A Great Weekend

We had a wonderful weekend in Jacksonville, Florida. We had a load that had to be in a secure location until delivery this morning. Ron and I were not allowed to stay with the truck (no facilities) and were put up in a motel for the time being. When we were certain of the details we contacted Ron's sister, Donna, who lives near Tampa. She drove up Saturday morning with her dog and spent time with us until Sunday afternoon. It was great seeing her. It's been 13 months since we last had a visit. We hadn't seen Ricky, the pup, in over 2 yrs. and he's not too friendly with strangers so I was a little apprehensive. Needlessly as it turned out. After giving Ron a huge welcome Ricky became my best buddy. So much so that he slept at my feet on our bed and totally ignored his "Mommy". What a surprise! After brunch Saturday morning we checked in at the motel and changed clothes. We decided to take the small trip to St. Augustine. I had never been there so we made the tourist thing and went to the Fountain of Youth. It's a beautiful park with interesting exhibits and performances. We got to see the firing of the cannon. And they are all pet-friendly. We tried to have dinner at the Santa Maria, a ship-restaurant that Donna had been to before but we couldn't get a place to park within 5 miles of the place. Not only was it St. Patrick's Day but also it was Bike Week. I have never seen so many motorcycles in one place in my life. But it still was a unique place. I would love to go back sometime when there are not so many people. After we delivered this morning we got a load out of St. Petersburg and are spending the night in Tampa. We called Donna and had dinner with her at Cracker Barrel. An unexpected delight for all of us, an extension of our weekend.

I just finished reading a great book. It took me all of about 20 hours to read from cover to cover. This book is titled "Heaven is for Real" and is the true story of a little boy who had an out-of-body experience while in the hospital. It's written by the boy's father, Todd Burpo, and is fascinating from start to finish. Colton was critically ill when he had surgery and miraculously survived. After months had passed he made a comment that had his parents thinking and asking questions. He described Jesus, God's throne, Heaven, the Holy Spirit and people who died decades before Colton was born. His statements were proven to be in Scripture and several things he talked about were things a 3-year-old could not possibly know. Very intriguing and I highly recommend it.

We will be leaving Florida tomorrow morning for a return to the Midwest. That may be a good thing because if we stayed here one more day I was going to go shopping for some summer clothes. Capris and heavy T-shirts are just too warm for 85 degree weather. Tough, isn't it? :)
Sorry, I had a moment of pity-party. I guess this is it for tonight so--Until next time . . . . . . . .

And Here We Sit

We have put in a lot of miles in the past week. First let me tell you that we had a relaxing time at home for 5 days, even though we had a lot of errands to get done. We left on Monday morning and our itinerary is as follows: Louisville, Ky; Pittsburgh, Pa; Cumberland, Md; Anniston, Al; Colorado Springs, Co. and ending up on layover in Denver. We have been here since Friday noon and waiting for a load out. We had one that would take us to Sunnyvale, California but was postponed until next week. So we wait some more. You would think that we would get something because we are the only truck (surprise) in Denver. But the dispatchers have been really quiet. Not a good thing! I guess time will tell where we head next.

I will say that it's hard to believe that it is only the second week of March. The weather here is so great. We had a bit of a chill and light rain Sunday morning but otherwise we have been in shirtsleeves and sunshine since we got here. From the weather channel we've watched the fantastic temps all over the country. Maybe spring has arrived early? One can dream.

Early in my blogging I reported our experiences with Rest Areas. Well, I must tell you about our latest. We stopped at a service plaza in West Virginia to get something to eat. Breakfast had been about 7 hours earlier. One of us had to babysit our load and truck and I needed to stretch my legs so I volunteered to make the journey to the building. These places never let trucks park anywhere near the buildings. As I made my way there I noticed some workmen at one of the entrances but didn't pay too much attention and continued past an antique shop that was closed and another door that was blocked by storage bins. As I rounded the corner I saw some people standing around the door. I asked if this was the entrance and was told it was locked. I then started to complain about having to walk around the entire structure (which must have been the size of an athletic arena) when the young people told me the whole building was locked down. Absolutely nothing was open except the fuel islands. Makes me wonder what all the cars were doing in the parking lot. Plus it's a good thing the only reason we stopped was for food because it was quite a while before we saw another rest area or food stop. I guess life is still full of challenges and unexpected circumstances. So---Until next time . . . . . . . . . .

Errands and More Errands

We finally made it home Tuesday night for the first time since New Year's. It feels so good to be here, now I just wish I could find time to just veg for a while. The past couple of days my brain seems to be pure mush. We had to make it home before today because we had fuel tax stickers and the registration for the truck in the mail and the old ones expired yesterday. We certainly didn't have much time to play with. But the good Lord was willing and we made it.

We've been so busy since we got here. Wednesday started out with breakfast out because Mother Hubbard's cupboards were bare. From there we made the rounds to the eye clinic to pick up Ron's new glasses, to MedPoint because Ron has another respiratory infection, to Walmart to restock the food supply, to the post office to relieve them of a mountain of mail and finally home to put everything away. After a quick lunch I had to place myself at the kitchen table for the great task of getting things ready to have our taxes done. This took me the better part of the afternoon and evening to get done. I sent Ron out for gyros for supper so I could keep working. By the time I felt ready to call it quits my brain was truly rebelling. At that point it was time for bed.

Thursday morning--up and going all over again. This time we had a hearty breakfast at home, headed out to the accountant's for a 3 1/2 hour tax preparation session. Once we got this year's done we discovered that we had to amend last year's--all with good endings. Thank goodness. From there we went to lunch, the post office again and then to the BMV to get the registration for the new car. Today we arrived back home just before dark. Another day gone!!! The way I feel we are having soup and sandwiches tonight (we had buffet for lunch so I don't feel guilty)!

The rest of our time home is pretty much open. I'll do some baking and cooking/freezing for the truck, some good cooking for here at home, maybe go to dinner with some friends. Hopefully we'll get some time to sit and relax for a couple of hours before going back to the store to stock the truck again. We will be heading out Monday morning but don't have a destination yet. It would be nice to get home for Easter again this year but I'm not sure since we're here now. Time will tell. Until next time . . . . . . . . .