Day 2.18: Cocoa Beach, FL to Atlanta, GA

Arielle decided to get up at 6:15am to walk to the beach for sunrise, which was really tranquil. She even wrote her first poem in years – here it is below.

The Sunrise

The first spotting is not of the source, but of its reflection, a pink hue tapping the clouds.
Then a crest appears, just one drop of light alters the horizon forever.
I’m mesmerized, drawn to its golden glisten, in awe of its powerful, yet meek entrance.
It takes but a tiny brushstroke to paint the sky and ocean, and I’m already locked in its beauty.
I sit and stare, watching the fire overcome the water.
As it rises, the ocean celebrates, glad again for morning.
Sun glimmering on the top of the water, reflecting off the backs of the waves, it plays hide and seek with the sand.
Not fully ready to reveal itself, it summons a cloud to conceal it, modest and unintrusive, leaving me begging for more.
Slowly, it feels safe in its own, letting itself shine through.
Waves dance, overlapping formations in perfectly aligned arches like endless encores of radio city rockettes.
No two waves the same; ever changing, ever moving.
No fear.
Every failing wave gives birth to a new one, determined to reach me.
Nothing has been lost.
Hidden behind a cloud once more, the sunlight shimmers like an opal necklace on the face of the water.
A bird glides eerily close to the water, teasing it.
The offensive line attacks again and this time I retreat, in self-protection, not in fear, I tell myself.
Waves leap over for another, only to fall short.
They will not reach me, I dare the universe.
Determined, the offensive line attempts again, and I instinctively grab my book, prepared to jump if necessary.
But again I win.
Sneaking slowly into my safe zone, I feel its threatening presence, but I believe we can coexist.
Fascinated with the waves, I’ve hardly noticed the blanket of clouds beginning to encroach on my perfect sky.
But the sun, ever-rising, ever-shining, will shine through.
Just be patient.
Offense tries again, but this time, it’s taken down by a different defense, another wave intercepting it to protect me.
The small crumbles the mighty.
I get comfortable, wanting to relax and take this all in, but the ocean senses my weakness and taunts me, creeping ever-closer.
Okay, you win.
The book is gone, I’ll read you for now.
And now I’m curious, eager, even hopeful that the water will reach me.
I rise to greet it, and it curtsies respectfully at my feet.
The sun is a faint glow above a ceiling of clouds, and far as the eye can see, I am alone.
Just me and my ocean.

Arielle returned long before Abe woke up and read a bit. Rather than leave first thing, we decided to play two games of Ticket to Ride, which Abe did not win but Ron still said his confidence was weakened after trying to comprehend Abe’s strategy. We hit the road to go straight north, meeting the 10 freeway all the way at its eastern starting point in Jacksonville after driving on it for almost 2000 miles from its western starting point in Santa Monica. Several hours later, we crossed into Georgia, where we had a very fancy dinner of Wendy’s (baked potato with broccoli and cheese) for Arielle and Chipotle (three-pointer steak burrito with chips and guacamole on the side) for Abe. Arielle nearly got crushed between a car and a truck when her lane abruptly decided to end and three lanes merged on I-75, prompting her to declare that we’d never move to Atlanta.

Seeing Sarah and Hillel when we arrived at their new home made us reconsider, and we were escorted to our lovely accommodations for the next few nights. We recapped our adventures thus far with our handy whiteboard map and stayed up well past midnight playing Sushi Go, which we had brought as a gift to our game-loving friends – little did we know it would be our earliest night!

Approximate number of miles covered: 523

Day 2:17: Hollywood, FL to Cocoa Beach, FL

We got up early and packed up the car, closing out our stay in South Florida and grateful to Andrew and Lauren for their hospitality, both while they were in town and while they were away. We found a Kinko’s en route for Arielle to print some materials for the training she ran that morning for JFS at Home in Boca Raton for therapists, companions, case managers, social workers about how and why to engage in end-of-life conversations with clients and loved ones. Abe didn’t see it so he can’t attest to its quality, but we all know that it was certainly superb. After the session, we went down the street to Pei Wei so Abe could get a teriyaki tofu stir fry and Arielle could get sushi she wasn’t sure she really wanted. We completed the free survey to get a cookie, and waited around for a while because of some miscommunication with the very enthusiastic actor-turned-cashier about our order being takeout. We drove about fifteen minutes to Brendy’s, which was Bubbe’s favorite ice cream shop, and Arielle got peanut butter and coffee soft-serve yogurt.

We continued up towards Cocoa Beach, stopping in Merritt Island at a Pep Boys that was much more helpful than the one we had been to earlier, explaining to us that the new brakes we got before we left Los Angeles aren’t yet sitting in the rotors, and as a result they’re going to make a grinding sound because the metal has been tempered (when they’re very hot and then cooled very fast, metal becomes brittle). The mechanic spent a while telling us everything, and we were grateful for his extremely helpful analysis. We drove the remaining twenty minutes or so to Cocoa Beach, where we arrived at the rented home of Ron and Pam, who we met for lunch last week. Pam was back in New Hampshire, so Ron showed us around after we dropped our belongings and we walked about ten minutes to the beach, where we enjoyed a lovely stroll along the sand. We walked back to the house and drove to downtown, where we parked at Coconuts on the Beach. Abe and Ron both enjoyed the drunken salmon, while Arielle got the largest pretzel in the world. There was a band playing for the entire time we were there, doing a series of extremely long songs and making conversation relatively difficult. It was nice to sit outside for our last meal in Florida.

Of course we had to go for ice cream, and wandered down the street to the Fat Donkey. When we asked, they said you could split a scoop into two half-scoops, but then they gave us three scoops each instead! Arielle got Birthday Cake and Mint Chip, while Abe got Chocolate Cake and Cookies ‘N Cream. It was good but definitely too much, and Arielle had to throw out some of her ice cream for possibly the first time in her life.

We drove back home and played 3 games of Ticket to Ride: Rails to Sails with Ron, who had lapped us by two hundred points the first few times we had played in New Hampshire in August. Abe was delayed to have won one of the games thanks to his always-utilized and often-publicized strategy of being the one to finish first, ensuring that the game ends before the other players are fully prepared to have finished their moves. We enjoyed the game and resisted the urge to play again, heading instead to bed.

Approximate number of miles covered: 182