stepping off the edge

Now this picture may seem out of place and random but to understand it I will post our journey travel map…

Yes, loyal readers, we do that. Carefully placed pins in all the stops as we circumnavigate the continent. Yes, there is a string connecting them like a murder map in a police investigation. I wanted to add pictures of people we were planning to visit and connect the strings to them, but you know who vetoed that hairbrained scheme. Mrs. T did finally agree to allow me to add about 50 green flags denoting charging stations along our trip. We have never encountered a journey where we did not have the opportunity to charge as needed, but seeing them eased our minds. There was one place we wanted to visit in Mississippi that would have required some iffy charging stations of dubious repute, as in we were not certain they existed, but hey… Mississippi!

We have encountered speed bumps in California, speed lumps in Louisiana and now speed humps in Florida…

We visited our wonderful grandchildren Bettie and Johnnie in Gainesville. The former is studying to be a veterinarian and the latter will enter medical school after doing a year as an RN in the cardiac ICU at the Gainesville University Medical Center, of which she was kind enough to give us a tour. Well, not the ICU, that would have been weird even for me! “Good morning Mrs. Smith, this is my grandfather. Mrs. Smith? Can you hear me, Mrs. Smith?” Well, you know…

The strange things I take pictures of and Mrs. T, bless her little heart, goes along with. You all know the “bless her heart” thing in the South, don’t you? Well, it’s not always as nice a sentiment as it might seem literally. I was actually sincere here (she does, after all, edit this blog).

The girls’ father Mikey (more on him in the next post) loves to do wacky house, home and land things. To give his daughters a place to live he purchased 2.5 acres about half an hour outside of the city, put a trailer on it, and gave them to them. It was very rural! Below are some of the interesting artifacts found on it. I will leave out the picture of the whole goat skeletons found in the woods there. Asked no questions! To give you an idea of the difference between these two amazing young women, Bettie is ready to homestead, and when Johnnie heard TRAILER it was a hard no!

We had a great dinner with the girls and Johnnie’s boyfriend (I can still use that word, can’t I ?). No picture of them right now, but Andy was a great guy even though he looked like he was 12. Oh well, I suppose at 75 everyone looks like they are 12; like your doctor, all of the people in retail, and the traffic cop who pulls you over!

I did get Bettie to unleash one of her favorite pet peeves. Johnnie entering medical school always gets a “Wow” comment, but veterinary school is relegated to replies of “Oh isn’t that nice, cats and dogs.” By the way, she is majoring in large animal medicine. To be specific, not horses and cows a la All Creatures Great and Small, but rather alligators, hippos, giraffes, lions, tigers, and bears… you get the idea.

Next time it’s off to Ft. Lauderdale. While I am thinking of it… some of you actually subscribed to this blog!? Come on people, get a hobby…