On The Road - 4

We arrived in Palatka, FL, at 2:30 Thursday afternoon (the 10th) after 1,397.3 miles.  Gas mileage was a blood-chilling 10.8 mpg, especially blood-chilling when the price of gas rose by over 60 cents/gal. between Oklahoma and Florida.  There are compensations, however, if you take the time to take in the scenery.  Everything was green and lush.  The rivers had water....not muddy brown or red water, but a sparkling blue that's just a couple shades darker than the sky.  The difference is so stark, it can't be ignored.  At home, it's difficult to get things to grow.  We've lost a couple thousand dollars in shrubs over the last couple years, even after providing irrigation and mulch for them and hundreds of hours of tender loving care.  In Florida, just the opposite is true.  It sometimes seems it's hard to get things to stop growing.  Wild orchids will take hold of the stucco on the side of a building, and prosper while being totally ignored.  We saw one store that had about thirty orchids growing on the side next to a parking lot.