Please note…because we are going hither and yon, I may not have access to a wifi hot spot. Flying J fuel stops offer it for $4.95 per DAY and no way am I gonna pay that…so we will just have to find a McDonalds so I can upload. You might see three or four days in one post…this just means that a hot spot is not available.

Departure Day…Day one
Tuesday January 3, 2006

Finally we have arrived at our departure day. Paul has been loading up the rest of the “stuff” we are taking on our wonderful adventure. It seems odd that as I sit here in the comfort of our 37 foot motorhome, I am listening to one of the CD’s containing the Thomas Jefferson “interview” that our friends Karen and Mike Krause graciously lent to us. This interview has become a very popular yearly entertainment event in Chicago, hosted by WGN talk show icon John Williams and a wonderfully talented actor who portrays Jefferson with humor and intelligence. It really is a remarkable idea and a unique lesson in history that is both informative and entertaining to the listener. The actor who plays Jefferson (I have to look at the CD to find his name) is quite wonderful. He possesses a wealth of information about Jefferson, and it is interesting and entertaining to hear an actor reflect and speak most charmingly on today’s events and our times in general.

We are heading south on I57 as I write this. It is late afternoon. Earlier today, I had received an injection in my right hip. It was done by the Doctor of Radiology at the Springfield Clinic. Regretfully, it has not yet proven to be an effective solution to my very distressing hip pain. I have also taken more arthritis Tylenol with little relief. I must say that I am quite disappointed that this injection has not helped, I certainly was planning on walking a lot during our travels and it may not materialize or will be greatly hampered by my continuing hip pain and discomfort.

Paul, our Capitan, and Grandpa, navigator for the day, are scoping out potential boondocking sites. I think that they have decided on the Casino in Metropolis. It has been a long day and I think we need to stop and relax.
I will post more later when we are settled for the night.

Departure Day Part Deux

Well, we finally landed in Metropolis. I want to see the statue of Superman, in the town square tomorrow morning. Superman, aka Clark Kent, hails from this little town on the Illinois-Kentucky border, It should provide a couple of great photo opportunities. We are parked at the Harrah’s Casino for the night. I think Paul and Gene may take a stroll over to the casino if I am reading the signals correctly. It was an uneventful (Thank God!) trip thus far. The horrible day yesterday is now forgotten. By Paul. Not by me. I am keeping a close eye on him so he doesn’t find something else to fix for heaven’s sake. We just may get to Miami without any more crises’ …keep your fingers crossed, okay?

Well, enough of my ramblings for today. Looking forward to tomorrow’s blog.

Love,

Dennise


January 4, 2006
Day Two, Destination: Miami

A very interesting night…Paul and I pulled out the air mattress and began to set up for some much needed sleep. Oh, before I forget, both the Capitan and the Navigator came back from the Casino bemoaning the losses they had suffered at the slot machines. Whoever named slot machines “one armed bandits” obviously knew what they were talking about. Gee, here I was hoping we could have a little extra moola so I could take advantage of the diamond deals in the Caribbean. *Sigh*.

Well, now, lets go back to the air mattress. Not a good idea to try to sleep on the floor (or very close to it) if you 1. Have joint replacements and 2. You don’t like being cold. I meet both criteria, unfortunately. To add an exciting element to this, throw in somebody that has to tinkle at least four times a night (moi of course) and a neurotic cat who is not traveling too well. Of course, don’t forget the automatic kitty litter pan that makes the noise of a badly tuned hummer going off after she plays in the pan, and oh yes, it wasn’t working correctly so it ran and ran and ran continuously. Oh, lest I forget, the food dish containing dry kitty food…Our little darling Snickers decided to have a snack about 3 am ….the food dish was about 2 feet from my head and the first crunch was like a thunder roll right next to my ear. Other than that, it was a so-so night and, like I said earlier, interesting!

I am afraid that my desire to find the statue in the Square of Superman is going to remain unfulfilled, at least on this trip. Captain Paul is emulating Captain Kreeg.

We are packing up after a nice breakfast of English muffins and bagels with some tea. Back to the highway and continuing on towards Miami. I will post more later in the day

dennise

Well, my whining worked. Paul stopped and we got a picture of me & the big guy…you can see me when we get some juice so I can upload from my camera!

Ok, onwards and southwards we go!

Dennise

Day Two
Near Atlanta GA.

We are in Carterville to be exact, camping at the Allatoona Landing Marina and Campground. We are just north of Atlanta. As it was 5 pm, we decided to forgo the excitement of rush hour on Interstate 75 . It seems to be a pretty place, but we pulled in just as dusk was rising. I made an exciting dinner of Stouffer’s stuffed peppers and Chicken Parmigna with a lovely side dish of Kraft mac and cheese.

We will just relax and watch the tube tonight. We will probably sleep in a bit as early morning rush hour should be over by 9 or 9:30 am.

Tonight the air mattress will be placed on the sofa bed so I can perhaps get some sleep!

Tomorrow we should be in the warm sunshine state of Florida. Before I hit the sack tonight I am going to see where we will land for the night.

Hugs

Dennise

Day three…traversing through Atlanta.

This is such an exciting place to pass through. Accidents are happening all over the place. We saw four in the span of three miles.

We actually did “sleep in” this morning…arose about 8 am ET(I am not going to set my watch back I don’t care how many time zones I travel through, I hate doing that since my body clock is on central Illinois time anyways.)

Paul and I put the air bed on top of the sofa sleeper. I must say, we were up pretty high. I had to place the sofa cushions on the floor so I could just climb up into it. It was a much more comfortable arrangement, however I discovered one problem. Paul didn’t level the motorhome and the front was leaning down. I kept rolling into Paul all night. I didn’t mind, however he has a nasty habit of moving those elbows around to relieve his aching shoulders. He only biffed me a couple of times that I can remember! I do have some pictures that I will put up when I get access to some electric.

We are heading straight south, now towards Macon. Grandpa wants to get on the Florida turnpike all the way to Miami. I think we should take the scenic route and go Hwy 1. We don’t have to be on board ship until 3 pm on Monday. I don’t see why we have to rush down there just to sit in the motorhome for a day or two. Plus we don’t have a place to stay in Miami. This will be the topic of conversation as we tool towards Florida.

Will post more later.

dennise


Thursday afternoon...we just went thru Valdosta and are at the Flying J....I broke down and bought a month's worth of Flying J's wireless service....arrrgggh. 20 bucks I guess I can handle.