November 27, 2022
Fort Pierce ➡️ St. Petersburg
As week five aboard Kya Anne beings, we’ve pushed up our departure date and hope to leave sometime next week and begin making our way south. Knowing this, I decided I’d better stop talking about visiting friends on the West coast of Florida and actually make it happen.
Quick Rewind: I met Matt & Rachael in July 2022 when they stayed ay my bed & breakfast back in Anchorage. This wonderful couple left warm fuzzies in my heart during their stay with me, so I was excited to have a chance to visit them on their own stomping grounds in St. Petersburg.
As I mapped out the route for my solo road trip from Fort Pierce (East side of Florida) to St. Petersburg (West side of Florida), I cross referenced the cities near and along my proposed route against the Labyrinth Locator website and discovered that there were SO MANY labyrinths I might be able to visit along the way (if I was willing to take a few quick side-trips).
I wasn’t sure I could fit them all in, which was discouraging, but when I had proposed to Rachael that we should check out a few of the labyrinths in St. Petersburg and the surrounding areas, she was intrigued and willing to check out a few with me.
(You can read about those labyrinth walks in future Labyrinth Lessons posts.)
With a Google maps itinerary in hand (well, on my phone…) and a willing adventurer waiting for me in St. Petersburg, I was excited to hit the road. Despite my enthusiasm, however, I was adamant about attending church on Sunday before leaving on my road trip, so I made arrangements to pick up the rental car at noon. Unfortunately, church services started late and ran long, so it was well after 1:00 p.m. before I was able to pick up my rental car and get on the road. With the sun setting around 5:45 p.m. on Sunday, my ability to stop for all of the half-dozen labyrinths between Fort Pierce and St. Petersburg became an impossibility.
However, having been assured that we would be able to visit labyrinths while I was in St. Petersburg, I enjoyed a leisurely drive without (too) much anxiety about missing some labyrinths along the way. (Who knew that FOMO of labyrinths was a thing? Maybe it’s just me?!)
My first stop was half-way between the East Coast and the West Coast of Florida in Sebring, where I walked the labyrinth at Atonement Lutheran Church.
Since it was the middle of the day, I had the whole place to myself, except for this fearless tortoise who was heading straight for me, munching happily on everything in his path.
Wild tortoises are not something you’ll see in Anchorage, so I spent far too long staring at it in perplexed fascination.
Where did he come from? Was he wild or was he someone’s escaped pet? How come he came straight towards me rather than veering away? Was about to be attacked (in slow motion) by a tortoise? Why did I feel the need to quickly walk away from this torpid Testudinidae?
After I escaped from the murderous turtle, I continued my journey westward.
You may be wondering if I had any trouble (beyond my moments ot tortoise terror) on my trek across Florida. Yes, yes I did.
However, I won’t bore you with the specifics of my ‘roadkill incident’, but I will say that a very nice man stopped to help me (despite the fact that he had his young children in the truck and he was towing a trailer with an off-road vehicle behind him). He even followed me for the next few miles to make sure I didn’t have any other issues. (Thank you, kind stranger!)
With no further mishaps, I decided I still had time and took a slightly circuitous route, diverting south to Punta Gorda, then north again to stop at the Unity of Venice for a labyrinth walk. I’ll talk more about that experience in an upcoming labyrinth lesson, but let me just say that they had a BEAUTIFUL outdoor space that features the Twelve Powers Prayer Garden, the labyrinth, a gazebo, a fire-pit and an intimate outdoor chapel.
I would have lingered there longer, but quickly realized I had grossly underestimated my driving time. I was still more than an hour away from my final destination and dusk was falling quickly. Consequently, it was around 8:00/8:30 p.m. before I arrived at Matt & Rachael’s. It rained the whole last 30-40 minutes of my drive and I even saw lightning (which I loved)! I know that’s not a big deal to many folks, but we don’t get much in the way of thunder and lighting in Anchorage, so it was a real treat for me.
With my later-than-planned arrival and their early bedtime, our time to catch up passed quickly and we all turned in for the night. I was warned to close my door if I didn’t want Bunco or Cosmo (their cats) interrupting my sleep, so I barricaded myself (LOL) in my room for the night and fell asleep quickly on what had to be the most comfortable mattress I have ever slept on. (Bamboo for the WIN!)
