TR day 1 (I will have to add pics later as my connection cord seems to have walked off!)
Plan was to leave before noon but Dan's job did not let him off early and so we finally hit the road at 2:40. (After a trip to Baylor's friend to get his sun glasses, the bank, and a car place to get stuff to make the air conditioner work in the van.)
We got one hour down the road and stopped at Wally world to get more airconditioning coolant and some a few extras.
Back in the car and as we entered Iowa - Treyner's girlfriend sent a text that Michael Jackson had died. One of those shockers but not ya know?
We ate egg salad and veggies and chips in the car. I slept finally about 11 p.m. and heard through my sleep Treyner and Dan who were driving, talking about directions. Seems St. Louis had construction and an entire freeway dissapeared. (Sarcastic laughter please because obviously they did not heed some sort of detour) I started driving about 2 am and then Dan again about 6 am. This put us in Tupelo, Mississippi in time for breakfast. We all needed to get out and stretch our legs and straighten our backs. Waffle House and the entire cast of Mels Diner were there to greet us. It was funny because we were obviously not locals and we each stumbled into bright lights, one at a time. The local gang had to keep stopping there food to eyeball us and grunt their "Mornin's." Flo had black, painted on, tight jeans circa 1978 and I have no idea how she sat, zipped or quite honestly, farted without rupturing her appendix.
Dan and I split a meal - kids ate theirs and then we headed to Elvis's boyhood home cause when you hit a wrong road and it takes you to Tuppelo what else are ya gonna do? It was neat to see in person - we did not pay anything for the museum or tour - but after about a half an hour - were on the road again.
Because we were not on the right freeway - we had to cross Georgia and Alabama via highways to get to the right freeway we were running parrallel to. This meant hillbilly hades and some sights I will never want to relive. I had never seen a school bus chopped in half - a watermellon truck they called it. It had the cab part in tact but the back half was a convertible. Stop and go through hundreds of miles of highways and towns and the only great part was a fast food place called Krystals. They had a freezie thing that saved the day in the hot and humid conditions.
We finally pulled into Davenport (outside of Orlando) at about 9:30 eastern time. Our detour and the men's navigational direction slowed us down huge due to highway travel.
It was so awesome to see them and I cannot tell you how late we all stayed up catching up and looking at pics.
We had met our friends actually due to Disney in 2002. Treyner and their son Matthew had slammed into one another at the wave pool at Typhoon Lagoon and they got up, appologized and then Holly and Carsyn came over. We all met at the end of the day and have been friends since. They came and stayed in Minnesota, April 2003 for 2 weeks and we went to Ireland for 2 weeks that summer. In 2004 - we met back up in Florida but have not been able to connect since then.
They rented a house in a gated community for $1,400 for 2 weeks and it was huge. 4 bedrooms, pool and rec room. Vaulted ceilings - perfect for all of us. The kids fell right back into place and it was like time had not passed. The area must be hard hit with foreclosures because there was a sign stating if you bought one property, you got one for free!
We got to bed late - and I wish I had taken more pics that day. In fact we hardly took pics the whole trip. I think we were so glad to be with each other that we just were enjoying the moment.
Kenny is a fire fighter and Nikki was the first to do acrylic nails in Northern Ireland. She does them by hand (no electric drills or filing) and there has never been a salon I have seen that can replicate her work. At 18 and 16 theri kids have already started what we consider college so a lot of time talking about the differences in schooling was had.
A funny side note -
Matthew and Carsyn have always had a crush on each other as little kids and there was some thoughts of those feelings at first - but then Carsyn told me there was no chance - after a few days - she could not take his fears and lack of competition. He does not ride any rollercoasters or basically any thrill rides or like to try anything new. Food, travel etc.
Once day we were playing sand volleyball in Blizzard Beach and he would never dive for the ball etc. He wants to be a music producer and is very talented in many arenas but for Carsyn, after he told her he did not want to dive for a ball because he did not want to get sandy - she could not see any future.
My soon to be 16 year old stated, "I need a boyfriend to be more manly and a bit less of a wuss."
More to come!
). And while I won't get a second one, I might add on to this one at some point.
)Glad you had a good trip. Can't wait to hear more.
