Hittin' the Road!

Do you ever fall down a rabbit hole on Facebook? Like, someone posted something that made your brain record-scratch and you had to keep digging?

That's how this entire idea was hatched.

Sometime in 2019, I was bored and scrolling Facebook, and came across one of those "You'll never believe THIS could be REAL!!!!!!" click-baity posts. I can't find the post anymore, but it was about a lake in Georgia that you needs to make reservations for. Yeah...

So I followed the link and watched a small video about some lake in northern Georgia, called Lula Lake. Lula Lake is owned by the Lula Lake Land Trust and is only open a few days a month. Reservations are needed to keep it from becoming too busy, and the entrance fee of $15 also helps to off-set the cost of running the Trust.

So, I'm thinking with my Photographer Brain... that seems cool. I'd love to drive up there for a day and check it out. I love nature shots, and waterfall shots, and it would be a great overnight trip. So I pulled it up on the map... it's only 7 hours from home! We could even stay the whole weekend!

Oh, but then... I noticed something... do you see it?

Not sure why Interstate 75 would take me this far out of the way...

It crosses into Tennessee!

My mind started working, you could hear gears in my head...

I mean, if we're going all the way up there, we might as well go to Tennessee as well!

So, that's the very basic story of how this started. A day trip turned into a weekend trip.

Oh, but then... More gears. More cogs. More smoke coming from my ears. I began playing "How Many States Can We Touch?"

Round Knob is there SOLELY so we can cross into Missouri

My first attempt (yep, I said first) had us visiting or traveling through eleven states (Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and back home), for a total 33 driving hours, and 2,175 miles (not counting any detours). We'd try to keep the trip at around 7-8 days, to allow for sightseeing time in many of the bigger cities we'd stop at for the night.

I told Hubby about this one night over dinner, and I said that it would be cool for us to do for our anniversary in 2020 (right about now, actually)... He said we should think about doing it the following year (2021) for our 25th wedding anniversary (who says men aren't sentimental?) So, with that in mind (and knowing I had a lot more time to plan), I went back to Google... How many other states could we touch?

So many more states! Will I be sad I missed Memphis? Maybe...

We were able to add 2 more states, to make it thirteen (Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and back home). The difference, besides the two extra states, was adding in the St. Louis Arch, and going pretty far into Oklahoma. This trip would be 40 hours, and 2,678 miles. We'd probably allow 10-11 days for this trip.

Yes, you could argue that we're missing a lot of America within that circle, but that's okay. As two people who haven't traveled out of our own state - except to see family - seeing any part of America is better than seeing none at all! I can tell already that this won't be our one and only road trip... I already have grand plans for Parts 2 and 3 in the next decade! (If I can get my phobic hubby on an airplane, that is). 

Hubby isn't super-involved with this trip (he never is, really)... He knows I love to plan things, so I'm running wild with ideas right now, and once I begin to narrow things down, I'll go to him with would you rather options and get his input from there. So, as of right now... I don't know if we'll do the big trip or the small one. Which would I rather do? The BIG ONE, duh! Which do I think I can handle? Probably the smaller one. That's more than a week of driving, traveling, hotel beds, ugh... I don't know...

But I really want the big one. 

So, what have I done so far? I mean, besides an awesome trip on Google? I have (at last check) a 21-page Word document for me to record my every single thought as it pops in my head. Hey! Beignets! Don't forget to buy socks! Oooh, the bed and breakfast in Chattanooga looks cool! Lots of random stuff like that. I have a running list of songs I want to download, which are either specifically linked to a state we'll visit (like "Chattanooga Choo-Choo") or just awesome songs that make travel fun (like "Born to Be Wild"). 

I have a running shopping list (and a coordinating Shopping List online at Amazon and Walmart) so I can spread out my purchases over the coming year (things like gift cards, clothing, snacks, camera equipment, and similar).  And as I purchase things, I move it from the To Buy list, to the Bought list, to ensure that I don't make any repeat purchases. I'm thinking I'll start buying stuff come this Fall, especially if anything shows up on Christmas or Black Friday sales!

Also in this document is a list of things we want to do in each state, broken down by state (to make referencing it easier). Things like Lula Lake, Lookout Mountain, in Georgia. National Civil Rights Museum or Beale Street in Memphis. I'm hoping to do a lot of "off the beaten path" types of experiences, or things you wouldn't normally think about doing in each specific place (like kayaking the Wolf River Harbor in Memphis). I'm also watching a lot of YouTube travel videos and making notes of places to stop, or more specifically, places to stop and eat at in each of these places!

Most importantly, I have a running budget... for each option (Budget for Option 2 is larger, since the trip is longer). It's actually saved in Excel, and then inserted into the Word Document, so whenever I update the Excel spreadsheet, it updates the Word document, too. Really cool! I break it down by what we'll need to pay for, how much we'll need (I tend to estimate high), and any notes:

This hasn't been updated since February

Then, I have a separate table for what money and funds I have available (this is very much out of date, as you can see in the notes):

This also hasn't been updated since February

And finally, the most fun part of the whole Word Document (for me, because I'm a logistics nerd), is the Day to Day Itinerary! It's laid out for each day:

This will be fleshed out much more in the months to come

It includes where we're starting from (Little Rock) to where we're driving to (New Orleans), and any notes or itinerary underneath. In this example, we'll wander Little Rock until after lunch, drive through a few towns on our way to Nola, then stay the night in Nola. I make a note of rivers because of Hubby's dislike of bridges so that I can warn him ahead of time. 

So that's it...  That's where we are right now. Covid is 'ravaging' the globe. Everyone is locked in their homes. People are killing each other. And all I want to do is plan an epic road trip for 2021. 

Over the next 10 months, I'll do a lot more research into what could be fun to do in all of our stops. I'll decide if I can really do the long trip, or if I need to settle for the short trip. I'll buy stuff. I'll plan stuff. I'm already looking forward to it, and it's still 12 months away!

I'll leave you with this terrible Dad Joke:

How long does it take to get from Louisiana to Alabama? 

One Mississippi

The Generosity of the Beck Team Shall Not Go Unnoticed - Angels for Arc 5k

 And down goes another one...

The Angels for Arc 5k for 2020 was supposed to run in June, but since Covid is still ruining everything, it was cancelled at the end of April... kind of.

Heads up email about cancellation

Unlike other races that went virtual, Beck actually refunded everyone's entries, and allowed everyone to run and earn their medal! They'd already ordered their medals, so it would have been a waste of money to throw them away I guess!

Official Cancellation Email

 

Hi! Future Lazy here... As you can see, there was no actual Race Recap up there... That's because around the end of May (a few days before the race would have been run, actually), my back was killing me. I struggled with some intense pain for almost a month, and then I kind of was scared to do anything strenuous, in fear of re-injuring my back... so I sat on my ass a lot (which, ironically, only made my situation worse in the end.)

On July 16, they were still able to donate $5,000 to Putnam ARC!

I started feeling better around mid-July, but kept putting it off and putting it off. In fact, I didn't actually finish 3.1 miles until September 20!

I tried to bribe myself with a virtual half-marathon (more on that in a different post), hoping that a simple one mile a day would get me back in the habit of run/walking, but no luck. Thankfully, the Race Director of our local parkrun kind of gave me a kick in the pants, reminding me that they were doing something called (not)parkrun, where you could virtually parkrun throughout the week and post your times to the leaderboard.  

So finally, on September 20, after a few trial days at the gym, I laced up my shoes, put on my Sparkle Skirt (which, whoa, is much tighter than it used to be) and very slowly banged out 3.87 miles on the treadmill while watching some Parks & Rec on Netflix. 

My time? Over 90 minutes (though I didn't stop my watch for potty and stretch breaks). Am I happy I got my ass back on the 'mill? Yep. I'm going to do it again this weekend, and earn my Bridge of Lions 5k medal (hopefully...) 

I commend Beck Motor Group and their Race Director for their generosity and their compassion. I feel that it will be repaid tenfold next year when we can all run in person again!

Mo Honey, Mo Problems - Shake Your Honeymaker 5k Race Report

So, the WuFlu takes its first victim, my 5k.

I signed up to do a new race (new for me), the Shake Your Honeymaker 5k. It is either the 4th or 5th year that the Florida Museum of Natural History has done a race (last year had something to do with dinosaurs, I think?), and though I wasn't able to do it last year, I wanted to make sure I did it this year, so I signed up in January!

Well, as we all know, this Covid-19 thing is getting worse around the world, worse in America, and worse in our state and county. So it wasn't a surprise when I got an email on March 12th, stating that the race became a virtual race (which I absolutely HATE!). However, between a virtual or a cancellation, I'll take a virtual any time. The event organizer was also able to open the course so if we wanted to run it (while social distancing, of course!) any time race weekend, we could do so. All we had to do was send in our race time, or a link to our Strava/GPS program etc, and we'd get our bling. She even promised that anyone who sent in their time would still be eligible for the raffle prizes (spoiler alert: I didn't win anything).

So, I hopped on my treadmill, turned on the TV, and watched most of Wall-E while I walked my 5k.

After everyone had a chance to submit their time and their photos, Amy (the event director) took the time to put together a slide show in lieu of traditional finisher photos. I was touched that she took the time to do that, and it was fun to see everyone in their own environments.

Originally, we were told that Amy planned on handing out swag on April 1, when things calmed down a little bit. Well, as we know now, it didn't calm down; it got crazier.

April came and went.

May came and went.

Finally, last week, we got an email sharing that it was finally "safe" to pick up our bling, so I hopped in the car to go get my cute little medal and my tee.

What a weird experience, this race was!

You Guys, I Won a Thing!!!

Holy shit, you guys! I did a thing! It's so awesome!

So, I try not to share too much about my work on my blog. Mostly because it's boring, mostly because it's of a sensitive nature. So, let me back up and tell you about what I've been doing for the past four years...

I work for our local County government, dealing with crime, the court system, and more recently, Mental Health and Substance Abuse (once I became the assistant to the Criminal Justice Liaison at work). 

In 2016, the Board of County Commissioners required that our small department implement and execute training for all County employees in this new-fangled thing called Mental Health First Aid. It's an 8-hour training course to teach laypeople to recognize and help assist those with mental health and/or substance abuse issues. I equate it to First Aid that you'd learn from the Red Cross - it's like emergency help, until the real help arrives. At first, my boss was muddling through, trying to figure out how to get a project of this size off the ground (we have over 800 employees that needed to take this training, at the time we started). After a few weeks, he asked for my assistance, and well... with my obnoxiously amazing organizational skills, I kind of stole this project from my boss and ran with it. I scheduled trainers and venues; I implemented a system of scheduling attendees (I started out doing it by hand, which got really old really quick), by June 2016, we were having trainings of 25 people at a time (as recommended by the curriculum) every single week. We trained over 850 employees in just over twelve months.

Once the word began to spread about how good and useful the course was, the Commissioners asked ("asked") us to take on the challenge of also training the remainder of county staff (that didn't fall under the division of the County Commission), any and all of the outlying municipalities (smaller cities within County limits), the entire civilian staff of the Sheriff's Office, the entire Library District, and any non-profit organization that received funding from the County. These staff were trained from 2017 through the beginning of 2019. We held our last class in February, and once everything was tallied up, we could report that we trained two thousand people in Mental Health First Aid. That's two thousand people within the community who are now able to recognize mental health and/or substance abuse issues in people, and assist until more professional help can be obtained.

In March 2020 (right before Covid sent everyone into a tailspin), on a whim, my boss (a.k.a. Boss Man) decided to submit our accomplishment for the 2020 Achievement Award in the category of "Personnel Management, Employment, and Training" from the National Association of Counties (NACo) and I just found out that we won!!!  WE WON!!!

The email said:

The National Association of Counties (NACo) is pleased to grant Alachua County a 2020 Achievement Award for its program titled “A New, Collaborative Strategy to Build Awareness of Mental Health Issues and Provide a Practical Response” in the category of Personnel Management, Employment and Training. Due to its exceptional results and unique innovations, your program has been chosen to receive the honor of Best in Category! Each year, one program in each of the 18 categories receives the Best in Category designation, and we congratulate you on this outstanding distinction.

 I don't know what other counties submitted applications (or if I'll ever know), but the fact that my lil ol county and my lil ol training program just won a national award is killing me!

Ironically, due to the WuFlu, there is NOT an award banquet this year, so I can't go and get this award in person. But we'll be highlighted on their website and in a special issue of their newsletter. 

I most definitely believe that our Board of Commissioners will want to toot their own horns as well, and there'll probably be a big to-do at an upcoming board meeting.

ETA:
On June 15th, the County posted a story about it on their website. 

ETAA:
On June 19th, the local newspaper also ran a story about it. I refuse to link to the paper (because they are blatantly anti-conservative and offensively biased), so I copied the text (and removed any actual names from the story, for Boss Man's privacy).

County wins award for expansive mental health training for workers.

Alachua County was nationally recognized for its three-year-long initiative to train county workers in mental-health first aid.

 In 2016, the board of county commissioners started the Mental Health First Aid Training Initiative. So far, it has trained 2,126 county employees how best to respond to mental health crises, and the National Association of Counties gave the program an Achievement Award earlier this month.

The association has an annual award program designed to recognize and celebrate innovative county initiatives throughout the country. Eighteen awards were given this year, and each recognized a different type of service that counties provide, such as criminal justice, public safety or parks and recreation.

Alachua County won the award for “personnel management, employment and training” with its Mental Health First Aid Training Initiative.

MHFA participants — all county employees, by order of the board of county commissioners — were required to attend an eight-hour training session where they learned about common mental illnesses like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression and anxiety.

During the training, participants were separated into small groups to discuss appropriate actions to take in specific scenarios where someone is having a mental-health crisis.

Over the past three years, the program had three phases; the first focused on training a total of 1,131 county government employees.

The second phase began in 2017 and sought to focus on those who work for the county’s constitutional and judicial officers. This included 867 workers from places like the county’s property appraiser, tax collector and supervisor of elections offices.

In the third phase, the program focused on training staff in municipalities throughout the county, like Newberry and Alachua, along with the library district and some charitable organizations. This amounted to 128 more trained staff.

The Alachua County Department of Court Services was responsible for oversight and implementation of the training because of its previous responsibilities in handling grants geared toward similar mental-health goals, said {Boss Man}, the department’s criminal justice liaison.

For instance, the court services department was responsible for helping implement the Criminal Justice, Mental Health and Substance Abuse Grant from the Florida Department of Children and Families — a grant that aids mentally ill people at risk of entering the criminal justice system.

“That was the vehicle for how we learned about mental health first-aid training,” {Boss Man} said. “Then we entered a sort of brave new world of expanding it to over 2,100 additional public employees throughout the county through this whole training initiative.”

{Boss Man} said the program did not train employees of law enforcement offices like the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office or the Gainesville Police Department. Those departments have their own mental health and crisis training, such as the 40-hour Crisis Intervention Training curriculum.

He said law enforcement CIT programs are generally more in depth and aimed at the kinds of situations officers experience in the field. Meanwhile, the county’s MHFA program isn’t quite as rigorous.

According to {Boss Man}, one of the program’s cruxes is its five-step response plan, or “ALGEE,” which stands for “assess for risk of suicide or harm, listen non-judgmentally, give reassurance and information, encourage professional help and encourage self-help.”

He said this response strategy allows county workers to act as empathetic, non-judgmental supporters who can direct people in crisis to appropriate resources or counseling.

“Much of it is how you can help direct them to professional help,” {Boss Man} said. “Mental health first aid is not intended to be a substitute for professional counseling ... we’re not going to have people go out and engage in counseling on the street.”

The ultimate goal of the training was to expose county workers to the realities and prevalence of mental illness and to show them how they can act as supportive mediators for people in crisis in all aspects of their lives, whether that be in public offices or on the city streets, he said.

{Boss Man} said the MHFA training program will continue as new county employees are hired.
Due to COVID-19, the association will no longer hold an in-person award ceremony to promote this year’s Achievement Award winners.

But, {Boss Man} is hopeful that other counties throughout the nation will use Alachua County’s MHFA program as a template for similar mental-health initiatives.

“I believe that I’m fortunate — and we’re fortunate — that we live in a county that seems to consider behavioral health as an important priority,” {Boss Man} said.

I *DID* the Thing!

Opting for Virtual - Spud Run 5k Race Report

Originally scheduled for May 2nd,  one of my most favorite runs - the Spud Run in Hastings, FL - was changed (well in advance, in April) to a later date in May, due to Covid.

As we got closer to the day of the race, many things still seemed up in the air and Jacob, the race director, contacted everyone at the beginning of May with this email:

I really was hoping that by the end of May, for goodness' sake, the world would be in a much better place (Future Me from July is laughing), that races and outdoor events would be up and running again, but alas...

Of the two options, I decided to go with the virtual, even though I hate virtuals. I'm going to let you in on a little secret... I hate being judged for my size and running ability. I don't know what their Cross-Country style would look like, but in my head, it involved me running while a bunch of people watched (like a track meet), and there was no way in hell I was going to put myself through that. The thought of people seeing me jiggle while I jogged, or pitying me when I had to slow down and walk after only a quarter-mile, all the judging in their heads... I couldn't do it. Rationally, I know that none of that would probably happen. Hell, everyone (including myself to others) would be cheering each other on, but in my head, all I would hear is pity (come on, fatass, you can do it! Good job, lardo!) 

So I emailed Jacob and he changed me to a virtual run. I gave him my address to ship my shirt and medal, and joked that unless he could sneak some in a box, I would sure miss the farm-fresh potatoes they give out every year. I don't think he got my sense of humor, as he replied that no potatoes would be sent out...

On May 29th, Jacob sent out a reminder of the new race location and 5k start time options, and shared for the virtual runners (me) that their goodies would be sent out the following week.

Not feeling very motivated, I ended up walking this on May 30th (awww, I did a virtual ON race day for once), and despite what my Garmin says, I did a full 3.1 miles in under an hour. Barely.

I am tired of this stupid Covid bullshit - which yes has caused a lot of deaths nationally and globally - to end. We can't hide from a virus. It will find you... that's what viruses do. This virus isn't not as deadly as first thought and feared. We are verging into Totalitarianism territory, with many of our local, state, and national politicians, and I fear that in the months ahead, it's just going to get worse. Economies and societies cannot thrive if the People are not allowed to live freely. We are not thriving right now. We are only surviving.