Where Did They Come From; Where Are They Going?

We've been traveling all day and the traffic is heavy. The license plates we've seen are from various places like Minnesota,  Ontario, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Tennessee, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Arkansas. The assortment of vehicles complements the variety as well. They are large and small with most somewhere between. Some had 6 or 7 inches of snow riding on the top. Many were so encased with a brown or gray layer of dirt from the roadway it was hard to tell what color they were, while just a few were sparkling clean. Drivers were dancing to the beat of the music, in deep conversation with the passenger or gripping the steering wheel with both hands devoting complete attention to the traffic around them.

As I ride along this highway listening to Christmas music or news or the oldies, I've been watching the folks pass by, wondering where they've been and where they could be going.

The sun is setting, traffic is thinning and we have 50 miles to go before we stop for today. God blessed us with a good trip today! Tomorrow we'll be travelling again, I wonder what sights we'll see then?

A Busy Week

Ray's back is getting better. He feels more like getting out and doing things. We went to Fort Myers for the Sand Sculpting exhibit last week. It was fun to watch the artists at work.

I celebrated my birthday, Vicki and Terry treated us to dinner. They even got a Red Velvet cake and ice cream. I had lots of phone calls and text messages to wish me a happy birthday, too.

Vicki and I learned and practiced line dances at the club house every morning and had three other ladies join us one morning. We made turkey favors to take to our Thanksgiving dinner at Dee & WD's in Sarasota.

We met new friends at Thanksgiving, ate the most delicious food, every bite, and taught a couple of the line dances we learned  to Dee, Judy, Nikki and Tori. What a sight, the six of us dancing in Dee's kitchen where there wasn't much space, but a huge bundle of laughter and fun. This was the first time I've been away from my kids for Thanksgiving, that was odd and I missed them, but dancing in the kitchen was fun. Someday when Nikki & Tori are professional tennis players, I'll watch them on TV and say I danced with them in the kitchen on Thanksgiving. I should have taken pictures, but didn't have the camera out until everyone was leaving. I didn't do a very good job being the photographer that day.

Terry played Petanque one afternoon with a group of Canadians. We went along to be the spectators and cheer him on. He was quite good at the game and Friday the four of us played. It was the guys against the girls. We managed to beat the guys 2 out of 3 games. Later in the evening we met at the club house to play Hearts. The girls won again.

I will miss all of this when we go home, but I will be so happy to see my kids and grandkids again.

Another Night in Port Richey

We were able to leave Panama City Beach while the Ironman contestants were swimming; avoiding a traffic jam during the biking or running events. The day was beautiful and the trip was good. We decided to stop for the night and found an available site in Port Richey that was very convenient. Then it happened, Ray was unhooking the Suburban from the motorhome when his back wrenched.

This morning we spent an hour working to get him out of bed. We called Judi to let her know we wouldn't be arriving today as scheduled. The rest of the day was spent icing, heating and massaging Ray's back. He says he'll be able to travel tomorrow. WD called and offered to come drive us to Sun 'N Fun. I knew he would, but Ray thinks he'll be able to drive. So hopefully my next post will be from Sarasota.

The Card

Over the years, we have gone from using travelers checks to a Visa travel card to our newest version from American Express, purchased at our local AAA office.

The AAA agent who handled the switch from our old travel card to the new one explained that AAA had changed providers and that the new one would work exactly as the old one had in the past. We questioned whether it would be accepted as readily everywhere as the Visa card had been and she enthusiastically assured us that it would.

Well....so far it has not been welcomed everywhere. As a matter of fact, the only place it has worked has been Walmart. The RV park could not accept it, the restaurants here will not take it. One even accepted a personal check, but not the card. Even the banks can't accept the card.

We've made numerous phone calls to AAA and American Express and spent a whole day trying to track down even one ATM that would accept the card. It seems we have a "global travel savings card". There is no way to get any cash from it or make a purchase, except at Walmart. We love Walmart as much as the rest of America, but we don't want to spend all our travel money there!

We've decided to use our regular credit card instead of becoming any more frustrated with the card. That defeats our goal of using cash instead of credit during this trip.

We will be looking for a new way to use cash while traveling.

I-65 Southbound

It was pretty chilly this morning at Jellystone Park. We were up early so we went to our favorite spot for breakfast when we're traveling, Cracker Barrel. As we were leaving the restaurant I saw a local celebrity, Eddie B., going in. Sorry Vicki, I didn't get to say hi.

We're in Alabama now, with the wind at our back and not much traffic. The sun is shining, but the news on the radio is not very good for the folks on the east coast where Hurricane Sandy is. We have winds up to 30mph here.

We made it to Camper's Inn as the sun was setting. We're ready to stop, it has been a long day.

Winter in the Bluegrass

Last week the weather was warm and sunny until Friday. Old man winter is creeping in. Today he brought cold gray skies and a light misty rain, just a warning of things to come. It isn't a beautiful day for travel, but we are headed south via the Bluegrass Parkway on our way to Nashville. I wish our North Dakota friends could meet us there, but they will be a few days behind us and we'll meet them a little farther down the road.

Today is a good day for a toasty warm fire. Maybe Cracker Barrel will have one for us when we meet our former pastor and his wife for a late lunch when we arrive in Nashville.

Political Lessons from the Mouth of Babes!

Today I worked for a short time in a K/1 class where they were learning about government. One child asked me who I thought would be the best president. I was able to turn the question and learned he thinks B. Obama would be his choice. He had support at his table,too. The child across the table said, "Yea, because Romney wants people to marry someone they don't really love and if rich people take a taxi they won't pay as much as a poor person."