, I decided to take it for a test drive. I brought it by where my wife worked and showed it to her and we took it for a spin. To be honest, this is the type of vehicle I truly dislike driving. It drives like a boat, it corners like a boat, and it stops like a boat(boats don't stop). The idea of buying a Toyota minivan was jettisoned.

All that was left to look at was the lowly Transit Connect. I drove over to Ford (the same day we took the Toyota out) and asked the sales person where the Transit Connect was on the lot. Now remember, this is the South where the truck is king. Everyone drives a truck. The salesperson had never heard of a Transit Connect. We went inside the showroom and the sales manager looked on his computer that was connected to the Ford intranet and located one about an hour away. It could be brought over if I wanted to wait. I said "go for it." It showed up. And, what could I say when I first saw it?  I really did not want to look at it any further but I felt obligated (it was brought in especially for me). Before I took it  for a test drive I looked it over and my transformation began. The inside was awesome. It was like en enclosed truck. The seats were comfortable and its dashboard features were complete but simple. And I love simplicity. It did draw a lot of unexpected attention as the entire Ford sales force came out to look at it. It was actually pretty funny watching all the sales folks "kicking the tires" along with all the "oohs" and "ahs."

Anyway, it was time to get my wife and go for a test drive. I left the lot, and I must say, it drove exactly like a car I like to drive. Sure, a whiner can bring up the "lack of power" (it did manage the 80 mph Utah speed limit quite nicely) but if you want gas economy that is the trade off. It cornered better than the Toyota we were unloading and the road visibility was fabulous. If only I could get past its looks. I drove the TC (thats our name for her; its the name our daughter and husband coined) over to the parking lot where my wife and a fellow worker were waiting, my wife knew I was coming to pick her up. As soon as I pulled into the parking lot the fellow worker bent over laughing and my wife had an embarrassed smile. My wife reluctantly got in and we went out for a drive. She told me to forget it.  It rode nice but she would never be able to drive it because of its looks as this would be her main ride (my ride is a 1998 Z28). I dropped my wife off at her work and took the TC back to Ford. I told them I didn't want it. They said they were going to keep it on the lot over night as it was too late in the day to send it back to its home dealership. I left the lot and went home driving the Corolla.

That night I did not sleep well and woke up real early in the morning (4 am) and thought about whether not buying the TC was the right thing to do. I got up and made coffee and thought some more. I could not get past the fact that there was NOTHING ELSE that fulfilled our list of wants in a van. I restlessly waited for my wife to wake up which finally happened at about 6am. I don't know, maybe I helped wake her by "making a little noise." She was finally awake, groggy, but awake. I sat on the edge of the bed and pleaded my case. She listened to me patiently and eventually caved in under my relentless pressure. I just felt it was the right thing to do. Later that day the deal was complete and the TC was purchased.

Now back to the original question of why in the world anyone would want to buy a Transit Connect - here is a MAJOR reason. All this, and more, EASILY fit into the TC.

10,000 BC

And now, I must digress to a time very much before the journey begins. We lived in a VERY rural city named Tifton, Georgia. I have circled where it is on the map.

Do you notice anything about its location? At a small party we went to, someone coined the phrase "Tifton is in the middle of everything and close to nothing." And this is so true, it is close to NOTHING. The nearest large cities were Atlanta and Jacksonville. Both of these cities are about three hours away. Even driving to a Kohls took fifty minutes. Our grocery store was a Super Walmart. Our electronics store was a Super Walmart. Our department store was a Super Walmart. Our weekend entertainment was a Super Walmart. Life had taken on a new meaning: Super Walmart.

So, how did we get here? Originally we are from San Jose, California but through many turns of events that are way too complicated to delve into here I ultimately accepted a mathematics faculty position at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College (ABAC) in 2007. The three years I spent here in Tifton and ABAC were priceless for experience and knowledge. My time at the college and its proximity to a neighboring college, Moultrie Technical College, eventually led to my current occupation as an online mathematics instructor. This enables us to travel and have a paycheck as we travel. I have since been hired at an additional community college, Georgia Northwestern Technical College, in the same capacity.

Tifton, however, was a great place to use a "base of operations" for our many excursions into Florida and Georgia. There are places in Georgia that are priceless to see. One that stands out in my mind is the Okefenokee Swamp. I took my brother and sister in law, the ones from San Jose, to see it and my brother still mentions he "will never forget it." It is not a place that, I think, most people in the U.S. would think exists. It feels and looks like something out of the movie Deliverance.

This brute is about 500 pounds. Because of "little things" like him signs are posted like this.

But the swamp has its beauty. The water is black due to secretions from the roots of trees that grow out of the water. It forms a black mirror like surface and yields a smell unlike anywhere else I have been. Notice the reflection in the water of the jumbled lettered sign by one of the trees that deposits the black material.

But enough of this, this is the story of the Transit Connect Chronicles. I have laid enough groundwork to continue my story. We move forward in time to the beginning of the Transit Connect in the next entry.

She's Not Just a Pretty Face

It just sort of happened. Originally my wife and I were flying to San Jose to house sit for my brother and his wife for a few weeks. From this humble beginning spawned a road trip spanning the North American Continent. The journey from coast to coast would take a leisurely three weeks and encompass much of Americana, the beauty of the road, and many sights while the entire road trip would last six months.

You may ask, what was the vehicle of choice for this venture? It was an unlikely one for sure and it is one of the things that made this road trip unique. The vehicle used was the 2010 Ford Transit Connect.  From the beginning of the trip until the end I gave so many “tours” to curious people we met I thought Ford should pay me. I probably showed the car to a hundred people. Most were impressed and one woman remarked “it looks like something to be driven in the outback.” Others did not speak as favorably. I heard one teenager say “it looks like a clown car.”

Here she is in her glory at St. Simons Island.

Whether I continue in this journal is an open issue. But for now, I plan on putting regular remembrances online starting from our departure point in rural Georgia.