Well, we made it to Florida, all in one piece. We left Hastings at 3 PM on Tuesday after a couple of hospital board meetings. The coming storm was on its way and we seemed to stay just ahead of it. We only got as far as Anderson, Indiana where we stopped for the night. It was raining really hard and these old eyes just don’t see as well as they used to, so we thought it best to get a motel, get to bed early, and get an early start. We were both pretty wired, and we had brought a case of wine, packed on the bottom of course. Jean offered to crawl over everything to get to it. We could have opened the back, but it was raining so hard, we didn’t want to get drenched. We knew it was best to not get one out, so we didn’t.

We had a condo association meeting at our house Monday night, and it was somewhat stressful. I didn’t get to sleep until after 1 AM, and woke up at 6 AM with plenty of things to do, one of which was to turn in my resignation on the association board. To quote part of the letter, “I have always said that the pride and satisfaction of volunteering in a non-profit organization far outweighs the confrontation, criticism and second guessing about unimportant issues. I stand corrected.”

We left the next morning at 6, and fought rain and wind all morning. There was an accident on the ramp that goes from I-69 to I-465, so we crawled for 20 minutes or so. The rain wasn’t heavy but it came and went every few minutes. The crosswinds blew 30 or 40 mph with some higher gusts. We fought the steering wheel until we turned East at Nashville. Halfway between there and Chattanooga, the sun came out and it was quite pleasant. By the time we headed back South, the winds were calmer and the driving wasn’t so bad until we hit Atlanta. We hit downtown at 4:15, a bad time to be just passing through. There was an accident on one of the interstates going out to the West and that backed up traffic. After about 30 minutes of stop and go, we were back to smooth sailing.

We stayed in a small town in Georgia that had every train in the United States (or so it seemed) going through town in the middle of the night and blowing its whistle at every cross street. I was asleep by 9, tossed and turned until 3, and was wide awake from then until we left at 6. It was warm, somewhat breezy, and rained on and off until we got to Sebring. We decided to stop for a bathroom break about 30 miles up the road ‘cuz we knew we would have to take some time to check into the place and didn’t want to get caught in an uncomfortable position. Jean went in while I filled the car with gas, then it was my turn. Apparently, after all that driving, I was too dumb to get the light to turn on. I could get the fan going, but it must not have worked all that well ‘cuz it didn’t smell all that good. It was pitch black, so I didn’t dare try to guess where the toilet was and hope I didn’t go on the floor. Jean said she’d hold the door open a crack (no pun intended) so I could see, but it was noon and the area workers were lined up outside the door for Subways, so I skipped the pit stop.

We’re in a gated community that has an Avon Park address, but is closer to Sebring. We asked for directions to the nearest WalMart. Jean and I both listened, but neither of us got them right, so we stopped and asked for more directions. We never did get to WalMart, but stopped at a grocery store for a few supplies to tide us over. I remembered that you need to calm down, take a breath, and not be in a hurry to do anything down here. Everybody was in there, they had nothing else to do. The husbands (me included) pushed the carts, while the wives looked at every single item, making sure they got the best price. $104.72 later, we headed for our digs. I fired up the GPS, punched in our address, and it told us where to go. I’m sure it was the quickest route ‘cuz the voice kept telling us that. But it took us through a seedy (huge understatement) part of Sebring. There seemed to be a couple of “ladies of the evening” and a couple of guys who looked like either pimps, drug dealers, or both. It got us back, but next time I’ll second guess the route.

I know when I was in San Francisco I promised Heather I would practice using chopsticks before I came out the next time. Along those same lines, I knew that I should have practiced Florida driving techniques before I came down here, but I didn’t do that either. Everyone who comes down here should practice driving at least two miles with their blinker on and then, when you finally turn, turn the opposite direction. You should also practice driving in the far left lane of a three lane highway going 20 mph slower than all the other traffic ‘cuz you know you have to turn left five miles up the road. The third skill you need to sharpen is driving in the center lane of a busy street and then braking quickly ‘cuz you aren’t sure where the next grocery store is that’s handing out free food samples. There’s no need to practice turning left from the right lane and turning right from the left lane ‘cuz everybody does that and it soon becomes second nature.

I have to admit…it’s a heck of a lot nicer being here in 75 degree weather than being in Michigan, fighting the wind and cold, hoping for a day close to freezing. We took a bike ride this morning, driving in and out of all the streets in the complex. I never shifted the bike once, so you know it’s flat as a pancake. We stopped and watched a few people playing pickle ball. It’s kind of like tennis with a paddle instead of a racket, and it’s played with a whiffle ball instead of a tennis ball. I still don’t get the scoring, but that will come I’m sure. Robert should be here in a while, so we’ll try to bore him and his girlfriend all day with old people stuff that we think is interesting and they will think isn’t.

Just (Sitting By The Pool Writing This E-Mail) Jack