Jan 19 - in our southern home

Yes, we're back. It was an easy drive yesterday, another 9.5 hours. There were no detours this time. One gas/Subway stop and two restroom stops and the drive was done. 8490 miles over 170 hours, according to the NAV. That's a lot of miles. That's a lot of hours ! Both the miles and hours include side trips, not simply the cross-country driving, which inflates both.

Almost everything was in good shape here when we arrived. We lost one plant -- our so-called "grandma plant" grown and maintained from a cutting that we originally got from my Grandma Thompson. We're hoping that one of two friends still has some living because Stef's and Bonnie's both died.

While we were in Wytheville I called Amex Travel regarding our flights to Aruba/Bonaire in April. The outbound leaves from Orlando and goes to Charlotte, then we change planes to fly to Aruba. I got one of their emails signaling a change and noticed that we now arrive in Charlotte after the flight to Aruba leaves. Heaven only knows why the didn't automatically change the second leg of the trip. Clearly the connection time of "52 minutes" must have been negative and I didn't check to see if the "total travel time" had some rationale in its calculation ! This was a big duh.

The wine is in the cooler. The cereal is in the cupboard. I did not do well this trip though, forgetting to put things on my list for the trip down -- General Store chicken soup powder, Robin Hood flour for my bread maker and feta-stuffed jalapenos should all have been on my list. This morning I found that I left my calculator on my desk up north.

We had a small pile of mail, not huge because we've only been gone a month. It would have been smaller except for all the Christmas cards that landed while we were gone. There were also a few packages -- a cookbook that we'd bought for Lauren that was back ordered -- we'll give that to her another time; another pair of the slipstreamz noise reducers for bicycle helmets -- I'd found a cheaper place to buy them; a long brake bolt for one of my lights and the six boxes of carb-boom vanilla orange that replaces the unwanted vanilla carb-boom that Vigorous Living sent me. They were also supposed to include a UPS return shipping label ... I'll contact them by email about that.

Abby was happy to get out of the car but did not appear overjoyed as she did when we arrived at the cottage. Once we get out in the boat and have some visitors she'll be happy. The latter will happen tomorrow night when David, Kim and Meagan arrive. They got to Florida right after we crossed the border -- David called Sandy -- they now have two nights & days in Orlando before driving here.

One of George's recent blogs was "another cross country trip .. check" ... well, this was our first ... check. We probably have another one in us at some point as well as a trip to the east coast. Should I push my luck and keep driving this car ? We'll see, but I suspect not another cross country.

I find that I am now a member of HOG with a bunch of stuff having arrived in the mail. HOG -- Harley Owners Group -- is something like CAA for Harleys. A sizable book with maps of every state and province is designed to let you know where all the Harley dealerships are located. It also includes central and south America ... just in case we're touring with our motorcycle in Rio !

We had triggerfish last night for dinner, with broccoli and rice. Did you know that you have to eat 7 pounds of broccoli per day to get your required amount of calcium ? That would be if you didn't eat/drink anything else with calcium of course. I'll have to find another source since I don't think that I could choke down 7 pounds of broccoli. I'm sure that if I did eat that much broccoli per day something else would cause me problems.

We had a warm welcome. 72F when we arrived, well not quite that warm beachside, and 72, 80, 74, 73, 74 being the forecast for the next few days we'll be able to make the most of David's stay here. I'm sure that the water will be cool so warmer clothing will be required on the boat, but at least it's not freezing. The internet shows 46F right now ... and 9F at the cottage. All things considered, I'd rather be here !

Sandy wants to do some cleaning; I want to do some riding. I guess that I'll get out of her way. The sky is clear ... I'll head out mid to late morning. My legs and butt don't know what's coming ... shhhh.

Onward !