Friday 02/26/16
Friday 02/26/16, we woke up to the delicious scent of breakfast. Scrambled eggs with mushrooms and cheese, toast and fruit. How we are spoiled by our dear friends Jack and Sharon. Thanks guys.
Drew picked us up before 11:00am, to drive down to Brandon FL to surprise Cody (5th child, almost 29 years old) for his birthday. We thankfully had an uneventful trip, and I found that exciting since Han was driving for the first time in six years, and I was a bit nervous. (Yes, he will see this. LOL It is what it is.)
We left our car at the shop to get a few things done.
We made a little side trip into Gainesville, my hometown, to show Drew (4th child, 30 years old) where I was raised. I began reminiscing about “The Sandwich Inn” and telling Han and Drew how it had been around forever and about the times my family and I would go there. Being that it was almost lunch time, we found ourselves in line ordering up burgers and fries. They still have the old-timey speaker boxes, just like I remembered and the burgers literally tasted just the same. Drew and Han were also enjoyed their meals while listening to my ongoing dialogue of childhood memories.
One thing that I noted was that everyone who was working were younger than the Sandwich Inn itself. It just turned 54 years old, which is two years younger than I am.
Some favorite memories are the multiple occasions that my mom and I would have lunch there and sit in the car underneath the canopy of shade trees and have our “girl talks.”
I wanted to surprise Cody in a big way, so we had Drew drop us off on a side road near Cody’s house. While Drew picked him up, we began walking down the road to pretend we were hitchhiking. We could hear the car coming, put our thumbs out, turned to look at them and to see the expression on Cody’s face when he saw us, made for one of the most heartfelt reunions ever. It made my heart so very happy. He jumped out, grabbed us and then there were happy tears. I thought he might break the door before using the handle. LOL
Bunches of hugs all around, then down the road we all went for some drinks and to wait the arrival of Ashley (Cody’s sweet girlfriend) and her family. We saw Hooter’s and teased about going there. Unbeknownst to us, Cody had another place in mind for wings, with even skimpier outfits on the waitresses. I was one of the few women in the restaurant. Go figure!
When the rest of the crew arrived we all had dinner, enjoyed getting to know each other and then we came back to attempt some sleep time. Drew, Han and I all took turns snoring, so it was a restless night. Ugh!
Saturday 02/27/16, we went to see Cody’s new apartment (it is in a great area and very nice) and just hanging out together. Went to the mall and some game stores.
The traffic and the insanity of drivers in that area are possibly some of the worst I have ever encountered. Keep that in mind if you ever venture down that way. If I was a cat with nine lives, five of them may have already been used up. Stay alert at all times.
In the mall were some stuffed animal ride-on-toys big enough for grown-ups. I wanted to ride one so bad, and I really should have. They also had a two story beautiful carousel. Han and I propped our feet up while the kids went off in search of video games. Gave Cody his gifts early. He is a Tampa Bay Bucs football fanatic, so I had purchased in New Orleans some Buccaneer beads, which he loved. He is my big ole teddy bear.
Tomorrow is his birthday and I hear that go-cart racing is on the agenda. Yikes!
Sunday 02/28/16
Happy Birthday Cody!
Cody and Ashley came over late morning and we all drove together to the “Tampa Bay Grand Prix” in Sabal Park. We did not know that Cody had invited many of his friends, so we had a waiting period for everyone to show up and I was thankful for that because it gave me the opportunity to learn that I DID NOT want to drive the electric Italian pro-carts that reach speeds up to 50 mph. Noticing roll bars, required helmets and some collisions helped with the final decision of remaining a spectator. I am not a sissy, but I also wanted to be able to walk the next day. Han and I throughly enjoyed watching the crew of eight be aggressively competitive with each other. Drew won all three races and he was excellent on the track.
Cody has some great humorous friends and we all decided to carry the party to a sushi restaurant in the area that had outstanding ratings. Amazing how fast they sat a party of 10 and the restaurant ratings were spot on. It is called, “Sushi Maru.”
After dinner the kids went to continue the party and Han and I went back to the hotel for some relaxation time.
Cody dropped Drew off at the hotel and came in to give his mama some hugs bye-bye. He is very tender-hearted and loves his mama. : ) and it will be several months before we see each other again.
Tomorrow we head back to Fernandina.
Monday 02/29/16 until……we hit the road again on Sunday 03/13/16
Happy Leap Year Day!
We had some breakfast, loaded the car, picked up Ashley at her hotel and headed out. Yes, I drove.
Arrived back in Fernandina Beach, picked our car up and from then on it has been tons of pollen coating everything in sight including our sinuses and it is misery.
The yellow stuff is EVERYWHERE and I truly hope that it will lessen as we go north.
We have been doing multiple necessary errands (from ordering business cards to dentist appts), catching up with friends over lunches, getting a massage (thank you Nancy & Mike Shores), visiting with Kaylen (6 years old, grand daughter), moving items to a larger storage unit (necessary), hair cut and just too much to list nor do I want to bore you to tears.
Hint: if nothing else I try and remember to send birthday cards to everyone. I go to the dollar store and purchase the cards I will need for the next six months, take them along and mail them from different places. So much easier than trying to find a store as each birthday arrives.
Sadly the only thing to do that was have not put on our agenda, which shame on us, is daily exercise. Somehow, someway we really need to make it a priority. Sitting in the car for hours upon hours seems to only increase the waistline. On this next leg of our journey, we have plans for many side trips that will include at least a fair amount of walking and hopefully hiking too. We and our friends are foodies. So hopefully left to our own devices, with no other destination but Washington, we will have more control over our eating. Hey we quit smoking, we can do this too.
This time we have only one set destination and not a set in stone time to arrive, even though I would like to make it by March 30th in time for my grandson’s 5th birthday on the 31st.
We are also taking the time, learned and needed, to pare down the amount of clothes and items we take with us. You learn fast when you have to empty out an over-loaded car one too many times and then shove it all back in with some sort of organization involved.
Simplify, simplify, simplify……..
My suggestion: lay all your clothes out that you think you will need, then pack half of that. I guarantee that you will end up wishing that you had only packed a 1/4 of it. That is what I am doing today. If you find that you missed something you cannot live without, there are always stores around.
I love that I have learned to live without much less than I felt I needed, as those have now turned into what should have been “wants” and simply left behind.
It will get me all trained an ready to live in a tiny home. Yep, that is on my bucket list. I need to go update it now.
The next part of our adventure will be written some what different. It will be more about particular sights to visit, hints for traveling, mishaps (hope there are none to report) and ideas on how to lose weight while on adventures. Survivor anyone? LOL
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